Connecticut, realizing that Bush is of no help to them in this or most regards, approved a measure today to get heating oil from Venezuela for its impoverished. (who, I assume, have been freezing the rest of the winter?) Regardless of what Bush thinks of Chavez.
Well, Bush is already setting an interesting example by keeping us dependent(his bullshit to the contrary) on oil from places that breed murderers of Americans, like Saudi Arabia, as well as still telling us there's no reason to be concerned about the UAE taking over our ports--the same UAE, by the way, that boycotts Israel(which usually Bush claims to oppose, but apparently all bets are off with Bush and Arab states that have oil). Why not get oil from a place that only hates Bush?
And incidentally, if you drive and wish to thumb your nose further at Bush and the oil companies, fill up at Citgo, which is wholly-owned by the Venezuelan people.
This is what Bush gets for doing nothing about oil prices. Much as he's done nothing since he's been in office.
Labels: politics
¶ Tuesday, February 28, 2006 0 Comments
With Abramoff now a non-person, it's nice that Bush is polite enough to thank his other greatest supporter in the last election:
[regarding the Bin Laden tape that appeared just before the election]It certainly makes up for his refusal to consider Bin Laden was important back then. For instance, important enough to capture at Tora Bora, as Kerry kept bringing up.
''What does it mean? Is it going to help? Is it going to hurt?'' Bush told Sammon of the bin Laden tapes. ''Anything that drops in at the end of a campaign that is not already decided creates all kinds of anxieties, because you're not sure of the effect. ''I thought it was going to help,'' Bush said. ''I thought it would help remind people that if bin Laden doesn't want Bush to be the president, something must be right with Bush.''
I wonder if accepting aid and comfort from the enemy is as treasonous as giving it...
Labels: politics
¶ Tuesday, February 28, 2006 0 Comments
They may be attempting to pretend they're happy with Bush now over this port scandal, but the GOP is in fact fracturing.
And meanwhile: more Jack Abramoff gangrene comes to light, this time involving a GOP Georgia congressman.
Labels: politics
¶ Monday, February 27, 2006 0 Comments
Shocking! And from the same guy who bribed Duke Cunningham.
Then again, who would give Cruella DeVille a legitimate contribution? Even the Bushes didn't want her to run.
But then, she doesn't look likely to win her bid for the Senate anyway(22 points behind her incumbent, Democratic opponent is not exactly promising), so, as all the bribes to the GOP will turn out to be, it was money thrown down a rat hole.
Labels: politics
¶ Monday, February 27, 2006 0 Comments
How the overrated have fallen: Jewel is reduced to playing NASCAR. Next up, county fairs.
Labels: politics
¶ Monday, February 27, 2006 0 Comments
I'd look at this with some major concern if I was y'all.
Put it this way: they seem to be coming up with a great new camping program for us liberal-type folk.
Labels: politics
¶ Friday, February 24, 2006 0 Comments
The notes of Undersecretary of Defense Stephen Cambone, of remarks by Donald Rumsfeld, 9/11/01.
...Have a look at this and more, which indicate that the first and only thing this administration thought as Americans died on 9/11--and particularly Rumsfeld--was how to divert our fear and anger about that into the completely irrelevant venue of Iraq.
Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, shame on us. Fool us more--do we even give a fuck anymore?
(tip of the hat to Andrew Sullivan)
Labels: politics
¶ Friday, February 24, 2006 0 Comments
That's what my former home state, South Carolina, is apparently turning into. Then again, it was always halfway there, which is why I left it.
I'm glad my mom had the sense to move away from that state.
I knew it. ¶ Wednesday, February 22, 2006 0 Comments
Because apparently it isn't Bush, who now claims he had no part in the deal to hand over six major ports to the UAE. That he didn't even know till it was approved, apparently not by him. Perhaps he was clearing brush.
Yesterday he was talking tough as though it was his idea, threatening to break his veto cherry, but that was before, I guess, he realized that it was Republicans losing their shit over this too. They know this will be impossible to explain to voters as election time grows near and that conservative voters might just stay home. So they're quite ready and able to override any vetos Bush might threaten.
