So their attempts to bamboozle continue apace.

"The privatizers have spent almost six months arguing that Social Security is bad as an investment plan because it doesn't have a high enough rate of return. Now they have taken to arguing that it is bad as a welfare program because it gives too much to those who aren't poor. Social Security is also, I'm willing to concede, an abysmal hair dryer. But the point isn't relevant.

...

Social Security is a defined-benefit Social Insurance program that provides a baseline level of retirement security for everyone. Middle class people pay into the program during their working lives and they get benefits back when they retire."

Good read on the new plan for Social Security, courtesy of Talking Points Memo.

The only safe way to surf the net...

Courtesy of Bullshit's Bullshit.

Janice Rogers Brown: Just a plain, old-fashioned bigot

Guest blogger Morbo over at The Carpetbagger, has this take on federal court nominee Janice Rogers Brown:

• Brown griped about religion being excluded from public life and claimed that deeply religious people can’t make a go of it in this heathenish secular nation. She went so far as to assert that a religious "war" is under way in America.

"It's not a shooting war, but it is a war……," Brown said. "These are perilous times for people of faith, not in the sense that we are going to lose our lives, but in the sense that it will cost you something if you are a person of faith who stands up for what you believe in and say those things out loud."

• I am just flat-out tired of claims like this, which are on their face absurd. George W. Bush talks about religion all of the time —— and you might say he has done pretty well for himself. He is president, after all. This country is soaked with religion. Far from being afraid to talk about faith, most politicians won't shut up about it. Even Democrats are getting religion these days.

I agree wholeheartedly with Morbo, and I detailed my concerns about the religiosity of America here. This unfounded concentration on the few rejected nominees of Dumbya's and the "nukyouler" option to stop the threat of a filibuster, labeling it a faith based reaction, makes me want to puke.

Florida girl has abortion blocked

A pregnant 13-year-old girl in Florida has been told she cannot have an abortion because she lacks the maturity to make such a decision. A state court granted an injunction which prevents the girl from terminating her pregnancy. She is three months pregnant and had planned to have an abortion on Tuesday of this week. The American Civil Liberties Union says it will launch an urgent appeal against the ruling. 'Too young to chose' Florida's department of children and families intervened and took the matter to court, arguing the teenager, who is under the care of the state, is too young and immature to make an informed medical decision. Judge Ronald Alvarez in Palm Beach accepted that argument and has granted a temporary injunction and psychological evaluation, which effectively blocks her from terminating the pregnancy. It is a case which, once again, plays into the heated and divisive debate about abortion in America. The judge's ruling comes in spite of Florida state law which specifically does not require a minor to seek parental consent before an abortion. Its executive director in Florida, Howard Simon, said forcing a 13-year-old to carry on an unwanted pregnancy to term, against her wishes, is not only illegal and unconstitutional, it is cruel.

UPDATE: Interview with the 13-year old.


This is the same Florida that gave us the Schiavo incidents, foster care hell, the right to sue your college professors if you feel oppressed, ban on gay adoptions, oh, and lest we not forget, JEB BUSH.

A UNIVERSAL FUCK YOU!

"I believe we're making really good progress in Iraq"

50 Killed, 114 Wounded in Coordinated Series of 17 Bombings
3 Americans Killed, 7 wounded

The guerrilla movement pulled off a spectacular set of bombings in Iraq on Friday, as though responding decisively to President Bush's news conference Thursday night in which he said, " "I believe we're making really good progress in Iraq . . ." In Azamiyah, a relatively well-off Sunni Arab neighborhood in Baghdad known for its Sunni fundamentalism, guerillas detonated 4 bombs in quick succession, mainly targeting police and military. This set of attacks alone left 20 dead.

Courtesy of Juan Cole of Informed Comment

So it's Spring and the weather is glorious. Gone are the short, dark and dreary days of Winter. Here are the long and glorious days of spring with all the flowers blooming and cool breezes blowing at night.

It's also the time of year when I bring out my fabulous collection of flip-flops.

Ok and let's just discuss this for a minute. In my day, a flip-flop was a thong. We wore thongs to the pool. We wore thongs to the store. We wore thongs everywhere. And when you said, "I got a new pair of thongs", people didn't snicker at the idea that you were talking about underwear.

