Gift rift: Evangelicals split over plan to ban presents

Gift rift: Evangelicals split over plan to ban presents: "Our task is to help them understand that the solution is not blaming secular people, civil libertarians, Jews, gays or anyone else,' Lerner wrote, 'but instead to recognize that the emptiness or feeling of loneliness of 'lack' has been forced upon them by market values that they need to become aware of and then reject.' "

A Fine Man and a Grand Heart - Rabbi Marc Gellman

Marriage and the Jesus Miracle: "So it must be: a voyage apart in the same direction. Grapple the two vessels together, lash them side by side, and the first storm will smash them to pieces. This is marriage, in the bad weather of modern civilization. But leave the two vessels apart, to make their voyage to the same port, each according to its own skill and power, and an unseen life connects them, a magnetism which cannot be forced. And that is marriage as it will be when all this is broken down."

This wall keeps Mexicans in Mexico

Rich Lowry Fails Again To Make A Salient Point "There is an elementary moral distinction between a wall built to keep people out and one designed to keep people in."

Listen up rightie: the idiot doing your thinking for you is letting you down.

We Killed All Those Folks For This ??

Independent Online Edition >Iraq Is Disintegrating: "Iraq is disintegrating. The first results from the parliamentary election last week show the country is dividing between Shia, Sunni and Kurdish regions.
Religious fundamentalists now have the upper hand. The secular and nationalist candidate backed by the US and Britain was humiliatingly defeated."

Maybe somebody in America will notice that the Righties are wrong.

Bush Can See Dick

Goodnight mom, goodnight W: "...the fact that we are discussing this program is helping the enemy." But there is simply no evidence, or even reasonable presumption, that this is so. And rather than the leaking being a "shameful act," it was the work of a patriot inside the government who was trying to stop a presidential power grab."

"In the meantime, it is unlikely that Bush will echo President Kennedy in 1961. After JFK managed to tone down a New York Times story by Tad Szulc on the Bay of Pigs invasion, he confided to Times editor Turner Catledge that he wished the paper had printed the whole story because it might have spared him such a stunning defeat in Cuba.

This time, the president knew publication would cause him great embarrassment and trouble for the rest of his presidency. It was for that reason—and less out of genuine concern about national security—that George W. Bush tried so hard to kill the New York Times story."

The "nuts without balls" democrats guide Bush's hand as it pats your ass in the dark. That's why democrats need to wipe the smirk off their faces.

Fabricated Links - Extra Spicey or Smoked ?

Bush Will Believe Any Evidence That Keeps His Mind Off The Next Drink: "But like the uranium yellowcake claims since determined to be fraudulent that are at the heart of the CIA leak case, the administration's original allegations about Zarqawi's trip also seem to be melting away. An updated CIA re-examination of the issue recently concluded that Saddam's regime may not have given Zarqawi 'safe haven' after all."

When we're out of National Guard Units, Bush will send in the scouts: Boy, Cub, Eagle, Bluebird, Pathfinder, Girl -

"Brownies, you're doing a great job !"

We give our hands in promise
To hold our country dear,
And abide the Girl Scout Law
Each day throughout the year.

Sorry we died mom, but thanks for supporting the President !

Jonah Wails But The Caravan Continues On Its Way

Goldbergs For A Small America: "We expect Democrats to want the government to do everything, but at least they have the consistency to raise taxes in order to pay for it. Republicans lack similar convictions. "

Workplace Masturbator Seeks Respect

Onan The Barbarian Dials Up An Actual Man: "As you may know, Murtha will not talk with me. Is that responsible? This is by far the highest rated prime time daily news program in the country. Why wouldn't Murtha want to engage this audience?"

Because your audience includes those Americans for whom a news story is dogs fucking on the convent's lawn. Also because Murtha tries to avoid associating with men who jack-off while talking on the phone with colleagues.

Trust Bush, Not Your Lying Eyes

The Alpha Thug Salutes His Prick : "Democratic leaders sternly criticized President Bush yesterday for saying former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) is innocent of felonious campaign finance abuses, suggesting his comments virtually amounted to jury tampering before DeLay stands trial.
'The president of the United States said a jury does not need to assemble, that Tom DeLay is innocent,' said Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). 'To have someone of his stature, the president of the United States, prejudge a case is something I've never seen before.'"

For the holidays, let's put the DeLay back in Bush.

Peggy Noonan Tries Again To Make Sense

Anything Heard At Delphi Is True: "Pat Buchanan said a few months ago something bracing in its directness. He said a constitution doesn't make a country; a country makes a constitution. "

When she's not bronzing a NY Firefighter, she's shining shit for the Foxpackers at the Cato Club.

We're back in "Mighty Joe Young" land, watching three hours of a sad incident involving a big gorilla.

Girl meets gorilla in big, hairy mess of a movie: "Even if this were the first gorilla-in-love movie ever made, audiences would come away vaguely dissatisfied, suspecting there was an intriguing idea buried somewhere in here, but it didn't quite come off. "

Geesh, I hope not. But recall please that reviewer Mick LaSalle didn't think Titanic was so hot either. Although I also recall that I tended to agree with much of his criticism. This does not seem to bode well.

America Is Now Only a Beautiful Story About the Past

USATODAY.com: "'Sneak and peak' raids. The government would still, with a warrant, be able to break into your home or business, poke into anything there and not have to inform you for 30 days - and there's an escape clause to justify further delays. Most troubling, the Justice Department recently acknowledged that 88% of the search warrants issued under this provision have been used in cases that have nothing to do with terrorism.
Defining terrorism. One section creates a definition of domestic terrorism so broad that it potentially could be used to include acts of civil disobedience - such as protesters blocking a road or simple trespassing. It also allows for forfeiture of an organization's assets without criminal conviction and without a prior hearing."

I have outlived my fatherland. What replaces it is the fullfilled dreams of the enemy.

'Narnia represents everything that is most hateful about religion'

Guilt, Blame, Sacrifice and a Suffering: "Philip Pullman - he of the marvellously secular trilogy His Dark Materials - has called Narnia 'one of the most ugly, poisonous things I have ever read'.
Why? Because here in Narnia is the perfect Republican, muscular Christianity for America - that warped, distorted neo-fascist strain that thinks might is proof of right. I once heard the famous preacher Norman Vincent Peale in New York expound a sermon that reassured his wealthy congregation that they were made rich by God because they deserved it. The godly will reap earthly reward because God is on the side of the strong. This appears to be CS Lewis's view, too. In the battle at the end of the film, visually a great epic treat, the child crusaders are crowned kings and queens for no particular reason. Intellectually, the poor do not inherit Lewis's earth."

Perhaps it has sometimes happened to you in a dream that someone says something which you don't understand but in the dream it feels as if it had enormous meaning ..." So Lewis weaves his dreams to invade children's minds with Christian iconography that is part fairytale wonder and joy - but heavily laden with guilt, blame, sacrifice and a suffering that is dark with emotional sadism.

Inouye Reminds Bush To Shut Up

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2005: "'As a Veteran of World War II, I know what it's like to fight a war and put your life on the line every day. I also know what it takes to win a war, and I know that politics and an attack machine like the President's plays no part in it."

As Promised, Torture Led To Bush's Bad Decision

How Much More Bullshit Do We Have To Take From This Moronic President ?: "The Bush administration based a crucial prewar assertion about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda on detailed statements made by a prisoner while in Egyptian custody who later said he had fabricated them to escape harsh treatment, according to current and former government officials."

In statements before the war, and without mentioning him by name, President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Colin L. Powell, then the secretary of state, and other officials repeatedly cited the information provided by Mr. Libi as "credible" evidence that Iraq was training Qaeda members in the use of explosives and illicit weapons. Among the first and most prominent assertions was one by Mr. Bush, who said in a major speech in Cincinnati in October 2002 that "we've learned that Iraq has trained Al Qaeda members in bomb making and poisons and gases."

The question of why the administration relied so heavily on the statements by Mr. Libi has long been a subject of contention. Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, made public last month unclassified passages from the February 2002 document, which said it was probable that Mr. Libi "was intentionally misleading the debriefers."

The document showed that the Defense Intelligence Agency had identified Mr. Libi as a probable fabricator months before the Bush administration began to use his statements as the foundation for its claims about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda involving illicit weapons.

When does it become OK to point out that Republicans are killing everything decent about America ?

Katrina Is Still Killing - Meet David Before He's Gone

We Must Help - We've Got To Find A Way To Help: "...someone asked what day of the week it was, prompting a response from one officer that Osofsky will never forget. 'He said, 'I know what day it is. Every day is the same day; it's the day after the hurricane.' '"

David, an artiste - and a person like many of the people I've known throughout my life, explains in words that chill my heart, "I'm one of those people who just got hit real hard. I'm very scared," he said, his voice barely audible, his face hidden beneath the hat. "I'm scared because I don't have any identity anymore."

The combination of sadness, guilt and despair has prompted him to consider suicide.

"Being here right now, this exact moment, is one of the most painful moments of my life," he said.


My country's abysmal response to this catastrophe is one of the biggest surprises of my life.

Nazis, Righties and Persians, Oh My

This Guy Knows He's An Asshole - But He Just Wants To See Us Cringe: "'Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces and they insist on it to the extent that if anyone proves something contrary to that they condemn that person and throw them in jail,' IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
'Although we don't accept this claim, if we suppose it is true, our question for the Europeans is: is the killing of innocent Jewish people by Hitler the reason for their support to the occupiers of Jerusalem?' he said.
'If the Europeans are honest they should give some of their provinces in Europe -- like in Germany, Austria or other countries -- to the Zionists and the Zionists can establish their state in Europe. You offer part of Europe and we will support it.'"