Who approved it? John Snow, who used to work with the UAE-government-owned company in question here. But the law says the president has to review it, and that the period should be 45 days. Much more here. Gee, this couldn't be another example of the Bushies abusing our government via patronage, could it?
Just how did they think this would slip by unnoticed? And how stupid and dangerous is this government, and how long before even Republicans realize that Bush is their worst liability and is leading them merrily off a cliff in exchange for their sick, blind loyalty?
And will they be able to stop him now that they have a reason, or do balls not grow back quite so fast?
This illegitimate government is about to devour itself, and I just hope the rest of us don't go down with it.
Labels: politics
¶ Wednesday, February 22, 2006 0 Comments
I don't know what else you could call the Bush administration for allowing our ports to fall under the control of the United Arab Emirates. Who, incidentally, are the only political entity on Earth that recognizes the Taliban. Are they insane, stupid, both, or does it even matter anymore given it's the same damage caused no matter what the reason?
But that's all right, because there'll be hell to pay in November. I mean, can you imagine a better accusation to level in an attack ad? Not that there's any scarcity of choices, mind.
And by the way, how's this for timing?
Labels: politics
¶ Tuesday, February 21, 2006 0 Comments
...of Illinois, that is. He's a progressive, anti-war Democrat and seems to have an intention to actually do things if elected. Which differentiates him from much of the mainstream party at present.
The party might actually be saved with some new blood--the Republicans did it in 1994 and the Democrats could now--if they weren't so busy trying to remove progressives like, say, Paul Hackett just the other day, from the party.
So click here to find out more about Mr. Hap, and if you're not from the 5th but know someone who is, by all means pass it on. This is the kinda Democrat of which we need lots, lots more.
Labels: politics
¶ Thursday, February 16, 2006 0 Comments
Ho, ho! The laughs were all around today among Republicans, trying to act like Cheney shooting his friend in the face with a 28-gauge shotgun was no biggie.
Which is yet another example of why they should keep their mouths shut till a situation is resolved, something they never, ever do. For instance...
Turns out the pellets made their way further inside and Cheney's victim suffered a heart attack today, and right now is having a a cardiac catheterization performed upon him, an operation that, in itself, may result in death. While I wish the best and a speedy recovery to the gentleman, it's worth considering that if this fellow dies, Cheney will be guilty of manslaughter.
And (courtesy of Salon) here's an example of what a 28-gauge shotgun can do.
As someone brought up in the South who duck-hunted (not very willingly) with his dad, I can attest: a 28-gauge is not only a bit too big for quail, but, well, it ain't no BB gun, and it's nothing to be careless with. Cheney is a stupid, stupid man.
"Naval Observatory Blues"
I watch his plane at landing.
He's waving out the port.
He's unaware as always
How his time is short.
Right now I'm still a bucket,
Full of old warm piss,
But that plane holds the power
That damn fool thinks is his.
When I was still a student
We heard the prez was gone.
Rumors first were saying
A hunting trip gone wrong.
So I shot a man in Texas
Just to test my aim.
But that time was only birdshot.
This load is not the same.
I hear Fox News is sayin'
That he saved us all from doom.
The sycophants are swayin'
'Cause he raised them up from gloom.
Well I know that I asked for it.
I picked me for this spot;
But that moron thinks he runs things --
That's why I'll take my shot.
So when we have to end this hunt trip,
And when Air Force One is mine,
My wife will write new textbooks
And then it's my name that will shine.
No more second fiddle --
I won't be undisclosed.
And I'll ride that great big airplane
Bombing all my foes.
Labels: politics
¶ Tuesday, February 14, 2006 0 Comments
I couldn't agree more. Fuck St. Valentine and all his little cards.
Labels: holiday
¶ Tuesday, February 14, 2006 0 Comments
Over the weekend, Vice President Dick Cheney shot a man in Texas. Asked why he shot the man, the Vice President said, "Just to watch him die."
Al Franken
(thanks to Jesus' General)
My guess that this would be the GOP's excuse to dump Cheney before the Fitzgerald investigation indicts him--and makes him either resign under a cloud, or worse, he refuses--seems to have been prescient; indeed, in DC it's said to be a growing topic of talk.
And there's other controversies too. Like--why did the Bush administration think it could get away with no statement at all after the VP shoots a guy in the face? (The press found out from a private citizen) And what makes Cheney think he can avoid talking to the cops about it? Or why the bizarre 3-hour delay in getting medical care for the victim?
