That’s pretty cool that John Edward’s campaign website collects contributions by connecting to ActBlue, the website that raises money for democratic candidates. I used Act Blue to solicit campaign contributions during the last election, and found them to be well organized and easy to set up. I like Edward’s website as well; very nicely done.
The Washington Post has a recent interview with Bush in which he, um, talks more crazy than his usual batch. Check out these:
As he searches for a new strategy for Iraq, Bush has now adopted the formula advanced by his top military adviser to describe the situation. “We’re not winning, we’re not losing,” Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post. The assessment was a striking reversal for a president who, days before the November elections, declared, “Absolutely, we’re winning.”
Dude, we’re losing. Seriously. That’s pretty obvious from a different Washington Post story on who our troops are fighting over there: Attempting to describe the enemy, Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, the DIA director, listed “Iraqi nationalists, ex-Baathists, former military, angry Sunni, Jihadists, foreign fighters and al-Qaeda,” who create an “overlapping, complex and multi-polar Sunni insurgent and terrorist environment.” He added that “Shia militias and Shia militants, some Kurdish pesh merga, and extensive criminal activity further contribute to violence, instability and insecurity.”
And then there’s this notion that Bush has in his head about what those 2006 elections a few weeks ago meant:
But in a wide-ranging session in the Oval Office, the president said he interpreted the Democratic election victories six weeks ago not as a mandate to bring the U.S. involvement in Iraq to an end but as a call to find new ways to make the mission there succeed. He confirmed that he is considering a short-term surge in troops in Iraq, an option that top generals have resisted out of concern that it would not help.
And if that’s not crazy enough for you — look how much this “new surge” of troops Bush wants will cost — more than the Vietnam War, adjusted for inflation.
…A force structure expansion would accelerate the already-rising costs of war. The administration is drafting a supplemental request for more than $100 billion in additional funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, on top of the $70 billion already approved for this fiscal year, according to U.S. officials. That would be over 50 percent more than originally projected for fiscal 2007, making it by far the costliest year since the 2003 invasion.
Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Congress has approved more than $500 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as for terrorism-related operations elsewhere. An additional $100 billion would bring overall expenditures to $600 billion, exceeding those for the Vietnam War, which, adjusted for inflation, cost $549 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Come on. America has done everything to stop you short of hitting you with a rock, guy. Give it up.
Here’s one I’ll bet you don’t hear in the news — and I’m sure it won’t be noted on certain local blogs at all. One of the key suspects in the “War on Liquids on a Plane” boondoggle of August was released due to lack of evidence.
A Pakistani judge has ruled there is not enough evidence to try a key suspect in an alleged airline bomb plot on terrorism charges.
He has moved the case of Rashid Rauf, a Briton, from an anti-terrorism court to a regular court, where he faces lesser charges such as forgery. Pakistan has presented Mr Rauf as one of the ringleaders behind the alleged plan to blow up flights out of London. The British authorities say they foiled it with Pakistan’s help in August. They say proceedings against suspects arrested in Britain will go ahead.The arrest of Rashid Rauf in Pakistan triggered arrests in the United Kingdom of a number of suspects allegedly plotting to blow up transatlantic flights. The Pakistani authorities described him as a key figure.
But an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi found no evidence that he had been involved in terrorist activities or that he belonged to a terrorist organisation. As well as forgery charges, Mr Rauf has also been charged with carrying explosives. But his lawyer says police evidence amounts only to bottles of hydrogen peroxide found in his possession. Hydrogen peroxide is a disinfectant that can be used for bomb-making if other chemicals are added. The BBC’s Barbara Plett in Islamabad says the judge’s decision has reinforced the already widespread scepticism there about the airliner plot.
This happened earlier in the week, but I haven’t had time to address it before now. If you know me, you know I grew up Catholic and have had somethings to say in the past about the Catholic Church and their behavior towards gay people.
Catholic Bishops have officially approved new guidelines concerning ministry to gay people that basically say gays are sort of okay within the church, just as long as their sexual orientation is in no way sexual.
The guidelines state that while the Church teaches that homosexual acts are immoral, there is a distinction between engaging in homosexual acts and having a homosexual orientation. “While the former is always sinful, the latter is not.”
“It is crucially important to understand that saying a person has a particular inclination that is disordered is not to say that the person as a whole is disordered. Nor does it mean that one has been rejected by God or the Church.”
In other words, it’s okay if I’m gay, but I have to be celibate. And there are some other conditions, too:
- Persons who experience same-sex attraction and yet are living in accord with Church teaching should be encouraged to take an active role in the life of the faith community. However, the Church has a right to deny roles of service to those whose behavior violates her teaching.
- The Christian life is a progressive journey toward a deepening of one’s discipleship of Christ…Those who stumble along the way should be encouraged to remain in the community and to continue to strive for holiness. In this regard, frequent reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation is of great importance.