"Then because the Jews have been oppressed during the Second World War, therefore the Europeans have to support the occupying regime of Jerusalem. We do not accept this," he said.

Maybe he should check the date on his God - he'll notice that it's well over a thousand years after Solomon's Temple was built.

"Why Do We Need All Those Lifeboats?" ask Republicans

You know what they say, "The ship belongs to the Captain, but the lifeboats belong to the crew": "Last month's budget-cutting bill would save $50 billion over five years by imposing new fees on Medicaid recipients, trimming the food stamp rolls, squeezing student lenders and cutting federal child support enforcement."

"Our economic policies have done the trick," said Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio), whose reliance on tricks seems so sweet, albeit unprofessional and unhelpful.

Bush Claims "Alito Is No Conservative". Also Claims "Michelle Malkin Thinks Outside A Box"

12/06/2005 Administration Says Alito Is Actually A Butch Liberal: "'Although Alito's opinions are rarely written with obvious ideology, he's seldom sided with a criminal defendant, a foreign national facing deportation, an employee alleging discrimination or consumers suing big business,' reporters Stephen Henderson and Howard Mintz wrote.
The reporters also concluded that Alito 'rarely supports individual rights,' shows 'a strong deference to police authority' and is extremely skeptical about claims of racial discrimination. Henderson covers the Supreme Court for Knight Ridder. Mintz, a reporter for the San Jose Mercury News, a Knight Ridder paper, worked on the Alito project during a stint in Washington."

On the tirebiter front, hate-news flinger Michelle Malkin's most recent nudeless photo shows the hot rightie lunatic beside her beloved box, thinking.

Nuke Over U.S. Could Unleash Electromagnetic Tsunami

This is from an Iranian political military policy journal:

Once you confuse the enemy communication network, you can also disrupt the work of the enemy command and decision making center.
Even worse, today when you disable a country's military high command through disruption of communications you will, in effect, disrupt all the affairs of that country. . . . If the world's industrial countries fail to devise effective ways to defend themselves against dangerous electronic assaults, then they will disintegrate within a few years. . . . American soldiers would not be able to find food to eat nor would they be able to fire a single shot.

Dread Pirate Roberts Says If You Don't Rub My Robe, I Won't Cater Your Baptism

Give Me Your Tired, Non-gay Children and I'll Return Them In A Bag

"The law schools have their own message, 'that they believe it is immoral to abet discrimination,' he said.
This time, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor took issue. 'But they can say that to every student who enters the room,' she said.
'And when they do it, your honor, the answer of the students is, we don't believe you,' Mr. Rosenkranz said.
'The reason they don't believe you is because you're willing to take the money,' Chief Justice Roberts interjected. 'What you're saying is this is a message we believe in strongly, but we don't believe in it to the detriment of $100 million.'"

Ok, so according to Sandra "Bush not Gore" O'Connor, Law Schools can say to each student entering the campus' military recruiter's office, "we believe it is immoral to abet discrimination".

The schools should immediately make that a mandatory procedure.

Coulter Now Licking Balls to Get Attention

Welcome to AnnCoulter.com: "And unlike Murtha, who refuses to release his medical records showing he was entitled to his two Purple Hearts, we know what North did. (These Democrat military veterans are hardly shrinking violets when it comes to citing their medals, but they get awfully squeamish when pressed for details.) "

Like clockwork, it took only a few paragraphs for her to start her politics of personal destruction. I think that her words actually smell - right on the page.

Bottom Line: When Republican's Screw a Woman, She's Supposed To Stay Screwed !

More Sam Alito Abortion Insight !

"What can be made of this opportunity to advance the goals of bringing about the eventual overruling of Roe v. Wade and, in the meantime, of mitigating its effects?' "

Here's some more of his unsane plans for the women in your life:

"we should make clear that we disagree with Roe v. Wade and would welcome the opportunity to brief the issue of whether, and if so to what extent, that decision should be overruled."

"abortion is not unregulable" he said, and advocated that the Reagan administration try to "nudge" the Supreme Court toward recognizing a state's "interest in protecting the unborn throughout pregnancy, or to dispel in part the mystical faith in the attending physician that supports Roe and the subsequent cases." A "frontal assault" on Roe, Alito concluded, was not preferable. A more measured approach "makes our position clear, does not even tacitly concede Roe's legitimacy, and signals that we regard the question as live and open."

This guy's a brute. Shut the court's door in his face and chase him across the tidal basin like a rodent.

MOMA Says Art Began Hibernating in 1970

village voice > art > Saltz on the new Modern's great failures by Jerry Saltz: "Obviously, everyone wants to see the peaks. But if you're only seeing mountaintops you can never know how high they are. "

Modern art is currently punchless.

Airline Seating Policy 'Demonizes' Men -- 11/29/2005

Airline Seating Policy 'Demonizes' Men -- 11/29/2005: "Most males in the world, I'm sure, are perfectly law-abiding, good parents, good fathers, brothers, whatever,' he said. 'They're basically accusing half the population of the world of being a potential pedophile.'"

Ex-Powell Aide Criticizes Detainee Effort

Ex-Powell Aide Criticizes Detainee Effort: "He said Cheney must have sincerely believed that Iraq could be a spawning ground for new terror assaults, because 'otherwise I have to declare him a moron, an idiot or a nefarious bastard.'"

Bull's Blood Baths Bogus Bullshit

HBO Rome.html: "Perhaps the most glaring error/anachronism took place in the first episode, when Atia took a shower in bull�s blood. This ritual was called the taurobolium; it was practiced by the eunuch priests of Cybele and also by the male adherents of the cult of Mithras, which became a major rival to Christianity...but the earliest known performance of the taurobolium in Rome was about a century after ROME takes place. A hundred-year anachronism may not seem a big deal, but imagine watching a drama about the American Civil War...and seeing Hare Krishnas chanting in railway stations! "

-----------
... from another article altogether...

At 62, Englishman Anthony Everitt recalls taking precisely one science course in high school. But he knew his classics ... According to Everitt, it is the toothsome stew of civility, theaters, dinner parties, politics and "paroxysms of really appalling violence" that continues to mesmerize. After Cicero was murdered, his head and right hand were hammered to the speakers' platform in the Roman Forum. But first, the wife of one of his enemies, Fulvia, reportedly stuck hairpins through the great orator's tongue.

Violation of a Divine Right

My Way News: "'If someone is called to the priesthood by God but denied it by church officials, then it is not a violation of a human right, it is a violation of a divine right--the right of God to call whomever he chooses to the priesthood,' he said."

When God makes a fool, she means it!

The Environment Has Been Sold to the Bone

George W. Bush Gives Me Hope / The astonishing collapse of the Bumbling One surely means healthy change is imminent, right?: "We cannot afford any more wars. The environment has been sold to the bone. The national spirit has been beaten like an Alaskan baby seal and the GOP has worked our last nerve, passed through the karmic blood-brain barrier, reached saturation to the point where even moderate Repubs and gobs of intelligent Christians are finally saying, Oh my God, what have we done, and how did it all go so wrong, and how much Prozac and wine and praying to a very disappointed Jesus will it take to fix it? "

Murtha verifies that Cheney is a Ball of Shit

"'I like guys who've never been there who criticize us who've been there,' Murtha said. 'I like that. I like guys who got five deferments and never been there and sent people to war and then don't like to hear suggestions that what may need to be done.' "

Now this is progress !

Intelligent Design is neither

BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "The Vatican's chief astronomer said Friday that 'intelligent design' isn't science and doesn't belong in science classrooms, the latest high-ranking Roman Catholic official to enter the evolution debate in the United States.
The Rev. George Coyne, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, said placing intelligent design theory alongside that of evolution in school programs was 'wrong' and was akin to mixing apples with oranges.
'Intelligent design isn't science even though it pretends to be,' the ANSA news agency quoted Coyne as saying on the sidelines of a conference in Florence. 'If you want to teach it in schools, intelligent design should be taught when religion or cultural history is taught, not science.' "

Maybe there's some hope for sanity after all...

'Cheney is vice president for torture'

'Cheney is vice president for torture': "A former CIA director has claimed that torture is condoned and even approved by the Bush government.
The devastating accusations have been made by Admiral Stansfield Turner who labelled Dick Cheney 'a vice president for torture'.
He said: 'We have crossed the line into dangerous territory'. "

How much do we let go by before we drag these debased Republican fucks out of their chairs and slap them silly.

Let Us Blow Up Bill O'Reilly

Let Us Blow Up Bill O'Reilly / Of course the PR-sucking Fox News blowhard is off his nut. Again. Question is, Should you care?: "In a way, we should be grateful for O'Reilly and Robertson and Limbaugh and Coulter and their slime-slinging ilk. They live in those black and nasty psycho-emotional places, so we don't have to. They show us how ugly we can be, how poisonous and ill, so we may recoil and say, Whoa, you know what? I think I need to be more gentle and less judgmental and kinder to those I love. BOR works an inverse effect on anyone with a vibrant and active soul -- he makes us better by sucking all the grossness into himself and blowing it out via a TV channel no one of any spiritual acumen really respects anyway. "

He's right, Coulter, O'Reilly, and all of them make one want to avoid that kind of soul-sucker life.

