Monday, November 30, 2009
"The Story of a Soul Survivor: ‘Private Dancer’ at 25"
It takes a lot of love to write a profile this complete, this necessary. Christian John Wikane of PopMatters deserves a big vote of thanks for this inspiring piece.
Mike "Willie Horton" Huckabee: The truth trickles out
Why would Huckabee pardon a criminal? Because fellow preachers told him to.
Huckabee has proudly declared on many occasions that he disdains the separation of church and state, insisting that his strict Baptist piety should serve as the bedrock of public policy. Nowhere in his record as governor was the influence of religious zeal felt more heavily than in the distribution of pardons and commutations, as his own explanations have indicated. During those years he granted more commutations and pardons than any governor during the previous four decades, many of them surely justified as a response to excessive penalties under the state's draconian narcotics laws. But others were deeply controversial, especially because so many of his acts of mercy appeared to depend on interventions by fellow Baptist preachers and by inmate professions of renewed Christian faith.What's so wrong with that? Didn't George W. Bush say he listened to a higher father on matters of war? Huckabee is only following a long Republican Christianist tradition, one that all too often ends in death of innocents.
Surely the most notorious instance of misplaced mercy involved Wayne Dumond, a rapist and murdered now deceased, who was originally sent to prison in Arkansas for raping a distant cousin of Bill Clinton. During Clinton's presidency the Dumond case became an obsession among certain right-wing pundits and politicians, who insisted that Dumond had been framed and brutalized by the "Clinton machine." When Huckabee became governor, he supported a parole for Dumond, winning applause from the Republican right -- until the former prisoner raped and killed a young woman in Missouri. Dumond later died in prison, under suspicion that he had murdered at least one other woman after his Arkansas release -- a tragic outcome for which Huckabee has repeatedly tried to blame others, including his two Democratic predecessors in the statehouse.
Huckabee granted mercy to prisoners whom he chanced to meet, to prisoners who had personal connections to him or his family, and especially to prisoners who were vouchsafed to him by the pastors he had befriended during his years as a Baptist minister and denominational leader. Among the thugs who benefited from his mercy was a robber who beat an old man to death with a lead pipe.
Utah, Alaska and Mississippi: Top porn consumers of America
Why does Clarence Thomas always sides with porn producers in First Amendment cases? Because he speaks for the Republican base!
"Eight of the top 10 pornography consuming states gave their electoral votes to John McCain in last year's presidential election - Florida and Hawaii were the exceptions. While six out of the lowest 10 favoured Barack Obama." [...]
[T]he porn-a-holic states are: Utah, Alaska, Mississippi, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Arkansas, North Dakota, Louisiana, West Virginia.
Does religiosity curb the lustful appetites? Actually, three of the biggest porn-watching states -- Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Arkansas -- are also among the most religious. And of course, the capital of porn usage also is home to Church of Latter Day Saints, one of the most culturally conservative denominations around.
Michael Moore, Obama and Afghanistan
How nice to be ideologically pure.
I remember how he went from college town to college town in 2000. How he told the masses of adoring, rich, white college students that a vote for Bush and a vote for Gore were the same. They came by the thousands, paying $10 a pop to see him.
Those hundreds of thousands of dollars went to Ralph Nader's campaign, a large percentage ultimately diverted to Florida. And to New Hampshire, whose four electoral votes would have elected Gore even without Florida... and where Nader's total of 4% was greater than the difference between the two major party candidates.
Moore may be right about Afghanistan, but let's never, ever forget that he's a big part of why we went to Iraq in the first place.
If Afghanistan doesn't go well, Moore can always ambush Democratic politicians and make a new movie with the footage. It's nice to be able to remain so ideologically pure and cash in three times: first on the cynicism on the left, then on disgust with the right, and now the center-left.
Barack Obama represents the last best hope of progressive politics in this country. It took four decades after Lyndon Johnson to get a president even this progressive. If Obama goes down, don't expect to get a candidate to his left; his failure will be blamed on the progressive who elected him. He may be a bit of a wuss, but the way to get change is to push him, and hard. And to get a Congress that's more, not less, Democratic.
Obama campaigned on ending the war and Iraq and doing Afghanistan right, to the roaring approval of liberal activists all over the country. This is what he campaigned on. He has done well by not letting generals dictate his ultimate decision, cutting their requested troop levels in half. Let's hope he keeps this war as limited as possible. There is certainly a lot that could go very, very wrong.
I oppose the escalation in Afghanistan largely because I don't really have the faith that it will greatly improve the situation, and because we're propping up a corrupt regime that is unwilling and unable to handle its own security. More importantly, as I have written many times, the long term security problem for the US is not Islam but China.
China's Achilles heel is Islam. It depends on the Middle East for oil, but it also depends on their acquiescence to maintain their territorial integrity. China's west is populated by tame Tibetans who would like independence... and Uighurs who, if armed, might very well fight to get it.
The majority of Islamic nations as well as Al Qaeda are awful butch when it comes to Palestine, but you'll never hear a peep from them when it comes to their brothers in China. In return, China gives the Muslims cover on human rights and stays away from the global policing of terror.
By mid-century, China will have more GNP than the United States.There will be a lag, but eventually its defense establishment will outstrip ours. The nation has only a handful of weaknesses. One, it can only maintain its territorial integrity by force. Two, its geopolitical competitors border it. Three, it needs to import energy and food.
The United States could hit the first and third weaknesses head on if it had an Islamic strategy. What we need, more than anything, is for the Taliban (or something like it) to move into China, and to attract global jihadi support.
But we will never, ever, break China's marriage of convenience with the Muslim world by occupying the Islamic countries that border it.
Our geopolitical failures go back to the President who decided to invade Iraq and Afghanistan on September 12th. And to Michael Moore, who put him there.
I remember how he went from college town to college town in 2000. How he told the masses of adoring, rich, white college students that a vote for Bush and a vote for Gore were the same. They came by the thousands, paying $10 a pop to see him.
Those hundreds of thousands of dollars went to Ralph Nader's campaign, a large percentage ultimately diverted to Florida. And to New Hampshire, whose four electoral votes would have elected Gore even without Florida... and where Nader's total of 4% was greater than the difference between the two major party candidates.
Moore may be right about Afghanistan, but let's never, ever forget that he's a big part of why we went to Iraq in the first place.
If Afghanistan doesn't go well, Moore can always ambush Democratic politicians and make a new movie with the footage. It's nice to be able to remain so ideologically pure and cash in three times: first on the cynicism on the left, then on disgust with the right, and now the center-left.
Barack Obama represents the last best hope of progressive politics in this country. It took four decades after Lyndon Johnson to get a president even this progressive. If Obama goes down, don't expect to get a candidate to his left; his failure will be blamed on the progressive who elected him. He may be a bit of a wuss, but the way to get change is to push him, and hard. And to get a Congress that's more, not less, Democratic.
Obama campaigned on ending the war and Iraq and doing Afghanistan right, to the roaring approval of liberal activists all over the country. This is what he campaigned on. He has done well by not letting generals dictate his ultimate decision, cutting their requested troop levels in half. Let's hope he keeps this war as limited as possible. There is certainly a lot that could go very, very wrong.
I oppose the escalation in Afghanistan largely because I don't really have the faith that it will greatly improve the situation, and because we're propping up a corrupt regime that is unwilling and unable to handle its own security. More importantly, as I have written many times, the long term security problem for the US is not Islam but China.
China's Achilles heel is Islam. It depends on the Middle East for oil, but it also depends on their acquiescence to maintain their territorial integrity. China's west is populated by tame Tibetans who would like independence... and Uighurs who, if armed, might very well fight to get it.