I am pretty ticked off at this generation for taking a word of my youth and turning it into a description of a piece of butt floss. I want my thongs back, damnit.

From Diary of The Food Whore

The Not Quite Ready For Prime Time News Conference

The Cunning Realist has the best overall take of Dumbya's speech last night.

Maybe CBS and NBC were right to end their coverage of the President's news conference early. Maybe after about thirty minutes, the network switchboards were inundated with phone calls from desperate mouth-breathers complaining that they were hearing nothing new, and they wanted to get back to important stuff like Survivor and The Apprentice. I've read that even Fox cut away early to cover Paris Hilton, although I can't confirm that since I last watched Fox about a month ago as
I discussed here, and I only check in there a few times a year. Maybe the networks and their viewers instinctively understood. Indeed, what did we hear that was new?

Are They Coming To Take You Away, Ha Ha?

From SpeakSpeak News

Much to the chagrin of groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and People for the American Way, Bible curriculum classes are being taught in more than a thousand public high schools across the United States…. Some school districts are frightened off by the specter of lawsuits; nevertheless, Bible curriculum classes are now being taught in some 1,100 high schools in 300 school districts in 35 states across the nation – and this is going on during school hours, for credit, with the bible as the textbook. That is because those 300 school districts are currently offering a course called “The Bible as History and Literature,” a course curriculum from the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools (NCBCPS).

I am all for spiritual education, even as an elective in high school, as long as it covers all faiths, and is not exclusively limited to Christianity or the Bible. Let the class cover the Torah, as it relates to History and Literature. After all, it's been around far longer than the Bible.

The United States is a country of multiple faiths, regardless of whether Christianity dominates or not. What scares me most is this trend toward converting our secular laws into biblical laws, which is inapposite with the constitution of this great nation.

"Conquering by Stealth and Deception/How the Dominionists Are Succeeding in Their Quest for National Control and World Power," in explaining Dominionists and their tactics, opens with:

Since the writing and posting of my essay, The Despoiling of America in February 2004, there is more and more evidence that not only has a cultural war been launched, but that the plotters are winning it. “Dominionism” now looks more like a term that is applicable to both right-wing-religious believers and to the neo-cons who were created and born in an astonishing resurgence of an immoral Machiavellianism: both groups believe in domination and control. While religious adherents adopted a decidedly heretical Christian doctrine, the neo-cons continue to use the American churches to help execute their cabal.

The author continues, paraphrasing what she considers to be the four immoral principles of the Dominionst movement:

1) Falsehoods are not only acceptable, they are a necessity. The corollary is: The masses will accept any lie if it is spoken with vigor, energy and dedication.

2) It is necessary to be cast under the cloak of “goodness” whereas all opponents and their ideas must be cast as “evil.”

3) Complete destruction of every opponent must be accomplished through unrelenting personal attacks.

4) The creation of the appearance of overwhelming power and brutality is necessary in order to destroy the will of opponents to launch opposition of any kind.

One only has to look at the talking points of late emanating from the Republican party to see the mirror image of the above. Lamenting this condition, Bill Moyers writes:

One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that the delusional is no longer marginal. It has come in from the fringe, to sit in the seat of power in the Oval Office and in Congress. For the first time in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power in Washington.

Theology asserts propositions that cannot be proven true; ideologues hold stoutly to a worldview despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality. When ideology and theology couple, their offspring are not always bad but they are always blind. And there is the danger: voters and politicians
alike, oblivious to the facts.

I beg to differ with the perception that the United States is a Christian nation. I believe the Christian population in America is the majority, but inasmuch as the founding fathers sought to separate church and state, it is just impossible for me to make that mental leap granting the title of Christian nation to America. To do so would be tantamount to surrending democracy to a theocracy. Unfortunately, to speak up against this trend results in one of the four priniciples above being applied to you, and that type of tyranny, most people avoid.

The Many Faces of Bush 

THIS IS WINNING?