Criticism of Voting Law Was Overruled

Criticism of Voting Law Was Overruled: "But an Aug. 25 staff memo obtained by The Washington Post recommended blocking the program because Georgia failed to show that the measure would not dilute the votes of minority residents, as required under the Voting Rights Act.
The memo, endorsed by four of the team's five members, also said the state had provided flawed and incomplete data. The team found significant evidence that the plan would be 'retrogressive,' meaning that it would reduce blacks' access to the polls.
A day later, on Aug. 26, the chief of the department's voting rights section, John Tanner, told Georgia officials that the program could go forward. 'The Attorney General does not interpose any objection to the specified changes,' he said in a letter to them."

Cheney is wrong, was wrong, and will continue to be wrong

VPOTUS cuts another one for 'ya: "Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry, who also voted for the war in 2002 and whom Bush defeated in the presidential election a year ago, accused Cheney of engaging 'in the politics of fear and smear.'
'It is hard to name a government official with less credibility on Iraq than Vice President Cheney,' Kerry said. "

He has other priorities, like siphoning money from the government.

Oh THAT old statement. I only say that when I don't care what I say.

The Messiah's Newspaper: "Judge Alito went on to say that 'racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed' and that he strongly favors 'limited government, federalism, free enterprise, the supremacy of the elected branches of government, the need for a strong defense and effective law enforcement, and the legitimacy of a government role in protecting traditional values.'
Mr. Neas said this proves the nominee's 'fervent allegiance to virtually every pet cause of the radical right' and 'underscores our concern that he would vote to turn back the clock on decades of judicial precedent protecting privacy, equal opportunity, religious freedom, and so much more.' "

You Have No Right To An Abortion - so shut the hell up !

Alito rejected abortion as a right - The Washington Times, The Messiah's Newspaper: "'I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.' "

"Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, wrote that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion" in a 1985 document obtained by The Washington Times. "I personally believe very strongly" in this legal position, Mr. Alito wrote on his application to become deputy assistant to Attorney General Edwin I. Meese III."

Any questions ?

Tours.2

Arabs Blame French Society, Discrimination: "The worry is that right-wing groups will gain power in France because of the uprisings, he said.

Gee, 'ya think ?

'Will Europe enter into a confrontation phase with Muslims on its territories?' he asked."

Yes, and it'll become a way of life, awful and spreading like infected blood thru the cortex of the West. The Moor is here, after all these drinks. Arggg !

Kansas debate focuses on defining science - Future of Evolution - MSNBC.com

Kansas debate focuses on defining science - Future of Evolution - MSNBC.com: "'In order to live in this science-dominated world, you have to be able to discriminate between science and non-science,' said Alan Leshner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 'They want to rewrite the rules of science.'"

Fox News Is Accused in Bias Suit - New York Times

Fox News Is Accused in Bias Suit - New York Times: "The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a federal lawsuit yesterday against the Fox News network, claiming it harassed and discriminated against its female employees, creating a 'hostile work environment because of their sex.'"

Fox packers are rich in colorful fuckups.

BREITBART.COM - Just The News

BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "'We are hopeful that you will be able to accomplish this task in a bipartisan manner given general agreement that intelligence matters should not be politicized,' it added.
Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said Republicans 'should be focused on the illegality of these prisons, not the revelation of the illegality.'
The allegations about secret prisons prompted denials from governments in the former Soviet bloc. Such prisons, European officials say, would violate the continent's human rights principles.
While not confirming the existence of secret prisons, Rice told reporters, 'We, our allies, others who have experienced attacks, have to find a way to protect our people.' "

Paris Burning: How Empires End by Patrick J. Buchanan

"The West is aging, shrinking, and dying. "

"Colonization of the mother countries by subject peoples is the last chapter in the history of empires—and the next chapter in the history of the West—that is now coming to a close."

Vegas Mayor Might Want Hookers To Lose A Nipple !!

But Starts First With Proposal To Cut The Thumbs Off Of Graffiti Artists: "`I'm saying maybe you put them on TV and cut off a thumb,' the mayor added. 'That may be the right thing to do.'
Goodman also suggested that whippings or canings should be brought back for children who get into trouble.
`I also believe in a little bit of corporal punishment going back to the days of yore, where examples have to be shown,' Goodman said.
`I'm dead serious,' said Goodman, adding, `Some of these (children) don't learn. You have got to teach them a lesson, and this is coming from a criminal defense lawyer.'
`They would get a trial first,'' he added.
Another panelist on the show, Howard Rosenberg, a state university system regent, responded by saying that cutting off the thumbs of taggers won't solve the problem and Goodman should `use his head for something other than a hat rack.'''

Now there's a guy for whom the voices are beginning to loom large.

Who Talked? It Wasn't the Special Prosecutor

Who Talked? It Wasn't the Special Prosecutor - Yahoo! News: "'I know that people want to know whatever it is that we know, and they're probably sitting at home with TVs thinking, 'I want to jump through the TV, grab him by his collar and tell him to tell us everything they've figured out over the last two years,' '"

Sounds like the plan to me.

BREITBART.COM - Just The News

BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "Charles expressed concern that economic progress is 'upsetting the whole balance of nature.'
'You know, if you look at the latest figures on climate change and global warming ... they're terrifying, terrifying,' Charles told CBS' '60 Minutes' in the interview aired Sunday. "

What's a Modern Girl to Do? - Maureen Dowd

What's a Modern Girl to Do? - New York Times: "'Deep down, beneath the bluster and machismo, men are simply afraid to say that what they're truly looking for in a woman is an intelligent, confident and dependable partner in life whom they can devote themselves to unconditionally until she's 40.'"

What's a Modern Girl to Do? - Maureen Dowd

What's a Modern Girl to Do? - New York Times: "Deep down, beneath the bluster and machismo, men are simply afraid to say that what they're truly looking for in a woman is an intelligent, confident and dependable partner in life whom they can devote themselves to unconditionally until she's 40."

"A 2005 report by researchers at four British universities indicated that a high I.Q. hampers a woman's chance to marry, while it is a plus for men. The prospect for marriage increased by 35 percent for guys for each 16-point increase in I.Q.; for women, there is a 40 percent drop for each 16-point rise."

WHY ARE DEMS SO OVERHEATED? - David Brooks NYT

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2005�: "...sometimes people who are dispossessed, who feel their country has been taken away from them and their kind, develop an angry, suspicious and conspiratorial frame of mind. It is never enough to believe their opponents have committed honest mistakes or have legitimate purposes; they insist on believing in malicious conspiracies"

That's about right.

Republican Danforth warns about the Christian righties

BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "Nothing is more dangerous than religion in politics and government when it becomes divisive," he said. "I'll give you examples: Iraq. Northern Ireland. Palestine."

"'I think that the Republican Party fairly recently has been taken over by the Christian conservatives, by the Christian right,' he said in an interview after his talks. 'I don't think that this is a permanent condition but I think this has happened, and that it's divisive for the country.'"

ConocoPhillips profit beats forecasts - Yahoo! News

ConocoPhillips profit beats forecasts - Yahoo! News: "ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP - news), the No. 3 U.S. oil company, on Wednesday reported quarterly profit surged 89 percent, surpassing Wall Street forecasts, driven by record oil prices and sharply higher refining margins."

ABC News: Poll shows Iraqis back attacks on UK, US forces

ABC News: Poll shows Iraqis back attacks on UK, US forces: "Oct 22, 2005 � LONDON (Reuters) - Forty-five percent of Iraqis believe attacks on U.S. and British troops are justified, according to a secret poll said to have been commissioned by British defense leaders and cited by The Sunday Telegraph.
Less than 1 percent of those polled believed that the forces were responsible for any improvement in security, according to poll figures. "

Burt Bacharach's Songs About the Assholian Republican Destruction of America

News: "'Who are these people that keep telling us lies and how did these people get control of our lives and who'll stop the violence 'cause it's out of control? Make 'em stop.' "

Cheney 'cabal' hijacked US foreign policy

FT.com / World / US - Cheney 'cabal' hijacked US foreign policy: "Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Mr Powell until last January, said: 'What I saw was a cabal between the vice-president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made.
'Now it is paying the consequences of making those decisions in secret, but far more telling to me is America is paying the consequences.'"

TimesSelect is the NYT soul unbarred - money first, then we'll talk

The NYT Miller Revelations - Preposterous speculation got us this far ... By Mickey�Kaus: "[O]ne of the greatest things about 'The New York Times' online is I got to reach an audience that just was exponential to what you got in the dead-tree edition of 'The New York Times.' And I particularly -- because I write about international affairs, so I got a lot of young people in India and Egypt and what not. And for them, $50, that may be their -- that may be their tuition for half a year. So I honestly am torn. I really hope this works, because I want 'The New York Times' to have a platform that is sustainable. But at the same time, I hope we can eventually find a way to re-engage those people, because definitely, we've lost some of them."

TimesSelect is anti-everything that the N.Y. Times should stand for.

Religion sucks at the edge of our Constitution

USATODAY.com: "Our nation today is more religiously diverse than ever. No longer Judeo-Christian (if we ever were), we are now Judeo-Christian-Muslim-Buddhist-Hindu-agnostic-atheist. That means we need a new church-state solution to reconcile our religious differences with our common faith in America."

