MD GOP Wimps Out

11:03 pm EST March 31st, 2006 | Democrats | 3 Comments

Looks like they’re all the same around the country

Republicans in the Maryland Senate unplugged their computers, picked up their belongings and marched out of the chamber yesterday afternoon in protest of a frantic push by Democrats to pass a stack of hotly contested bills.

Infuriated members strode up the marble State House staircase to the offices of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), who applauded them for the rare walkout and declared that four years of “monopoly frustration has come to a head.”

The display came on the most tense day of the 2006 General Assembly session, with just 90 minutes remaining for Democrats to get legislation to the governor’s desk and still leave time for a future override vote, should Ehrlich choose to veto the bills.

Reason 3,236 Why I Don’t Go Off Half-Cocked Like Right Wing Bloggers

8:03 pm EST March 31st, 2006 | News | 12 Comments

Yesterday they were ready to string her up as a jihadist. Wonder if they’ll do what they always do and issue a “nevermind”?

Jill Carroll forced to make propaganda video as price of freedom

The night before journalist Jill Carroll’s release, her captors said they had one final demand as the price of her freedom: She would have to make a video praising her captors and attacking the United States, according to Jim Carroll.

In a long phone conversation with his daughter on Friday, Mr. Carroll says that Jill was “under her captor’s control.”

Ms. Carroll had been their captive for three months and even the smallest details of her life – what she ate and when, what she wore, when she could speak – were at her captors’ whim. They had murdered her friend and colleague Allan Enwiya, “she had been taught to fear them,” he says. And before making one last video the day before her release, she was told that they had already killed another American hostage.

The 101st Fighting Keyboarders always know best, right?

UPDATE: Can you believe the hubris of these chuckleheads? Captain’s Quarters says that this explanation is “Good Enough” for him. As if what him and the other members of the 101st think should be of any consequence to Ms. Carroll and her family.

Topic: Iraq

FYI

6:03 pm EST March 31st, 2006 | Republicans | 17 Comments

You don’t see posts from Ian Schwartz aka “The Political Teen” aka “Expose The Left” aka “Fire David Gregory” on my site anymore because this is the sort of content Ian considers worthy discourse:

“big black fatty”

Ian is free to spew his own infantile bigotry on his blog and other right-wing blogs, but not here.

We’re Losing Our Culture!

5:03 pm EST March 31st, 2006 | Politics | 42 Comments

God knows what would happen if we allow outside cultures to become a part of America.

MD Polling

10:03 am EST March 31st, 2006 | Politics | Comments Off

WSJ/Zogby’s latest has Steele losing to both Cardin & Mfume, while Ehrlich is also losing to Martin O’Malley… While the Congress may end ’06 essentially unchanged there’s a distinct possibility (and one I feel better about) that we may flip to a majority of Democratic governors in America…

Blue State Progress vs. Red State Regression

4:03 am EST March 31st, 2006 | News | 41 Comments

The Times has an editorial about stem cell research leading with the recent passage in Maryland of funds for stem cell research that Gov. Ehrlich reluctantly signed to the chagrin of his right-wing base. I got my local delegates on the record as supporting the issue via email. One thing I noted about the pro-progress pro-stem cell research states to date: Maryland, California, New Jersey and Connecticut are all solid blue.

On the other hand, South Dakota, solid red, has banned stem cell research.

They choose the dark ages. We choose progress.

Topic: Maryland

Is It OK Now To Just Hate Hispanics?

4:03 am EST March 31st, 2006 | Politics | 64 Comments

I’m watching the top segment on O’Reilly and he’s talking with one of these fellows from Heritage Foundation, and it’s literally a straight up “Hispanics are like this” and “they” won’t be like “mainstream America”, etc (in other words, like Frank, they’re lamenting the Threat of A Brown America).

Seriously? This is what the immigration issue is now? We just decided that there’s just too many of “them” in America and as O’Reilly says “there’s going to be hell to pay”?

People. This is crazy. Not just standard issue Republican craziness, but crazy.

I know this b******t sells books for Michelle Malkin and her ilk, but this is straight up un-American talk.

Statement RE: Anna Benson’s Divorce

2:03 am EST March 31st, 2006 | Uncategorized | 11 Comments

(Takoma Park, MD) — I understand the news of Anna Benson’s filing for divorce with her husband Kris Benson has sent shockwaves through the sports and entertainment world, and while I thought it would be best to allow Anna and Kris to deal with the issue on their own, I, Oliver Willis, felt that I had to address the rampant innuendo and gossip.

What you have been thinking is true. It’s no coincidence that the end of Anna Benson’s marriage has occured mere months after the couple moved to the Baltimore area. One weekend I went to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and happened to run into Mrs. Benson at Senor Chucky’s House of Crabs. It was love at first sight. On paper the combination of a foul mouthed stripper baseball wife and a bombthrowing liberal would not seem to click.

But love – true love – is funny that way.

All that I ask is that you give Anna and I our privacy during this time of need. Color photographs provided upon request.

Oliver Willis

###

Topic: Humor

Hillary’s Jamaica Connection

1:03 am EST March 31st, 2006 | Politics | 11 Comments

So my mother calls me up on Thursday, and she’s excited. Why?

Veteran politician Portia Simpson Miller was sworn in as prime minister of Jamaica on Thursday, becoming the first woman to lead the Caribbean island s government.

“A little girl from rural Jamaica has become prime minister; a true manifestation of a Jamaican dream,” Simpson Miller told a crowd of about 6,000 people on hand for her swearing-in ceremony.

Her remarks came during a lavish ceremony at King s House, the home of Jamaica s governor general, where she referred to some of the problems, including violent crime and poverty, afflicting her country of about 2.7 million people.

“We all have a responsibility to lift up the poor and the downtrodden,” she said.

Not only did my mom’s party, The People’s National Party, retain power (for almost 20 straight years at this point) but now Jamaica – a nation known for its very machismo culture (by comparison we American men are a bunch of wussies with our women) – has a woman as its leader.

Needless to say, Paulette Willis was feeling the girl power big time. I believe her exact words were “We rule things now”. Our conversation continued and I brought up of course the fact that in all likelihood Hillary Clinton is going to run for president. She knew this already, but with the euphoria she was feeling today I think my beloved mother became drunk with power.

“I can’t vote for her, but if she decides to run for president I’m going to come up there and do all that I can for her.”

Because now, women “run tings” in Jamaica, and if Hillary is President, simply by virtue of America’s place in the world… women will run the planet.

My mother is someone I’ve known literally since before I was born. She’s not the type who indulges in idle chatter (unlike her son). If she says it, she’s going to do it.

Be afraid, America. The women are coming.

Bush-Steele Bringing Culture Of Corruption To Maryland

7:03 pm EST March 30th, 2006 | Uncategorized | 13 Comments

This is the sort of shady government we can expect to tar the state of Maryland if we make the mistake of electing Michael Steele to the U.S. Senate. The latest addition to his woefully disorganized campaign is Doug Heye, also known as a frequent skybox guest of Republican lobbyist and convicted crook Jack Abramoff. You’ve got to wonder, how many other of Abramoff’s dirty pals Steele will infect Maryland with?

That’s not a chance we should take.

>> Cardin Calls for Tough Ethics Reforms

Topic: 2006 Election