Obsessively, relentlessly in your, or some one's, pocket

Des Moines-based MidAmerican Energy says it’s interested in building a natural gas pipeline on the North Slope of Alaska.

David Sokol, MidAmerican chief executive, told Petroluem News that MidAmerican and unnamed partners plan to submit an application to the state this fall.

The deadline for applications is Nov. 30.

In 2004, MidAmerican proposed building a $6.3 billion, 745-mile natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to the border with Canada’s Yukon Territory. The company later withdrew that application[.]
Des moines Register

Awww...ain't that nice.

Here's some more of what the Register didn't tell us:

The only thing that could stand in the way of MidAmerican’s application, [Sokol] said, was if the FBI investigations and indictments of Alaska State and U.S. lawmakers would somehow “circle back to implicate any of the producers. If they do, our concern is the process might negatively impact a gas line project from a timing standpoint.”

Applications for a project to take North Slope gas to Lower 48 markets have to be filed under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act by Nov. 30. Strongly supported by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, AGIA passed at the end of the 2007 legislative session despite intense criticism from the North Slope’s three oil producers and gas owners, BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil. The three mega-majors, which own controlling interest in the 800-mile trans-Alaska oil pipeline, have indicated it’s imperative they also own controlling interest in a gas line in order to keep project costs down. They say AGIA, as written, won’t work.
Petroleum News.com

So just what is the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act so favored by Republican Governor Palin?

Supposedly it is designed to start "competative" bidding for the construction of a natural gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope oil fields. But there is a sweetener and this is what undoubtedly drew MidAmerican.

Sec. 43.90.110. Natural gas pipeline project construction inducement. (a)
15 Subject to the limitations of this chapter, a license issued under this chapter entitles the
16 licensee or its designated affiliate to receive
17 (1) subject to appropriation, state matching contributions in the form of
18 reimbursements in a total amount not to exceed $500,000,000, paid to the licensee
19 during the seven-year period immediately following the date the license is awarded;
20 the payment period may be extended by the commissioners under an amendment or
21 modification of the project plan under AS 43.90.210; a payment under this paragraph
Governor's office Alaska, pdf

And here's another tidbit the Register didn't have room to report, once again from Petroleum News story cited above:

So, what about costs? Gas prices are high now, but what if they drop? Opponents of an independent gas line say the producers will be more concerned about keeping construction costs low because they’ll be shipping gas in the line, whereas a pipeline company such as MidAmerican isn’t going be as worried about cost overruns because it can simply charge a tariff based on whatever the pipeline costs them to build.

So MidAmerican, the utility company obsessively, relentlessly at your service, if this deal goes through recoups part of its contruction costs by a handout from the Alaska state government, then can turn around a jack up our natural gas bill some time in the future.

Karl Rove to resign at end of month...big whoop...

By now the liberal blogosphere is in ecstasy*.

Karl Rove to Resign at End of August

By TERENCE HUNT AP White House Correspondent
6:55 AM CDT, August 13, 2007

WASHINGTON - Karl Rove, President Bush's close friend and chief political strategist, plans to leave the White House at the end of August, joining a lengthening line of senior officials heading for the exits in the final 1 1/2 years of the administration.

A criminal investigation put Rove under scrutiny for months during the investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's name but he was never charged with any crime. In a more recent controversy, Rove, citing executive privilege, has refused to testify before Congress about the firing of U.S. attorneys.

Rove became one of Washington's most influential figures during Bush's presidency. He is known as a ruthless political warrior who has an encyclopedic command of political minutiae and a wonkish love of policy. Rove met Bush in the early 1970s, when both men were in their 20s.

"I just think it's time," Rove said in an interview at this home on Saturday. He first floated the idea of leaving to Bush a year ago, the [Wall Street Journal] said, and friends confirmed he'd been talking about it even earlier. However, he said he didn't want to depart right after the Democrats regained control of Congress and then got drawn into policy battles over the Iraq war and immigration.
Chicago Tribune.com

So the little turd blossom is vamoosing before the posse gets 'em. Well, I don't buy none of it.

The AP story says this weasel will be "obliged" to stay on the White House staff until January '09, the end of Dubya's term, if he doesn't get out of town by Labor Day. Now why do you suppose one of the most Machiavellian political operatives, of this or any century, is leaving? Being the suspicious kind that I am, I'm not taking the lame "to spend more time with my family" excuse. The 2006 Democratic gains in the U.S. House were just a bump in the road in the Rovian/Norquistian plan for permanent Republican domination. In fact the turd blossom is looking to the immediate future as illustrated in this exchange reported by Wall Street Journal columnist Paul J. Gigot:

"[Bush] will move back up in the polls," says Mr. Rove, who interrupts my reference to Mr. Bush's 30% approval rating by saying it's heading close to "40%," and "higher than Congress."

Looking ahead, he adds, "Iraq will be in a better place" as the surge continues. Come the autumn, too, "we'll see in the battle over FISA" -- the wiretapping of foreign terrorists -- "a fissure in the Democratic Party." Also in the fall, "the budget fight will have been fought to our advantage," helping the GOP restore, through a series of presidential vetoes, its brand name on spending restraint and taxes.

As for the Democrats, "They are likely to nominate a tough, tenacious, fatally flawed candidate" by the name of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Holding the White House for a third term is always difficult given the pent-up desire for change, he says, but "I think we've got a very good chance to do so."

This prick is not finished running presidential campaigns by a long shot. By leaving now he's free to maneuver. Free to leech himself onto another vapid, vacuous Republican candidate. That candidate, I believe, is none other than Willard Mitt Romney, erstwhile one-term governor of Massachussetts (see my comment at BuzzFlash.com).

Really, Rove's departure from the White House shouldn't be taken lightly. It is as if a detoxified, fit and trim Herman Goering escaped his Nuremburg cell with the intention of reconstituing the Third Reich. Congressional Democrats need to throw a net over this rabid dog but quick! Lock him up and throw away the keys.

But they won't. So I'm afraid we will not being hearing the last of Karl Rove until he is dead and buried in the South Texas Plains and a stake driven through what counts for his heart.

*I've just finished a random check of liberal blogs. No one is cheering. Most bloggers are as wary of Rove's motives as I.

Who said of Iraq, "It's a quagmire..." in 1994?

From Editor and Publisher.com

NEW YORK It's not the first time that citizen "investigative journalists" have uncovered some embarrassing, or telling, nugget from the past that apparently remained buried for years. But it has happened again with the posting of a now wildly popular video on YouTube that shows Dick Cheney explaining in 1994 that trying to take over Iraq would be a "bad idea" and lead to a "quagmire."

The people who put it up come from a site called Grand Theft Country, the on-screen source appears to be the conservative American Enterprise Institute, and the date on the screen is April 15, 2004. That looks right, by the look of Cheney.

Posted on Friday, it had received over 100,000 hits by this morning, after being widely-linked around the Web. The transcript of this segment is below.

Cheney had helped direct the Gulf War for President George H.W. Bush. That effort was later criticized for not taking Baghdad and officials like Cheney had to explain why not for years. Some have charged that this led to an overpowering desire to finish the job after Cheney became vice president in 2001.

LTE: August 6, 2007

Let me see, Smiling Jack Hatch, state senator and real estate developer, buys two derelict buildings for remodeling in the now fashionable Western Gateway Park. And according to the story by reporter Sean Miller, the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs hands out tax credits to said real estate developers for the rehabilitation of old, rundown dumps if it's discovered they have some sort of historical significance, .

One of Smiling Jack's purchases, the Chamberlain building , qualifies.

Now as I understand it, tax credits are intended to lighten the income tax burden of working poor families. And I guess they've been a huge success.

Well, what's sauce for the poor goose is better sauce for the rich gander. Now state and local governments are tripping all over themselves awarding tax credits to those what don't need'em.

It still sticks in my craw that a couple of year back Smiling Jack sheparded a $17 million tax credit through the Iowa Senate so MidAmerican Energy, a struggling little energy company, could comply with the Renewable Energy mandate of 1997. I'm sure MidAmerican's major stockholder, humanitarian Warren Buffett, approved the measure.

Meanwhile, Smiling Jack's other purchase, the Kruidenier building, has no historical value, fit only for the wreckingball and therefore no tax credits. So Smiling Jack's doing the right business thing and attempting to unload the dump on some unsuspecting moke. More than likely, though, Smiling Jack will peddle the Kruidenier to some other, wealthier local developer, for the proverbiable song, with the promise of future, fat re-election campaign contributions in mind.


What a guy.