More Reactions to Miller Opus: Many Questions Remain

More Reactions to Miller Opus: Many Questions Remain: "Also on Sunday, Mickey Kaus at the popular blog Kausfiles offered this assessment:

'It's now clear (Miller's) confinement wasn't pointless. It worked for the prosecutor exactly as intended. After a couple of months of sleeping on 'two thin mats on a concrete slab,' Miller decided, in her words, 'I owed it to myself' to check and see if just maybe Libby really meant to release her from her promise of confidentiality. And sure enough-- you know what?--it turns out he did!

'The message sent to every prosecutor in the country is 'Don't believe journalists who say they will never testify. A bit of hard time and they just might find a reason to change their minds. Judy Miller did.' This is the victory for the press the Times has achieved. More journalists will now go to jail, quite possibly, than if Miller had just cut a deal right away, before taking her stand on 'principle.''"

OpinionJournal - John Fund on the Trail

OpinionJournal - John Fund on the Trail: "What followed, according to the notes, was a free-wheeling discussion about many topics, including same-sex marriage. Justice Hecht said he had never discussed that issue with Ms. Miers. Then an unidentified voice asked the two men, 'Based on your personal knowledge of her, if she had the opportunity, do you believe she would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade?'
'Absolutely,' said Judge Kinkeade.
'I agree with that,' said Justice Hecht. 'I concur.'"

MAKING ENDS MEET / Struggling in middle class

MAKING ENDS MEET / Struggling in middle class / Working parents in Bay Area try to stay afloat and save for the future as the nation's high-income families drive up prices for everyone else: "Upper-income families -- those earning more than 95 percent of Americans -- went from making $95,737 a year in 1970 to $164,104 in 2001, in constant dollars, a 72 percent increase. The very wealthiest Americans' incomes rose even faster. But the median household income rose only 21 percent in constant dollars between 1970 and 2004. And near-poor families -- those with higher incomes than only 20 percent of American families -- saw their earnings inch from $20,134 to $24,640, a 22 percent increase between 1970 and 2001. "

I think it's pronounced shut-the-fuck-up and bring us some more bread for the table.

From the NYT Editors: The Times and Iraq

The New York Times > International > Middle East > From the Editors: The Times and Iraq: "But we have found a number of instances of coverage that was not as rigorous as it should have been. In some cases, information that was controversial then, and seems questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged. Looking back, we wish we had been more aggressive in re-examining the claims as new evidence emerged � or failed to emerge.
The problematic articles varied in authorship and subject matter, but many shared a common feature. "

...and do read on. These comments should be considered whenever one wants to entertain the idea that the MSM - NYT in particular, is in somebody's pocket.

The Miller Case: A Notebook, a Cause, a Jail Cell and a Deal - New York Times

The Miller Case: A Notebook, a Cause, a Jail Cell and a Deal - New York Times: "'W.M.D. - I got it totally wrong,' she said. 'The analysts, the experts and the journalists who covered them - we were all wrong. If your sources are wrong, you are wrong. I did the best job that I could.'"

Rescued pets to be euthanized on Oct. 15

Rescued pets to be euthanized on Oct. 15: "On October 15 (two days from now), all animals rescued
in Hurricane Katrina who have not already been taken
into foster care will become property of Louisiana.
What this means is that any shelter (anywhere) who
took an animal displaced by Katrina has the right to
euthanize an animal on Oct. 15 if it chooses to do
so--regardless of whether the animal's owners have
been found. Many of the shelters animals were sent to
are HI-KILL shelters, and will put these animals down
because they don't have space. "

Can you believe this ! I wonder at what point we all will have to get out there and war these idiots to the ground. I sure am ready !

Federal Report: Marijuana Causes Mental Illness

Federal Report: Marijuana Causes Mental Illness: "Officials are preparing to launch a national campaign using newspaper and magazine advertisements to draw parents' attention to a link between marijuana use and mental illness. "

Don't you just love this kind of bullshit?

Mrs. Wrong gets it right - almost

Independent Online Edition > UK Politics : app2: Margaret Thatcher staggers into the fray and bleats, "'The fact was that there were no facts, there was no evidence, and there was no proof. As a politician the most serious decision you can take is to commit your armed services to war from which they may not return.'"

This is just one more - why do we need to have so many - fact showing that G. W. Bush is the most fucked-up president ever. But let's continue to not notice, ok?

VALLEJO / Wine lovers lose precious millions / Clients shocked -- building kept their fortunes secure

VALLEJO / Wine lovers lose precious millions / Clients shocked -- building kept their fortunes secure: "The fire broke out at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. After a fire alarm sounded, three warehouse employees turned it off, only to see it activate again. The employees soon noticed a 'glow' in a portion of the building and called for help,"

We could have been a great nation

My Way News: "We would not have invaded a country that didn't attack us," he said, referring to Iraq. "We would not have taken money from the working families and given it to the most wealthy families. We would not be trying to control and intimidate the news media. We would not be routinely torturing people. "We would be a different country."

It's a damn shame we couldn't save America from the fascist juggernaut. We'll have to wait for America2

Pasado's Safe Haven impresses the world

HoumaToday.com | The Courier | Houma, LA: "Prima Mosi, executive director of Protection of Animal Welfare Services of Austin, Texas, praised the organization for its well-ordered approach.

'Pasado's has done what nobody else could do,' Mosi said. 'They're the only people we'll work with.'

HoumaToday.com | The Courier | Houma, LA

HoumaToday.com | The Courier | Houma, LA: "Pasado's Safe Haven, a Seattle-based animal-advocacy organization has been operating out of St. Martin's thoroughbred horse barn in Raceland, and according to the volunteers there, that operation has become the gold standard for animal rescue."

That is a fact, jack. Pasado, Noah's Wish, Peta - all heroes, all perennials in my garden of good graces.

'How much mercury is in the fish you eat? - Your Environment - MSNBC.com

How much mercury is in the fish you eat? - Your Environment - MSNBC.com: "Congress is poised to act on a Bush administration plan, called the Clear Skies Initiative, which will slow down the timetable for reducing the main source of mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants.
Frank O�Donnell, director of the Clean Air Trust, an environmental lobby group, says the mercury data delayed for 10 months the release of the EPA report, which was made public after being leaked to the press.
'But people need to know the power industry is the biggest unregulated source of mercury and that tuna will continue to be risky as long as power plants continue to put out tons of heavy metals,' O'Donnell says. He says he fears war-dominated media coverage could allow the bill to be pushed through without notice."

Can Bush think correctly about anything? Can he prioritize? Does he know that poisoned fish is not a great sign for the future?

No, he doesn't. He's a turd with a tie strapped to its shank.

OIly Dog - did this person save the dog?

The Oily Dog. The smaller picture shows one of the most haunting images from the pet disaster that hit New Orleans and its flooded neighborhoods. I guess I was very overly optimistic to think that the person seen near the dog in the larger picture had rescued the poor animal. Drat! It looks like Tom Fox shot these 2 shots moments apart and this small dog was actually passed by and left to fend for itself.

Mary Mapes Hits Bloggers and MSM in Upcoming Book

Mary Mapes Hits Bloggers and MSM in Upcoming Book: "--'To these people, there was no such thing as unbiased mainstream reporting, certainly not when it came to criticism of the president, no matter how tepid. To them, there was Fox News and everything else -- and everything else was liberal and unfair.'"

BREITBART.COM - Just The News

BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "White House denies Bush claimed divine inspiration
Oct 07 9:14 AM US/Eastern


The White House has denied that US President George W. Bush said God told him to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, as a new BBC documentary is expected to reveal.
'That's absurd. He's never made such comments,' White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Thursday.
The documentary series set to be broadcast later this month in Britain claims Bush made the claim when he met Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and then-foreign minister Nabil Shaath in June 2003.
He also told them he had been ordered by God to create a Palestinian state, the ministers said.
Shaath, now the Palestinian information minister, said: 'President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God''.
''God would tell me, 'George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan'.
''And I did. And then God would tell me, 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq... ' And I did. "

Does religion correlate with social dysfunction? - The Situation with Tucker Carlson - MSNBC.com

Does religion correlate with social dysfunction? - The Situation with Tucker Carlson - MSNBC.com: "Well, here's an interesting measure, suicide rates. Now if you commit suicide that is, of course, the ultimate statement of hopelessness. Now we got the figures for, the most recent figures we could get on suicide rates internationally. It will not surprise you. Maybe it will.
But the United States comes in 21st and the first 20 are all even more secular than we are. Hungary is number one, then Japan, Finland, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, France, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Poland, Luxembourg, Denmark. You get the point. These are societies in which God does not have a prominent place and the people are offing themselves just like flies basically.
BROOKS: They're bored. Maybe social dysfunction is more interesting.
CARLSON: You know I hadn't thought of that, Rosa, but you've not for the first time stopped me completely in my tracks. Rosa Brooks of the University of Virginia thanks a lot for coming on.
BROOKS: A pleasure, Tucker."

This woman is way cool !

BBC - Press Office - George Bush on Elusive Peace

BBC - Press Office - George Bush on Elusive Peace: "Nabil Shaath says: 'President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, 'George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.' And I did, and then God would tell me, 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq �' And I did. And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, 'Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.' And by God I'm gonna do it.''

Abu Mazen was at the same meeting and recounts how President Bush told him: 'I have a moral and religious obligation. So I will get you a Palestinian state.' "

Holy shit !