The majority of Islamic nations as well as Al Qaeda are awful butch when it comes to Palestine, but you'll never hear a peep from them when it comes to their brothers in China. In return, China gives the Muslims cover on human rights and stays away from the global policing of terror.
By mid-century, China will have more GNP than the United States.There will be a lag, but eventually its defense establishment will outstrip ours. The nation has only a handful of weaknesses. One, it can only maintain its territorial integrity by force. Two, its geopolitical competitors border it. Three, it needs to import energy and food.
The United States could hit the first and third weaknesses head on if it had an Islamic strategy. What we need, more than anything, is for the Taliban (or something like it) to move into China, and to attract global jihadi support.
But we will never, ever, break China's marriage of convenience with the Muslim world by occupying the Islamic countries that border it.
Our geopolitical failures go back to the President who decided to invade Iraq and Afghanistan on September 12th. And to Michael Moore, who put him there.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Sarah Palin's happiest day since August, 2008
Mike Huckabee pardoned the Washington cop killer, who, it also turns out, is charged with child rape.
The single most riveting moment of the 2008 GOP nomination contest was Huckabee's press conference on the eve of the Iowa caucuses. Following Romney attacks on Huckabee's pardons, Huckabee defended them with a passion that no Democrat would dare muster. He proceeded to compare his pardons with the ones that Romney didn't give, which made his presentation even more powerful.
Now Palin has license to turn his strength into a weakness (if he runs; he claimed he wasn't this morning). That's a shame; the willingness to pardon was one of the few admirable things about Mike Huckabee's record as a public servant.
The single most riveting moment of the 2008 GOP nomination contest was Huckabee's press conference on the eve of the Iowa caucuses. Following Romney attacks on Huckabee's pardons, Huckabee defended them with a passion that no Democrat would dare muster. He proceeded to compare his pardons with the ones that Romney didn't give, which made his presentation even more powerful.
Now Palin has license to turn his strength into a weakness (if he runs; he claimed he wasn't this morning). That's a shame; the willingness to pardon was one of the few admirable things about Mike Huckabee's record as a public servant.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Something to chew on
Another thought. Among those states with high white food stamp usage, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Georgia and Missouri have something else in common: Arizona aside, they are the only states in the country that voted for Bill Clinton but not Obama. One guess as to why.
Food stamps
The New York Times has a wonderful interactive map up that breaks down usage by race. It sure is remarkable how the states with the most white people on welfare voted for McCain: Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Missouri. The only blue states in the running are Oregon, Michigan and Maine.
Appalachia really does seem to be in the midst of a horrendous crisis. It is a shame that most of the region's senators and congressmen are working so diligently against their constituents' interests.
The percentage of children on food stamps, however, is beyond shocking, and it's a nationwide phenomenon, though, of course, worse in the red states, continually depend on the blue ones for handouts. If a quarter of white seniors were on food stamps, we'd never hear the end of it. Politicians would create program after program to ameliorate their poverty and throw in free HDTV's for good measure. Since children will never get the right to vote, this intergenerational disparity will continue for a long time to come. Our inattention to our young is one of many reasons China (though not India, our Asian child hunger counterpart) will be drinking our milkshake in the 21st century.
Appalachia really does seem to be in the midst of a horrendous crisis. It is a shame that most of the region's senators and congressmen are working so diligently against their constituents' interests.
The percentage of children on food stamps, however, is beyond shocking, and it's a nationwide phenomenon, though, of course, worse in the red states, continually depend on the blue ones for handouts. If a quarter of white seniors were on food stamps, we'd never hear the end of it. Politicians would create program after program to ameliorate their poverty and throw in free HDTV's for good measure. Since children will never get the right to vote, this intergenerational disparity will continue for a long time to come. Our inattention to our young is one of many reasons China (though not India, our Asian child hunger counterpart) will be drinking our milkshake in the 21st century.
Pointer Sisters
"Dare Me" would be their last pop hit, but most artists would kill for a swan song of such perfection. They sizzle in this 1985 clip, live from Montreux. RIP, June Pointer.
Here's a 1981 UK performance of "Slow Hand." Because one classic Pointer Sisters song is never enough.
Here's a 1981 UK performance of "Slow Hand." Because one classic Pointer Sisters song is never enough.
Bernanke: Don't regulate the Fed
Because in the end, we did a few banking reforms at the margins... when you threatened to regulate us.
The politics of the possible
The AP reports that many gays are turning their attention back to civil unions after handing gay marriage "its 27th electoral defeat in five years."
Gay activists, presumably, will label these more pragmatic gays sellouts, just as they do the President.
Gay activists, presumably, will label these more pragmatic gays sellouts, just as they do the President.
Colorado and Nevada are among the 29 states with constitutional prohibitions against gay marriages.As I wrote last week, expect the President to sign the most sweeping civil rights legislation in 40 years in the next year, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. And don't expect that sellout to be applauded for it. Nothing short of marriage will do.
The success of partner measures in those states suggests that there's room for gay couples to secure spousal protections even if they can't marry, said William Dobbs, a veteran activist in New York.
"It's a huge tactical mistake to be arguing that nothing less than marriage will do," Dobbs said. "One size does not fit all.
"There is a real need among some folks to put their lives together, to have joint credit cards, a house and children," he said. "We need a set of actions for that, but the marriage fight is toxic to other types of reforms."
Friday, November 27, 2009
Tina was just 61 in this video
And yesterday she turned 70.
But she repeated the same astonishing, seemingly life threatening feat on her tour just last year in her world tour. She's a symbol of survival, which too often overshadows her talent as an interpreter. Today, however, I'll happily fall into that trap.
Tina Turner wrote the autobiographical "Nutbush City Limits" at the nadir of her life with Ike. In 2000 and again in 2008, it was her showstopper, invariably her encore or next-to-last song. It was her way of saying she's live'r than most of us will ever be, at any age.
Another memory, this time from the summer tour that followed the release of the biopic What's Love Got To Do With It. The new song, written by Lulu, was passed on to Tina by Sade. At the show I saw on that tour, Tina introduced this song almost diffidently, more or less as she does here. It was almost as if she was a bit embarrassed to have to explain the song. Or perhaps, positive as she's been as a solo artist, it pained her to acknowledge what went without saying.
When Tina did look back, as she did for a few seconds at the 1993 Essence Awards, she referred to her time with Ike as "that horrible life." It surely was, in ways most of us can't even begin to fathom. That's why "I Don't Want To Fight" is so powerful. She has more famous hits, but this one is her epitaph: it's the one she survived, endured, lived to sing.
Happy 70th birthday, Tina Turner.
But she repeated the same astonishing, seemingly life threatening feat on her tour just last year in her world tour. She's a symbol of survival, which too often overshadows her talent as an interpreter. Today, however, I'll happily fall into that trap.
Tina Turner wrote the autobiographical "Nutbush City Limits" at the nadir of her life with Ike. In 2000 and again in 2008, it was her showstopper, invariably her encore or next-to-last song. It was her way of saying she's live'r than most of us will ever be, at any age.
Another memory, this time from the summer tour that followed the release of the biopic What's Love Got To Do With It. The new song, written by Lulu, was passed on to Tina by Sade. At the show I saw on that tour, Tina introduced this song almost diffidently, more or less as she does here. It was almost as if she was a bit embarrassed to have to explain the song. Or perhaps, positive as she's been as a solo artist, it pained her to acknowledge what went without saying.