FBI gets it: Everybody smokes pot

If the FBI can figure it out why can't the rest of law enforcement and the rehab industry get it:

FBI drug standard lowered for hiring

By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Aspiring FBI agents who once dabbled in marijuana use won't be barred from getting a job with the elite crime-fighting agency, which has loosened its drug policy amid a campaign to hire hundreds of agents.

The bureau's pot-smoking standard, in place for at least 13 years, was revised after internal debate about whether the policy was eliminating prospects because of drug experimentation, said Jeff Berkin, deputy director of the FBI's Security Division. The policy disqualified candidates if they had used marijuana more than 15 times.

Just legalize it, already.

What the hell gives? Saudis getting US weapons, Iraqis getting shaft?

O.K., it's a given that the United States of America has it's nose in the Saudi tent. Or is the Saudi nose in the American tent? Either way some one's camel is in some one's tent. Let's look as some recent developments, shall we?

U.S. Set to Offer Huge Arms Deal to Saudi Arabia

By DAVID S. CLOUD
Published: July 28, 2007
WASHINGTON, July 27 — The Bush administration is preparing to ask Congress to approve an arms sale package for Saudi Arabia and its neighbors that is expected to eventually total $20 billion at a time when some United States officials contend that the Saudis are playing a counterproductive role in Iraq.

The proposed package of advanced weaponry for Saudi Arabia, which includes advanced satellite-guided bombs, upgrades to its fighters and new naval vessels, has made Israel and some of its supporters in Congress nervous. Senior officials who described the package on Friday said they believed that the administration had resolved those concerns, in part by promising Israel $30.4 billion in military aid over the next decade, a significant increase over what Israel has received in the past 10 years.

And this is as far as I got because I'm experiencing conductivity problems with Mediacom. Don't know for how long the Internet connection will last.

Anyway, I was writing about how the US and Saudi Arabia seem to be favoring the Sunni's in Iraq. Now remember Bush said one of the reasons we went after Saddam Hussein is because he gassed his own people. Among those he gassed were the majority Shiites of southern Iraq.

Mediacom tech will be out Wednesday. I hope he gets this thing fixed.

We respond to reader comments

In response to Monday's posting from CBN blogger David Brody, a reader wrote:

That David Brody ought to remember to wipe his wife’s lipstick off himself before he gets his picture taken. Or has he been PHOTOSHOPPED???
You wouldn’t go so far as to photoshop Brownback in a brown shirt, now would you?

Never one to let the fans down, I took up the challenge. I hope you like the results.

Repug presidential campaign has gotten uglier

Wouldn't you know it, after slappin around Willard M. Romney a little yesterday, Sam Brownback, an appropriate name for a mudslinger, challenges Tom "If'n thar's anythin Ah hates more'n a Mexican, it's TWO Mexicans" Tancredo bono fides on abortion in this morning's Des Moines Register:

Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo on Monday said that an automated phone call to Iowa anti-abortion voters, paid for by Sen. Sam Brownback's campaign, that questions Tancredo's commitment to anti-abortion politics is "despicable."

Brownback's campaign, in the phone call, questions Tancredo's financial ties to John Tanton, a physician who helped found the Northern Michigan Planned Parenthood Association, which provides women's health services that include abortion.

Brownback's campaign last week issued a news release citing a memo published in a 2003 Washington Post article in which Tanton reportedly wrote that whites stood to surrender their majority status if the United States' borders aren't controlled.

John Rankin, Brownback's Iowa communications director, questioned Tancredo's commitment to the anti-abortion movement, given his acceptance of donations from Tanton.

It seems this Tanton fellow is something of a racist, that at least Brownback gets right. Here's what Tanton's Right Web Profile says:

Today, Tanton stands in the center of a web of anti-immigrant and official English groups. As the founder and publisher of Social Contract Press, Tanton has published books that have helped shaped a nationalist ideology focused on the threat of immigrants to the white, English-speaking population. Social Contract books also stoke fears about immigrants taking over the United States, with research that highlights the rapid rise of Spanish-speaking residents and related socioeconomic problems, while ignoring research that points to the positive contributions of immigrants. In addition to FAIR, where he still is a board member, Tanton has been a central player in an array of anti-immigrant, nationalist groups and institutes, including Pro English, U.S. Inc., Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), U.S. English, and Numbers USA. Funding for these and other organizations in which Tanton is a key figure, often flows through the organization, U.S. Inc. (7) (8)

So what raised the ire of the Brownback camp is that Tanton, back in his salad smoking days in the Seventies, was the organizer and president of the Northern Michigan Planned Parenthood Association and active in the Zero Population Growth movement before becoming a fulltime English-only-anti-immigrant lunatic. But, then again, there is more than a modicum of truth to Brownback's charges.

It's nice to see the Republican Party forming the circular firing-squad for a change.

Repug presidential campaign could get ugly

Whoa! I love it when they fight among themselves.

Infighting between a second-tier Republican presidential candidate and a rising star has broken out.

Former Kansas U.S. Senator, and fulltime wing nutcase, Sam Brownback unleased a scathing attack on one-term Massachusetts Governor Mitt "My Wife's Both a Starter and Trophy Wife!" Romney, just in time for the Iowa Straw Poll.

Christian Broadcasting Network blogger David Brody, he's the pretty boy in the illustration to our right, posted a scathing attack from the Brownback camp on Romney's alleged support of homosexual Boy Scout leaders.

Romney Hostile to Boy Scout Leadership and Principles: Supports Gay Scout Leaders, was Cold to Scout Participation in Olympics.

In his 1994 Senate race in Massachusetts and later as CEO of the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee, Mitt Romney opposed Boy Scout officials who wished to prevent gay men from becoming troop leaders and was hostile to Scout participation in the 2002 Olympics.

In a 1994 debate with Ted Kennedy, Mitt Romney offered his support for gay scout leaders:

"I feel that all people should be allowed to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation."

The comments from Romney, who holds a law degree, came six years before the June 2000 Supreme Court ruling that allowed the Boy Scouts to bar troop leaders based on sexual orientation. The ruling cited the constitutional rights of freedom of association and speech.

Later in 2000, facing pressure from gay rights activists, Romney was cold toward overtures from Scout leaders who wished to participate in Olympic activities.

"At a recent training event for Scout leaders, Marty Latimer, chief Scout executive for the council, revealed that the Scouts are no longer welcome. 'We don't understand what's wrong. They just don't want us and won't talk to us,' said Latimer. He told NewsMax.com that Mitt Romney, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Olympic Committee, has not returned phone calls from a number of Scout officials who have tried to obtain clarification."

Romney's openness to gay scout leaders conflicts with the Scout Oath, which requires Scouts to be "morally straight."

"What part of morally straight doesn't Mitt Romney understand?" said Larry Cirigiano, a Catholic activist in Massahusetts. "Boy Scout 'leaders' are supposed to be role models. Open homosexuals should not be leading young Boy Scouts anywhere."

Senator Brownback has always supported the right of the Boy Scouts of America to determine the best leaders for young scouts.

Somehow, neither Brownback, nor for that matter blogger Brody, sees the irony in the statement from Catholic "activist" Cirigiano. Perhaps both Brownback and Brody, and "activist" Cirigiano, have forgotten a little unpleasantness in Massachusetts involving Catholic priests? But, then again, perhaps this illustrates why being a bound by tradition"conservative" is easier than being a liberal; one only needs the memory of a gnat.

Oh, our anti-war Democrats

Boston Globe columnist Darrick Jackson shows that some of our most ardent "anti-Iraq war" and "liberal" Democrats are cozy with the Defense Department.

the Globe recently reported that [Massachusetts U.S. Senator Ted] Kennedy slid $100 million into the 2008 defense authorization bill for a General Electric fighter engine that the Air Force said it did not need.

It gets worse in a defense budget that is zooming to $648.8 billion. The nonpartisan budget watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense last month analyzed 309 Senate defense earmarks. Four of the top five "earmarkers" were not Republican hawks but centrist and liberal Democrats.

[Michigan's Carl] Levin led the way with 44 earmarks. [Senator Hillary] Clinton was second with 26. [Rhode Island's U.S. Senator Jack] Reed was fourth with 23, one behind Republican John Warner of Virginia. In fifth place was Charles Schumer of New York with 21. When asked if she saw any change in defense earmark behavior since the Democrats took back the House and the Senate, senior analyst Laura Peterson of the Taxpayers for Common Sense said over the telephone, "No."

More proof the swamp is still full is the fact that only four of the top 10 senators in defense campaign contributions in the 2006 election cycle were Republicans. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrats Kennedy, Clinton, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Dianne Feinstein of California, Bill Nelson of Florida, and Democrat-turned-independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut collected 60 percent of the $1.4 million the industry lavished among the top 10.