Bush ought to lead the coming green revolution

Bush ought to lead the coming green revolution: "People realize that the key is to stem the addiction by converting to alternative fuels rather than to temporize by seeking new oil fields. And they get that even if we find more oil we will still find ourselves slowly destroying our planet and rather quickly energizing hurricanes and other weather catastrophes.

Bush is far, far behind on this issue and, with his oil company background, seems incapable of responding to the new environmentalism and the revised priorities it is bringing with it. Democrats are scrambling to embrace global warming as an issue but are woefully short of solutions. They revel in a recitation of the problem instead."

Torture of Iraqis was for "stress relief", say US soldiers

Torture of Iraqis was for stress relief, say US soldiers - [Sunday Herald]: "The soldiers referred to their Iraqi captives as PUCs persons under control and used the expressions f***ing a PUC and �smoking a PUC to refer respectively to torture and forced physical exertion.
One sergeant provided graphic descriptions to Human Rights Watch investigators about acts of abuse carried out both by himself and others. He now says he regrets his actions. His regiment arrived at FOB Mercury in August 2003. He said: The first interrogation that I observed was the first time I saw a PUC pushed to the brink of a stroke or a heart attack. At first I was surprised, like, This is what we are allowed to do?"

My Big, Fat, Expensive Lesbian Wedding: Darn you, New York Times!

My Big, Fat, Expensive Lesbian Wedding: Darn you, New York Times!: "Enough about me. Let's talk about you. What do you think of me? "

Nevada Thunder � Blog Archive � All the President�s Women

Nevada Thunder � Blog Archive � All the President�s Women: "W. is asking for a triple leap of faith. He has faith in Ms. Miers as his lawyer and as a woman who shares his faith. And we�re expected to have faith in his faith and her faith, and her opinions that derive from her faith that could change the balance of the court and affect women�s rights for the next generation.
That�s a little bit too much faith, isn�t it?"

Nevada Thunder � Blog Archive � All the President�s Women

Nevada Thunder � Blog Archive � All the President�s Women: "But who cares about her lack of expertise in such a critical job, as long as the workaholic loyalist continues to make her old boss feel like the most thoughtful, farsighted he-man in the world?"

editorsweblog.org: New York Times' paid online experiment criticized

editorsweblog.org: New York Times' paid online experiment criticized: "'What I picked up from this pile of e-mail is that many people view the Times' columnists as fulfilling an important global public-service role, and that by publishing them freely on the Web for so many years, they spread ideas around the world that need to be read widely. The times is being judged on its mission of serving the public good, not shareholders... Something the times may have damaged here is its global impact.' "

At the Very Top, a Surge in Income in '03 - New York Times

At the Very Top, a Surge in Income in '03 - New York Times: "After falling for two years, the share of income going to the richest slice of Americans - the top tenth of 1 percent - grew significantly in 2003 while the share going to 99 percent of Americans fell, tax data released yesterday showed.
At the same time, the effective income tax rates paid by the top tenth of 1 percent fell sharply, declining at more than 10 times the rate reduction for middle-class taxpayers, the new report, by the Internal Revenue Service, showed. "

Falernian Libations - the story of Falernian wine

Falernian Libations - the story of Falernian wine: "The Romans usually mixed one part wine to two parts water (sometimes hot or even salted with sea water). The Greeks tended to dilute their wine with three or four parts water, which they always mixed by adding the wine. The intention of the symposium was to enjoy the aesthetic pleasure of the wine, to be intoxicated just enough to have the mind released from inhibition and conversation stimulated. At its Roman counterpart, the convivium, there was a tendency to get drunk."

HUMAN EVENTS ONLINE :: Miers' Qualifications Are 'Non-Existent' by Patrick J. Buchanan

HUMAN EVENTS ONLINE :: Miers' Qualifications Are 'Non-Existent' by Patrick J. Buchanan: "In a decision deeply disheartening to those who invested such hopes in him, Bush may have tossed away his and our last chance to roll back the social revolution imposed upon us by our judicial dictatorship since the days of Earl Warren."

Bo Dietl is a muttonhead

Such a massive amount of lead sits atop Bo Dietl's brain, pressing down hard on the available neurons, eeking out a cry for help.  It is this cry that makes up the entire entity of Bo Dietl.  A stupidectomy is contra-indicated as there is nothing to remove.

Byron York on Tom DeLay & Ronnie Earle on National Review Online

Byron York on Tom DeLay & Ronnie Earle on National Review Online: "'The root of the evil of the corporate and large-monied interest domination of politics is money,' Earle says as he takes the filmmakers on a nighttime drive around Austin. 'This is in the Bible. This isn't rocket science. The root of all evil truly is money, especially in politics. People talk about how money is the mother's milk of politics. Well, it's the devil's brew. And what we've got to do, we've got to turn off the tap.'"

Bill Bennett Explains His Assholian Behaviour to the Brute Hannity

FOXNews.com - Hannity & Colmes - Interview - Bill Bennett Explains His Controversial Remarks: "Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's see, you got Kennedy. I will � I'll not take instruction from Teddy Kennedy. A young woman likely drowned because of his negligence. I'll take no moral instruction with him. That's much worse than legal gambling what Teddy Kennedy did. He should make no judgments at all about people. He shouldn't be in the Senate."

He's a rather evil fuck; always has been.

HUD chief foresees a 'whiter' Big Easy - The Washington Times, America's Favorite Messiah's Newspaper

HUD chief foresees a 'whiter' Big Easy�-�Nation/Politics�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper: "Alphonso R. Jackson, secretary of housing and urban development, during a visit with hurricane victims in Houston, said New Orleans would not reach its pre-Katrina population of '500,000 people for a long time,' and 'it's not going to be as black as it was for a long time, if ever again.' "

CNN.com - Bennett under fire for remarks on blacks, crime - Sep 30, 2005

CNN.com - Bennett under fire for remarks on blacks, crime - Sep 30, 2005: "'If you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose -- you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down.
'That would be an impossibly ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down,' he said."

Turks Challenge Hughes On Iraq

Turks Challenge Hughes On Iraq: "'This war is really, really bringing your positive efforts to the level of zero,' said Hidayet Sefkatli Tuksal, an activist with the Capital City Women's Forum. She said it was difficult to talk about cooperation between women in the United States and Turkey as long as Iraq was under occupation."

'It's Happening to Us,' He Says With Disbelief - Yahoo! News

'It's Happening to Us,' He Says With Disbelief - Yahoo! News: "Port Arthur Police Officer Robert Bridges worked through the night Thursday to get people out. At dawn Friday, on a whim, he decided to drop in on an old family friend, Wilbert Green, 76, to make sure that he was gone. He found Green on his knees in a small clapboard house.
'He was praying � praying that someone would come get him,' Bridges said. 'He doesn't have a phone and he couldn't find anybody. He said, 'I've been asking for you.' I said, 'Well, let's do it.' "

Amazon.com: DVD: Bob Dylan - No Direction Home (2005)

Amazon.com: DVD: Bob Dylan - No Direction Home (2005): "'Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes. You'd know what a drag it is to see you'. (Positively 4th Street). "

Not for the faint of heart.

:: rogerebert.com :: No Direction Home: Bob Dylan

:: rogerebert.com :: No Direction Home: Bob Dylan: "Dylan stood atop a column of air. His songs and his ideas rose up from within him and emerged uncluttered and pure, as if his mind, soul, body and talent were all one."

FAMILY DEMANDS THE TRUTH / New inquiry may expose events that led to Pat Tillman�s death

FAMILY DEMANDS THE TRUTH / New inquiry may expose events that led to Pat Tillman�s death: "�I can see it like a movie screen,� Baer said. �We were outside of (a city in southern Iraq) watching as bombs were dropping on the town. We were at an old air base, me, Kevin and Pat, we weren�t in the fight right then. We were talking. And Pat said, �You know, this war is so f� illegal.� And we all said, �Yeah.� That�s who he was. He totally was against Bush.� "

But bottle-blonde brainer Ann Coulter got all wet about Pat, mistakenly thinking that he was like her dad - an idiot with a stiffy from which flies the flag she can't get enough of...

"Tillman was an American original: virtuous, pure and masculine like only an American male can be. The stunningly handsome athlete walked away from a three-year, $3.6 million NFL contract with the Arizona Cardinals to join the U.S. military and fight in Afghanistan, where he was killed in April.

He wanted no publicity and granted no interviews about his decision to leave pro football in the prime of his career and join the Army Rangers. (Most perplexing to Democrats, he didn't even take a home movie camera to a war zone in order to create fake footage for future political campaigns in which he would constantly palaver about his military service and drag around his "Band of Brothers" for the media.)

Tillman gave only an indirect explanation for his decision on the day after 9-11, when he said: "My great grandfather was at Pearl Harbor, and a lot of my family has gone and fought in wars, and I really haven't done a damn thing as far as laying myself on the line like that." He said he wanted to "pay something back" to America.

He died bringing freedom and democracy to 28 million Afghans – pretty much confirming Michael Moore's view of America as an imperialist cowboy predator. There is not another country in the world – certainly not in continental Europe – that could have produced a Pat Tillman."

National Enquirer

National Enquirer: "'I do think that Bush is drinking again. Alcoholics who are not in any program, like the President, have a hard time when stress gets to be great.

'I think it's a concern that Bush disappears during times of stress. He spends so much time on his ranch. It's very frightening.'"