When Tina did look back, as she did for a few seconds at the 1993 Essence Awards, she referred to her time with Ike as "that horrible life." It surely was, in ways most of us can't even begin to fathom. That's why "I Don't Want To Fight" is so powerful. She has more famous hits, but this one is her epitaph: it's the one she survived, endured, lived to sing.
Happy 70th birthday, Tina Turner.
Meee-OWW!
Huckabee on Palin:
“Some of the people who had excoriated me and really been very dismissive of me for views that I had taken, and labeled me anything from a populist to an ignoramus – the same people have been very defensive [of] and laudatory to Sarah Palin,” Huckabee noted, adding that he’d invited her to appear on his weekly Fox show but “could never get any contact.”More:
“I’m glad she’s getting the props – I know I’m not nearly as attractive.”
“I think that she’s not anywhere near the person that sometimes she’s been portrayed to be –- as completely lacking of any intellectual capacity.”As we wrote a few days ago, for Huckabee it's a war of necessity against Palin. Only one of them can survive Iowa... and most likely the only way one of them can win Iowa is by destroying the other.
–Mike Huckabee, subtly putting the stress on the word “completely.”
Evan Bayh
Loser Hoosier:
Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) was among the three finalists in the veepstakes, but "was modest about his ability to help deliver the state," Plouffe wrote.
"I don't know if I can help push you over the line there. I assume it won't hurt, but I couldn't in good conscience say those eleven Hoosier electoral votes will be in your column if it's Obama-Bayh," Bayh told Plouffe. (They did win it.)
Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) was among the three finalists in the veepstakes, but "was modest about his ability to help deliver the state," Plouffe wrote.
"I don't know if I can help push you over the line there. I assume it won't hurt, but I couldn't in good conscience say those eleven Hoosier electoral votes will be in your column if it's Obama-Bayh," Bayh told Plouffe. (They did win it.)
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Apple shocker
It receives half the total revenue in the American desktop computer market. Not half the computers... just half the cash spent.
One factor helping Apple is average selling price. The Mac maker has largely chosen not to compete with Windows PC manufacturers below $1,000. While price wars continue at the low end among Windows PC manufacturers, Apple's entry-level iMac starts at $1,199. True, Apple offers the Mac mini for $599 or $799, but the ASP is considerably higher than comparably priced Windows PCs. Low-cost Windows PCs typically come with monitor, keyboard and mouse, which are all extra-cost items for Mac mini unless the buyer uses existing gear.
Oprah's blackest moments
Teresa Wiltz of The Root picks the best one:
I remember the early days, when Oprah was just starting out. At the time, this was a big, big deal. You just didn’t see a black woman hosting a daytime talk show. And there she was, big hair and big personality, storming the airwaves. My earliest memory of her was when she had a number of white supremacists on her show. One of them—a fairly swarthy-looking sort—was blathering on about white power, yada, yada, yada. Oprah stopped him mid-sentence, asking him, “What are you doing up there with the white power people? You look like you’ve got some Negro blood to me.” For a long time after that, Oprah could do no wrong in my book.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Proof that Lou Dobbs needs to run for President
Rasmussen pol:
With Mitt Romney as the Republican nominee, Obama is ahead 42%-34%-14%. With Mike Huckabee, it's 42%-36%-12%. With Sarah Palin, it's 44%-37%-12%. By comparison, without Dobbs in the mix Obama is tied with Romney at 44%-44%, leads Huckabee by 45%-41%, and leads Palin by 46%-43% (with "some other candidate" in the single digits in all those matches).Pleeease run, Lou.
By The People: The Election of Barack Obama
Don't miss this document of the greatest campaign we'll ever experience. Just fantastic.
I wouldn't have skipped the story of the South Carolina primary, which profoundly changed the media narrative and made Super Tuesday possible. I would also have wanted a bit more about Indiana and North Carolina in May. Let's hope a more filled out version of the documentary comes out on DVD.
Here's the last section of the documentary, complete with helpful subtitles, which starts with the poignant last day of the campaign.
I wouldn't have skipped the story of the South Carolina primary, which profoundly changed the media narrative and made Super Tuesday possible. I would also have wanted a bit more about Indiana and North Carolina in May. Let's hope a more filled out version of the documentary comes out on DVD.
Here's the last section of the documentary, complete with helpful subtitles, which starts with the poignant last day of the campaign.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Dobbs really running for NJ Senate and then President
Nothing leads me to believe it as much as his appearance on Telemundo's Al Rojo Vivo.
But no one should expect this to be a play for the Hispanic vote. First, his potential opponent's is Hispanic machine politician Robert Menendez. Second, his rhetoric on immigration is already quite well known.
Why do Republican events have so many blacks and Hispanics on stage? Doesn't everyone know that if you see Michael Steele, Alan Keyes and Tom Sowell in the same room, that's already 20% of the nation's black Republicans? Quick answer: no, most people don't know that. African Americans vote somewhere between 18-2 and 19-1 for Democrats. Blacks aren't invited to the RNC to woo black voters. Their presence is a tactic to woo suburban and married white women who don't want to believe that Daddy's a racist.
That's why the Minutemen aren't giving up on Lou Dobbs. His appearance on Hispanic television shows that he gets politics. If he can inoculate himself against charges of racism (his wife is Hispanic, so of course he couldn't be, right? right?), he can make a play for moderate suburban women in a very blue state. If he can somehow knock off Menendez (and it's really hard to see how he could if he split the white vote with a Republican candidate in a very blue state), he can credibly run for the Presidency in 2012.
I sure hope he is a presidential candidate, perhaps for the Constitution Party. Barack Obama could use a divided field come November, 2012. A couple of points for Lou and Obama could take Arizona and secure Colorado and Nevada, thus sealing his re-election.
UPDATE: Oh my goodness, the whole scenario is divorced from reality. Does that mean Dobbs is a Republican and not an independent? Josh Marshall:
But no one should expect this to be a play for the Hispanic vote. First, his potential opponent's is Hispanic machine politician Robert Menendez. Second, his rhetoric on immigration is already quite well known.
Why do Republican events have so many blacks and Hispanics on stage? Doesn't everyone know that if you see Michael Steele, Alan Keyes and Tom Sowell in the same room, that's already 20% of the nation's black Republicans? Quick answer: no, most people don't know that. African Americans vote somewhere between 18-2 and 19-1 for Democrats. Blacks aren't invited to the RNC to woo black voters. Their presence is a tactic to woo suburban and married white women who don't want to believe that Daddy's a racist.
That's why the Minutemen aren't giving up on Lou Dobbs. His appearance on Hispanic television shows that he gets politics. If he can inoculate himself against charges of racism (his wife is Hispanic, so of course he couldn't be, right? right?), he can make a play for moderate suburban women in a very blue state. If he can somehow knock off Menendez (and it's really hard to see how he could if he split the white vote with a Republican candidate in a very blue state), he can credibly run for the Presidency in 2012.
I sure hope he is a presidential candidate, perhaps for the Constitution Party. Barack Obama could use a divided field come November, 2012. A couple of points for Lou and Obama could take Arizona and secure Colorado and Nevada, thus sealing his re-election.
UPDATE: Oh my goodness, the whole scenario is divorced from reality. Does that mean Dobbs is a Republican and not an independent? Josh Marshall:
Dobbs isn't just considering running for political office. He's considering a run for the White House in 2012. Thing is, though, that's a ways off. And he can't just sit around chilling for two and a half years. So ... well, let's hear how a spokesman for Lou puts it. "I think Lou is realistically saying, that's a long way off, but if he did run for office there'd have to be an intermediary step, such as the Menendez seat," Dobbs's spokesman Robert L. Dilenschneider told The New York Times.