And who calls it "hunting" when you're just going to a stocked farm and shooting animals? I call that target practice with blood.
Today the DHS and FEMA create the largest displaced person population since the Dust Bowl. Good planning. Please tell me what these folks have to lose now, and remind me how many there are across the country, and how long they will be able to stand watching their children starve and die.
But then, I guess the DHS assumes we've forgotten about Katrina, eh? And the details.
Labels: politics
¶ Monday, February 13, 2006 0 Comments
Whatever it could have, that in fact is the amount Bush has wasted in only a couple of years on advertising and PR.
Of course, given the nature of his presidency and his complete incompetence, defending his fuck-ups would get pretty expensive after a while.
But this only underlines that image, not accomplishment, is the priority of this administration.
Labels: politics
¶ Monday, February 13, 2006 0 Comments
A good sign for the Fall elections.
Labels: politics
¶ Monday, February 13, 2006 0 Comments
Yes, that word is now being used by our government to describe criticism of our so-called president--in this case, a VA nurse who dared to write a letter to the editor critical of Bush.
According to Bach and Kronen, on Sept. 19, 2005, Berg's American Federation of Government Employees Union representative, Thomas Driber, informed Berg that her letter to the Alibi had been sent through "VA channels" to the FBI in Washington, D.C. The attorneys say this information was confirmed by one of the union's Washington lawyers during a conference call between Driber, Berg and the union lawyer. (Multiple phone messages left at Driber's office by the Alibi were not answered.)
As if that weren't creepy enough, the attorneys say Berg made further inquiries and eventually received a response from the VA's Chief of Human Resources, Mel R. Hooker, who, in a memorandum dated Nov. 9, 2005, allegedly admitted that the VA had no evidence the letter was written on Berg's office computer. Despite this, Hooker claimed the investigation was justified because the "Agency is bound by law to investigate and pursue any act which potentially represents sedition."
Labels: politics
¶ Sunday, February 12, 2006 0 Comments
Cheney today nearly added murder to the charges awaiting him(from Democrats & Republicans alike) when he shot a 78-year-old hunter.
Probably mistook him for a Democrat. You know, perhaps it's time for Dick to retire. I predict "health reasons."
Steve shares some thoughts about the war and what it's really all about.
Labels: politics
¶ Friday, February 10, 2006 0 Comments
No, Mr. Bush, we do not trust you, and we don't want you suspending our rights, and you don't have our support no matter what lies NBC throws in our eyes.
So just fuck off. You've done enough to yourself blatantly bragging that you intend to keep breaking the law.
Labels: politics
¶ Friday, February 10, 2006 0 Comments
Friday's news dump seems to be more like news diarrhea. So much today!
Classic Republican logic: to show how committed to reform you are, replace Tom DeLay with someone just as filthy with corruption. For instance, a Republican congressman who rents his home from a lobbyist.
It's Bizarro Washington! Me am so happy and feeling proud of country!
Labels: politics
¶ Friday, February 10, 2006 0 Comments
In testimony before the Senate today, Michael Brown said that he has been made a "scapegoat" for the federal government's flawed response to Katrina -- and that the real culprits are Michael Chertoff, the Department of Homeland Security and the White House itself. Brown said that "policies implemented by the DHS put FEMA on a path to failure" long before Katrina struck New Orleans. Once the storm hit and the levees failed, Brown said, Chertoff's DHS "saw an opportunity to assert itself, as it always tried to do in FEMA operations, which slowed things down."
Brown said that he called the Bush compound in Crawford, Texas, on the night that Katrina struck to inform the White House that levees had broken and water was flooding into New Orleans. He said he spoke with Deputy White House Chief of Staff Joseph Hagin and that he told him that "our worst nightmares" seemed to be coming true. The next morning, Bush left Crawford for San Diego, where he made brief comments about Katrina before delivering prepared remarks in which he compared the war in Iraq to World War II.
Brown says that White House Chief of Staff Andy Card rebuffed his efforts to solicit more help from the White House, ordering him to work through the "chain of command" instead. That chain ran through Chertoff and the DHS bureaucracy, Brown said. "We've done a great job as Republicans of establishing more and more bureaucracy," Brown told Maine Sen. Susan Collins.