National Enquirer

National Enquirer: "Family sources have told how the 59-year-old president was caught by First Lady Laura downing a shot of booze at their family ranch in Crawford, Texas, when he learned of the hurricane disaster.

His worried wife yelled at him: 'Stop, George.'"

Kerry blasts Bush on federal response to Hurricane Katrina

Kerry blasts Bush on federal response to Hurricane Katrina: "�This is the Katrina administration,� read prepared remarks posted on 2004 Democratic presidential nominee�s website, www.johnkerry.com. �Katrina is a symbol of all this administration does and doesn't do,� read Kerry�s script, portions of which were included in an e-mail to supporters that ended with a fundraising appeal.
�Michael Brown [Bush�s former emergency-management director] � is to Katrina what [former Iraq administrator] Paul Bremer is to peace in Iraq; what [former CIA Director] George Tenet is to slam-dunk intelligence; what [former Deputy Defense Secretary] Paul Wolfowitz is to parades paved with flowers in Baghdad; what [Vice President] Dick Cheney is to visionary energy policy; what [Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld is to basic war planning; what [House Majority Leader] Tom Delay [R-Texas] is to ethics; and what George Bush is to �Mission Accomplished� and �Wanted Dead or Alive.��"

CNN.com - Have you heard the one about Katrina? - Sep 16, 2005

CNN.com - Have you heard the one about Katrina? - Sep 16, 2005: "Ten years ago, Hughley said, he participated in a Harvard University seminar on comedy with Robert Klein and Joan Rivers. The question was posed: was there any subject they considered out of bounds for comedy?
Yes, Klein replied. There had just been a flood in India that had killed thousands of people. He saw nothing funny about that.
Rivers piped up: 'I just want to know. Who got all the jewelry?'
Hughley filed that away as a lesson.
'The event itself, of course it's not funny,' he said. 'It's the ironic things around it that everyone can relate to.'"

CNN.com - Have you heard the one about Katrina? - Sep 16, 2005

CNN.com - Have you heard the one about Katrina? - Sep 16, 2005: "The joke rattled through e-mails across the country even as lives hung in the balance after Hurricane Katrina: What's President Bush's position on Roe vs. Wade?
Answer: He doesn't care how people get out of New Orleans."

Disney on Parade - New York Times

Disney on Parade - New York Times: "On Thursday night, Mr. Bush wanted to appear casually in charge as he waged his own Battle of New Orleans in Jackson Square. Instead, he looked as if he'd been dropped off by his folks in front of a eerie, blue-hued castle at Disney World. "

The Bush league Government is NOT Ready for the Avian Flu Epidemic

ABC News: Avian Flu: Is the Government Ready for an Epidemic?: "'The lack of advanced planning up until the moment in the United States, in the sense of not having a huge stockpile I think your citizens deserve, has surprised me and has dismayed me,' he admits.
Faced with worldwide demand, the Roche company, which produces Tamiflu, has organized a first-come, first-served waiting list. The United States is nowhere near the top. "

Overturning the Gospels

Overturning the Gospels - Newsweek Society - MSNBC.com: "The genius of the whole Republican program, in fact, is that it not only offers tax cuts and morality, but tax cuts as morality. "

This is a terrific article. The points made are like water in a desert

Overturning the Gospels - Newsweek Society - MSNBC.com

Overturning the Gospels - Newsweek Society - MSNBC.com: "Katrina has reminded us that Christian morality should be about responding to the wretched and loving the unlovable�not about other people�s sex lives."

Foie gras - "If the USDA thought there was cruelty they would step in."

Foie gras ban gets vivid hearing: "'This has been around forever. Why is it all of the sudden an issue? The USDA controls how livestock, poultry and duck farms are run. If the USDA thought there was cruelty [they would step in]. The point is, this is not a local issue.'"

If ?? there was cruelty? ... come on. It is the grossest torture one could imagine. Have someone describe it to you and you will be sobered and disgusted.

Bush needs to take a dump

U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2005.

In case you haven't read it yet, it says "I think I may need a bathroom break. Is this possible?"

The parish that feds overlooked / Canadian Mounties reached St. Bernard before troops did

The parish that feds overlooked / Canadian Mounties reached St. Bernard before troops did: "Two days after Katrina hit, a team of Canadian Mounties from Vancouver showed up to help,..."

err, uh, ok, it turns out it wasn't actually the Mounties, but rather a rescue team from Vancouver - not as vivid an image as Mounties rounding the bend, but still, Canadians beating Bush to the scene must really twist his pretzel, eh?

"...and a sprinkling of officials from neighboring parishes paid visits, but it would be days before there was any sign of assistance from the United States government. "

ABC News: Mass. GOP Official Resigns After Charges

ABC News: Mass. GOP Official Resigns After Charges: "Novak, 54, was taken into custody after allegedly depositing money in a Brockton bank, federal authorities said.
'I think that it's an unfortunate incident. It's something that's happened in his private life, and the party has responded appropriately,' O'Brien said Wednesday.
The party's chairman, Darrell Crate, said in a statement the charges are strictly related to Novak's private business dealings and 'have absolutely no connection to the Republican Party.' "

New York Daily News - Special - He comes back to save cat

New York Daily News - Special - He comes back to save cat: "And then, from nowhere, a hysterical ball of brown fur came flying out of a dark corner and Lambert grabbed it up, weeping joyously.
'Mamou! Little Mamou!' he crooned. 'This is the one I felt the most guilty about leaving. She always senses when I'm going away and gives me the pitiful 'Please don't leave' look.'"

When he's denied communion for allowing abortion rights to continue, what then?

BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "Roberts said he felt the landmark 1973 ruling legalizing abortion was 'settled as a precedent' and that the Constitution provides a right to privacy.
But when senators pressed for details on his opinions _ even to the point of interrupting his answers _ Roberts said repeatedly that he shouldn't address some issues that could come before the Supreme Court with him as chief justice.
At one point, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., who has indicated he may run for president in 2008, accused Roberts of 'filibustering.'
'Go ahead and continue not to answer,' said Biden. Later, he interrupted Roberts and when criticized, insisted, 'His answers are misleading, with all due respect.'
'Wait a minute! Wait a minute! They may be misleading but they are his answers,' said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the Judiciary Committee chairman."

Take a right, lose a ball

Roberts is too much of an unknown

BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "The heart of the abortion ruling is 'settled as a precedent of the court, entitled to respect under principles of stare decisis,' the concept that long-established rulings should be given extra weight, Roberts told the Senate Judiciary Committee on the second day of his confirmation hearings.
Still, review and revisions have been the hallmark of the high court on issues from integration to gay rights, and Roberts indicated that groundbreaking cases can draw a second look.
'If particular precedents have proven to be unworkable, they don't lead to predictable results, they're difficult to apply, that's one factor supporting reconsideration,' Roberts said"

He'll crash the boat.

Campaign for the Supreme Court - The Politics and Strategy of the Appointment Battle

Campaign for the Supreme Court - The Politics and Strategy of the Appointment Battle: "My heart aches for less divisiveness,' he said, his voice quavering, 'less polarization, less finger-pointing, less bitterness, less partisanship.'
He said his concern was primarily about 'judicial activism' which has 'created these huge rifts in the social fabric of the country ... It's a tension pulling us apart' rather than bringing us together.
I believe it's time that it's stopped.'"

Such a pile of shit. "Judicial activism" means he doesn't like the decisions. He thinks that "it's time that it's stopped". He should make note of the fact that if my rights are curtailed in any way, then he will probably be consumed by a "steady tradewind of grapeshot".

"No shame" bleats rightie writer

Jack Kelly: No shame: "A better question -- which few journalists ask -- is why weren't the roughly 2,000 municipal and school buses in New Orleans utilized to take people out of the city before Katrina struck?"

Writer Jack Kelly tries to show that previous hurricanes got slower responses from federal disaster efforts than did Katrina. His proof is the recollection of a member of the Florida National Guard. Not even a nice try.

CBS News | Old Dog Saves Owner From Katrina | September 9, 2005�12:30:06

CBS News | Old Dog Saves Owner From Katrina | September 9, 2005�12:30:06: "'About four hours after I was treading water and all, I was about ready to let go, and I felt this real peaceful feeling, like, 'This is it.' Ya know? And I was about to let go and, all of a sudden, he was on that mattress and come running to the corner of the mattress, and he kissed me and kissed me and kissed me. And it kinda snapped me out of it, and I was able to come back.' "

Please read-PLEASE help!!! from Best Friends

Please read-PLEASE help!!! from Best Friends: "What on earth is going on? Why is no one out here to help them? We�re just on two boats. Heard about a veterinarian who�s on another boat. We need a whole freaking navy! "

Pet rescuers race against time !!! - Sep 9, 2005

CNN.com - Pet rescuers race against time - Sep 9, 2005: "On the flooded streets of New Orleans you can hear the dogs barking for miles. They are trapped -- in houses, on roofs, tied to porches. They are frightened and hungry.
For the pets left behind after Hurricane Katrina, relief is on the way, but it's a race against time.
'It's a dire situation,' said Melissa Seide Rubin of the Humane Society of the United States.
Rescue workers are worried most about pets locked inside homes and whose food and water supply may have run out. For them, rescue is their only chance of survival."

This is so horrific that I can barely cope.