First and foremost, I am against the war in Iraq. I never for one second bought into Dumbya and his Dumbettes' axis of evil/WMD/Saddam Hussein connection. I cannot get my mind around the fact that today, there are still a large number of Americans who believe the lies that gave us the Iraq war. I decided to sever my ties with MoveOn.org for the primary reason they officially will not take a stand against the war. Quite frankly, I get sick to my stomach when I hear any politician, democrat, republican or independents, state they are for the war, although some with caveats.

This country is sinking, drowning because of all the bullshit weight put upon it by the current republican political way of life. The lying with impunity, on a daily basis, just galls me. This administration hands over wads of cash to Haliburton and subsidiaries, pays hundreds of thousands of dollars a month just for laundry for employees and such in the Green Zone, yet cannot get off their fucking asses to buy our soldiers PROPER ARMOR FOR COMBAT???? What is up with that? It is disgusting to actually listen to this administration, including the house and senate, suck up to the people by pretending to give a damn about our soldiers, when all they care about is lining their own coffers. Even after the latest appropriations bill was passed, earmarking over $80 billion more for the Iraq war, with some of the funds ostensibly to go for armor and such, got whittled down by lawmakers' pork barrel projects. And at last Thursday's senate vote for more money for humvees, 39 senators actually voted no.

Saturday marks the 30 year anniversary of the end of the Vietnam war. The atrocities committed in the name of freedom in that war have been well documented. I wonder when the truth about Fallujah will be known to the average American citizen. Can they stomach that?

Oh My God, I Made It On MyDD!

I want to thank all the people that have visited my blog during it's inaugural 24 hours, with a special thank you to MyDD for making it a recommended diary, along with posting it on the front page.

I hope that you find this blog interesting and funny, from a political point of view, and come back from time to time to read my rants and recommendations.

L I A R

UPDATE: The athiest post was incorrectly attributed to Bush Jr. when it was Bush Sr. So I have removed it.

And You Thought Only Republicans Were On The Payroll

"So far this year in the House, 50 Democrats helped pass class action reform...42 joined in legislation repealing the death tax, 73 supported the bankruptcy bill, 42 Democrats broke ranks on the Real ID bill, and last week, 41 joined the Republicans on the final version of the energy bill."

As David Sirota says: "... a true badge of disgrace for the Democratic Party."

Think Progress asked, regarding the bankruptcy bill:

Why would 18 Senators, including co-sponsors of the original measure, vote for a tougher pro-consumer measure in 1991, and then vote against a weaker measure in 2005? Could it be that the more than $2 million these Senators took from the credit card/banking industry in the interim made them change their mind?

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT)1991-1996 contributions from commercial banks: $88,9001997-2002 contributions from commercial banks: $170,777
Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE)1991-1996 contributions from commercial banks: $73,5751997-2002 contributions from commercial banks: $33,675
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MO)1991-1996 Commercial Banks: $24,7501997-2002 Commercial Banks: $40,100
Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM)Spoke in favor of D'Amato Amendment during floor debate1991-1996 Commercial Banks: $89,1201997-2002 Commercial Banks: $66,290
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)1997-2002 Commercial Banks: $123,300
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)1997-2002 Commercial Banks: $183,102
Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS)1991-1996 Commercial Banks: $70,5751997-2002 Commercial Banks: $80,800
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)1997-2002 Commercial Banks: $235,228
Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-MD)1991-1996 Commercial Banks: $84,8001997-2002 Commercial Banks: $55,800
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL)1991-1996 Commercial Banks: $246,5331997-2002 Commercial Banks: $215,600
Sen. Arlen Specter(R-PA)Co-sponsored the 1991 D'Amato amendment1997-2002 Commercial Banks: $105,225
Sen. John Warner (R-VA)1997-2002 Commercial Banks: $43,800

(Courtesy of Talking Points Memo Bankruptcy)

The first thing the Democratic party needs to do is kick out those who believe their constituancy is Big Business.

FILIBUSTER THIS!

This is pretty funny.

"The long arm of Sen. Frist? Did Sen. Frist pull a little nuclear option (sort of a tactical nuke, I guess) on the students filibustering outside the Frist Campus Center?" (Courtesy of Josh)

Oil Industry Worried It Has Too Much Cash

"Technology is the ticket," said Bush, calling today's tight energy markets "a problem that has been years in the making" and will take time to resolve.