Brown said that he cried in his hotel room during the early days of Katrina, frustrated by the failure of the federal government to deliver the help he knew it was capable of providing. Asked whether the Bush administration was making him the fall guy for Katrina, Brown said, "I certainly feel abandoned." As for the president, Brown said: "Unfortunately, he called me 'Brownie' at the wrong time. Thanks a lot, sir."
Labels: hurricane katrina, new orleans
¶ Friday, February 10, 2006 0 Comments
Skeletons are being removed from the site of an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem to make way for a $150m (£86m) "museum of tolerance" being built for the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Centre.
Palestinians have launched a legal battle to stop the work at what was the city's main Muslim cemetery. The work is to prepare for the construction of a museum which seeks the promotion of "unity and respect among Jews and between people of all faiths".
Israeli archaeologists and developers have continued excavating the remains of people buried at the site - which was a cemetery for at least 1,000 years - despite a temporary ban on work granted by the Islamic Court, a division of Israel's justice system.
What exactly is Israel thinking? Is this someone's idea of a sick joke? And hey, is that timing or what? God knows the Muslims have been so very calm lately.
Thank god it's Friday!
Just look at all the people Bush has burned who are suddenly appearing in the news again.
Jack Abramoff said in correspondence made public on Thursday thatPayback is really a bitch.
President Bush met him "almost a dozen" times, disputing White House claims Bush did not know the former lobbyist at the center of a corruption scandal.
"The guy saw me in almost a dozen settings, and joked with me about a bunch of things, including details of my kids. Perhaps he has forgotten everything, who knows," Abramoff wrote in an e-mail to Kim Eisler, national editor for the Washingtonian magazine.
Abramoff added that Bush also once invited him to his Texas ranch.
The messages were made public by the American Progress Action Fund, a liberal activist group. Eisler confirmed their accuracy to Reuters but said he did not intend them to become public.
"They reflect the feeling of frustration he has not just with Bush but with all these guys claiming they didn't know him," said Eisler, who knew Abramoff through a book he wrote about the Pequot Indian tribe.
Update: Check out Scott McClellan trying to explain all this.
Labels: politics
¶ Friday, February 10, 2006 0 Comments
Evaluating whether the infamous video of the beheading of Nick Berg was a fake, and perhaps even an army psy-ops operation.
After reading this and some other material, I'm inclined to say "Yes." I remember when I saw it thinking "That's the most bloodless, motionless decapitation I've ever seen." Particularly given a knife is used and there's nothing quick about it. And that the screams supposedly coming from Berg appear to be coming from someplace far away in the room, while the camera is right behind him and his "killer."
Labels: politics
¶ Friday, February 10, 2006 0 Comments
...it's nice to see it as a headline:
Report: White House Knew About Levees
Quite the Friday for the White House!
Labels: politics
¶ Friday, February 10, 2006 0 Comments
Of, well, treason.
In a Jan. 23 letter to Libby's lawyers, Fitzgerald said Libby also testified before the grand jury that he caused at least one other government official to discuss an intelligence estimate with reporters in July 2003.That's guilty! Guilty, guilty, guilty!
"We also note that it is our understanding that Mr. Libby testified that he was authorized to disclose information about the NIE to the press by his superiors," Fitzgerald wrote.
Over at Ayaan Hirsi Ali(who wrote the film)'s weblog you can watch the film some Muslims would rather you died than saw, Submission. Give it a look; it's only 11 minutes.
Labels: politics
¶ Thursday, February 09, 2006 0 Comments
Michael Brown is now blackmailing the White House. He'll be testifying before the Senate Friday and has made certain demands on Bush.
In a Feb. 6 letter to White House counsel Harriet Miers, Brown’s lawyer wrote that Brown continues to respect Bush and his “presidential prerogative” to get candid and confidential advice from top aides.The letter from Andrew W. Lester also says Brown no longer can rely on being included in that protection because he is a private citizen.
“Unless there is specific direction otherwise from the president, including an assurance the president will provide a legal defense to Mr. Brown if he refuses to testify as to these matters, Mr. Brown will testify if asked about particular communications,” the lawyer wrote.