So, yes, Dobbs may run for the presidency. But as a warm up, as it were, he might run for senate against Menendez.
Admittedly, Dobbs v. Menendez would have some iconic oomph in the Dobbs Universe, with the whole white guy taking a job back from a Hispanic angle. But there is the problem of Menendez being up for reelection in 2012 rather than 2010. So I'm not sure how that's an intermediate step for running against Obama in 2012. Or maybe I just don't understand the math.
Politico's nasty poll writeup
Snarky and rather tacky headline ("Obama faces white flight"), yes. But wait, there's evidence:
Especially when you consider his percentage of the white vote in 2008 which was... wait a minute... 42%. Just three points less.
Just 39 percent of white Americans now approve of President Obama's job performance, a steep drop-off of support since he was inaugurated in January, according to the latest Gallup Poll.That sounds disastrous, does it not?
Especially when you consider his percentage of the white vote in 2008 which was... wait a minute... 42%. Just three points less.
Don't miss
Dan Rather's devastating look at the US taxpayer-subsidized IMF bailout of Austrian banks. The episode of Dan Rather Reports, "Money Man to the World, is also available on iTunes. In time, a transcript will appear here.
We've got at least five around the clock cable news networks, but you can't find a program like this on any of them. Sad.
Don't miss Simon Johnson's testimony to the Congressional Oversight Panel on TARP here.
We've got at least five around the clock cable news networks, but you can't find a program like this on any of them. Sad.
Don't miss Simon Johnson's testimony to the Congressional Oversight Panel on TARP here.
No homophobia in Canada?
Not exactly. Say what you will about the United States, but the First Amendment means something here.
Wisconsin
On the heels of my last post on 2012, here is PPP's latest poll, which has the President down to 47/47 approval/disapproval in Wisconsin.
Obama's problems in Iowa/Wisconsin/Ohio are about the economy rather than culture. If there's a recovery, even a minor one, come 2012, he won't have trouble there. If unemployment is still at 10% (or more), serial liar Mitt Romney will be very well positioned to have a 325+ electoral vote victory.
Obama's problems in Iowa/Wisconsin/Ohio are about the economy rather than culture. If there's a recovery, even a minor one, come 2012, he won't have trouble there. If unemployment is still at 10% (or more), serial liar Mitt Romney will be very well positioned to have a 325+ electoral vote victory.
Overcriminalization
Finally, finally, finally. Its time has come. Because politicians fear being labeled soft on crime, there can't be any change without the consent of the loony right that created this problem in the first place..
[Conservative, libertarian and business groups'] briefs and public statements are signs of an emerging consensus on the right that the criminal justice system is an aspect of big government that must be contained.Less surprising: the root of the emerging conservative opposition may lie in the increasing prosecution of rich people:
The development represents a sharp break with tough-on-crime policies associated with the Republican Party since the Nixon administration.
“It’s a remarkable phenomenon,” said Norman L. Reimer, executive director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “The left and the right have bent to the point where they are now in agreement on many issues. In the area of criminal justice, the whole idea of less government, less intrusion, less regulation has taken hold.”
Such so-called overcriminalization is at the heart of the conservative critique of crime policy. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce made the point in a recent friend-of-the-court brief about a federal law often used to prosecute corporate executives and politicians. The law, which makes it a crime for officials to defraud their employers of “honest services,” is, the brief said, both “unintelligible” and “used to target a staggeringly broad swath of behavior.”
Who knew the term had already been coined?
"Post music pop stars," per Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker, who ends his review of Adam Lambert's American Music Awards performance with this:
A day after the AMA broadcast, he’s all anyone wants to talk about, and his was the only performance worth considering in multiple ways. Conventional measures of “good” and “bad” went out the window for a few moments. Flouting convention: how rock & roll. Using TV instead of music as a way for a singer to maintain prominence: how pure pop.
Monday, November 23, 2009
The road to 2012: An early look at possible GOP nominees
Iowans know what they think of Sarah Palin: she's out to lunch. But Republicans are crazy about her.
If Romney wins Iowa, he'll win New Hampshire, and the party will fall in line behind him, as Democrats did with Kerry in 2004. And it could happen, particularly if unemployment remains high then, since the media always gives multimillionaires a pass on economic issues. Never mind that investment bankers and consultants similar to Romney were the cause of the 2008 crash in the first place.
But Romney can only win Iowa if Huckabee and Palin bloody each other in the worst way and Pawlenty is somehow perceived as not quite presidential enough. Evangelicals seem to control at least 40% of the caucus vote. Romney won't get a bit of it. He will have to battle Pawlenty for his share of the remaining 60%. Romney's relatively lower approval rating will make it that much tougher.
Palin doesn't have a prayer in New Hampshire. If Huckabee wins Iowa, she's out of the race, and, most likely, out of national politics forever.
If Romney doesn't win the caucus but defeats Pawlenty, he'll be seen as the top ranked sane candidate. New Hampshire, which shares media markets with the state Romney used to be governor of. Its Republicans are more obsessed about taxes than religion. He is already the frontrunner there; as long as he doesn't flame out or lose badly to Pawlenty, New Hampshire is his. The potential entry of Rudy "One Percent" Giuliani is hardly a threat.
Bottom line: Huckabee has a built-in advantage for Iowa. Palin will have to damage him badly to change that, and it's hard to see how she doesn't damage herself in the process. As a relative unknown, Pawlenty is the biggest X-factor. Romney has the advantage in New Hampshire. If Huckabee wins Iowa, he may well have the advantage in South Carolina.
At that point, we will see a battle royale in the next few contests: the two former governors absolutely detest each other. If it comes down to these two after South Carolina, we will see a colossal proxy battle between the corporate and evangelical elements of the GOP. Main Street evangelicals versus Wall Street um... non-evangelicals. It will be amazing.
The one (semi) announced candidate on the horizon who can bridge the gap, at least on paper, is Pawlenty. His farm state credentials can win him Iowa. He doesn't look nutty enough to put off New Hampshire voters (particularly its independents, who won't be voting in a one-candidate Democratic primary). Right now, the Minnesota governor looks like the only candidate who can unite both wings of the party. It's hardly surprising that the Swiftboat folks and other George W. Bush's advisers have flocked to the campaign of this relatively unknown: they know he can pull this off.
Finally, and again on paper, Pawlenty is the biggest threat to Barack Obama in a general election: not because Pawlenty can win his home state, but because he could make Iowa and Wisconsin competitive if Obama's at 50% approval.
A Romney-led presidential ticket keeps Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida competitive and, most likely, keep Iowa and Wisconsin in Democratic hands. But it's tough to see a road to an Obama re-election without Iowa and Wisconsin.
If Pawlenty proves to be an able campaigner, 2012 may turn out to be less vicious Republican contest than we hope, and a much more dangerous general.
The first public poll to test Palin’s favorabilty in the leadoff nominating state found 55 percent of Iowans hold an unfavorable opinion of Palin a little more than a year after the last election. Only 37 percent feel favorably about her.The real threat for Palin? Mike Huckabee, who, moreover, has lower unfavorables. Expect a whole lot sniping between the two camps in the next two years.
And those feelings are intense: The percentage of Iowans who view Palin very unfavorably is more than twice as large as the percentage who view her very favorably.
But more than two-thirds of Republicans like what they see, making her a credible candidate for the 2012 caucuses should she decide to run for president, strategists say.