Odd, isn't it, that our nominally most "liberal" senators also come from states with the highest concentration of military-security-industry contractors?

Michael Moore's YouTube question to the Democratic Presidential Candidates

Paul Craig Roberts: "Impeach Now"

Heed Paul Craig Roberts' warning:

Unless Congress immediately impeaches Bush and Cheney, a year from now the US could be a dictatorial police state at war with Iran.

Read the rest of his column at CounterPunch.com

LTE: July 16, 2007

It is interesting that the Republican Party and its presidential candidates are just now discovering illegal immigration as a campaign issue, as reported by Jane Norman in her piece,Immigration key for GOP candidates, July 16, 2007. Modern illegal border crossing began in 1904 when 75 men and horses were authorized by the U.S. Immigration Service to patrol the United States-Mexico border to stem the tide of illegal Chinese immigration.

Fast-forward to 2007 and suddenly illegal immigration is the fashionable topic of the season. Even Democrats are incensed at the hoard of undocumented laborers taking jobs-- dish washer, busboy, packing plant worker, landscape gardener, construction laborer and so on---from American workers. Television host Lou Dobbs revives his flagging show by railing against illegal immigration. Republican Congressional back-benchers Tom Tancredo of Colorado, a free market fundamentalist who has never worked a day in the private sector, and Iowa's own Steve King, an earth moving contractor, rise to national prominence on the wet backs of illegal immigrants.

If the U.S.-Mexican border is a sieve, for the last 103 years and counting, why are no media pundits questioning illegal immigration's sudden rise as a political issue?

Let us face the fact that once again the Republican Party, with the complicacy of Democrats, has fashioned illegal immigration as this political season's abortion and "gay" marriage; an issue designed to radiate much heat, little light and about which little will ever be done. Look at the GOP's track record. With majorities in both houses of the federal Congress from 1994 until 2006, the Republican Party did nothing to outlaw abortion or "gay" marriage, nor did they legislate an end to affirmative action or school busing for racial parity in public schools, colleges and employment. Moreover, the GOP conveniently forgot its 1994 pledge to make term limits for political officeholders the law of the land. Perhaps it is time we Americans hold the GOP to its promise to build a Great Wall of China-like barrier from San Diego, CA to Brownsville, TX.

The Democrats, however, are little better for they know, the only way to truly stem the tide of illegal immigration from Mexico and Central America is by improving the economy of that region, though a Marshall Plan-type program, and repudiating the North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA.)

The ugly truth of illegal immigration is, free market fundamentalists in both parties are content to keep things just as they are.

The Incomparable Frank Rich

Frank Rich brings the dots into focus, at Welcome to Pottersville

More dots

Look, I don't know if this means anything, but I had the Saturday
Morning Today Show on and the gentleman pictured on the right,
one Ron Noble, Secretary General of the international police agency Interpol, said something to the effect that Michael Chertoff's "gut" is a fairly accurate meter of "terrorist" activity. He also disclosed that al Qaeda plans on killing "four million of us." Where he came by this information Noble would not say.

I think I heard him tell Lester Holt something to the effect that if the United States withdraws from Iraq now the terrorist will follow us home. It was a strikingly similar comment to the oft repeated administration bromide "We're fighting terrorist in Iraq so we don't have to fight'em here." He continued with some alarmist shit about securing our borders and passport date. In fact, just a couple of days ago Noble told government propaganda network Voice Of America (VOA),

Interpol Secretary-General Ron Noble told VOA the organization set up a database of lost or stolen passports in 2002 as an anti-terrorist measure. But, he says, even though it was fully automated in 2005, only a handful of the organization's 186 member governments are hooked up to the database and taking advantage of it.

"In my view, every country in the world should make it their highest priority to scan passports of visitors against Interpol's global database. But my point is, right now, as I speak to you, only 17 countries in the entire world are doing this.

"And in my view, in the 21st century, in the century in which we find ourselves following the September 11th attacks, the world needs to change the way in which it fights terrorism globally by sharing information instantly and immediately with countries around the world. That's not happening, and it needs to happen."

Look, I'm not one of these anti-One World Government nuts, I actually think a stronger United Nations would be a good thing, but...well, let's just read a little of Mr. Noble's official Interpol bio:

Mr Noble previously served as the United States Department of Treasury’s first Undersecretary for Enforcement (1993-1996), where he was in charge of some of the US’s then-largest law enforcement agencies, including the Secret Service, Customs Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and Office of Foreign Assets Control. Prior to that, he served as an Assistant US Attorney and Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the US Department of Justice (1984-1989).

Noble worked for both in the Clinton and George H.W. "Poppy" Bush administrations, hence the "Bipartisan Bullshit" label, so this signifies nothing other than the fact the guy's a career bureaucrat.

However the internesting thing is, Michael Chertoff, professional Skeletor look-alike and Director of Homeland Security, says on July 10, he has a "gut feeling" that al Qaeda terrorists may attack the United States this summer. Then President Bush and Chertoff downplay and backpeddle Chertoff's "gut feeling" a couple of days later. Yet on the same day, July 12, a National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) report is released titled "Al-Qaida Better Positioned to Strike the West."

So, O.K., boys, which is it? Are we under a real threat of a major terrorist attack or are Washington/corporationist bureaucrats just trying to scare the pee-jeezus out of us?

Connecting the dots....

What do these guys know that we don't?

In a Tuesday interview with The Chicago Tribune editorial board Director of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said:

"I believe we are entering a period this summer of increased risk[.]"

"Summertime seems to be appealing to them," he said of al-Qaeda. "We do worry that they are rebuilding their activities."

[H]e indicated that his remarks were based on "a gut feeling" formed by past seasonal patterns of terrorist attacks, recent al-Qaeda statements, and intelligence he did not disclose.

There is an assessment "not of a specific threat, but of increased vulnerability," he added.

And remember Arkansas Republican State Party Chairman Dennis Milligan saying, "...I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001], in June of this year.

And now after an investagation by the Government Accountability Office disclosed how easy it is for a bogus company to obtain a permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Agency to purchase nuclear material for the construction of a "dirty" bomb, Republican Senator from Minnesota Norm Coleman says:“The economic and psychological effects of a dirty bomb detonating on American soil would be devastating The N.R.C. has a pre 9-11 mindset in a post 9-11 world focusing just on preventing another Chernobyl.”

Coleman, by the way who is up for re-election next year, faces a stiff challenge from Al Franken.

But I've gotten sidetracked. Let me add this little fact:

Vacancies in senior leadership positions at the Homeland Security Department are a vulnerability demanding immediate attention, the House Homeland Security Committee stated in a report released Monday.

According to the report, the department has 575 positions in the highest federal salary bands, referred to as executive resources. These include positions filled by presidential appointment, Senior Executive Service members and other appointments for nonexecutive positions above the GS-15 level. Of the 575, 138 were vacant as of May 1, the committee said.

The report said the vacancies are "a critical homeland security issue that demands immediate attention," but did not make specific recommendations for action.
Government Executive.com

O.K., this doesn't look good. The Republican Party's adrift, their presidential candidates are all pretty weak, Olympia Snow, R-Maine, has defected to the Democrats over Iraq, Bush's poll ratings are squat. So what's a party full of Mayberry Machiavellians to do?

Look, I'm neither paranoid or a conspiracy nut but at this time about the only way for the Republicans can retain power, expecially in the executive branch, is if the nation is hit by another "terrorist' attack on the magnatude of the original September 11, 2001 attack. And I don't put it past these bastards one bit. Let me add, I don't think any major terrorist attacks will happen in the United States this summer; but I got banned for life from Democratic Underground*, a DLC front organization, because I posted something to the effect that I didn't think it was out of the realms of possibility that Bush and Co. might stage a terrorist attack, expecially in the Red State heartland, to institute martial law.
*As I recall: I was banned for agruing, via e-mail, with one of DU's self-righteous, thin-skinned topic moderators, the Gestapo-hall monitors of the Internet.

Annie's got a crush on Johnny

Haw, haw, haw........CounterPunch.com has a funny piece by Eva Liddell concerning the right wing slattern all good liberals love to hate:

Ann Coulter's incessant attacks on John Edwards which only serves to his political advantage is getting me to wonder. Her insults against Hillary's fat legs or Barack Obama's weird name strike me as merely false flag operations on the part of Ms. Coulter who although her voice may be deep and her adam's apple prominent is evidencing a schoolgirl crush for John Edwards. Or perhaps something far more sinister. Ms. Coulter is in love with John Edwards. Possessed by a "fatal attraction" for the handsome Democratic candidate. The parallel between her and the movie of the same name could be a horrible portent.

