Current Events

Friday Afternoon News Cycle: We Have Mad Cow

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If you watch the news much you learn that the White House routinely releases information it wants you to ignore on late Friday afternoons, so that it misses the last news cycle of the day and doesn’t get much attention over the weekend. Some bloggers pay special attention to the Friday afternoon news cycle for exactly that reason: because the scaryiest shit comes out then. Yesterday’s news: We have mad cow disease in the U.S.

WASHINGTON – Exhaustive tests have confirmed mad cow disease in an animal apparently born in the United States, officials said Friday. It is the second case of the disease confirmed in this country, but Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns stressed there was no threat to public health.
The animal, a “downer” that could not walk, was not killed at a slaughterhouse but at a rendering plant for animals unfit for human consumption, officials said. Johanns would not say where the case turned up, but he said there was no evidence the cow was imported.

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Ken Mehlman needs to resign, too

Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman (and closeted homo), speaking in Puerto Rico, said there was no need to apologize because “what Karl Rove said is true.”
White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, asked about the Rove dispute on CNN, noted, “We have seen pretty hot rhetoric from both sides of the aisle lately.”

Again, what Card said is BULLSHIT. Regardless of what Dean or Durbin said, Rove’s remarks were beyond anything that should have been said by a public official about HALF THE AMERICAN POPULATION. You couldn’t say anything more offensive or vile about me than to suggest that I’m a coward or that I wouldn’t defend America with my life. I haven’t been this furious about a political issue since 2001, and that’s saying something.
And all of this is happening because they have to deflect attention from the fact that the war in Iraq has taken a horrible turn for the worse and people are more and more dissatisfied with the job the White House is doing. When all else fails, start calling people names.

Continue ReadingKen Mehlman needs to resign, too

Karl Rove’s Lies about Democrat’s response to 9/11

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NEW YORK – Speaking in a Manhattan ballroom just a few miles north of ground zero, Karl Rove said on Wednesday night that the Democratic party did not understand the consequences of the Sept. 11 attacks.

“Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers,” Rove said. “Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war.”

“Conservatives saw what happened to us on 9/11 and said we will defeat our enemies. Liberals saw what happened to us and said we must understand our enemies.” “No more needs to be said about the motives of liberals”

That’s a giant load of bullshit. I said two things on that day. The first was “I love My Country” and the second was “Declare War Now.”

I was ready to buy a gun and hunt down bin Laden myself, except that Bush said to trust them, that they would do it. And Scott McClellan is trying to play down what Rove said, without actually apologizing for it.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, he was speaking to the New York Conservative Party, and he was talking about different philosophies — the conservative philosophy and the liberal philosophy and how we’re approaching different priorities for the American people. That’s all it is.

Again, this is BULLSHIT. He wasn’t talking about “approaching different priorities for the American people” he was talking about 9/11 and claiming that liberals were against pursuing Al Qaida after the attack, which is complete crap.

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Giant Table and Chairs

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In Hampstead Heath, England: 30ft sculpture of a table and chair.

And if that weren’t enough, Snapple attempted to create the world’s largest popsicle, but were confounded by the heat and cooling system failure, which caused their creation to melt, flooding Union Square in New York with 17 tons of bright red slush.
Iowans were a bit more successful, creating the World’s Largest Pizza in Iowa Falls, Iowa using 4,000 pounds of cheese, and 700 pounds of sauce.
And last, but not least, the World’s Largest Kite.

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The Pledge of Allegiance

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A young Star Trek fan was suspended from school for reciting his own version of the Pledge of Allegiance, in which he pledged to the United Federation of Planets. His mom has posted the story:

“So, anyway. What did he do?” I picked at the hem of my sweatshirt, looked just to the right of her face. I couldn’t meet her eyes. I felt nervous. I felt under-dressed. I wondered where 8 was. So she told me what he did. And as she told me, I started to laugh. I didn’t laugh a little, either, but I belly-laughed and grabbed my stomach. My son stood with his class this morning, put small right hand over heart, faced the American flag, and recited his own personal pledge of allegiance:

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United Federation of Planets, and to the galaxy for which it stands, one universe, under everybody, with liberty and justice for all species.

“Mrs. Jaworski. This isn’t humorous. The Pledge is an extremely important and patriotic moment each morning in the classroom. I am ashamed of your son’s behavior, and I hope you are, too.”