Sixty-eight percent of Iowa Republicans view Palin favorably. That’s close to the 70 percent who hold favorable views of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the 2008 caucuses, and it’s higher than the 66 percent who view former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich favorably. Palin’s number is also higher than that of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, runner-up in the 2008 caucuses, who is viewed favorably by 58 percent of the state’s Republicans.The big X factor still looks like Pawlenty, who is the governor of Minnesota, which is next door. Being from another neighbor, Illinois, we should remember, didn't hurt Obama a bit.
If Romney wins Iowa, he'll win New Hampshire, and the party will fall in line behind him, as Democrats did with Kerry in 2004. And it could happen, particularly if unemployment remains high then, since the media always gives multimillionaires a pass on economic issues. Never mind that investment bankers and consultants similar to Romney were the cause of the 2008 crash in the first place.
But Romney can only win Iowa if Huckabee and Palin bloody each other in the worst way and Pawlenty is somehow perceived as not quite presidential enough. Evangelicals seem to control at least 40% of the caucus vote. Romney won't get a bit of it. He will have to battle Pawlenty for his share of the remaining 60%. Romney's relatively lower approval rating will make it that much tougher.
Palin doesn't have a prayer in New Hampshire. If Huckabee wins Iowa, she's out of the race, and, most likely, out of national politics forever.
If Romney doesn't win the caucus but defeats Pawlenty, he'll be seen as the top ranked sane candidate. New Hampshire, which shares media markets with the state Romney used to be governor of. Its Republicans are more obsessed about taxes than religion. He is already the frontrunner there; as long as he doesn't flame out or lose badly to Pawlenty, New Hampshire is his. The potential entry of Rudy "One Percent" Giuliani is hardly a threat.
Bottom line: Huckabee has a built-in advantage for Iowa. Palin will have to damage him badly to change that, and it's hard to see how she doesn't damage herself in the process. As a relative unknown, Pawlenty is the biggest X-factor. Romney has the advantage in New Hampshire. If Huckabee wins Iowa, he may well have the advantage in South Carolina.
At that point, we will see a battle royale in the next few contests: the two former governors absolutely detest each other. If it comes down to these two after South Carolina, we will see a colossal proxy battle between the corporate and evangelical elements of the GOP. Main Street evangelicals versus Wall Street um... non-evangelicals. It will be amazing.
The one (semi) announced candidate on the horizon who can bridge the gap, at least on paper, is Pawlenty. His farm state credentials can win him Iowa. He doesn't look nutty enough to put off New Hampshire voters (particularly its independents, who won't be voting in a one-candidate Democratic primary). Right now, the Minnesota governor looks like the only candidate who can unite both wings of the party. It's hardly surprising that the Swiftboat folks and other George W. Bush's advisers have flocked to the campaign of this relatively unknown: they know he can pull this off.
Finally, and again on paper, Pawlenty is the biggest threat to Barack Obama in a general election: not because Pawlenty can win his home state, but because he could make Iowa and Wisconsin competitive if Obama's at 50% approval.
A Romney-led presidential ticket keeps Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida competitive and, most likely, keep Iowa and Wisconsin in Democratic hands. But it's tough to see a road to an Obama re-election without Iowa and Wisconsin.
If Pawlenty proves to be an able campaigner, 2012 may turn out to be less vicious Republican contest than we hope, and a much more dangerous general.
Purity test
The RNC has proposed one for its 2010 congressional candidates. It requires the standard opposition to gays and immigrants, and the government funding of abortion. But interestingly, it does not require opposition to abortion itself. I wonder if pro-life organizations will read it carefully enough to notice.
Microsoft will pay Murdoch
To make Murdoch's news sites irrelevant by removing them from Google News and putting them instead on Microsoft's little used Bing.
Anything that reduces the reach of News Corp. is great news for the civilized world.
Anything that reduces the reach of News Corp. is great news for the civilized world.
The amazing leopard seal
Tweeted earlier, but this story is remarkable enough to deserve its own post.
Another account by the photographer Paul Nicklen at National Geographic.
And some background from Nicklen's website:
Another account by the photographer Paul Nicklen at National Geographic.
And some background from Nicklen's website:
I was very fortunate to grow up on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada where we were one of the few non-Inuit families living in a small settlement of 140 Inuit. The Inuit taught me how to survive in the Arctic, read the weather and, most of all, they taught me patience. As a kid, without television, radio, and computer games, my friends and I would spend all of our waking hours in the hills watching wildlife, weather and the light play shadow games across the landscape. At that young age, the seed to become a nature photographer was deeply planted.
In my fourth and final year of studying marine biology at the University of Victoria, I was having a very hard time preparing for my genetics final. The night before the exam, I had a huge revelation. Instead of studying, I wrote feverishly on scrap paper, outlining my career as a nature photographer, right down to the tiniest detail: species, locations, goals, dreams, travels and the list goes on. As expected, I failed the exam miserably but passed the course. But best of all, I had a blueprint for a career filled with passion and hard work. It is kind of eerie how much of what I wrote that night has come true.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Crack ain't whack
Whitney Houston didn't have a decent hit single until a whole decade into her chart-topping career: the post-Bobby, post-crack "Shoop." Big pipes do not a soul singer make. If they did, Bettye Lavette wouldn't be our country's greatest living concert performer. So tonight's appearance at the AMA's was actually pretty decent, particularly considering the horrific, American Idol finale level composition that is "I Didn't Know My Own Strength." Good for her. She should enjoy this manufactured comeback moment and thank the crack that made it possible.
Coakley way ahead
Her 20 point lead is less surprising than...
She is the candidate the likely voters see as the most qualified, best able to understand the problems of people like them, most desirable to have a beer with, and most likely to win.I can't think of anyone who'd want to have a beer with Madame Javert. Between her cash reserves and name recognition it's hard to see how anyone can catch up. Sad. If only Massachusetts had a Bernie Sanders who'd run against both parties as an independent.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
A cloture vote to permit debate
It's kind of sad that 40 senators can vote against simple debate on a major national issue without media scrutiny. Isn't that was the Senate is supposed to do? Debate weighty issues?
Friday, November 20, 2009
Teabäggern im Hinterland
Are furious at Sarah Palin for leaving them in the cold and taking their cash... just like Big Government.
Puerto Rican authorities fail to invoke hate crime statute
It is time for the Attorney General's office to "assist" the Puerto Rican government, which is once again proving that it only shares American values when there's $5 billion in bailout money involved. The island, furthermore, has a history of violence against gays, exacerbated by the political activism of evangelical church groups.
Reps. José Serrano and Nydia Velázquez understand this history well and are backing the federal government's use of recently enacted hate crimes legislation in this case. Sign the petition urging Eric Holder to have the FBI investigate.
Authoritarianism in Puerto Rico is tied to the statehood party, which has extensive ties to the evangelical world and the police. The party claims to be tough on crime. But Puerto Rican statehooders cannot have it both ways. If they want to be part of the United States, they have to embrace American constitutional and legal norms. If Puerto Rico wants to enforce laws like a foreign country, it should become one. Being an American citizen means more than loving American government bailouts.
Reps. José Serrano and Nydia Velázquez understand this history well and are backing the federal government's use of recently enacted hate crimes legislation in this case. Sign the petition urging Eric Holder to have the FBI investigate.
Authoritarianism in Puerto Rico is tied to the statehood party, which has extensive ties to the evangelical world and the police. The party claims to be tough on crime. But Puerto Rican statehooders cannot have it both ways. If they want to be part of the United States, they have to embrace American constitutional and legal norms. If Puerto Rico wants to enforce laws like a foreign country, it should become one. Being an American citizen means more than loving American government bailouts.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Kumbaya, gay teabaggers!
Log Cabin Republicans are ecstatic. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee passed a bill that would extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal workers.