Brown’s desire “is that all facts be made public.”
Oh, I'm sure. By the way, it's very smart before you testify before the Senate to publicly ask your former boss whether you should perjure yourself or not.
Labels: politics
¶ Thursday, February 09, 2006 0 Comments
Found at random: some guy cyberstalking, of all people, Teri Hatcher. Click and cringe.
Labels: politics
¶ Thursday, February 09, 2006 0 Comments
Well, my medium is destroying the world. Sorry, everyone.
Now I know why comics have been relegated to such inferior status for so long. But I did bet that comics being taken seriously in culture would be one of the signs of the apocalypse.
I feel a bit sorry for Lars Von Trier. With Danes getting this reputation for insensitivity, this is not a good time for Manderlay to come out, though I'll be first in line to see it.
Oh, and lest you think the Christians are letting the side down...
And what a great opportunity to start figuring new excuses to censor the media.
On a side point, at a moment when the White House has already declared its intention to lean on Republican dissenters in the Senate regarding the NSA spying matter...would this not be a great moment to plant bugs all over the Senate Office Building? Not that Karl Rove has ever done such things.
Besides, it's perfectly plausible that a terrorist would plant a nerve agent in the attic, as was reported, as opposed to someplace people, say, were. That's how tricky they are.
Labels: comics, politics, religion
¶ Thursday, February 09, 2006 0 Comments
What balls.
Seriously. You have to admire the raw, unapologetic villainy of these guys.
Indicted Rep. Tom DeLay, forced to step down as the No. 2 Republican in the House, scored a soft landing Wednesday as GOP leaders rewarded him with a coveted seat on the Appropriations Committee. DeLay, R-Texas, also claimed a seat on the subcommittee overseeing the Justice Department, which is currently investigating an influence-peddling scandal involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his dealings with lawmakers.
Why, it's almost like they know nobody can stop them no matter what they do.
Labels: politics
¶ Wednesday, February 08, 2006 0 Comments
Karl Rove is threatening Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee (we can assume Arlen Specter is front and center) with blacklisting if they continue to press the president on the NSA wiretapping scandal.
I imagine the wiretapping provided them with lots of blackmail material, so I'm sure Rove isn't making an empty threat. I hope he carries through with his threat, though. It'd be great for Rove to knock some GOP incumbents out or deny them funds to campaign for the upcoming congressional elections. He really should do it--that really taught the other Bush a lesson when Grover Norquist starved him of funds in 1992.
Labels: politics
¶ Tuesday, February 07, 2006 0 Comments
Reassuring to find that moderate Muslims have finally felt emboldened to come out and speak against this cartoon controversy bullshit (especially since Denmark did not back down and exert pressure on the newspaper).
Labels: politics
¶ Monday, February 06, 2006 0 Comments
From Emo Philips:
I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A Christian."
I said, "Me too. Protestant or Catholic?" He said, "Protestant."
I said, "Me too. What franchise?" He says, "Baptist."
I said, "Me too. Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He says, "Northern Baptist."
I said, "Me too. Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?" He says, "Northern Conservative Baptist."
I said, "Me too. Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist or Northern Conservative Reformed Baptist?" He says, "Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist."
I said, "Me too. Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, Eastern Region?" He says, "Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region."
I said, "Me too. Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1879 or Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1912?" He says, Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1912."
I said, "Die, heretic!" and I pushed him over.
***********
Probably the toughest time in anyone's life is when you have to murder a loved one because they're the devil. Other than that, though, it's been a good day.
***********
Why be prejudiced against anyone because of their race or nationality or creed... when there're so many real reasons to hate others?
Labels: comedy, politics, religion
¶ Sunday, February 05, 2006 0 Comments
An interesting, though maybe retarded thought: while the depiction of a man, Mohammed, is grounds for this:
...it seems to me that the rest of us infidels have been depicting the actual, holy object of worship for Christians, Jews and Muslims for centuries. Sometimes even using it as decoration.
But Mohammed is not to Muslims as Jesus Christ is to Christians (Christianity, of course, having its own controversies of iconoclasm).