Now if it were my kid, I’d be marching them to school the next day and refusing to allow the school to suspend them, because what the hell does the pledge have to do with education? You teach my kid, and let me worry about his patriotism.

When I was in first grade, we had a kid in my class who refused to say the pledge, and the school dragged his parents into talk to them. They refused to make him, and threatened to sue the school, so the kid was allowed to sit down during the pledge. Eventually, there was more of a to-do about it, and we ended up not saying the pledge at all. Woo hoo!

There are of course, alternatives. You can always say the Matt Groening pledge under your breath:

I plead alignment to the flakes
of the untitled snakes of a merry cow.
And to the Republicans, for which they scam,
one nacho, underpants,
with licorice and jugs of wine for owls.

Nacho underpants. Hee hee. Or you can say this one:

I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the Republic by which it stands; one Nation, indivisible, with the promise of liberty and justice for all.

Continue ReadingThe Pledge of Allegiance

Those hills aren’t alive with the sound of music…

‘Possessed’ nun crucified after row with priest — A Romanian Orthodox priest who faces a murder charge after ordering the crucifixion of a young nun because she was “possessed by the devil” was unrepentant as he conducted a funeral mass for his alleged victim.
Prosecutors said they had charged the priest and four nuns from the order with imprisonment leading to death, after questioning all 24 resident nuns.
For four days prior to her crucifixion, Sister Irina had been kept locked up with no food or water.
She was imprisoned after having an argument with the priest during Sunday mass, according to locals.

Continue ReadingThose hills aren’t alive with the sound of music…

Republican Senators Attack the Red Cross

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Yeah, THE Red Cross… you know, the wonderful folks who come and save your ass after natural disasters. I’ll be this goes over as well as when they attacked the beloved AARP. Here, read about it for yourself:

Republican Senators believe the US should reconsider funds allocated to the International Committee of the Red Cross in view of its repeated criticism of rights violations by US troops in Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan.
In a report titled “Are American Interests Being Disserved by International Committee of the Red Cross?”, the Senate Republican Policy Committee called for an audit of funds spent by the ICRC to ensure that American dollars are not being used for lobbying against US interests.

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City-County council member Virginia Cain

Advance Indiana has a very interesting in-depth article on homophobe and city-county council member Virginia Cain. Among her choice quotes:

Homosexuals have a shorter life span, are more likely to contract HIV/AIDS, experience serious bouts of depression and even suicide….
Thus, we need to help those who are entrapped in any kind of unhealthy lifestyle. I will never support something that is meant for destruction of human beings and our civilization.

I know that you probably know better than all this, but in case you don’t, let’s talk about the lifespan and AIDS issue. Half of the homosexuals in this world are lesbians, who have longer expected lifespans than heterosexual men and women, and who have the lowest instances of contracting HIV/AIDS of any group. That alone makes her statement false.
And when it comes to gay men, her statement makes it sound like AIDS is the fault of gay men, rather than something that has unfortunately happened to them. We don’t blame kids for contracting rheumatic fever, so why is she blaming gay men for the disease attacking them? Oh yeah, because she’s a bigot, that’s why.
Now lets talk about depression. We aren’t depressed because we’re gay. We’re depressed because people are filled with hatred and bigotry towards gay people, and they take it out on us by firing us from jobs, kicking us out of housing, throwing gay kids out into the streets, not letting us see our loved ones, stealing our children away from us, threatening us, beating us, raping us, and killing us.
In short, we’re depressed because of evil people like Virginia Cain. If she’d stop being a bigot, we’d be happy.

Continue ReadingCity-County council member Virginia Cain

Top Ten Conservative Idiots (#201)

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I usually link to one of my favorite Top Ten lists on Mondays, but this week I’m late. Of course they count down the best of conservative misbehavior, only this week, they included the best reader submissions. Here’s an sample of my very favorite:

Back in 1991-92 I was a volunteer escort at an abortion clinic in Fargo, ND. This was when Operation Rescue came to town to whip the local Lambs of Christ into even more of a frenzy. The very Reverend Keith Tucci gave a free public address, which some of us attended in the spirit of “know thy enemy.” Of all idiocy spewed that night, the real jaw dropper was when Reverend Tucci explained how he justifies denying an abortion to a woman who has been raped. He said, “You shouldn’t punish a rapist by killing his child.”

Now if you know enough information about me, you can guess why I might decide to take a swing at the very Reverent Tucci if he ever shows up here in Indianapolis.

Continue ReadingTop Ten Conservative Idiots (#201)