The funny thing, self-involved and rich gay teabaggers, is that it passed without the vote of a single Republican... not even the pretty, closeted one. The legendary Howie Klein explains.
The funny thing, self-involved and rich gay teabaggers, is that it passed without the vote of a single Republican... not even the pretty, closeted one. The legendary Howie Klein explains.
Oprah: I'm not profit-sharing with the Man no more
The Man proceeds to go broke.
The holier than thou media mogul, maker of two presidents (and let's pray, not a third) will own her personal cable channel. She'll be picking out all the programming. That might sound insufferable to you and me, but there won't be a cable operator in the country who doesn't carry it. Lifetime might as well just fold up its tent and go home.
The holier than thou media mogul, maker of two presidents (and let's pray, not a third) will own her personal cable channel. She'll be picking out all the programming. That might sound insufferable to you and me, but there won't be a cable operator in the country who doesn't carry it. Lifetime might as well just fold up its tent and go home.
Meghan McCain
On evangelical Carrie Prejean's porn tapes:
If you’re a Republican, is it better to be in favor of gay marriage or to make a sex tape? That is the question. At least that’s the question that comes to mind after the reaction to the news that anti-gay marriage champion Carrie Prejean made a sex tape. [...]
Frankly, I am sick of all the hypocrisy when it comes to sex and politics in this country—and that goes for all politicians, not just Republicans. Carrie Prejean claims making that tape was “the biggest mistake” of her life—it’s the same one that many other girls have made—but it has since come out that she may have made seven other sex tapes and posed for 30 nude photos. [...]
I find it even more disturbing that as long as you oppose gay marriage, filming yourself having sex is taken more lightly. Does anyone else see the hypocrisy in this kind of thinking? And hypocrisy is something the Republican Party can’t afford to have right now as the GOP struggles to find its identity.
The problem I have with my fellow Republicans is why gay marriage is the trump card in any situation. It seems that as long as you are against gay marriage, any scandal in your life can be overlooked or overcome. When you are in favor of it, however—and I have been very vocal about my support—that position defines you.
Sometimes I wonder if I were against marriage equality, whether it would make it easier for some Republicans to accept my place within this party. I have to constantly remind people of my pro-life, pro-small government stance because the only view that seems to matter is the fact that I believe my gay friends should have the same right to one of our founding ideals—that all men are created equal with certain inalienable rights. I think if Republicans truly believe in keeping government out of our lives—that should include not dictating who one can marry.
Remembering the unpopularity of our greatest president
He was always a tepid abolitionist, you know.
Less than two months later, in the midterm election of 1862, Northerners handed down their judgment on the Emancipator. It was a condemnation, a thumping Republican defeat — what the New York Times called "a vote of want of confidence" in Abraham Lincoln. The middle states that had swept the Railsplitter into the presidency in 1860 — Illinois, Indiana, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania — had now deserted him. All of them sent new Democratic majorities to Congress. To them was added New Jersey, which was a Republican donnybrook. In all, the number of Democrats in the House almost doubled, from 44 to 75, cutting the Republican majority from 70 percent to 55 percent. Heartsick at the Republicans' ruin, Alexander McClure of Pennsylvania wrote, "I could not conceive it possible for Lincoln to successfully administer the government and prosecute the war with the six most important loyal States declaring against him at the polls."
When the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863, Lincoln was pilloried again in the Northern press, and desertions by disgusted soldiers climbed into the thousands. Seeing no slaves freed, even abolitionists were soured by the Proclamation's impotence. As the cold, hard rains of winter announced the approach of the third year of the war's unimaginable sorrow, Lincoln was isolated and alone. Congressman A. G. Riddle of Ohio wrote that, in late February, the "criticism, reflection, reproach, and condemnation" of Lincoln in Congress was so complete that there were only two men in the House who defended him: Isaac Arnold of Illinois and Riddle himself. Author and lawyer Richard Henry Dana, after a visit to Washington in February 1863, reported to Charles Francis Adams:
"As to the politics of Washington, the most striking thing is the absence of personal loyalty to the President. It does not exist. He has no admirers, no enthusiastic supporters, none to bet on his head. If a Republican convention were to be held to-morrow, he would not get the vote of a State." [...]
After Sherman's capture of Atlanta, a New York Republican had predicted, "No man was ever elected to an important office who will get so many unwilling and indifferent votes as L[incoln]. The cause takes the man along." Even after his reelection, plenty of Republicans were skeptical of Lincoln's contribution to the victory. According to Ohio Rep. Lewis D. Campbell, "Nothing but the undying attachment of our people to the Union has saved us from terrible disaster. Mr. Lincoln's popularity had nothing to do with it." Rep. Henry Winter Davis insisted that people had voted for Lincoln only "to keep out worse people — keeping their hands on the pit of the stomach the while!" He called Lincoln's reelection "the subordination of disgust to the necessities of a crisis." Of the seven presidential elections he had participated in, said Rep. George Julian, "I remember none in which the element of personal enthusiasm had a smaller share."
And now hatred of Lincoln developed a new, deadlier character, as dissenting Northerners and ground-under-heel Southerners woke to the awful dawn of four more years of Lincoln's "abuses." This short period culminated in Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865. It was only with his death that Lincoln's popularity soared. Lincoln was slain on Good Friday, and pastors who had for four years criticized Lincoln from their pulpits rewrote their Easter Sunday sermons to remember him as an American Moses who brought his people out of slavery but was not allowed to cross over into the Promised Land. Secretary of War Stanton arranged a funeral procession for Lincoln's body on a continental scale, with the slain president now a Republican martyr to freedom, traversing in reverse his train journey from Springfield to the nation's capital four years earlier. Seeing Lincoln's body in his casket, with soldiers in blue standing guard, hundreds of thousands of Northerners forgot their earlier distrust and took away instead an indelible sentimental image of patriotic sacrifice, one that cemented the dominance of the Republican Party for the rest of their lives and their children's.
I see the future
1. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the most sweeping civil rights legislation in American history since 1965, will be passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama by the end of 2010.
2. The president will not make any pronouncements regarding gay marriage.
3. Gay rights groups will still hate the President at the end of 2010.
2. The president will not make any pronouncements regarding gay marriage.
3. Gay rights groups will still hate the President at the end of 2010.
The American Taliban
Today Sarah Palin told Sean Hannity that the Fort Hood shooter should have been profiled. Surely law and order Republicans would agree that the same should be done to groups in their party's base who are openly advocating for the assassination of the President of the United States. The time is long past to throw the book at them.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Your arms too short to box with G-d
A saying proven wrong at least this once: Israeli Russian rabbinical student Yuri Foreman becomes the super welterweight champion of the world.
Congressman José Serrano
Calls on the federal government to "assist" Puerto Rican law enforcement in the murder of Jorge Steven López Mercado. The island's reputation for homophobia, evidently, extends far beyond its own borders.
The Facebook group demanding that Puerto Rico follow federal hate crime provisions in this sordid case is here.
The Facebook group demanding that Puerto Rico follow federal hate crime provisions in this sordid case is here.
Police investigator shames a whole island
Puerto Rico needs to decide whether it shares American values or whether it does so only when it's holding its hand out for $5 billion in stimulus money.
