Published February 28, 2006
in Politics.
South Dakota’s new anti-choice law says:
No person may knowingly administer to, prescribe for, or procure for, or sell to any pregnant woman any medicine, drug, or other substance with the specific intent of causing or abetting the termination of the life of an unborn human being. No person may knowingly use or employ any instrument or procedure upon a pregnant woman with the specific intent of causing or abetting the termination of the life of an unborn human being.
Any violation of this section is a Class 5 felony.
A Class 5 felony in South Dakota is “five years imprisonment in the state penitentiary”.
George Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney all agree with this provision.
They all believe that a medical professional should be put in prison for up to five years for in any way dispensing health care to a woman if it relates to an abortion.
Let’s ask America what they think about that.
Polling shows that the vast majority of Americans, while they support certain restrictions on abortion (as I personally do), believe the procedure should be available and that we don’t throw doctors in jail for providing health care.
Digg This!
Like lemmings over the cliff, the conservative media continues to return to their previous strategy of marching in lockstep with the Bush team. (the current argument is that if terrorists have access to only 3% of our ports, its no big deal)
Digg This!
Published February 28, 2006
in Politics.
Conservative cultists like to set up a fake frame for reporting on the Iraq war. The media is only supposed to report on positive developments, even when the negative far outweighs the positive. To do otherwise is to demonstrate “bias”. The media is also supposed to take the administration’s interpretation of reality as gospel, throwing out any other viewpoints or independent observable facts that betray the Republican version of “the truth”. In many ways modern conservatism has come to resemble the moral ambiguity they claimed for so many years to be the prevailing mindset of the left.
The mindset is clearly on display here in Rich Lowry’s “assesment” of Iraq at the moment:
The civil war that has been averted would be a catastrophe on all levels. It would be a political catastrophe for the Bush administration. If it happened before November, Republicans would lose Congress, and Bush’s presidency would be effectively over. It would be a humanitarian catastrophe.
Leave aside for a moment the fact that the current wave violence is not over (and in fact, the fighting has never been over, it’s just that the intensity of the non-stop violence has increased in the last week), but look at the prioritization Lowry places on the mess in Iraq.
1) OMG THIS COULD BE BAD FOR REPUBLICANS AND THE PRESIDENT IN THE FALL ELECTIONS
2) Oh, and some Iraqis might get killed too.
This is what happens when conservatives believe their own nonsense, and exhibit a moral decay that puts the lives of people secondary to political pursuits, because the facts refuse to play along with the story line that has been written. It’s not a good look.
Digg This!
Published February 28, 2006
in Iraq.
I’m not sure when you cross the threshold, but this sure sounds like a war of some sort - civil or otherwise
Grisly attacks and other sectarian violence unleashed by last week’s bombing of a Shiite shrine have killed more than 1,300 Iraqis, making the past few days the deadliest of the war outside of major U.S. offensives, according to Baghdad’s main morgue. The toll was more than three times higher than the figure previously reported by the U.S. military and the news media.
Digg This!
Published February 27, 2006
in Politics.
Bush Ratings At All-Time Low
The latest CBS News poll finds President Bush’s approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 34 percent, while pessimism about the Iraq war has risen to a new high.
Americans are also overwhelmingly opposed to the Bush-backed deal giving a Dubai-owned company operational control over six major U.S. ports. Seven in 10 Americans, including 58 percent of Republicans, say they’re opposed to the agreement.
Coast Guard Has Port Co. Intel Gaps
Citing broad gaps in U.S. intelligence, the Coast Guard cautioned the Bush administration weeks ago that it could not determine whether a United Arab Emirates-based company seeking a stake in some U.S. port operations might support terrorist operations.
Menendez, Clinton Introduce Bill to Ban Foreign Government Control of U.S. Ports
United States Senators Robert Menendez and Hillary Rodham Clinton, joined by Senators Frank R. Lautenberg, Barbara Boxer and Bill Nelson, today introduced legislation to ban companies owned by foreign governments from controlling operations at U.S. ports. The bill would block the pending sale of U.S. port operations to Dubai Ports World, a company owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates.
…
Lawmakers from all parts of the country and of every political stripe called on President Bush to reverse course on this deal to outsource control of our ports to a foreign government, Menendez said. Instead he chose stall tactics that only mask his administration s plan to move full speed ahead with this sale. Since the president won t act to keep our ports safe, we will.
Time to get an up or down vote on securing America.
Digg This!
Published February 27, 2006
in Comics.
I’m glad I’m not alone in my feelings about the love piled on comic artist Chris Ware. Then again, I think J. Scott Campbell, Jim Lee, and John Byrne are among the best illustrators of all time.
Digg This!
Our Republican governor Bob Ehrlich must have gotten a call from the mothershipt today
Speaking with reporters today, the Republican governor not only reiterated that he was coming around to Bush’s view on the sale of port operations in Baltimore and elsewhere to a Dubai firm, but he offered his unequivocal support for the president’s domestic eavesdropping program.