"Football Season Is Over" - Hunter Thompson

BREITBART.COM - Just The News: Hunter's last note: "'No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun _ for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax _ This won't hurt.' "

The Wesley Prudens - Southern Dung

Not much traction with the abuse - Nation/Politics - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper: "The race hustlers waited for three days to inflame a tense situation, but then set to work with their usual dedication. "

This bottom dweller grew up in the home of his father, Wesley Pruden, Senior, one of the stately scumbags of racist America. Believing anything Junior writes is akin to praying to the tattoo on John Wilkes Booth's hand.

According to the laws of common sense, anything one can do to hinder the career, diminish the honor, and disrespect the brood of Wesley Pruden should be done with great dispatch. If the good is to truly prevail, the bad must be utterly destroyed.

Hannity, Coulter falsely suggested Ariz. paper ... [Media Matters]

Hannity, Coulter falsely suggested Ariz. paper ... [Media Matters]: "On the August 30 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Fox News host Sean Hannity and right-wing pundit Ann Coulter suggested that anti-conservative bias was the impetus behind the Arizona Daily Star's August 28 decision to drop Coulter's syndicated column. According to Coulter, the Star, like MSNBC, has 'had excellent success in keeping conservatives out.' In fact, the Star made clear that Coulter was dropped because her 'shrill, bombastic and mean-spirited' commentary was unpalatable to even its self-identified conservative readers. And rather than 'keeping conservatives out,' the Star replaced Coulter's column with that of another conservative: Fox News host Tony Snow -- a fact Coulter and Hannity neglected to mention."

Wesley Pruden of The Washington Times, or as they put it: "America's Newspaper"

Not much traction with the abuse�-�Nation/Politics�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper: "The vultures of the venomous left are attacking on two fronts, first that the president didn't do what the incompetent mayor of New Orleans and the pouty governor of Louisiana should have done, and didn't, in the early hours after Katrina loosed the deluge on the city that care and good judgment forgot. "

...and here's a little background regarding Pruden and the family that spawned it...

Pruden's father, Wesley Pruden Sr., was the chaplain to the Capital Citizens Council in Little Rock, Arkansas, a segregationist group that battled integration throughout the 1950s and 1960s. When President Dwight Eisenhower sent Army troops to protect nine black teenagers attempting to integrate Little Rock Central High School in 1957, Pruden Sr. reportedly told an assembled mob, "That's what we gotta fight, niggers, Communists and cops."

ABC News: Water Receding, but New Orleans Anxious

ABC News: Water Receding, but New Orleans Anxious: "'I have been all over the world. I've been in a lot of Third World countries where people were better off than the people here are right now,' retired Air Force Capt. William Bissell said Monday. 'We've got 28 miles of coastline here that's absolutely destroyed, and the federal government, they're not here.' "

ABC News: Water Receding, but New Orleans Anxious

ABC News: Water Receding, but New Orleans Anxious: "'Bureaucracy has murdered people in the greater New Orleans area. And bureaucracy needs to stand trial before Congress today,' Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, said on CBS' 'The Early Show.'
'So I'm asking Congress, please investigate this now. Take whatever idiot they have at the top of whatever agency and give me a better idiot. Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don't give me the same idiot.' "

New Orleans City Council President: "Maybe God's Going To Cleanse Us"

New Orleans City Council President: "Maybe God's Going To Cleanse Us": "Meanwhile, New Orleans City Council President Oliver Thomas after witnessing the horrors first hand and hearing talk of Sodom and Gomorrah commented, 'Maybe God's going to cleanse us.'"

Not much traction with the abuse�-�Nation/Politics�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

Not much traction with the abuse�-�Nation/Politics�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper: "Sen. Mary Landrieu, who seems to think she's cute when she's mad, even threatened on national television to punch out the president -- a felony, by the way, even as a threat. "

Barbara Bush says it all

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2004�: "What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is that they all want to stay in Texas."

This is the best description of the shame of it all.

Mr. Broussard angrily denounced the country's leadership. "We have been abandoned by our own country," he said. "It's not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now."

It is Bush's incompetence that authored this bummer.

My Way News

My Way News: "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld toured a medical facility at New Orleans' international airport on Sunday. He spoke and shook hands with military and rescue officials but walked right by a dozen refugees lying on stretchers just feet away from him, most of them extremely sick or handicapped."

Booman Tribune ~ Boo!

Booman Tribune ~ Boo!: "The tear-filled eyes of Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard as he was interviewed by Tim Russert on today's Meet the Press:
'... The guy who runs this building I�m in, Emergency Management, he�s responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, �Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?� and he said, �Yeah, Mama, somebody�s coming to get you.� Somebody�s coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody�s coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody�s coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody�s coming to get you on Friday� and she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night! [Sobbing] Nobody�s coming to get us. Nobody�s coming to get us...'
MR. RUSSERT: Mr. President...
MR. BROUSSARD: Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody. "

My Way News

My Way News: "No one knows how many people were killed by Hurricane Katrina and how many more succumbed waiting to be rescued. But the bodies are everywhere: hidden in attics, floating in the ruined city, crumpled in wheelchairs, abandoned on highways."

Storm exposed disarray at the top

Storm exposed disarray at the top - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com: "Among the flaws they cited: Failure to take the storm seriously before it hit and trigger the government's highest level of response. Rebuffed offers of aid from the military, states and cities. An unfinished new plan meant to guide disaster response. And a slow bureaucracy that waited until late Tuesday to declare the catastrophe 'an incident of national significance,' the new federal term meant to set off the broadest possible relief effort."

Big Easy Food Looters

The Show Didn't Benefit by Censors - Los Angeles Times: "'I hate the way they portray us in the media,' West began his remarks during the hourlong program, on which he was one of several celebrities, including Hilary Swank and Leonardo DiCaprio, who spoke between musical numbers. 'If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food.'"

Do You Know What It Means to Lose New Orleans? - New York Times

Do You Know What It Means to Lose New Orleans? - New York Times: "But to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us 'Sin City,' and turned your backs. "

Putting Katrina on Roberts

Inside Opinions: Legal Blogs: "Katrina serves as a grim reminder of the importance of the federal government. Next week, as the senators grill Judge Roberts, I hope they'll remind him of that. The call of conservatives for handing over more power to the states is seductive. Who better to understand the needs of local communities than their local governments? However, sometimes (most times?) we need to be one nation and not 50 local communities. Disaster relief showcases this better than most. "

Pets are suffering terribly in this catastrophy

AccessNorthGa.com - North Georgia's Newsroom: "As Valerie Bennett was being evacuated from a New Orleans hospital last week, rescuers told her there was no room in the boat for her dogs.

She pleaded. "I offered him my wedding ring and my mom's wedding ring," the 34-year-old nurse recalled Saturday.

They wouldn't budge. She and her husband could bring only one item, and they already had a tupperwear tub containing the medicines her husband -- a liver transplant recipient -- needs to survive.

She left her dogs with an anesthesiologist who was taking care of about 30 staff members' pets on the roof of the hospital, Lindy Boggs Medical Center.
The doctor euthanized some animals at the request of their owners, who feared they would be abandoned and starve to death. He set up a small gas chamber out of a plastic-wrapped dog kennel.
'The bigger dogs were fighting it. Fighting the gas. It took them longer. When I saw that, I said 'I can't do it,'' Lorne Bennett said.
But the anesthesiologist, a cat owner, promised to care for the other pets."

This drives me nuts.

A Colossal Failure of Leadership - Eleanor Clift

A Colossal Failure of Leadership - Newsweek Hurricane Katrina Coverage - MSNBC.com: "This has been a colossal failure of government. President Bush spent Tuesday, the day after Katrina struck, at a Medicare event in Arizona and then he made his way to a San Diego naval base for yet another anniversary tribute to the Greatest Generation. His concession to reality was adding a few words of compassion to his prepared remarks."

A peek into the heart of Lucianne Golberg's world

(from a registered contributor to Lucianne.com)

Reply 25 - Posted by: Betty Jean, 9/2/2005 7:49:16 PM

I'm just really tired of seeing these fat black young women yelling at the camera that they haven't had any food or water in 5 days, among other things. Then where in Heaven's name has all that trash come from that is strewn around every where you see a group gathered together.

I'm really just tired of NO and their news and am going to tune it out starting right now. It's not my fault they've had too many babies, no husband and live off my taxpayer money. If you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas.

My sympathy lies with all the other folks in other areas that have been hit just as hard."

This righty psychopuppy's prayers and dreams must be demonic stunners, wouldn't you think?

The nests of anger are linking up, as in a firestorm

from a Drudgereport headline...

"KANYE WEST ON NBC FUNDRAISER: 'GEORGE BUSH DOESN'T CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE... They're saying black families are looting and white families are just looking for food...they're giving the (Army) permission to shoot us'..."

BREITBART.COM - Just The News

BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "At the back end of the line, people jammed against police barricades in the rain. Refugees passed out and had to be lifted hand-over-hand overhead to medics. Pets were not allowed on the bus, and when a police officer confiscated a little boy's dog, the child cried until he vomited. 'Snowball, snowball,' he cried. "

I know that people are the most important but jeeesh!, the plight of animals exists whether we like it or not. I hope that some fanatical animal rescue folk in the New Orleans area are able to keep track of Snowball's fate, along with all the other pets that are now stranded and facing a potentially tragic end.