We must come to grips with the possibility that Anne Coulter is the reincarnation of Glen Close. Ms. Coulter wants John Edwards to love her but John loves only his wife Elizabeth. Although John and Anne never had torrid sex (I don't think) on a counter-top in Anne's kitchen amidst copious numbers of razor-sharp culinary knifes, it doesn't matter. At some point she fell in love with him unrequitedly. It might have been the night she went to one of John's rallies and he smiled to the crowd. Smitten like a kitten she imagined his smile was for her alone. "I love you Johnny Reid Edwards," Ms. Coulter crooned to herself as she pressed his campaign button close to her heart . "And you're going to love me back." But his smile was never for her. Spurned, she has turned her love to hate and through the media eunuchs who invite her on their television shows she is exhibiting an obsession for John Edwards. And just as Glen Close finally stalked Michael Douglas this could get out of hand too.

Let us be on the look-out for signs and symptoms of deepening deterioration in Ms. Coulter. When she shows up on Hardball wearing a black fake leather full-length trench coat with the collar turned up and her hair sticking out all messed up she will be beyond the reach of reason. When Chris Matthews wrinkles his nose at the strange odor permeating from Anne's body, the smell of boiled rabbit, we will know that John and Elizabeth are in serious jeopardy.

What happens next will be pivotal. It will be John Edwards who calls Anne to set up a time for the "debate." On the Chris Matthew's program of course. And Anne hearing John's voice speaking softly in her ear will think this means he is going to dump Elizabeth. But John Edwards is a clever politician. He dumps Anne instead. He just doesn't show up at all. His excuse to the public as eager as Anne for the televised meeting will be that he had to take Elizabeth to the hospital but she's okay, nothing serious. But for Ms. Coulter rejected and humiliated it will be the final straw. She will have a nervous breakdown on "Hardball" and slit her wrists. The autopsy photos will reveal that the wounds inflicted upon herself were done with the pin on the back of the John Edwards' campaign button. The one she had held so close to her heart.

'Nuff, said.

Fred Thompson, English Leather and Old Spice

Tom Paine.com has a cute piece by Paul Waldman on Republican presidental great, portly hope, Fred Thompson. Let me slice off a few chunks for ya:

"Can you smell the English Leather on this guy, the Aqua Velva, the sort of mature man’s shaving cream, or whatever, you know, after he shaved? Do you smell that sort of—a little bit of cigar smoke? You know, whatever."

It will not surprise you to learn that the one who spoke those words was Chris Matthews, nor that the “mature man” about whom he was speaking was the Republican flavor of the month, former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson. Matthews’ references to English Leather and Aqua Velva, male grooming products whose status (along with Old Spice) as totemic signifiers of American manhood faded some 30 years ago, could hardly be more apt.

If there is one thing Thompson shares with the man currently holding the office he seeks, it is an understanding of the role of masculinity in presidential image-making. In 2004, the Republican convention featured a video entitled “The Pitch,” seven of the most lushly produced minutes in American political history. The voice-over was provided by none other than Fred Thompson, possessor of the GOP’s most mellifluous set of pipes. “How do you tell the story of a presidency?” Thompson intoned. “How do you tell the story so far? The story is in part, but inescapably, the story of a man.” Listen to it and you can hear Thompson pour every ounce of feeling his modest acting talents would summon into that one word.

Thompson may not have much to say about issues, but he knows image. You can already see the careful attention to detail in his just-constructed website: “I read Sen. Barry Goldwater’s book, The Conscience of a Conservative,” Thompson tells us, “and the ideas were as clear as a church bell on a cold winter night.” Conservative bona fides, check; nod to Christian religiosity, check; small-town folksiness, check. And all in one sentence.

Sheese, what is it with the right and latent homoerotica? And with the propensity to put style over substance? One would think that even the most hardcore, reactionary Republican would pull his head out his ass and say: "Jesus, Mitt's a good lookin' rich guy, for a Mormon; Rudy's got a certain charm for a bald dude, y'know that prison-street tough skinhead look; McCain was a Navy pilot; Ron Paul's a no-tax, racist sort of guy; and this Fred Thompson smells good, gots a real purdy young wife and he's an actor on TV just like Ronald Reagan, but, y'know, everything they say is bullshit."

But, like I said yesterday: [The] majority of the American people are dupes, chumps, tools, fools, true belivers, useful idiots, fellow travels and willfully ignorant.

A new steaming pile of Richard Viguerie's bullshit

Richard Viguerie: Conservatives, Beware of Fred Thompson

(Manassas, Virginia) The following are the main points made by Richard A. Viguerie, author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause (Bonus Books, 2006), in his white paper, “Conservatives, Beware of Fred Thompson.”

The full article is on-line at
http://www.conservativesbetrayed.com/gw3/articles-latestnews/articles.php?CMSArticleID=1827&CMSCategoryID=19

Fred Thompson disappointed conservatives during his eight years in the Senate (1994-2002). Is there any reason to think this Washington insider and veteran trial lawyer would be any better as President?

Charged with investigating the Clinton White House’s Asia fundraising scandal (“Asiagate”), he proved to be a Marshmallow Republican. And the only time he played a major role on a major piece of legislation, he was on the wrong side of the fence: pushing for the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill.

Why McCain-Feingold is so important—and so bad

The real purpose of McCain-Feingold type laws is to silence grassroots activists and protect incumbents. “You were essential to our success,” Senator Feingold told Fred Thompson.

He runs around with the wrong crowd.

He fails the Goldwater Test: Goldwater became the founder of the conservative movement because he alone spoke out publicly against the Big Government policies of Eisenhower. Fred Thompson has been silent—and complicit—about the Big Government policies of George W. Bush.

He fails the Reagan Test: Reagan was a conservative activist for years before he ran for president, and surrounded himself with top conservative aides. Fred Thompson is a stranger to the conservative movement and his longtime associates are not conservative. “Personnel is policy.”

Marshmallow Republicans: Instead he is an integral part of the Rockefeller wing of the Republican Party, people like former Senator Howard Baker (of whom he is a protégé) and Senator Lamar Alexander.

There’s a reason why one of Washington, D.C.’s key media liberals is maneuvering for Fred Thompson.

With Thompson as the GOP candidate, liberals could rest easy, knowing their power is safe whether the Democrat or the Marshmallow Republican wins in 2008.

Putting Fred Thompson’s Senate voting record under a microscope

Viguerie looks at 18 votes on important issues to show that while Thompson talks like a conservative, he has worked to increase the power of the federal government, limit the rights of taxpayers and individual citizens, and shut grassroots activists out of the political process.

Fred Thompson on abortion: pro-life, pro-choice, or both?

There’s a good reason why people are confused about Fred Thompson’s stand on abortion. A President Thompson would give pro-life conservatives a lot of supportive rhetoric but little action. So what else is new?

Fred Thompson is not the conservative leader we need, says Viguerie

“For the past year, I have been preaching to conservatives that we should not align ourselves with those who have fatal flaws from a conservative perspective. The imminent entrance of Fred Thompson in the race doesn’t change a thing, for the reasons I have demonstrated here.

“Conservatives, let’s keep our powder dry. The GOP has taken us for granted. Conservatives should make the GOP and the candidates come to us, and let’s make them prove that they are worthy of our support.”

Many more details are contained in the article, “Conservatives, Beware of Fred Thompson,” on-line at
http://www.conservativesbetrayed.com/gw3/articles-latestnews/articles.php?CMSArticleID=1827&CMSCategoryID=19

Where to begin. Jesus, Dick Viguerie is a consumate bullshitter. He knows what he writes and says is either out right lies or half-truths and he doesn't care. I mean scaring the poor dupes who subscribe to this bullshit about McCain-Feingold protecting incumbents. Viguerie knows that Newt Gingrich's Contract with America called for "...term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators." And that was a promise which was promptly forgotten. In states with clean money clean election laws there is a higher rate of turnover than in states without publically financed campaigns laws. Unrestricted campaign contributions by specaial intrest groups, masquerading as "grassroots" organizations, lead to political stagnancy. Politicians become more beholding to major contributors than the citizens they were elected to represent.

I could go on and on about Dick Viguerie but it would get boring. The important thing to remember is that Viguerie is just one of a myriad of Republican operatives whose business is to fool some of the people all of the time.

Jimmy Carter said America deserves a government as good as its people. And from what I've seen a good majority of the American people are dupes, chumps, tools, fools, true belivers, useful idiots, fellow travels and willfully ignorant. So it is true, we have the government we deserve.