“I wholeheatedly support the President as regard to domestic surveillance,” he said. “I want to know what the bad guys are saying in wartime.”
Asked if he believes the President was on firm legal ground to approve the eavesdropping without first going to court, Ehrlich, a lawyer, said: “Absolutely. I do.”
Like his Lt. Governor, Bob Ehrlich is out of touch with average Marylanders. He’s too far to the right for Maryland, and that’s why he should lose in November.
Digg This!
My mother, who is very active in Jamaican politics, was quite excited this weekend as Jamaica now has its first female prime minister…
Digg This!
Well, I’m glad someone had the stomach to watch this week’s edition of Meet the Press, because it was frankly beyond ludicrous for a major public affairs program like MTP to blatantly exclude any sort of Democrat from their show (by God, even Joe Lieberman would have been an improvement over the Elephantfest). Even the old Soviet Union would have pretended a little better than that. Who knew GE would make Stalin seem like such a champion of media balance.
Digg This!
Published February 26, 2006
in Politics.
Dr. Hans Keirstead is working on stem cell research that could save people’s lives and possibly aid those with massive damage to their systems. It is a blight on our society that his type of research is being stymied. 60 Minutes did a story on the issue Sunday, and here Dr. Keirstead takes head-on the conservative perversion of ethics that is hurting people:
And here is one of the best graphical depictions of what stem cells could hold for mankind:
>> Embryonic Stem Cells And The Wounded Warrior
>> Stem Cell Research Budget Approved In Maryland
>> Stem-cell stance divides GOP
Digg This!
More news about the Republicans favorite nation to open up our ports to comes in
Al Qaeda warned the government of the United Arab Emirates more than three years ago that it “infiltrated” key government agencies, according to a disturbing document released by the U.S. military.
The warning was contained in a June 2002 message to UAE rulers, in which the terror network demanded the release of an unknown number of “mujahedeen detainees,” who it said had been arrested during a government crackdown in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
This information comes from the notoriously left wing NY Post and its far-left benefactor, Rupert Murdoch.
>> Republicans Opposing Dubai Deal Have Long Opposed Efforts To Secure America’s Ports
Digg This!
Published February 25, 2006
in TV.
This man is a bonafide comedy legend
Don Knotts, the skinny, lovable nerd who kept generations of television audiences laughing as bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show, has died. He was 81.
Whether he was playing Barney Fife or Mr. Furley, Don Knotts has always been one of the funniest actors I’ve ever seen.
Digg This!
Sometimes in the world of politics, you describe things in terms that are way too complex because you want to place them in a proper historical context. Right now I would like to use one simple word to describe something I just read: crazy.
Ladies and gentleman, Guy Randall Adams, writing on Alan Keyes’ Renewamerica about the “Secularization of America”.
Logic and common sense has all but disappeared in America in some circles. For example, homosexuality is not “gay.” There’s nothing ‘gay’ about it. It is a lifestyle of misery, loneliness and extraordinarily high medical risk. All of nature tells us it is wrong. God is not schizophrenic. If you believe in God, you’d agree that it’s impossible to believe that God made a mistake. Otherwise He’s imperfect, and at the worst, a liar. How can God call homosexuality an abomination and order us not to engage in it and then turn around and create a small group of people who can do nothing but engage in it? If you’re an evolutionist, the continuation of the species doctrine proves that Bruce cannot, and should not, mate with Steve. Consider that over thirty years ago America was able to get two spacecraft, each going approximately 17,000 miles per hour, to dock perfectly in space using technologically male and female engineering, yet we can’t seem to see that God did not intend male-to-male docking, so to speak. If it doesn’t fit, you must quit.
It gets more deranged from there. But the question I want to ask is - how can we get more Republicans to admit their true feelings like “Guy” does here?
Digg This!
Published February 25, 2006
in Politics.
When people have been in a cult for a significant portion of their lives, breaking away is not the easiest thing to do. If they stray off the reservation for a while, there are often lingering feelings of doubt as they miss the structure that life in the cult gave them. In other words, the Republicans are coming home to Bush on the Dubai Ports issue. Glenn Reynolds is issuing rallying cries in the WSJ, the Blogs for Bushies are making batches of Kool-Aid, and the Wizbang crew is now saying this was a diabolical plot by the Democrats.
The cultists are home!
But here’s the problem, the right-wing media - at least in the blogs and political journals (National Review, Weekly Standard), we’ll see if the cult homing signal reaches Newsmax, WorldNetDaily, talk radio (Rush is already with Bush) and Fox News - is out of touch with their own base. For maybe the first time in 6 years the Republican base position on a national security issue is on the same side as Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer.