- The Church does not support so-called same-sex “marriages” or any semblance thereof, including civil unions that give the appearance of a marriage. Church ministers may not bless such unions or promote them in any way, directly or indirectly.
- Similarly, the Church does not support the adoption of children by homosexual couples since homosexual unions are contrary to the divine plan. For this reason, Baptism of children adopted by such couples presents a pastoral concern. Nevertheless, the Church does not refuse the Sacrament of Baptism to these children, but there must be a well founded hope that the children will be brought up in the Catholic religion.
So I get to be a part of the church, but I have to be a sexless second class citizen within it. Oh lucky fucking me.
Yay! Here’s what I think about that:
Apparently the right-wing biased mainstream media is busy chortling and high-fiving because soon to be Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had some tough leadership elections. Here’s what the Washington Post is saying:
The new House speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, had a disastrous post-election week in which her first priority seemed to be settling scores rather than solving these big problems. Shame on her!
While at CNN, they’re putting up graphics in their “Situation Room” (um, that sounds kinda dirty for a news organization, doesn’t it? It means something in the White House, but on TV, not so much) that say “Is Nancy Pelosi Damaged Goods?”
Here’s a newsflash — the new Congress doesn’t get sworn in until January. You dumbasses. What “big problems” could they possibly solve? If big problems aren’t getting solved, it’s still the Republicans failing to solve them for at least two more months.
And there’s the little fact that the leadership elections on the Republican side of Congress were more cut-throat than the Democrats. But that’s an inconvenient fact that the right-biased mainstream media doesn’t want to mention.
At least part of the reason why the American people were duped by Bush for so long before they finally got fed up can be attributed to the media, who’ve been cheerleadering the Republicans since before Bush took power. Don’t think that had changed now that our government has. Er, will.
From Bush’s Radio Address this weekend:
Whatever your opinion of the outcome, all Americans can take pride in the example our democracy sets for the world by holding elections even in a time of war.
“Even in a time of war”? – Like there was a possibility that we wouldn’t?
Taking Down Words gives a nice run-down of what’s going on in my district with the “still-up-in-the-air-due-to-polling-screw-ups” race between Mahern and Elrod, who are just 65 votes apart.
Seems that the touch-screen voting stations available at each of the polling places weren’t counted, and the state has just now decided to turn them on and get the votes from them. The touch screens were in place for disabled voters, but were available for use by anyone. Why did someone decide not to count the touch-screen votes? Who knows.
Turns out in some precincts, voters weren’t given a choice and were told to use them. Why? Good question. No one has an answer.
There are over 500 of these machines, and with a difference of just 65 votes between the two candidates, this could mean a lot.
Bill Maher “outed” GOP party chairman Ken Mehlman as a gay man on Larry King Live last night — as seen on video here.
But on the rebroadcast for the west coast, they edited that bit out of the program, as seen here.
C’mon, guys. YouTube makes this sort of thing ridiculous. I can’t imagine why they’d bother editing that — it’s not like Larry King said it, Maher said it. If it’s not true, it’s not a reflection on CNN. And editing it out just gives it credence, and suggests that it’s something to be hidden.
UPDATES – The above links no longer show the videos of the Larry King show, as YouTube has asked the blog owner to take them down at the request of CNN. However, you can still see the whole video on the Huffington Post.
I think the cat’s out of the proverbial bag on this one, guys.
According to the Indianapolis Star:
Sadler said vote tally cards from 66 precincts remain out or have been misplaced with other election material. Election workers are searching for those documents this morning. She said the initial emphasis is on the 27 precincts that are involved in the four tight races.
Sadler said that voting machines that had to be disabled at about 500 precincts also must be returned to election headquarters to confirm the votes cast on those machines before they were shut down. She said the total votes involved is likely less than 500.
My district — Elrod vs. Mahern — is one of those close races. I’d be interested to find out if my precinct is one of the 27. I wish they clarified which ones in the story.
Keep in mind what the GOP said after the 2004 elections (hat tip to several blogs for pointing this out):
DeLay himself drew the line sharply the day after the 2004 elections. “The Republican Party is a permanent majority for the future of this country,” DeLay declared. “We’re going to be able to lead this country in the direction we’ve been dreaming of for years.”
Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform and a leading figure in both the DeLay and Bush political operations, chose more colorful post-election language to describe the future. “Once the minority of House and Senate are comfortable in their minority status, they will have no problem socializing with the Republicans,” he told Richard Leiby of The Post. “Any farmer will tell you that certain animals run around and are unpleasant. But when they’ve been ‘fixed,’ then they are happy and sedate. They are contented and cheerful.”
yep, that was the GOP back when they won. As Shakespeare’s Sister said this morning:
… This morning, I’m laughing. Why? Well, a lot of it is schadenfreude. I’m going to gloat, and I don’t care. I’ve been told I’m a traitor, a terrorist sympathizer, and every other nasty thing in the book for the last six years. So bite me, wingnuts.