If American values aren't for the island, maybe it's time to declare independence... or have independence declared for Puerto Rico. Even Cuba and the Dominican Republican may soon be moving ahead of it on human rights:
If American values aren't for the island, maybe it's time to declare independence... or have independence declared for Puerto Rico. Even Cuba and the Dominican Republican may soon be moving ahead of it on human rights:
Last Friday (Nov. 13), Jorge Steven López Mercado, an openly-gay 19 year old, was found murdered in a wooded area of the town of Cayey in Puerto Rico. Steven's body was decapitated, dismembered, and burned. The local police investigator went on the Spanish-language channel Univisión and said about Steven:Sign this petition requesting the Attorney General to do what Puerto Rican government seems unable to do: respect the laws of the United States of America.
"Este tipo de personas cuando se meten a esto y salen a la calle saben que esto les puede pasar."I speak Spanish fluently, so let me give you a rough translation:"
Someone like that, who does those kind of things, and goes out in public, knows full well that this might happen to him."Excuse me?
We have no way of yet knowing conclusively whether or not this horrible murder was motivated by anti-gay bias. But when the local police investigator says that a teenager should have expected to be decapitated for being gay, clearly we are not going to find out the facts unless impartial law enforcement gets involved.
This case is a perfect example of why federal hate crimes law exists. To enable the federal government (the FBI under the Department of Justice) to investigate local crimes for violations of federal civil rights laws, especially when local law enforcement refuses to do its job.
Chapel Hill
Has a gay mayor, Mark Kleinschmidt. In a great interview with Pam Spaulding over at the Advocate, he defends North Carolina... and distinguishes it from its neighbors to the South.
Q: One of things I find very interesting, as a North Carolina blogger, and I'm sure you receive this as a North Carolina politician, is that many people are confused about the political identity of our state. What do you say to people when they talk about how N.C. is racist, bigoted, the state of Jesse Helms ...The rest of the interview is pretty good, too. Take a look.
A: When people mention our racist past and present and Jesse Helms, I ask them where is it that they live that's so different? Where is this Eden that you live in that is absent of all racism or any blowhards that are stoking the fires of racial tension? We just had the misfortune of having a very loud, high-profile senator who just took it upon himself to be the person who threw coal onto the fire every day. To think we're the only place in the country that suffers from vestiges of Jim Crow and slavery is really shortsighted. All that does is give those people something to pat themselves on the back about.
I talk about how North Carolina is different than what a lot of people believe is true about the South. I don't defend Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama and South Carolina, but we aren't any of those places. We never have been. As the South moved into the '50s, '60s, and civil rights issues began to dominate the American culture, North Carolina was one of the leading states in helping move it forward. We had leaders that had already come of age with progressive values helping to move the state, like Frank Porter Graham, Terry Sanford. And none of them did everything that we would have liked them to have done, but we made enormous progress in ways the states outside of the South only wish they could have made. While they further segregated themselves, our state has taken up the difficult challenge of true integration. And I think we are constantly self-acknowledging that we have not always been successful; it's a continuous process — and this is a state that gives birth to that kind of politics, and we should be proud of it. People need to reevaluate what they think of North Carolina. It's not a surprise to me that North Carolina had the first openly gay elected official [in the South — Joe Herzenberg, elected to the Chapel Hill town council in 1987]. Other states don't share that with Chapel Hill. There are very few places like this.
Although I have received negative feedback from other parts of the state, it's been rare. And over time, it's kind of strange, I've actually become a part of the institution of politics in North Carolina. I have a role ... it's a role I was invited into at least by some parts of the institution, particularly the Democratic Party. So I try to give feedback to these people to have them think about where it is they are from that is so different and that how we are not what they think we are.
Word of the day
Credenza.
Originally in Italian the name meant "belief". This was because in the 16th century the act of "credenza" was the tasting of food and drinks by a servant for a lord or for another important person (like popes and cardinals). By tasting it they made sure the food was not poisoned. The name passed then to the room where the act took place, then to the furniture.
Today is National Call In Day for Equality
Call your member of Congress. Passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act is way more important, and achievable than state-level referenda on gay marriage. And make sure to tell them not to weaken the bill through amendments to section 4g.
A prediction
Precious will not win Best Picture. I'll be surprised if it wins any other major award.
Washington Times update
The sordid story continues.
John Gorenfeld, author of King of America, notes:
Washington Times editorial page editor Richard Miniter is filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the paper today, alleging discrimination based on age, disability, and religion -- being forced to attend a Unification Church mass wedding -- and he will ask the government to enjoin the Times' assets, his lawyer tells TPM.Best comments:
The development adds to an already daunting mess of problems at the newspaper, whose top executives were fired last week, and whose executive editor resigned.
• Miniter needs to understand that this is the market at work. He shouldn't rely on the government to solve all his problems.Here's an interesting about the Messiah: he's best friends with George H.W. Bush. Bush even shilled for Unification Church media properties in Buenos Aires and Uruguay.
• It's too funny, these conservatives suddenly discovering that the Washington Times is owned by a religious cult leader. I guess when they were cashing Moon's checks, it was all good, but now that the whole sordid mess is coming apart at the seams...
• lololol... oh man. where to begin -- esp considering the eeoc has been one of those agencies these assholes have demagogued forever...
and, i also just have to note last week's shitcanning of the publisher when he was walked to his car and his cellphone and computer confiscated by moonie security goons. i bet those boyz never ever expected to be treated like so much disposable help. lololol.
“I want to salute Reverend Moon who is the founder of the Washington Times and of the new paper here,” said Bush, who was reported by the WashingtonW's brother Neil has done the same for Moon in the Philippines.
Post to have been paid $100,000 for his Buenos Aires appearance.
“A lot of my friends in South America don’t know about the Washington Times but it is an independent voice,” said Bush. ”The editors of the Washington Times tell me that never once has the man with the vision interfered with the running of the paper, a paper that in my view brings sanity to Washington DC.”
“I am convinced that Tiempos del Mundo is going to do the same thing,” said Bush, who managed to avoid being photographed with the 76-year-old South Korean evangelist during his whole stay in Buenos Aires.
John Gorenfeld, author of King of America, notes:
As regular readers of this blog know, attending to these groups is a Bush family tradition. Barbara and George H.W. Bush have long attended Moon’s lucrative and stately peace festivities, which stress the Reverend’s mastery of family values as God’s path to world peace. It’s unclear whether wayward son Neil, who romped with prostitutes in Asia, has any special expertise in this area.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The Newsweek cover
Sarah Palin was OK with it before:
Meacham's remarks comes as a rash of conservative commentators and Palin defenders have attacked Newsweek for running its cover picture of a pig-tailed former Alaska Governor, legs glistening, wearing short running shorts and holding two Blackberries. The image previously appeared on the cover of Runners World, which means that Palin had, at one point, been fine with its publication. But on Monday evening, she took to her Facebook page to denounce the magazine's editorial decision.
Carrie gets advice
From a fellow porn star.
Dethroned and derobed Miss USA, Carrie Prejean, is getting some unsolicited advice from actress and former Playboy model, Shauna Sand – Cash in on your sex tapes before it is too late!An excerpt from the letter:
Porn purveyors Vivid Entertainment are desperate to get Carrie Prejean's sex tapes to the public, desperate enough to think Carrie will sign off on it, something Carrie's rep says she will never do. (Incidentally, Carrie believes that since she preforms solo in all the eight tapes they cannot be technically labeled as sex tapes.)
Sand's advice maybe unsolicited but it is based on personal experience. (Her own sex tape leaked and ended up being officially released by Vivid. Indeed, Vivid used Sand as a reference in their offer to Prejean's rep!)
The advice, delivered in a missive to the beleaguered 22-year-old, with a profound proclivity to shoot herself in the foot, not unlike the woman she so admires, Sarah Palin, is to take Vivid's offer and make her millions, rather than fight the inevitable leak of the tapes.