Pat Condell: "Religion and Politics"

Pity the poor mercenary

I recently read Blackwater The Rise Of The World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, by Jeremy Scahill. One of the unifying themes in Scahill's tome is the March 31, 2004 ambush and slaughter of four Blackwater mercenaries in Fallujah, Iraq.

Since that time the families of the victims, Jerry Zovko, Wesley Batalona, Scott Helvenston and Michael Teague, have been seeking to fix blame upon whom ordered two four-men teams consisting of two mercs per SUV, rather than the usual six-man teams (two SUVs with three mercs per vehicle), to escort an executive of "catering" firm ESS from the Jordanian border to Baghdad. One team, Bravo 2, drove around Fallujah, the other team of Zovko, Batablona, Helvenston and Teague,coded-named November 1, took a route right down main street. And the rest, as they say, is history.

We pick up the action in a news story by Joseph Neff of The Raleigh-Durham News & Observer.com:

The Bravo 2 team memos, in emotional, coarse and damning language, placed the blame squarely on Blackwater's Baghdad site manager, Tom Powell.

"Why did we all want to kill him?" team member Daniel Browne wrote the following day. "He had sent us on this [expletive] mission and over our protest. We weren't sighted in, we had no maps, we had not enough sleep, he was taking 2 of our guys cutting off [our] field of fire. As we went over these things we new the other team had the same complaints. They too had their people cut."

The families of the four men killed in the ambush -- Jerry Zovko, Wesley Batalona, Scott Helvenston and Michael Teague -- sued Blackwater in Wake County Superior Court in an effort to find out what happened. Blackwater countersued the estates of the four men in federal court, successfully arguing for arbitration, in which the proceedings are closed to the public and the investigation of the incident can be much more limited.

Powell, the site manager, left Blackwater shortly after the Fallujah incident. He will not discuss the event while litigation is pending, said his attorney, Clifford Higby of Panama City, Fla. Efforts to reach the other Blackwater contractors for comment were unsuccessful.

There is a discrepancy here, however. According to Scahill:

[O]n March 24 the company removed [John] Potter as program manager, replacing him with [Justin] McQuown, who, according to the families' lawyers, was far more willing than Potter to overlook security considerations in the interest of profits. It was this corporate greed, combined with McQuown's animosity toward Scott Helvenston, which began at the training in North Carolina, that the families allege played a significant role in the deaths of Helvenston and the other three contractors.

The night before he left, Helvenston sent an e-mail to the "Owner, President and Upper Management" of Blackwater, subject: "extreme unprofessionalism." In this e-mail, obtained by The Nation, he complained that the behavior of McQuown (referred to as "Justin Shrek" in the e-mail) was "very manipulative, duplicitive [sic], immature and unprofessional." He describes how his original team leader tried to appeal to Shrek not to reassign him, but, Helvenston wrote, "I think [the team leader] felt that there was a hidden agenda. 'Lets see if we can screw with Scott.'" Those were some of the last words Helvenston would ever write.

So the question is: was McQuown merely taking orders from Powell or was he acting on his own?

Really why should any of us care? What is really at issue is "What is the root cause of those four men's deaths?" Let's turn to an October 24, 2004 story by Neff and co-writer Jay Price for that answer:

Jerry Zovko's contract with Blackwater USA looked straightforward: He would earn $600 a day guarding convoys that carried food for U.S. troops in Iraq.

But that cost -- $180,000 a year -- was just the first installment of what taxpayers were asked to pay for Zovko's work. Blackwater, based in Moyock, N.C., and three other companies would add to the bill, and to their profits.

So from my perspective the real villains of this piece are not Tom Powell, Justin "Shrek" McQuown or even Blackwater founder Eric Prince but "free market" fundamentalism and the privatization of essential governmental services, both of which skip hand-in-hand with Christian fundamentalism.

And let us ask, "What if the Blackwater mercenaries in Iraq that day had had a union and a union stewart and had filed a grevience against McQuown or Powell; or had refused the order on contractual grounds?"

Of course "free market" fundamentalism leaves no room for trade or labor unions. Moreover, every newly hired mercenary, as I understand from reading Scahill's book, is led to believe that he or she has signed an exclusive "personal" contract with Blackwater, though it is merely a company-wide standard agreement. In otherwords, Blackwater is playing their libertarian, free market fundamentalist mercenaries for chumps, true believers and Blackwater CEO Eric Prince is laughing all the way to the bank.

Blackwater, Prince and the mercenary industry in general is playing all us Americans for chumps, for according to a July 4, 2007 news story by LA Times reporter T. Christian Miller. Miller writes that as of that time there are 180,000 civilians, both American and foreign, under contract by the United States government in Iraq mostly engaged in traditional building trades, food service and truck driving duties. However, Miller continues

But there are also signs that even those mounting numbers may not capture the full picture. Private security contractors, who are hired to protect government officials and buildings, were not fully counted in the survey, according to industry and government officials.

The number of private security contractors in Iraq remains unclear, despite Central Command's latest census. The Times identified 21 security companies in the Central Command database, deploying 10,800 men.

However, the Defense Department's [Gary] Motsek, who monitors contractors, said the Pentagon estimated the total was 6,000.

Both figures are far below the private security industry's own estimate of about 30,000 private security contractors working for government agencies, nonprofit organizations, media outlets and businesses.

Don't kid yourself. These "private security contractors" are mercenaries, soldiers-for-hire, who receive the biggest chuck of their inflated salaries from the U.S. government either directly, as praetorians for the U.S. ambassador in Iraq and Afghanistan, or indirectly. Hardly anything "free market" about that arrangement.

Another Richard Viguerie update

The bullshit never ends:

Richard Viguerie: Liberals Cry Crocodile Tears on Libby

(Manassas, Virginia) The following is a statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of Conservative HQ.com and author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause, regarding the reaction of the news media to President Bush’s commutation of the prison sentence of Scooter Libby:

“Political liberals and their colleagues in the media have gone into orbit over President Bush’s commutation of Scooter Libby’s prison sentence and are shedding enormous amounts of crocodile tears.

“No one should be shocked by this outrage from the Left. Twenty-four/seven attacks on the commutation are all about the 2008 presidential election.

“This is an exact replay of President Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon in 1974. By a constant drumbeat of attacks on Ford for the Nixon pardon, they knew they would damage him politically in the 1976 presidential race. And of course, their plan worked perfectly.

“Everyone should be clear that the attacks on Bush and Libby are not about whether or not the prison sentence should have been commuted. This assault is an early artillery barrage to damage the Republicans and elect a Democratic president and Congress in 2008.”

This fuck is betting we forget that back in the spring of this year his panties were in a wad because Bush was "abusing" The Constitution.

They could have build their bicycle trails with this much money!

If the world can get any insaner, if that's really a word, the big business mokes pushing the tri-county local option sales tax, Yes to Destiny, are in the running for going from comparative insanity to the superlative.

'Destiny' supporters raise $455,000
By JEFF ECKHOFF
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

Supporters of the proposed "Yes to Destiny" sales tax increase have raised $455,000 over the past six months for a grand total of $770,000 since a political campaign was formed last year to pitch their proposal.

Campaign finance reports filed Thursday show Yes to Destiny has spent more than $402,052 since January to advocate a plan that would raise the Des Moines-area sales tax from 6 cents to 7 cents per dollar.
The Des Moines Register.com

One of the big selling points for this regressive tax scheme is the construction of more bicycle trails. There is little analysis on the Internet of the cost of constructing bicycle trails. The only one, and best, I can find on Google is a study posted April 2004 on the American Journal of Public Health's Web site, on bike and pedestrain trails in Linclon, NE. I'll post the abstract of the study:

We estimated the annual cost of bike and pedestrian trails in Lincoln, Neb, using construction and maintenance costs provided by the Department of Parks and Recreation of Nebraska. We obtained the number of users of 5 trails from a 1998 census report. The annual construction cost of each trail was calculated by using 3%, 5%, and 10% discount rates for a period of useful life of 10, 30, and 50 years. The average cost per mile and per user was calculated.

Trail length averaged 3.6 miles (range = 1.6–4.6 miles). Annual cost in 2002 dollars ranged from $25 762 to $248 479 (mean = $124 927; median = $171 064). The cost per mile ranged from $5735 to $54 017 (mean = $35 355; median = $37 994). The annual cost per user was $235 (range = $83–$592), whereas per capita annual medical cost of inactivity was $622.

Construction of trails fits a wide range of budgets and may be a viable health amenity for most communities. To increase trail cost-effectiveness, efforts to decrease cost and increase the number of users should be considered.