Mohammed, to Muslims, is the last and greatest of the prophets and deserving of the highest reverence one can have for a mortal man. But if you riot over depictions by infidels of Mohammed, but not over countless depictions of God for countless ignoble purposes, does this not imply that Mohammed is valued more highly than God?
Isn't that a form of idolatry? Where are the burning embassies over this?
Just a thought.
And sometimes these days Christopher Hitchens is too.
Islam makes very large claims for itself. In its art, there is a prejudice against representing the human form at all. The prohibition on picturing the prophet—who was only another male mammal—is apparently absolute. So is the prohibition on pork or alcohol or, in some Muslim societies, music or dancing. Very well then, let a good Muslim abstain rigorously from all these. But if he claims the right to make me abstain as well, he offers the clearest possible warning and proof of an aggressive intent. This current uneasy coexistence is only an interlude, he seems to say. For the moment, all I can do is claim to possess absolute truth and demand absolute immunity from criticism. But in the future, you will do what I say and you will do it on pain of death.
I refuse to be spoken to in that tone of voice, which as it happens I chance to find "offensive."
Labels: Christopher Hitchens, islam, politics
¶ Saturday, February 04, 2006 0 Comments
Surrealism.
Labels: politics
¶ Saturday, February 04, 2006 0 Comments
I have so had enough of all religions. This is the fucking 21st century.
These cartoons depicted Islam as corrupt, hypocritical and inclined to violent solutions to problems, and the response was to threaten violence, say one thing in the Western media and another in Arabic, and I think we can be sure there are various parties with ulterior motives for stirring the masses.
If this was a behavior experiment, the results would be kind of conclusive that something's at least a little wrong with Islam right now and needs fixing. This was criticism of the belief system and how it's manifesting itself and it's right on target. Nor is the same thing as a soldier, acting in the capacity of a representative of the government the United States, desecrating a Koran or subjecting a captive to specifically anti-Muslim humiliations. That sort of thing I would be surprised if there weren't riots over. Those are specific, and physical, violations.
These are fucking cartoons.
And Muslims, as I've said, seem to have no problem fostering the spread of the PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF ZION, or propaganda either from, or descended from, Nazi anti-Semitic works like THE POISON MUSHROOM. These are specifically offensive to a group with good reason to be a bit sensitive, and also are specifically used to foster and teach a distorted atmosphere of hatred that goes far beyond matters like Palestine, though that is the engine.
Muslims have a tradition not uncommon to religion, which is an idea of superiority as dignity. If you live in a Muslim country and are a Christian or Jew you paid higher taxes as acknowledgement that, though you weakly cling to your inferior ideas and beliefs and the caliph will humor you, you're lesser than a Muslim. That's not to mention the number of things woven into "Muslim" culture that are really from, specifically, Arab tribal customs and from the Ottoman Empire; which all Muslims, being not monolithic, do not honor.
And in some ways, many of the customs Muslims insist on the rest of us honoring are based in that concept of superiority. I rarely see an idea of dialogue. But in any case, I don't buy that coming from anyone, and I say we're perfectly free to be infidels. Christianity's own long humbling was necessary for there to be such a thing as freedom of speech, or indeed of conscience. I don't care if another religion wants to kill people over talk and ideas--which are supposed to be there instead of violence. If this were Christians, or indeed if this were the mob, or skinheads, or any other group of thugs, I wouldn't think it was right, nor do I think the threateners should be deferred to.
And I'm an agnostic. I'm not sure what happens to me in Islamic eyes, but I assume people like me aren't even of the book.
But this is not worth cartoonists' lives and Muslims should be ashamed of this knee-jerk, childish reaction.
An equivalent of the Reformation needs to happen there, and this is something a growing movement--who tend to be marginalized and shouted down--have been discussing for quite some time. But not publicly enough.
The current problem is both an old reaction to the secularism of pan-Arabism(except the economic element; like cell phones, that's an infidel thing that works) and Western influence as well. Not to mention that most Muslims are pretty fucking poor, which makes them perfect fodder. The Palestinian issue, the sponsorship of, for their own political purposes, Wahabi teachings by the House of Saud...Muslims have a lot to fix just as Christians did, and indeed do again.
But then, I have no use for either.
