Little Green Footballs Shows the AP as LIARS!

I think the ap is lying to us and I have a stranger telling me its true! So, the rightwing nutjobosphere has been on a jihad against the AP for a few months now. REGARDLESS of whether or not this crusade (see? equal time!) is justified, you can't tell me that this isn't a sign of desperation in the fight. The AP issued a report about something or another that upset the folks at LGF. To strike doubt into the hearts of everyone who, well, already doesn't trust anything that the PNAC doesn't spoon feed them, they printed this: Today I received an email from an unnamed person in Baghdad with knowledge of the incident: Yes. Don't believe the massive media outlet that has a HUGE financial interest in being at least reasonably factual in its reporting. Believe the unnamed stranger? please. Tags:MSM Little Green Footballs conservative bloggers

Homosexuality and the role of government

Homosexuality Is A Big Deal As Media Matters for America has documented (here, here, here, and here), Savage frequently smears gays and lesbians, recently calling homosexuality "the dance of death" and regarding it as the "seminal issue of our time." The bit about homosexuality being the 'seminal issue of our time' has been coming up more and more of late. Mostly I'd ignored it because, really, I don't see how someone being gay or lesbian matters to me, or, really, to anyone else. I honestly can't understand why anyone cares. Since I don't see how anyone could possible feel it was their business, I can't see it as an important issue. But there it is right there. This debate, at it's core, is about whether or not government should enforce a particular morality upon the people. Mostly, this sort of thing is used by religious conservatives who DO want to impose their morality upon everyone. Obviously, the government does this to a degree already. We aren't allowed to hurt one another. Or steal. Or have seven spouses. Or use drugs. However, all these have practical reasons outside of any morality dictate. We need to be protected from each other or else rights have no meaning. Multiple spouses can have all sorts of legal issues (property, medical decisions, inheritance, etc.). Drugs, well, I oppose our drug policy, but it does try to protect people (mostly from themselves). But imposing laws upon homosexuality, thats like forcing me to obey the sabbath. Or, less religiously, requiring me to donate money to non-profits. Or to only say nice things to people. Or to not get body piercings. Or to...well, you get the picture. So, yes, this is a big issue. It will, in effect, define our government. Tags:homosexuality government

Iran tried to make nice with the U.S.

link Iran offered the US a package of concessions in 2003, but it was rejected, a senior former US official has told the BBC's Newsnight programme ... But Vice-President Dick Cheney's office rejected the plan, the official said Of course, all this did was push Iran into a deeper, anti-US stance. The real question is, why am I not seeing this on cnn.com or msnbc.com? Oh, right, the liberal media... Tags:Iran MSM Media Bias

Boxer-Condi Throwdown

Boxer vs. Condi However one interprets Sen. Barbara Boxer's remark last week to Condoleezza Rice that the secretary of state, single and childless, doesn't have a "personal price" to pay in Iraq, the brief exchange still has people debating. I know everyone is talking about this...but I just had to say that I was reminded of Cerebus The Aardvark and the Cirinists Tags:cerebus cirinists boxer Condi

Faux Klingons

Idiot...they are obviously Andoreans... Tags:iraq klingons David Wu

McCain in Vanity Fair...bad advice

Did McCain fix it? The Vanity Fair Interview I realized that I'd mentioned this article but didn't actually post about it. It appears that John was at a townhall type thing and didn't take a very strong stance against gay marriage when the question came up. Later on, after having someone whisper in his ear, he intentionally came back to the topic to say that he was, without doubt, against legalizing gay marriage. That went a bit poorly. Moments later, McCain remounts the stage for the program's final segment, and he bores into Weaver, standing quietly in the wings, with a cold look that seems to mingle irritation at Weaver's whispered advice with regret that he took it, and demands, almost hisses, "Did I fix it? Did I fix it?" This is basically what I'm saying. I think McCain is letting himself get tossed about by people who don't know what they are doing, who didn't pay any attention to the midterm elections. John has, imho, either turned into a tool, or he was always much more conservative than he previously let on. And, of course, given his recent comments on the Iraq war, I can't have much respect for his perception of reality in general. Tags:John McCain Gay Marriage