That $770,000 would go a long way to building and extending bicycle trails in central Iowa, even in 2007 dollars. But how did "our" civic leaders spend part of the money raised? Again The Des Moines Register:

"Yes to Destiny" supporters have spent more than $357,250 on consultants in the past six months, an amount that includes $194,511 to a California company that worked on a controversial election flier campaign.

Campaign finance documents made public this week show the Strategy Group, a Pasadena, Calif., direct-mail firm that has worked for such prominent Democratic politicians as Sen. Barak Obama, former President Bill Clinton, Sen. Tom Harkin and Rep. Leonard Boswell, will eventually earn $232,530 for its work on the sales tax campaign.

The lion's share of consulting fees goes to Polk County Democratic Party functionaries, though county Republicans get a tidy percentage also.

A Supreme Court decision that slipped under the radar

Here's a United States Supreme Court decision of greater import to every one in the United States than striking down an affirmative action law.

Manufacturers will have greater leeway to set minimum prices at the retail level without violating antitrust laws under a Thursday Supreme Court ruling that could hurt consumers and small merchants (emphasis added by me).

By allowing minimum price agreements, the court's 5-4 decision could lead to higher prices, dissenting justices said, as it becomes more difficult for smaller stores and Internet retailers to offer lower-priced goods.

The court said agreements on minimum prices are legal if they promote competition, meaning accusations of antitrust violations will be evaluated case by case.

In a 1991 decision, the Supreme Court had declared that minimum pricing agreements always violate federal antitrust law. But Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion that the principle that past decisions should be left alone "does not compel our continued adherence" in this instance.
Forbes.com

Kennedy added that "consumers," business code for two-legged, dullwitted cattle, will actually benefit because big retailers can now invest in more "customer service" without having to worry about being undercut by discout rivels. And the big retail chains will be adding more new and innovative products becuase they can recoup marketing costs faster by charging higher prices, he concluded.

Oddly enough, or maybe not so, one of the biggest winners in this decision is Wal Mart, founded on the philosopy of undercutting prices of its cheif rivels K-Mart and Permida (a discount retail chain I only saw in small Iowa towns and which now may be defunct.) The ruling protects large retail chains from competition from Internet discounters and small family-owned retailers.

So chalk up another victory for pbig business.

"Every good Christian should line up and kick Jerry Falwell's ass."*

Get out the puke bucket and the gas mask!It's time for an e-mail update from the King of Reactionary Direct Mailers, Richard Viguerie!

What was it about Jerry Falwell that, even after his death, drives liberals crazy?

Journalist Christopher Hitchens called the minister "a little toad" with "chubby little flanks" and called his ministry a "get rich quick scheme,” adding that Falwell may not have read the Bible: "I would doubt that be could actually read any long book…at all.” Said Hitchens: “I think it’s a pity there isn’t a Hell for him to go to.”

Alan Wolfe of Salon.com wrote: "One never wants to speak ill of the dead, but in the case of Jerry Falwell, how can one not?"

In the Calgary Sun, Kathleen Parker wrote: "Jerry Falwell's prosaic death has elevated speaking ill of the dead to the level of sacrament.”

Bill Maher, on his HBO program, remarked, regarding Falwell, that "Death is not always sad.”

Amanda Marcotte, John Edwards's former campaign blogger, wrote: "The gates of Hell swing open and Satan welcomes his beloved son.”

In the New York Times, columnist Frank Rich wrote, "Mr. Falwell was always on the wrong, intolerant side of history...Mr. Falwell had long been an embarrassment and laughingstock to many, including a new generation of Christian leaders."

Cathleen Faisani, religion writer for the Chicago Sun Times, wrote that "my initial reaction to the Rev. Falwell’s death was, and remains a relief…The Rev. Falwell was a spiritual bully. He was Tony Soprano."

During one report, CNN lingered for 15 seconds on a protester's sign that placed Falwell's face next to Hitler’s.

Beyond these gratuitous insults were statements in the mainstream media about Dr. Falwell’s legacy that showed a lack of understanding of Falwell, his followers, and the broader world of Christian conservatives.

One reporter or commentator after, another suggested that Dr. Falwell's power waned in the last 20 years. In fact, he simply changed his focus--from a short-term emphasis on direct political activity to a long-term emphasis or producing new leaders for America and the world.

The Falwell legacy includes:

Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, which Dr. Falwell founded in 1965. In 40 years, his 35-member congregation grew to 22,000.

"The Old Time Gospel Hour," the longest-continuously-running religious program on television

Liberty Channel, a satellite-cable network offering inspirational, family-friendly programming;

Liberty Godparent Foundation, helping unwed pregnant teenagers, babies, and adoptive families through a maternity home and an adoption agency.

Elim Home, providing a place of protection and care for men recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.

Liberty Counsel, with affiliate attorneys in all 50 states, providing free legal assistance on matters related to religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and the traditional family.

Liberty Christian Academy, an accredited institution with 1,000 students in pre-school through the 12th grade.

Liberty University, which is creating a new generation of religious-conservative leaders, with a current enrollment of 9,600 on-campus students and over 18,000 in off-campus distance learning programs. The Liberty University debate team has won national championships in all three intercollegiate debating associates for two consecutive years. The first class just graduated from Liberty University's law school.

Since Liberty University was founded in 1971, it has produced more than 190,000 graduates, including about 11,000 who have become pastors and are carrying on the ideas they learned from Dr. Falwell.

Over the next 10 years, Liberty University is on schedule to graduate over 200,000 conservative Christians who will be future leaders in ministries, the law, public policy, and politics. A school of engineering will start in the Fall and a medical school is in the works as well.

Before Jerry Falwell, most evangelical Protestants--if they were involved in politics at all--were Democrats. They made up Jimmy Carter’s base, without which he could never have been elected president.

But after Carter’s IRS falsely attacked Christian schools as segregation academies, and after Carter supported items on the left-wing agenda such as the so-called Equal Rights Amendment, Jerry Falwell helped bring millions of social and religious conservatives into politics on the side of Ronald Reagan and other political conservatives.

The Republican Party owed its 1994-2006 majority in Congress to the tens of millions of former Democrats who followed Jerry Falwell into the GOP.

At the same time, Dr. Falwell broke down ages-old barriers between conservative Protestants and Catholics, Mormons, Jews, and others.

Peter Applebome wrote in the New York Times that Falwell “helped pull off what had once seemed an impossible task: uniting religious conservatives from many faiths and doctrines by emphasizing what they had in common.”

NBC’s Tim Russert acknowledged that Falwell was able to “suggest that religious people, whether they be Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish, could come together on conservative issues and have real political influence.”

Zev Chafets, who has written extensively about the relationship between evangelicals and Jews, wrote in the Los Angeles Times that “American Jews who now take evangelical friendship for granted need to know that it is, to a large extent, a grant from Jerry Falwell.”

A man, beloved by almost everyone who knew him, overcame ages-old divisions and brought millions together in a cause that changed the course of history. Dr. Falwell’s legacy will continue to be felt in our nation for decades to come.

Here's what makes Vigerie such a bullshitter. A real American conservative like *Berry Goldwater stood for keeping religion out of politics. Vigerie, on the other hand, welcomes religion in politics.

Update on "Atheist & Marine" "joke"

Older Music Geek's Stupid Stuff has posted the "orginal" version of the "joke" I posted Sunday, "The Atheist and The Marine." He says he got both from me, but I only claim the 2007 version.

Nazis laugh at the funniest things!

Received in my e-mail Inbox this morning:

THE ATHEIST AND THE MARINE

( God this doesn't get any better)


A United States Marine was attending some college courses between assignments. He had completed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the courses had a professor who was a vowed atheist and a member of the ACLU.

One day the professor shocked the class when he came in. He looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, "God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you exactly 15 minutes."

The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop. Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, "Here I am God. I'm still waiting." It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his Chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him; knocking him off the platform. The professor was out cold.

The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently. The other students were shocked and stunned and sat there looking on in silence. The professor eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, "What the hell is the matter with you? Why did you do that?" The Marine calmly replied, "God was too busy today protecting America 's soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid shit and act like an asshole. So, He sent me."

I fail to find anything humorous in this "joke." But it does illustrate the mindset of the right wing, a violent, militarist mindset.

I suppose I shouldn't have used "Nazi" in my title, as it is a loaded word, but I can also well imagine the same "joke" being told in Germany, c. 1936 or so. Instead of a marine substitute your run-of-the-mill Heer soldat and substitute the punchline with something like:"The Fuhrer was too busy today protecting Germany from Jewish criminals so you can say stupid shit and act like an asshole. So, I acted in the name of Hitler! Sieg heil!!" Ha, ha, ha. Funny stuff, that.