As Chris at AMERICAblog says: First off, this is a president who came from the oil business so if this is the reason (and that is an "if") why the hell is he only raising it now that middle class families as well as US businesses are feeling the pain? Shouldn't he have made this an issue back in 2000 if this was such a burning issue? Second, if the industry is such a mess, why are the petroleum companies showing record profits right now if it's all such a mess? They don't really seem to be suffering much now, do they?

Now, take a look at this little article in Fortune Magazine that says: Exxon's "soon-to-retire CEO suddenly has a new anxiety: how to spend the windfall wrought by $55-a-barrel oil. By the end of April, Exxon will have a cash hoard of more than $ 25 billion. And if crude prices stay where they are, this geometrically growing bonanza could soon give Exxon more cash on hand than any other U.S. company...the cash is building at a remarkable rate. Each dollar jump in the price of a barrel of oil adds another half billion in earnings. Based on current prices, Exxon is accumulating more than $1 billion a month - even after allocating for dividends, share repurchases, and capital spending. If oil simply stays where it is now, Exxon's cash could approach $40 billion in 12 months. By then [Exxon's CEO] is expected to have handed off the top job--and the headache of what to do with all that cash."

David Sirota has this to say: Let me repeat that: Exxon and the oil industry have gouged Americans so much, that they now say they have a problem because they have too much cash. Yet, President Bush has yet to mention a single word about industry price gouging. That's what oil industry money buys more than anything: White House complicity when companies shamelessly rip off average citizens.

Where are the angry Americans?

"Where's our security?"

Security, security... get these damn plebians out of my way. Sheesh, don't you know who the fuck I am?

This Just Pisses Me Off

"The US military said it had had no knowledge of the rescue mission, dismissing as "absurd" Ms Sgrena's suggestion that her car was deliberately targeted."

You know, after the CNN guy was summarily dismissed (ok, so he resigned), it does make you wonder just who the fuck is telling the TRUTH and who the fuck is LYING. Are JOURNALISTS being targeted and fired upon... or NOT?

What WAS Gannon/Guckert Doing?

A discovery by a new independent news agency has found that the discredited conservative White House reporter who made roughly 200 visits to the White House in two years asked questions on at least five days he didn't check in with the Secret Service, RAW STORY has learned.

Gotta love this. The M$M won't touch the Gannon/Guckert/MaleProstitute story! This man was IN and OUT of more White House .... shall we say personnel (laughs) ... than Pee Wee was in and out of ... (leaving that BLANK ... I don't have enough insurance to finish the statement).

Bush AWOL on troop armor

Two years into the Iraq war, and the Humvee armor program is still incomplete. Two and a half years into World War II, and we were a few months away from D-Day. I guess that tax cuts must be more important to the White House. Sad, sad. Donald Lee RomeWest Hartford, April 25, 2005

I have read over and over and over again, how our troops have to improvise with protective armor while simultaneously reading about the massive amount of money being paid out to the likes of Haliburton and friends. Quite frankly, the laundry bill for one month for these so-called contractors would purchase a shitload of armor for "our troops." But, as usual, Dubya and the Dubyettes are more concerned with the lining of their pockets ... not the lining of the Humvees. GO FIGURE.

Bush to Hold Prime Time News Conference Thursday

Dubya will hold a prime time press conference on Thursday night to offer more details about his plans to overhaul Social Security, the White House announced.

I always get sick to my stomach watching Dubya on the tele tubby tube. There's something about that sneer that just makes me want to smack the damn television. He lies and lies and lies, and no one has the balls to just say NO.

The only thing that is heartening about the whole social security debacle is how poorly Dubya and his Dubyettes miscalculated the general public response would be.

An Ode To My Republican Ex-Best-Friend

I first met Tony in 1994, two years into Bill Clinton's first presidency. He hadn't become apoplectic yet. When he was a delegate to the 1996 Republican National Convention in San Diego, I drove down and took him for his first trip to Ensenada. He still wasn't apoplectic yet. We bet each other a plane ticket (he to Los Angeles, me to Manhattan) depending on who won the election. I enjoyed my trip to New York City.