This is a fight we need to have. For a long time the administration has talked tough on homeland security as their budgets have undercut it. And now, the most vulnerable element of our homeland security, our ports, is being handed over by the Republican party to a government-owned entity with disturbing ties to Al Qaeda terrorism.
Senator Clinton and Menendez say they plan to offer a bill to stop this sort of power grab of our ports by foreign entities. That bill must come to a vote, and if it doesn’t Democrats must demand an “up or down vote on securing America’s ports” and remind the voters which party - the Republicans - is obstructing the passage of such legislation.
It’s also a local fight that Democrats are and must engage in. In New Jersey Gov. Corzine is ordering lawsuits and a review of the issue, while here in Maryland GOP governor Ehrlich has flip-flopped on the ports issue (he was sort of against it, now he’s neutral, who knows what his stance will be tomorrow) while his opponent Martin O’Malley is rallying signatures (currently 1,600 Marylanders) to stop the deal.
My philosophy has always been that Democrats should do what’s right, but when you’ve got so many people who agree with you it should be extra incentive to gun the engines.
Digg This!
Published February 25, 2006
in Politics.
No Iraqi battalion capable of fighting without U.S. support
The only Iraqi battalion capable of fighting without U.S. support has been downgraded to a level requiring them to fight with American troops backing them up, the Pentagon said Friday.
The battalion, made up of 700 to 800 Iraqi Army soldiers, has repeatedly been offered by the U.S. as an example of the growing independence of the Iraqi military.
The competence of the Iraqi military has been cited as a key factor in when U.S. troops will be able to return home.
So far in the month of February, 46 Americans have been killed in Iraq. What the hell are we doing there?
Digg This!
Published February 25, 2006
in Politics.
As usual, the administration’s story is being defeated by the facts.
The
Homeland Security Department objected at first to a United Arab Emirates company’s taking over significant operations at six U.S. ports. It was the lone protest among members of the government committee that eventually approved the deal without dissent.
The department’s early objections were settled later in the government’s review of the $6.8 billion deal after Dubai-owned DP World agreed to a series of security restrictions.
So clearly, at some level, there were security concerns about making this deal in the first place. I don’t care if we got Dubai to pinky swear not to allow terrorists to use their service as a conduit to our ports, the downside of going through with this deal is not worth any amount of money. Why are the Republicans so hell-bent on handing over such a vulnerable resource to Dubai?
>> Democrats say port deal improper, unacceptable
Digg This!
Published February 25, 2006
in Politics.
The cons panic as the Democrats (in spite of themselves) pull ahead of him on national security.
Even worse, as Sen. Clinton, Sen. Schumer and others introduce legislation focused on securing the ports - the White House isn’t budging.
Tough choice for the right: pile on your president, while undermining one of the key narratives of the GOP - or side with the president on an amazingly unpopular issue in an election year?
As Keanu would say: what do you do?
Digg This!
Please check out the attempt at dialogue in the comments here by me with some folks who don’t seem to see any value in sex ed, of any sort, even if it could lead to less abortions.
Digg This!
Published February 24, 2006
in Politics.
Gives a speech about Iraq today, as chaos reigns, and its the same old rhetoric - not one deviation from the message that no longer resonates outside of the conservative cult.
Digg This!
Published February 24, 2006
in Racism.
I love that people can be as bigoted in the virtual world as the real one (via rebecca)
Digg This!
This will be an intriguing question that should be asked in the 2008 election: Do you support the imprisonment of doctors for up to five years for the alleged “crime” of performing an abortion, as South Dakota’s legislature demands?
Because I’m pretty sure every possible Democratic nominee (Clinton, Edwards, Warner, etc.) could answer that question in the negative and not lose any support, whereas I can’t think of a Republican (Allen, McCain, Frist, etc.) who wouldn’t lose support from the base or from moderate voters depending on how they answered.
Most sane people don’t believe in locking up doctors for performing medical procedures.
Digg This!
Published February 24, 2006
in Media.
The Washington Post’s editorial page is as wrong today as they were when they were cheerleading Bush’s war in Iraq. Interestingly they take up the call of Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon R. England, who decided to brand folks opposed to giving our port security away as traitors.
For me, the Post is the leading paper in America today, but they’d be much further along if they introduced some common sense to their editorial board.
Interestingly the editorial is titled “How To Lose Friends”. I’d argue one way to “lose friends” would be to have them blown up by a terrorist who smuggled his weapon in through our ports.
Digg This!
Cultishness on display! Get yer tickets, right here. Ian claims that Jack Cafferty is lying when he says Bush has spinning the deal to outsource our ports. Of course, Ian doesn’t have to believe the facts at hands that prove that the administration has been spinning like a top, he can even look to a well known provider of conservative facts that comes to the same conclusion that Cafferty has.
Unless the liberals got to Michelle Malkin. Quick everyone, grab your tinfoil hats.
Digg This!