Danie Yergin - jerk

This 'energy expert' is a kneejerk conservative ass. He said on CNBC that "...I hate to say it, but we have to consider conservation."

Plus other bullshit.

Planning, response to Katrina faulted - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

Planning, response to Katrina faulted - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com: "'How many people are going to die, per hour, before you get 40,000 troops in there?' Madden asked yesterday. 'I think it has cost lives. . . . They can go into Iraq and do this and do that, but they can't drop some food on Canal Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, right now? It's just mind-boggling.'"

'It just seems like black people are marked' - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

'It just seems like black people are marked' - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com: "'To me,' said Bernadette Washington, 'it just seems like black people are marked. We have so many troubles and problems.'
'After this,' her husband, Brian Thomas, said, 'I want to move my family to California.'"

FOXNews.com - Politics - Hastert: Rebuilding New Orleans Under Sea Level Makes No Sense

FOXNews.com - Politics - Hastert: Rebuilding New Orleans Under Sea Level Makes No Sense: "It makes no sense to spend billions of dollars to rebuild a city that's seven feet under sea level, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (search) said of federal assistance for hurricane-devastated New Orleans.
Democratic lawmakers from Louisiana were quick to disagree Thursday and Hastert sought to clarify the comment during the day.
'It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed,' the Illinois Republican said in an interview about New Orleans Wednesday with the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Ill."

Republican bedside manor wins hearts and minds everywhere.

USATODAY.com

USATODAY.com: "HHS Secretary Leavitt says the government is still trying to figure out the extent of the crisis and how best to respond. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has assembled two dozen 20-member teams ready to go into the gulf area and are �negotiating deployment of one or more of these teams,'' said CDC director Julie Gerberding in a briefing Thursday."

Gee, then next week they'll begin formulating an idea which will merge into a concept, then filter down through the various specialist groups which will then begin the task of creating a work schedule that allows for steady progress until the situation is stable enough to send in some extra water for those who might not have found adequate supplies. Residents will be advised to continue to support the war in Iraq.

...or...

"“We have advance teams checking the situation and trying to help with assessment of what is needed,'' she said.

In a matter of a few weeks they will be ready to mount a plan to rebuild Iraq... err rather New Orleans.

Kuwaiti: 'The terrorist Katrina' is a soldier of Allah'

Kuwaiti: 'The terrorist Katrina' is a soldier of Allah'

"I do not think — and only Allah [really] knows — that this wind, which completely wiped out American cities in these days, is a wind of mercy and blessing. It is almost certain that this is a wind of torment and evil that Allah has sent to this American empire."

Oh great, more religious leaders explaining their brainless theories.

Communications Networks Fail Disaster Area Residents

Communications Networks Fail Disaster Area Residents: "Reed E. Hundt, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said the scale of the damage would make it hard to repair, and he bemoaned the government's failure to develop an emergency wireless network for rescue workers.
'We always discover the same thing,' he said. 'We need a national emergency communications network and we don't have one.'"

USATODAY.com

USATODAY.com: "Humans and chimpanzees share an almost identical genetic inheritance, scientists report today in a landmark comparison that they call an �elegant confirmation� of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
Although scientists have long believed that humans and chimps are related, this comprehensive analysis of their separate genomes offers the best proof of their shared genetic past."

Former Clinton Advisor: "No One Can Say they Didn't See it Coming" - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

Former Clinton Advisor: "No One Can Say they Didn't See it Coming" - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News: "On the day the levees burst in New Orleans, Bush delivered a speech in Colorado comparing the Iraq war to World War II and himself to Franklin D. Roosevelt: 'And he knew that the best way to bring peace and stability to the region was by bringing freedom to Japan.' Bush had boarded his very own 'Streetcar Named Desire.' "

Former Clinton Advisor: "No One Can Say they Didn't See it Coming" - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

Former Clinton Advisor: "No One Can Say they Didn't See it Coming" - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News: "The Bush administration's policy of turning over wetlands to developers almost certainly also contributed to the heightened level of the storm surge. In 1990, a federal task force began restoring lost wetlands surrounding New Orleans. Every two miles of wetland between the Crescent City and the Gulf reduces a surge by half a foot. Bush had promised 'no net loss' of wetlands, a policy launched by his father's administration and bolstered by President Clinton. But he reversed his approach in 2003, unleashing the developers. The Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency then announced they could no longer protect wetlands unless they were somehow related to interstate commerce. "

...and...

"In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But the Bush administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the Iraq war."

...and...

""My administration's climate change policy will be science based," President Bush declared in June 2001. But in 2002, when the Environmental Protection Agency submitted a study on global warming to the United Nations reflecting its expert research, Bush derided it as "a report put out by a bureaucracy," and excised the climate change assessment from the agency's annual report. The next year, when the EPA issued its first comprehensive "Report on the Environment," stating, "Climate change has global consequences for human health and the environment," the White House simply demanded removal of the line and all similar conclusions. At the G-8 meeting in Scotland this year, Bush successfully stymied any common action on global warming. Scientists, meanwhile, have continued to accumulate impressive data on the rising temperature of the oceans, which has produced more severe hurricanes. In February 2004, 60 of the nation's leading scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates, warned in a statement, "Restoring Scientific Integrity in Policymaking": "Successful application of science has played a large part in the policies that have made the United States of America the world's most powerful nation and its citizens increasingly prosperous and healthy ... Indeed, this principle has long been adhered to by presidents and administrations of both parties in forming and implementing policies. The administration of George W. Bush has, however, disregarded this principle ... The distortion of scientific knowledge for partisan political ends must cease." Bush completely ignored this statement. "

How incensed do we feel now?

The Storm After the Storm - New York Times

The Storm After the Storm - New York Times: In the late nineteeth century in Pennsylvania... "Prejudices were let loose. Hungarians then were akin to today's illegal Mexican immigrants - hard-working people who took jobs no one else wanted. Newspapers carried accounts of gangs of Hungarian men cutting off dead women's fingers to steal their rings. 'Drunken Hungarians, Dancing, Singing, Cursing and Fighting Amid the Ruins' a New York Herald headline blared."

...and...

"Then in 1927, the great Mississippi flood rumbled down upon New Orleans. As Barry writes in his account, "Rising Tide," the disaster ripped the veil off the genteel, feudal relations between whites and blacks, and revealed the festering iniquities. Blacks were rounded up into work camps and held by armed guards. They were prevented from leaving as the waters rose. A steamer, the Capitol, played "Bye Bye Blackbird" as it sailed away. The racist violence that followed the floods helped persuade many blacks to move north.
Civic leaders intentionally flooded poor and middle-class areas to ease the water's pressure on the city, and then reneged on promises to compensate those whose homes were destroyed. That helped fuel the populist anger that led to Huey Long's success. Across the country people demanded that the federal government get involved in disaster relief, helping to set the stage for the New Deal."

Independent Online Edition > Commentators : app6

Independent Online Edition > Commentators : app6: "I don't hate George Bush or regard him as venal. He is sincere but narrow: most problematic in his presidency is his curious inability to fire those who have given him lousy advice and betrayed their stewardship."

A Lipstick President - New York Times

A Lipstick President - New York Times: "Exhaustion kicks in with any party in power for eight years, let alone one that tricked the country into war. "

Bike-Deep in the Big Muddy - New York Times

Bike-Deep in the Big Muddy - New York Times: "The former campaign manager for George McGovern's antiwar campaign in 1972 wrote: 'We've stumbled into a hornet's nest. We've weakened ourselves at home and in the world. We are less secure today than before this war began. Who now has the courage to say this?'"

Creationism on Display | theledger.com

Creationism on Display | theledger.com: "'If we lose Genesis as a legitimate scientific and historical explanation for man, then we lose the validity of Christianity. Period.'"

One can hope.

Creationism on Display | theledger.com

Creationism on Display | theledger.com: "It is important to many creationists that man and dinosaurs lived simultaneously because they believe there was no death in the world until Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. If the Genesis story is false, they say, then there would be no need for Jesus Christ to redeem the sins of the world."

Correct, there is no need.

The Blog | Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: ?For They That Sow the Wind Shall Reap the Whirlwind? | The Huffington Post

The Blog Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: ?For They That Sow the Wind Shall Reap the Whirlwind? The Huffington Post: "As Hurricane Katrina dismantles Mississippi's Gulf Coast, it's worth recalling the central role that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour played in derailing the Kyoto Protocol and kiboshing President Bush's iron-clad campaign promise to regulate CO2."

ABC News: Corps of Engineers Fires Critical Official

ABC News: Corps of Engineers Fires Critical Official: "A high-ranking Army Corps of Engineers official who publicly criticized the Pentagon's decision to award Halliburton Co. a no-bid contract for work in Iraq has been demoted, officials said Monday."

Phill Sawyer - recollections

Phill Sawyer - recollections: "And there was Mike Curb, future Lt. Governor but then the smarmy, weird, wholesome nerd-virgin whose production of the Mike Curb Congregation was the cream of unsane right wing music."

Tucker Carlson's show is a Here-It-Comes-O-Meter of the Apocalypse

If Rachel is on The Situation, my wife and I assume that reality is still allowed to breathe for at least one more day.

"Maddow seems to be what Jon Stewart and others were hoping for: someone with a sense of history before I Love the '90s doing the media-heretical - making serious points "from the left" without centrist pandering or apology. "You can't take this long-view, revolutionary-archetype approach to things," she emphasizes. "You have to save people's lives right now."