Flash forward to Dubya's first illegal installation in the White House. Tony's party turned on him for some transgression, and that was the end of his political career. I had hoped that Tony would see the light of day at that point, but I was mistaken.

Tony and I began parting ways after 9/11, when he called to tell me he hoped the United States would "nuke 'em all in Afghanistan." The vitriol that emanated from Tony subsequent to 9/11 irritated me, at first, and eventually alienated me altogether.

By the 2004 election, let's just say I had gone apoplectic! I believed in 2000 that the election was tainted, and I firmly believe the 2004 election suffered from the same fate. I was buoyed by the exit polls that had Kerry ahead of Bush, and deeply saddened when, once again, the outcome of the election was not as it should have been.

Beginning with linking Saddam Hussein to 9/11 and WMD, to the outright lying and manipulation of the media by this administration, I was dumbfounded that people actually bought this crap.

Leading up to the election, Tony and I exchanged several e-mails. The first disturbed me, in that it was almost a caricature of a typical "dittohead" reading off the RNC talking points, as follows: "I can't read the articles from the NYTimes because I don't subscribe. I won't subscribe even though its free because I won't take part in liberal propaganda that does not accurately report the news. Just like Dan Rather on CBS. Furthermore it does appear that more Americans see that George W. Bush is the right man for the job, have you seen the 3 polls released today, he's at least 8 points ahead in all of them. NJ is neck and neck, which should be a solid Democratic State. The dems are in turmoil, and I love it. I simply can't fathom the thought of John Kerry as President, and I really can't understand what there is about him that makes anyone want to vote for him. He never has a clear view of any issue, he speaks without emotion, and the only he knows about earning a living is to say 'I do.' At least Bill Clinton had personality. Also if you look at the polls state by state W still has the electoral college solid. As for what the Europeans think of our President, I really couldn't give a shit, nor should he. He needs to focus on what is best for the US, I'm sick and tired of worrying about France and Germany. What have they ever done for us, NOTHING!! They need us more then we need them. Right now we have 31 allies in our fight on terror. Do you know how many allies we had after WWII? I'll tell you...we had 7 allies, so I think more nations are on our side then your side is willing to admit. I live closer to where the 9-11 attacks happened, and let me tell you something, I, and most people in this region, feel much safer with W at the helm, then with Kerry at the helm. I never would have thought that NJ, NY, and even MA (Kerry's home state) would still be this close so close to election. That should tell you something. I would love to see MA go for Bush, even more then my home state of NJ. Don't be surprised if Arnie carries CA for Bush either, that's even a possibility."

When I countered the e-mail with what was already in the media as factual evidence, I was treated with the following reply: "Now for all the so called facts you sent me, they are just liberal talking points, which you accuse me of using when I respond to you. I do not believe the President lied to the American people when talked about WMD's in Iraq. I do believe now that he was given misinformation, but that does not mean he lied. Your candidate, John Kerry, also saw the same information, and voted for the war in Iraq, and also at various times, depending on who he is speaking to, has said the world is a safer place without Saddam. It was only about a month ago when he said if he knew then what he knows now, he still would have voted for the war. Now he says wrong war, wrong place, wrong time. No matter how he tries to spin his inconsistency, the American people see through it as the polls show. When asked who they believe more a vast majority say Bush. You can read all the liberal spin you want and send me all the liberal bs you want, but I will not change my support of this administration. I will continue my conservative websites and news from Fox and believe my true conservative convictions are right for this country. That is who I am. If I remember correctly we did bet on the election and I did lose, but not this time. I thank God that Bush was President when 9/11 took place. If Gore was President I'm sure we would have had more attacks." This was followed up with: "We are going to win, because the American people can see through the smoke and mirrors of Kerry/Edwards. If there is so much substance behind what they say, why isn't it helping them? They have the media on their side. Remember Dan Rather? www.danrathermustgo.com !"

I haven't spoken to Tony since.

I've created this blog because I am sick and tired of misinformation passing as factually true accounting of events from people like Tony.