Perhaps the "joke" is a response to piece posted earlier this month at NewsMutiny.com, a little known Internet humor site with some of the most biting satire on the Web. Let quote some of I'd Like to Thank the Troops for Fighting for My Freedom to Say Incredibly Stupid Shit by the fictional George Powers:

Which is why I'd like to thank the troops for fighting for my freedom to say such incredibly stupid shit. Because, naturally, if it weren't for the thousands of American soldiers who've been killed or injured in the civil war triggered by the toppling of Saddam Hussein's government four years ago, I wouldn't be able to go around shooting my mouth off about all the dumb crap that creeps into my head whenever and wherever I want to. The terrorists would have taken over and shredded the Constitution by now, severely impairing my capacity to get people to notice me by aggravating the fuck out of them by regurgitating with impunity the kind of mindless drivel I just got through spewing.

Now, lest you should get the wrong impression, I'm not some communist pussy who professes unconditional support for the freedom of speech, because how controversial would that be? On the contrary, just the other day I posted a message in an internet discussion forum saying people who openly oppose the Bush administration should be shaved bald and put into work camps weaving their former hair into wigs for more patriotic Americans who've been afflicted with cancer or male pattern baldness. You should've seen how many responses I got for that one. I believe it was some kind of site record.

Of course, the scope of the kind of expression I hold the troops in gratitude for protecting from the sinister machinations of the evil-doers is not limited to the incredibly stupid spoken word alone. Rather, thanks to those soldiers' brave sacrifice, I can still wear an attention grabbing t-shirt that reads "Stop Your Global Whining!" around town or put a huge homemade poster of Barack Obama in a turbin with a talk balloon that says "I'm a fag" on my garage.

Well, that last one I ended up having to take down after the home owner's association got wind of it, but that's okay. After all, authority should be obeyed, and I could move out of the neighborhood if I don't like it. Much the same way all these pro-terrorist liberals should stop flapping their gums about the Patriot Act and saving the trees and go move to China if they don't like freedom anymore.

Funny stuff, that. And a tid bit too close to reality for comfort but that is the mark of truly good satire.

Mother & cancer victim, 42, ready to ship out to Iraq

From the way the BuzzFlash.com headline read--Worthy of Monty Python, Except This is the Real Tragedy Bush Has Brought Us: GI to serve in Iraq after cancer battle. "The 42-year-old mother of two from Los Angeles is again poised for duty after an aggressive treatment plan — including a May 22 lumpectomy, a second surgery a week later and a five-day targeted radiation treatment."--I was going to feel sorry for this woman. But then I read the body of the Yahoo.com AP news story:

Staff Sgt. Elizabeth Cowie's mission — and dream — of serving in Iraq almost ended before it began when tests on a tumor confirmed the worst: She had breast cancer.

The commander said, 'Are you sure? You have an opportunity to go home and be with your family and go through this.' And I said, 'No, I have a family here. I have my civilian family, but this is where I need to be and where I'm needed,'" Cowie said.
Soldiers with a history of cancer who need monitoring every six months or less should not deploy, according to Army guidelines. But they can still deploy depending upon the soldier's condition, input from doctors and commanding officers, and conditions where the soldier is assigned.

Cowie qualified because she decided to forgo a potentially six-week radiation treatment and instead use a concentrated therapy, MammoSite. The procedure implants an angioplasty-like balloon that kills lingering cancer cells with radiation while sparing healthy tissue.

O.K., so sue me. But how can you feel human compassion for some one who willfully walks into harms way for an unjust cause? How can you feel human compassion for someone willingly accepting the role of cannon fodder for a morally bankrupt government and political system? How can you feel human compassion for a person who volunteers to oppress the rights of people half-a-world away who have done her no wrong?

WTF???

I received this rather odd picture in my e-mail this morning, accompanied by a request.

Forward this message the same day you received it. It may sound ridiculous, but it is right on time. We believe that something is about to happen. Angels exist, only sometimes they haven't got wings and we call them friends; you are one of them. Something wonderful is about to happen to you and your friends. Tomorrow at __9:12AM___ somebody will address you and tell you something you have been waiting to hear. Please do not break this chain. Send it to at least 7 of your friends.

I can't forward this. First of all I don't have seven friends, so I'm breakin' the chain. Also, I find the picture just the slightest bit disturbing. I mean what's with the sword. Is the "angel" with the sword about to decapitate the praying "angel." I wonder if the "artist" rended this work with a pun on "pray" and "prey" in mind. After all, the kneeling "praying" angel certainly appears to be "prey" for the angel looming up behind, sword in hand.

I always thought guardian angels were more of the Hansel and Gretel variety. Or
on the order of this Nineteenth Century drawing of a newly emancipated
black man, shooing away flies away while a genteel white lady dines. This picture, we are told, was executed in 1876 by one James Wells Champney and simply titled The guardian angel--Eagle Hotel, Asheville .

But I suppose it's a sign of the times that a "guardian angel," as comely as she may appear, would be armed and prepared for action, dealing out mayhem and death when the need arises. I can well imagine a young christian mother whispering softly, as she tucks her darling children into bed, "Sleep tight, little ones. Your guardian angel, with her razor sharp sword will protect you from terrorists and liberals."

About this, I hate being right

I can't begin to remember how many times over the past four years I've said or written that the United States will never leave Iraq until and unless either one of two events happen: Either a battlefield defeat of American forces in detail, meaning high U.S. casualties followed by a mass surrender, and considering the weapons and training of the Iraqi "insurgents," whoever they may be at any given time, a high unlikely scenario; or a general mutiny of all, or at the very least a sizable majority, army and marine units now in Iraq.

So this morning BuzzFlash.com starts the day off with this headline:

Surprise! The "Surge" Was Just an Excuse to Increase Long-Term Troop Levels in Iraq! Dang, You Could Have Fooled Us! "Conditions in Iraq will not improve sufficiently by September to justify a drawdown of U.S. military forces, the top commander in Iraq said yesterday." Commitment to Last For Years, Petraeus Claims.

Which links us to a news story out of the Washington Post.com that says:

Conditions in Iraq will not improve sufficiently by September to justify a drawdown of U.S. military forces, the top commander in Iraq said yesterday.

Asked whether he thought the job assigned to an additional 30,000 troops deployed as the centerpiece of President Bush's new war strategy would be completed by then, Gen. David H. Petraeus replied: "I do not, no. I think that we have a lot of heavy lifting to do."

Asserting steady, albeit slow, military and political progress, Petraeus said that the "many, many challenges" would not be resolved "in a year or even two years." Similar counterinsurgency operations, he said, citing Britain's experience in Northern Ireland, "have gone at least nine or 10 years." He said he and Crocker would make "some recommendations on the way ahead" to Congress, and that it was realistic to assume "some form of long-term security arrangement" with Iraq.

Why am I not surprized. What with 14 permanant bases being constructed at this very minute in Iraq. With the Democratic failure to even send a stripped-down war funding bill to the White House with a timeline for withdrawal last month. With Cindy Sheehan resigning as the public face of domestic resistance to the Iraq occupation. Nope, the country's stuck in Iraq for at least the next ten years. And that's about the only truth in General Petraeus' remarkds.

There is another reason that the United States will not get out of Iraq anytime soon.

Take for example the poor slub seen here, 34-year-old Army Pfc Michale Pittman of Davenport Iowa.

The Des Moines Register story implies, Pittman enlisted rather late in life out of economic necessity, "Pittman attended Rock Island High School and worked as a painter before joining the Army." Apparently the poor deluded bastard was also one of these *quote-unquote* Christians who is out to prepare the world for christ's second coming, convert heathens and kill infidels.

Mr. Pittman's mother, co-pastor of some bible-thumping church or other in Moline, Il, is quoted in Sunday's Quad Cities Times.com

“I thought it was going to happen to anybody’s son, not Michael,” Sandra Hughes said Saturday night when asked whether she worried about this day coming. “I put him in God’s hands and I prayed. I don’t understand it. But you don’t question God. God works out everything for good for those who love him, and I know Michael is in heaven.”

Awww,how charitable of Mrs. Hughes, thinking, hoping that god might not visit a grusome, pointless death upon her Michael. But now he's a christian martyr up in Jesus's heaven waging war on those terrible Muslim martyrs from Muhammand's heaven. Just fuck all of them.

LTE: June 14, 2007

Besides the fact that the local option sales tax proposed by Project Destiny is regressive (meaning, for those of you who don't know, than even small purchases by children will be subsidizing Principal's property tax), the one-third earmarked for "cultural attractions" smells of corruption and cronyism even before it gets out of the gate. Look at the track record of another unelected, not-accountable-to-the-voters area-wide board, CIETC; imagine the cesspool another such board will be, overseeing who gets what and how much for the tri-counties' so-called "cultural attractions."

