Posts tagged "Politics"

The Plame leak case opened up a can of worms that our country may never be able to control. Allowing the court to force reporters to reveal their sources in a case where the leaking of the actual information was a traitorous act may have been the right thing to do in that case, but the administration is going to use that as a reason to do the same thing, this time in their defense. In the current probes the whistle-blowers were doing our country a favor by letting the public know that Bush was spying on the American people without warrants and that they were running torture gulags throughout Europe. Hopefully the probes will go nowhere and the real crime committed by Bush and Co. will be their downfall.

Looks like the ACLU shares my opinion:

The following statement can be attributed to ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero:

"President Bush broke the law and lied to the American people when he unilaterally authorized secret wiretaps of U.S. citizens. But rather than focus on this constitutional crisis, Attorney General Gonzales is cracking down on critics of his friend and boss. Our nation is strengthened, not weakened, by those whistleblowers who are courageous enough to speak out on violations of the law."

CNN is reporting that both NJ and VA have elected Democrats to be their next governors. Let's see what happens with the mayoral elections in NYC and Boston. I don't see things getting any better for the wingnuts any time soon.

Oh things are starting to get good in the Plamegate scandal. So what exactly did you know and when did you know it Mr. President?

Just got this from the ACLU:

I'm not sure if you will be able to stomach the language and brute humor on this website but to me the Rude Pundit is fucking hilarious.

When I was growing up we learned about the Bible at Sunday School (actually it was called Hebrew school, but you get the idea). I am a firm believer in the separation between church and state and I think all this hoopla about a new textbook that will teach about the bible and its religious implications in school is not only unneeded but will alienate people who's religion is not based on the bible. From the AP article there is no mention of any other holy books like the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, the Tao-te-ching, the Upanishads or the Veda. If I was a Hindu, Muslim, a Taoist or anything other than a Christian or a Jew I would feel pretty left out.

I just heard on the radio that the government is planning on buying 300,000 mobiles home for around a billion dollars to house the million or so homeless people from Katrina. This has to be the most twisted and backwards thing I have ever heard... let's do some math here. If we house all of the people who are now homeless in motor homes spending 1 billion of the 200 billion of the relief fund that leaves us with 199 billion dollars to spend on demolishing all the old homes of the poor and creating nice condos for the rich built by Haliburton. I am also greatly troubled about what the money is going to come from. I have a feeling that any and every social program still left intact in our government will be dismantled to pay for this instead of stopping the tax breaks for the rich that will cost our country 1.6 trillion in the next 10 years.

This week's Onion is an edition from the future and as usual there are some hilariousarticles and opinions, but the "What Do You Think?" section takes the cake.

Once again, to nobody's surprise, Matt Drudge has proven that he is unable to read a story that he links to from his home page. Drudgereport links to this NY Times story about a break in that happened A YEAR AGO. Way to go moron!

Here is an interesting read about the media's so called "liberal bias"

Dotty Lynch from CBS news writes this editorial about the possible Rove factor in the GannonGate scandal.

The Gannon/Guckert fiasco is gaining momentum and as I see it may be the downfall of this administration. Woodstein in this case are the bloggers.

And he makes it painfully obvious with his attacks on Chris Rock.

Bush released his new budget proposal and claims that it is fair and balanced, sort of like Fox "News". His budget fails to account for the $80 billion we will spend in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also fails to account for the several trillion dollars that his proposed Social Security "reform" will suck out of federal coffers. Senator Jim Jeffords pointed to the most glaring cuts:

I just watched a very touching series of interviews with people throughout the red states. Here are the links to the videos.

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4
• Day 5

Bush has been doing a very naughty thing and now that he has been caught he is passing the buck and asking his cabinet to stop doing it. He has been spending our tax dollars on PR Campaigns. That means our hard earned tax dollars are going towards making Bush look better. I have an idea... instead of spending money on PR firms to spin your ideas in a positive light, why not create sensible policies?

I didn't get a chance to watch the daily show last night, but I found a link to the best part of it on a whole lotta nothing. It is quite hilarious. The final score: 27 freedom and 15 liberty.

Kevin Sites in an embedded journalist in Iraq. I have been reading his blog for a few months and I recently read that he was the journalist who filmed the Marine shooting the unarmed soldier. He wrote about it in his blog:

[Open Letter to Devil Dogs of the 3.1](http://www.kevinsites.net/ 2004_11_21_archive.html#110107420331292115)

(Via kevinsites.)

Do your country / state / county / city a favor and VOTE! Request a paper ballot while you are at it and make sure your vote counts!

The Daily show joked about this last night:

ABC news reports on "debate" that hasn't happened yet: "Mark Frauenfelder: The rules for tonight's poor-substitute-for-a-debate are so restrictive, and the sound-bites that will come out of the mouths of both men are so easy to guess, that ABC news was able to file a story about the results of the "debate" several hours before it takes place. Link Story removed by ABC, but you can find copies here. (Thanks, Certron!)"

Spin much AP?

(Via boing-boing.)

Wonder if the dems are going to do something like this?

Bush Team Prepares Net Assault: "The Bush campaign is setting up an extensive war room to monitor Thursday's debate with John Kerry. The plan? Pounce on Kerry misstatements or exaggerations and send responses to thousands of partisan websites through a live feed. By Louise Witt."

(Via wired news.)

This is a good song and a good flash animation.

(Via js.com - Jungle Scene [coolkat].)