Concentration camps

Concentration Camps Will Win Us The War The British achieved victory over the Boers by taking their women and children away to concentration camps, by laying waste to the countryside, and by dotting the veld with small garrisons in blockhouses at regular intervals OK, now, I'm kind of with this guy in a sense. He says that in war, one must do horrible things. I happen to agree. Japan, Germany, these countries started wars and we had to defend ourselves. Total decimation has to remain an option. HOW-FUCKING-EVER, The moron above has a completely off-reality view of this situation in Iraq. In theory, the Iraqis, as a people, are not our enemies. But the only way to make this work is to handle all Iraqis that way. Our friend above thinks you could just do it to SOME Iraqis. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't work and would just create, y'know, angrier, more motivated enemies. And not just in Iraq. That would be hard enough to justify in any situation, but to justify it when WE went in provoking and creating the situation thanks to our unwarranted invasion, well... Tags:Iraq

McCain: Iraq War Was Easy

McCain: Iraq War Was Easy It was easy, it was easy. I said the military operation would be easy. It was easy. We were greeting as liberators. Look at the films of when we rolled into Baghdad. Good God, man! Have you moved into the La-La Land that our Commander-In-Chief has been living in??? His statement implies that military operations are, in fact, over. I'm no military genius, but if military operations are over, then why are military men still dying? If military operations are over, then why is GW planning to send over 21,000 more troops? If military operations are over, then why do we keep talking about how we can best win this war? Honestly, I think McCain is being advised what to say. I also think he is being advised by folks who think the American public has an IQ around the same as a cantelope. Tags:John McCain Iraq 2008 Election

McCain Won't Tax The Rich To Pay For The War

Apparently, taxing people is pointless. Here's the best part I would certainly ask Americans to serve. I would ask them to make other sacrifices, but I’m not sure I would want to raise their taxes just because we’re in a war. Yes, ask them to serve and die, but to demand a few bucks out of their overflowing wallets is far too much to consider. Seriously, I used to like McCain. I considered him to be a classic conservative, which I can respect. However, he seems to have fallen into step with the Bush-style Republican. Spend more. Tax less. Thats not being foolish. Thats a lack of understanding of basic arithmetic. With this, and the whole "I'm against gay marriage" thing, we can see one thing clearly. McCain is already down on his knees. The illusion is broken. Tags:John McCain Iraq

Bush Knew Abramoff

Bush Knew Abramoff The Bush Administration has done its best to deceive the people. Film at 11. (p.s. the site I'm linking to is pretty slow at the moment, so give it time. The picture is worth it) Tags:Bush Abramoff

Why don't they talk about the nice parts of Iraq?

Things are wonderful in the better Iraqi neighborhoods! Today's Washington Post reports that almost 25,000 Iraqi civilians and police officers were killed in 2006, with almost three quarters of the deaths occurring in the second half of the year... ... So, taking into account both the level of violence and the economy, is Iraq better off now than it was under Saddam? If you're a Sunni living in a mixed neighborhood in Baghdad, no. If you're a Shiite living in such a neighborhood, probably not. But if you're a Shiite living in the south or a Kurd living in the north, then you're almost certainly much better off now. Yes, I suppose this might be true in a sense. But lets take a slightly different example. The population of Iraq is about 26.8 million people. That means about .1% or the population was murdered last year. That's huge. Here's a better example. New York state has about 19 million people. If you were livingNew York, and you heard that 19 thousand people died due to, say, armed warlords in New York City, would YOU say things were going well? That whatever set off the warlords was, in fact, a wonderful thing? All I'm saying is that, regardless of how nice things might be elsewhere, the fact that people are still dying by truckloads should remain a huge concern. If the people in the safer areas aren't still concerned, then they are making the same mistake people make again and again. "It'll never happen here." Tags:Iraq