For instance, if pro-sales tax leaders are so clearly concerned about new, and expanding existing, bicycle trails, a "cultural attreaction" by their accounts, why didn't they simply take the $177,500 donated by the five top corporate contributors to Yes To Destiny and use it toward the purpose?

If yes To Destiny wants my vote, and as of this time it is firmly in the NO column, then it will drop all talk of one-third of total sales tax receipts going to "regional and/or cultural attractions."

I'm no philistine but, sorry, bicycle trails and waterparks ain't gonna cut it with me.

If Project Destiny wants to pitch a project I can endorse, then start talking about construction of a high-speed light rail system connecting all the major urban ares of the tri-county area. I mean with no end in sight to rising gasoline prices and no political will to stop urban sprawl, high-speed light rail would be a better utilization of revenue collected.

Yep, "illegal" immigration will never go away

If anyone needed more proof that the right wing is fashioning "illegal" immigration into '08's "abortion," one need go no further than that old deceiver Richard Viguerie's lattest email missive:

(Manassas, Virginia) Richard A. Viguerie, co-author of America’s Right Turn--How Conservatives Used New and Alternative Media to Take Power (Bonus Books, 2004), celebrated the defeat of the cloture motion in the Senate on the Amnesty Bill and attributed it to conservative New and Alternative Media and grassroots efforts to overcome the pressure from the White House and the Left.

Viguerie said conservatives using blogs, e-mail messages, websites, radio talk shows, cable TV, and direct mail were able to bypass the Left’s near monopoly of old media.

“Ordinary citizens were able to have their voices clearly heard in Washington, D.C., something that wouldn’t have happened a few decades ago,” he said.

“I dare say that for the last week, every blog and radio talk show in the nation was buzzing about this legislation. The opposition to President Bush’s amnesty program for illegal aliens was very intense. Even Senators who are normally isolated from public opinion felt the heat,” Viguerie said.

Viguerie, like Lenin, whips up a small, hardcore cadre of neoKnow-Nothings, nativists and just plain, old fashioned racial bigots into jamming Congressional telephone switchboards and e-mails into opposing the McCain-Kennedy immigration reform bill.

The current situation, as bad as it is, benefits the business community too much. There will never be a solution to "illegal" immigration, no fences built on the border, no amnesty or deportation.

Why does the Register even print this stuff

Grassley, King to Bush: Enforce immigration laws
JANE NORMAN
REGISTER WASHINGTON BUREAU


June 12, 2007
Washington, D.C. — Two Iowa Republicans called on President Bush today to
enforce current immigration laws, as the president traveled to the Capitol to plead with Senate Republicans to accept an immigration overhaul that he backs.

Both Sen. Charles Grassley and Rep. Steve King remained opposed to bipartisan legislation pushed by the Bush administration, amid a widening split in the GOP over the volatile immigration issue.

Grassley today with eight other Republican senators sent a letter to the president telling him to enforce border security laws already approved by Congress, whether or not Congress approves legislation.

"Thousands cross our southern border every night, in violation of American law, and President Bush's answer is to try and change that law," said King. "Instead of empty promises and self-destructive amnesty, I call on the president to enforce our rule of law."
The Des Moines Register

I was going to send'em a letter but what's the point. Grassley's in the corporationist's corner and King trawls racist sewers for votes. That, my friends, pretty much sums up the core of today's Republican Party.

Oh, yes, and one more thing, nothing will be done about "illegal" immigration this year, next year or in the foreseeable future.

Of Paris Hilton and George W. Bush

Thanks to BuzzFlash.com for linking to a excellent essay by A. Alexander at The Progressive Daily Beacon.com, America's Lords and Masters: The Trust-Fund Babies.

Neither Paris Hilton nor George W. Bush has any clue whatsoever what life is like for the average person. And, don't think for a moment these mollycoddled brats give a damn either.

Is it really any wonder America has come so completely undone, so quickly? The very first time someone actually dared to hold Paris Hilton to account and she dissolved into a tearful, bed-wetting temper tantrum. And, George W. Bush is no better. Whenever Congress or a reporter makes an attempt at holding him to account for his many failures, the man's demeanor changes completely...and he pitches a little two-year-old-like temper tantrum.

Everyday and in everyway every working-class American stares down more pressure and trouble than Paris Hilton could ever dream of facing for one second in her meaningless, filled-to-the-brim with everything and yet, completely empty life.

The American aristocracy: the parasites living within the intestines of America's democracy, sucking it dry of all its vital life forces. They are America's would-be-rulers-by-birthright --- the trust-fund Lords and Masters(emphasis added.)

The further shores.......

Alexander Cockburn, the oh, so anti-capitalist editor-in-chief of Counterpunch, of is at it again, going the full-tilt bozo contrarian route to dismiss the currently accepted view of humanities' impact on global warming.

Take his latest opus Sources and Authorities
Dissidents Against Dogma. Writes The Nation's editors, home of Cockburn's "Beat the Devil" feature, where this column had it genesis:"In contrast, many of Cockburn's most contentious assertions in his recent columns came from unpublished papers." Cockburn also quotes such global warming deneiers as Zbigniew Jaworowski and Dr. Habibullo Abdussamatov (sic.).

Of course, Cockburn makes his case by telling one and all that his fulmination is aimed squarely at the nuclear power industry, whose dastardly deeds he will manfully thwart all on his own if need be.

Which leads me to wonder if Cockburn owns stock options with the wind turbine power companies, oil & gas or both?

New Arkansas GOP Chair:"all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001]"

A Fruedian slip? Or does newly promoted Arkansas Republican State Party Chairman Dennis Milligan know something?

“At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001 ], and the naysayers will come around very quickly to appreciate not only the commitment for President Bush, but the sacrifice that has been made by men and women to protect this country,”
NWANews.com

It's a stupid statement, to be sure, but is there more than meets the eye?

The sicks get sicker

I think the news story posted by the Turkish Weekly.net is a tad bit alarmist, it says:

WASHINGTON — In an era enveloped in large-scale violence and militarism, one of the fastest growing American companies is marketing a controversial product line designed for young children that combines military paraphernalia with the Christian faith.

The majority of the 31 items in the "Soldier of God" product line are decorated with military camouflage colors.

The products are stamped with crosses or crusader crests, as well as the slogan "Soldier of God" amidst stars and stripes.

So I click into the Oriental Trading Company's Web site and found this:

"What Would Jesus Do?" Dog Tag Necklaces. Be a soldier in God's army! Spirit-filled kids love wearing these "What Would Jesus Do?" dog tag necklaces! Tuck them in treat bags at V.B.S. parties and buy extras for your child to share with friends at church camps! Each 2" metal dog tag is on a 24" chain and has a special symbol of faith! © OTC

And this:

Religious Dog Tag Necklaces.
Show your faith with this military-inspired dog tag jewelry. Featuring a painted cross and a spiritual saying, these colorful pendants are the perfect gift for God's soldiers and V.B.S. students! Each 2" printed metal dog tag has a 24" silvertone chain.

Not quite the bloodthirsty, death-to-infidels crap Turkish Weekly.net would lead one to believe but disturbing enough. I didn't find any Bible-thumping G.I. Joe dolls or camo wearing, gun-toting Barbie action figures, though if a buck can be made I'm sure these will soon follow.

Retired British General:'We can't win, so pull troops out of Iraq'

There are signs of intelligent life forms on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

General Sir Michael Rose, a former commander of the UN peace force in Bosnia during the 1990s, said the American and British forces in Iraq were in an impossible situation.

"There is no way we are going to win the war and [we should] withdraw and accept defeat because we are going to lose on a more important level if we don't," he said.

While accepting the allied forces couldn't just "cut and run", Sir Michael said announcing a date for withdrawal would quell widespread fighting between the Sunnis, Shias and Kurds.
Scotsman.com

This contrasts nicely with the moronic blathering of presidential candidate John McCain, who said in an appearance at a Des Moines insurance company yesterday:

Most Americans should accept a long-term United States military presence in Iraq as long as the number of U.S. casualties can drop to almost nothing, Sen. John McCain said Friday.

"The key to this issue is not American presence, but American casualties," he told a standing-room-only crowd of about 250 employees at Nationwide Insurance's offices.

"We have had troops in South Korea for 60 years and nobody minds," McCain said. "If you stay a long, long time, but have the Iraqis doing the fighting, and your people are back in the bases and away from the firing line, I think Americans would be satisfied."
The Des Moines Register.com