Islam has gone from a coherent and logical faith, probably, at one time, one of the most philosophically solid religions yet created, to something sad and often barbaric that has nothing to do with the book it has turned from a source of enlightenment to just a book-shaped idol. Again, something a lot of American Christians have done too; something all religions have done when they come loose from their moorings(no pun).
Muslims truly do need to clean their own house, and god knows, so does the West. But that particular housecleaning, a Reformation, has not even happened once in the Muslim world.
But in the immediate sense, our foreign policy is horrible, yes, but so is this. I really don't care about "sensitivity" towards maniacs. I have as much deferential feeling toward this vocal, but significant, minority of murderous religious fanatics as I do towards any(and god knows, I'm not known for sparing Christians). They're fanatics and they're threatening violence and death, AND towards cartoonists to boot.
If Islam is a religion of peace, then, these folks issuing their independent fatwas need to be slapped down by the authorities of their religion. You are what you do, and if Muslims only speak in public to threaten violence, they cannot then claim to be surprised when others take them at their word.
Till then, Islam will only be as respectable as a street gang.
Labels: comics, election 2008, islam, politics, propaganda, war
¶ Saturday, February 04, 2006 0 Comments
I can attest from personal experience that a spouse who snores will eventually drive you insane, as is spoken of here.
Six years of me getting almost no sleep; gee, I wonder why it fell apart? Anyway...
Labels: politics
¶ Friday, February 03, 2006 0 Comments
And today, Bush completely backed off everything he said about our Mideast "oil addiction." But what did you expect?
In other news, though, DeLay's hand-picked successor Roy Blunt lost in his bid to become majority leader. To a guy named, say it with me, Boehner.
So today's a little from column A, a little from column B...
Labels: politics
¶ Thursday, February 02, 2006 0 Comments
Well, Bush has already shown one part of his address last night--which has been received underwhelmingly by the comparatively small percentage who watched it, which is to say mostly his supporters--to have been bullshit. But he did say he only wanted to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, silly! Exxon can still suck us as dry as they like.
Within a week he'll have gone back on it all, much as he has the last five times he gave more or less the same address.
In other news, it appears that Cindy Sheehan was arrested, not because she was breaking a law, but because the police assumed wearing a t-shirt listing the number of America's war dead was a crime, which it's not.
You can be arrested on an assumption of law now? I know cops are becoming strangely careless and crazy lately, but this is a bit much to wrap my head around. I hope Cindy Sheehan makes a hell of a stink about this, considered she was an invited guest to the State of the Union. She really ought to sue them.
That's remaining in the Land of the Ostensible. I think we all know that it was no coincidence that she was removed just as Bush was about to enter the room, with cameras ready to catch them both. I am sure she's telling the truth that she planned to cause no disruption, but it wouldn't have mattered with the networks there.
Labels: politics
¶ Wednesday, February 01, 2006 0 Comments
...and even if you're merely wearing a shirt saying "Support the Troops Defending Our Freedom," and the wife of a Republican congressman, you can get thrown out of the SOTU. Apparently you don't have to be Cindy Sheehan; they're that paranoid.
I wonder if Bush would have thrown out all the Democrats if he could have. Anything to keep himself as much surrounded by the bubble as he can.
Labels: politics
¶ Wednesday, February 01, 2006 0 Comments
It would appear that offering a prosecutor a federal judgeship to get him off the Abramoff case(which he accepted) would amount to bribery. But only to a jaded and cynical fellow like me, with no love inside.
Labels: politics
¶ Wednesday, February 01, 2006 0 Comments
Maybe we can't sue the government for the NSA wiretaps, but apparently AT & T can be sued for illegally cooperating with them.
Google, it appears, is wise to resist giving up user information to the government.
Labels: politics
¶ Wednesday, February 01, 2006 0 Comments
Cindy Sheehan's version of what happened to her last night. No banner; she was just wearing a t-shirt that had the number of dead soldiers listed on it.
Labels: politics
¶ Wednesday, February 01, 2006 0 Comments
Craig Crawford(and his readers) pointing out that only six sentences in the whole SOTU speech mentioned New Orleans.
I would have mentioned it myself, but somehow I missed those sentences; I had the impression he hadn't brought up New Orleans at all.
Labels: hurricane katrina, new orleans
¶ Wednesday, February 01, 2006 0 Comments