McCain Only Wants A Massive, Longterm Surge

McCain to Back Iraq Surge Only If `Sufficient and Sustained' Senator John McCain, a longtime advocate of increased U.S. forces in Iraq, said he would support a troop ``surge'' into Baghdad only if it is ``sufficient and sustained.'' As Atrios put it, a 'sustained surge' is called an escalation. Tags:Iraq McCain

Morocco: Writing About Religious Jokes

Is just writing about religious jokes a crime? Maybe. Nichane magazine's editor and one of its reporters are accused of defaming Islam and damaging public morality in an article about religious jokes. I really wish I had the text of the article. If the article was about religious jokes in the same way The Aristocrats is about a particular joke, I can understand the issue. I don't AGREE with the idea that it should be illegal, but I can at least see the position (nuts as it is). However, if it really is just about these jokes, what the jokes mean in the culture, and where the jokes come from, then, again, at least some aspects of Islam are showing that they are, in fact, exactly what the world believes them to be. Two things: Freedom doesn't come without freedom of speech Tolerance doesn't mean liking something Tags:Islam Religion Freedom Of Speech

Lieberman Ousted!!

Lieberman loses control of his 'party' Just too funny After the senator's Nov. 7 victory under the Connecticut for Lieberman Party banner, John Orman switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Connecticut for Lieberman and voted himself chairman. is this...irony? Or just poetic? Even better: Orman, a political science professor who ran briefly against Lieberman last year, said only critics, bloggers and anyone named Lieberman can join the party, which he said would be a watchdog of the senator's actions. again... bwaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahaha Tags:Joe Lieberman John Orman Connecticut for Lieberman Party

Why should conservatives be optimistic?

National Review has high hopes? Wow. How sad it this. Even Rickie admits that the conservatives are a bunch of fearmongers who do NOT represent the American people. Rick Santorum Conservatism, of course, will never be the political disposition of a majority of Americans. Conservative objectives, however, will from time to time find the support of such a majority; the success of the conservative movement depends in large part on leaders taking advantage of such moments. bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahaha (thanks to rightwingwatch.com) Tags:Rick Santorum conservatives

Judges are underpaid

Judges Need To Earn More? I want to be perfectly clear on this. Federal judges are, in fact, highly trained and skilled people (in theory, at least...). Given that, and the fact so few could fill these positions, I am perfectly fine with them making great gobs of money. On top of that, tying their pay to the pay rate of congressmen has got to be a conflict of interest. HOWEVER... I also believe that being a federal judge should be an honor. Federal district court judges are paid $165,200 annually; appeals court judges make $175,100; associate justices of the Supreme Court earn $203,000; the chief justice gets $212,100 One would think that, when making 165K a year, one could SOMEHOW squeek by. And I do understand that if I was offered 165K by one job and 500K by another, well... But, then again, I am not trying to become a Federal Judge. Also, remember that these people have, usually, been working for many years as high paid lawyers making that 500K a year. Exactly how much money do these people need? I'm not saying that they shouldn't get a raise, I'm just saying that the idea that only making this pittance of a salary is keeping good judges off the bench is very disturbing to me. Look at that...you can really see the gap between the rich and the middle class expanding as we speak! Tags:filthy rich federal judges

Clinton and Obama

Clinton and Obama Have Voting Records???? The attack ads practically write themselves: Hillary Clinton voted against ethanol! Barack Obama wants to increase taxes! Such are the perils of running for president as a senator. Yes, the worst kind of perils. Your own decisions. Of course, if those decisions get distorted for campaigning purposes, that IS bad. But isn't it a plus that we get to see how someone actually votes, etc.? I think so. Tags:Hillary Clinton Barak Obama

Online Operating Systems

Reviews Of Online Operating Systems Just plain old cool. Though I don't understand why so many are done in flash... Tags:online operating system

Global Warming Claims Island

The Real Atlantis Yeah, global warming is a myth. Tags:Global Warming