Here it is ... i heard it was censored in many places!

from [boing-boing] -----

Xeni Jardin: Snipped from MSNBC.com. Correspondent Ron Reagan was interviewing Joshua Kinberg when he was arrested yesterday (Link to previous BB post for story background):

Released from the "Tombs" after police arrested me (Joshua Kinberg of Bikes Against Bush) I'm now sitting in the MSNBC trailer at Herald Sq., NYC, with Ron Reagan and Joe Trippi after spending 24 hours in the "Tombs" with several hundred Critical Mass cyclists, who were arrested the night before.

Joshua Kinberg: I was arrested while Ron was interviewing me about my invention-- a bicycle that prints text messages on the street in water-soluble chalk. While we were conducting the interview, the police stopped me and asked for my ID. After I produced identification, the police waited for their sergeant to arrive before placing me under arrest without stating the charge. I was doing nothing more than describing my invention to the media and explaining my disagreements with the Bush administration.

When I arrived in the Tombs, I was placed in a cell with around 30 other cyclists. They had spent the previous night in a location they were affectionately calling "Lil' Gitmo," a makeshift detention center on the West Side piers converted from a former bus depot. Lil' Gitmo had cells sectioned off with chain link fence and razor wire, and a floor covered in motor oil, transmission fluid, and other toxic chemicals. The cyclists detained there were forced to sleep on this hazardous floor wearing nothing more than bicycling shorts and t-shirts. Consequently, several developed serious skin rashes the following day. After 36 hours most of the cyclists had been released with a pending court date. Several had been arrested when specifically following police directions to exit the peaceful bike ride. Others had not been part of Critical Mass, but had simply been on the streets with a bicycle at the wrong time.

I was released after 24 hours in detention with a court date set for Friday. Unfortunately, all my equipment-- bicycle, laptop, cell phone, and custom designed electronics-- has been confiscated. Thus, the Bikes Against Bush performance, where I would accept and print messages sent from web users, is likely to be cancelled. A volunteer lawyer from the National Lawyers Guild is confident that my case will be dismissed on grounds of the First Amendment, but we will have to wait until Friday to see. A video of the arrest recorded and edited by Yury Gitman has been posted online (BitTorrent), and the story of my arrest has already been blogged on SlashDot, BoingBoing, Kottke, and JuliaSet.

Link to MSNBC item, with link to video of Reagan's interview with Kinberg (in which he describes "what happened, and what The Tombs was like.")

"Don't let the GOP delegates appropriate the Man in Black." [via / from the nation]

Ok i'm not sure how i feel about this yet...

*From: http://www.wgms.com/index.php?nid=65&sid=130788

A film to hit German theaters Sept. 16 breaks taboos by showing Hitler as a shaking dreamer rather than a ranting tyrant. ---*

[via topix world]

read this interesting interview with dot-com boom millionaire / activist John Gilmore.

here are some switch ads from moveonpac.org

From boing-boing:

This excellent piece of short speculative fiction presented as a video clip depicts pizza ordering in a near-future United States. Link

(Thanks Patricio! ) [boing-boing]

From the contracostatimes:

Bush plans to rescind forest rules

The Bush administration plans to scrap one of the most sweeping public lands initiatives of recent years by abandoning a rule that put nearly one-third of national forests off-limits to logging. [topix ca]

BOOO! shame on you GWB!

[from ATSNN] The 46 year old son of Ronald Reagan will speak at the Democratic National Convention in Boston this year. A move that has stunned many on the Republican side. Ron Reagan spoke with amazing reverence of his late father and has shown an amazing skill for the spoken word such as his father (Former President and Republican leader)

From http://www.fahrenheit911.com: "Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore's searing examination of the Bush administration's actions in the wake of the tragic events of 9/11. With his characteristic humor and dogged commitment to uncovering the facts, Moore considers the presidency of George W. Bush and where it has led us."Michael Moore says:"I don't agree with copyright laws, and I don't have a problem with people downloading the movie and sharing it...as long as they're not trying to make a profit off my labor.... I make these movies and books and TV shows because I want things to change, and so the more people who get to see them, the better."

Download Fahrenheit 911... Collection: movies/feature_films [Internet Archive]

The pointless assault weapons ban that is due to sunset in a few months has not prevented a single attack with assault weapons. Bayonetting attack statistics show that the amount of bayonet attacks since the passing of the ban has remained stable and none per year.

When I first saw this i thought it was a joke, but no, Colin Powell Really did don a hard hat and a belt and performed a rendition of the Village People's YMCA in Jakarta.

With the cheering of onlookers, the Iraqi embassy in Washington D.C. has been re-opened.

Due to a recent spate of attacks, Saudi Arabia will allow foreigners to carry guns.

No more fun for Texas... it's just not fair!

Paid for with your hard earned money. That's right, our government now has the distinction of having the World's largest private army... hired thugs rejoice!

In Saudi Arabia, if you behead an American, you are given the chance to turn yourself in and get partial amnesty. That seems logical.

The President was interviewed today, by US Attorney Patrick J Fitzgerald about who leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame, which is a federal offense punishable by 10 years in club fed. Bush appointed a lawyer to act on his behalf.

The Nation Editor's Weblog states, and i quote: "Tom DeLay... is hands down one of the most corrupt politicians in the United States." That an impressive feat to pull off!

After all the talk about how easy it would be to take Iraq, Paul Wolfowitz now testifies that the Pentagon misjudged the number of troops it would take over Iraq.

If you ever wonder what is going on in Saudi Arabia... this is the place to find out... The Religious Policeman is a great blog from an anonymous Saudi. Very cool insight into the world of Saudi Arabia.

now online