I went to the meeting full of rage. During the meeting, however, I realized that I could actually take control of the situation. Instead of spending thousands of dollars in legal fees for a lawsuit that could take months or even years to be resolved, I could actually turn things around.
I told Steven that I wanted to eliminate any compensation to the third party since it was my movie that I not only starred in, but also directed and added the music to. I also told him that I wanted to be involved in the marketing of the movie as I really cared about it.
I’m really glad I made that decision. I’m proud of my body and of the passion that I felt during the making of the movie which became “Shauna Sand Exposed.”
Why don’t you consider taking control yourself and handle this situation on your own terms so that you are in the driver’s seat. It all starts with a telephone call to Steven to find out what your options are. I’d be happy to talk to you one-on-one about how I did it.
Carrie Prejean, alas, not a criminal
Reader omen points us to news that the evangelical porn star and former Miss California USA was not underage when she made her eight tapes.
Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say eight? I'm sorry, she made 20, one for every year of her life up to that point.
Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say eight? I'm sorry, she made 20, one for every year of her life up to that point.
Carrie Prejean has every reason to lie, by claiming that she was only 17-years-old when she shot the video, the evangelical vixen can write off her skanky behavior as a youthful indiscretion. Not to mention that Web sites will be afraid to post a sex video of an underage girl.They won't be afraid now:
Carrie Prejean's ex-boyfriend -- the guy to whom she sent the XXX solo video -- tells TMZ Carrie and company called him last week and tried getting him to "lie" and say she was 17 when she shot the video.
During an audio interview with TMZ, the man -- who asked us not to reveal his identity -- says Carrie sent him the video when they were involved with each other in 2007. He says Carrie sent him numerous explicit videos and insists the one in question was shot when she was 20.
We have verified this is indeed the guy to whom Carrie sent her solo video -- which ultimately torpedoed her settlement with Miss California USA.
"Fundamentalism encourages the creation of sexual cripples"
Indeed. The Classically Liberal blog simply owns this story.
Carrie Prejean for President!
Why not? She's against gay marriage and understands the issues as well as Sarah Palin.
That's not me being sarcastic. It's the actual opinion of a sitting Republican congressman from Utah.
I'll be excited when she actually is convicted.
That's not me being sarcastic. It's the actual opinion of a sitting Republican congressman from Utah.
[Carrie] has the ability to draw crowds and if she has a strong message to go with that, who knows what she can do? She has star power which can open doors.
We’ve all made mistakes when we were 17. [The sex tape] is going to be an impediment, but people are excited about her convictions and her beliefs.
I'll be excited when she actually is convicted.
What's bringing people to JUSIPER right now?
Well, among those coming here through keyword search:
1. Carrie Prejean porn (22% of all search engine visits)
2. Carrie Prejean porno (13%)
3. carrie prejean (4%)
5. levi centerfold (2%)
Number 19, "porn Carrie Prejean" was tied with "goerge pataki president." And number 37, "carrie prejean porn quote" was tied with "barry white blogspot" and "cake boss marathon."
Only big Jersey cakes and sweet, sweet music have a chance against porn. And porn will beat out politics, every time.
1. Carrie Prejean porn (22% of all search engine visits)
2. Carrie Prejean porno (13%)
3. carrie prejean (4%)
5. levi centerfold (2%)
Number 19, "porn Carrie Prejean" was tied with "goerge pataki president." And number 37, "carrie prejean porn quote" was tied with "barry white blogspot" and "cake boss marathon."
Only big Jersey cakes and sweet, sweet music have a chance against porn. And porn will beat out politics, every time.
The Washington Times
Reverend Moon's Washington outpost doesn't just come out against race-mixing. Today it makes a point of attacking the President's mother.
It's no fault of the president that he has no natural instinct or blood impulse for what the America of "the 57 states" is about. He was sired by a Kenyan father, born to a mother attracted to men of the Third World and reared by grandparents in Hawaii, a paradise far from the American mainstream.
Confirmed
As we all expected, the American Republican Catholic Church hierarchy is leaning on Democratic congressmen on abortion. But will they do the same to Republicans on their other concerns?
Rich Catholics want two things: a tax cut and the Church's confirmation of their salvation and the superiority of their lifestyle. By reducing itself to an obsession with other people's sex lives, Rome has truly become a beacon to those with plenty: a Church that presents no spiritual challenge. You won't hear much about Matthew 19:24 in the white Catholic churches that matter in America: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
No, Matthew 26:11 is the unsaid mantra today: "The poor you will always have with you." America's all white, Republican church hierarchy is doing its level best to make sure of that.
Amen.
But the bishops are the first to admit they are far closer to the speaker than to the Senate on the major issues of subsidies for the poor and treatment of immigrants — two flash points for Pelosi’s left. And the big question for House Democrats now is whether they will see some of the same muscle that was applied to them on abortion.Quick answer: never. Because the white Republican hierarchy of the Catholic Church only pays lip service to its fastest growing segment, immigrants and the poor. Tiaras, Serengeti sunglasses, and this lovely red cardinalitial wedding train, after all. cost good money.
Rich Catholics want two things: a tax cut and the Church's confirmation of their salvation and the superiority of their lifestyle. By reducing itself to an obsession with other people's sex lives, Rome has truly become a beacon to those with plenty: a Church that presents no spiritual challenge. You won't hear much about Matthew 19:24 in the white Catholic churches that matter in America: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
No, Matthew 26:11 is the unsaid mantra today: "The poor you will always have with you." America's all white, Republican church hierarchy is doing its level best to make sure of that.
Amen.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Carrie Prejean update!
Not one, not two, not even three. No, she made eight sex tapes. Michael Musto is right:
It seems that every few weeks, a new scandal from bible thumping hypocrite Carrie Prejean comes to the public's attention, and the deposed beauty-queen-turned-professional-victim declares, "That was the biggest mistake of my life" blah blah fucking blah.
But what she really means is "That was the biggest mistake of my life that y'all have found out about so far!" [...]
This may be the first tiara wearer in history whose platform was morality and whose talent was, basically, porn.
Don't trust Google?
Don't use Google Chrome. Use Iron. It has all the speed of the Google browser without the invasion of privacy. Iron isn't available for the Mac, but it's likely the best browser for Windows.
“The thing is that people are complex"
Belle De Jour, author of Diary of a London Call Girl, reveals her true identity. And it's Doctor Belle, thank you very much. One day she may discover the cure for cancer. And she's certainly more qualified to be first lady of France than the present holder of the title.
Malcolm Gladwell
Slapped down. For a second time. The first one was definitive, though. Also, tomorrow is the beginning of the rest of your life.
We must, however, concede our grudging respect for winning "the 1500-meter Midget Boys title at the 1978 Ontario High School championships." He must have practiced, I dunno, like 10,000 hours.
We must, however, concede our grudging respect for winning "the 1500-meter Midget Boys title at the 1978 Ontario High School championships." He must have practiced, I dunno, like 10,000 hours.
The Secretary of State
Not as disciplined as we might think. A typically excellent piece by Michael Crowley. And it turns out that Congo wasn't a mistranslation, which is fine with me; it makes her answer that much more terrific.
It is true that the infamous incident (a postscript here) overshadowed her entire trip to Africa in terms of media attention, but I don't think it was a huge minus diplomatically.
Nor do I think it was such a bad thing for Hillary to tell Pakistanis the truth.
As for the rest of the piece, it's more or less on target, but most Democrats, even those who found her post-Wisconsin 2008 campaign utterly detestable, are just fine with her performance as SOS. And when she does make a gaffe, the President probably doesn't mind being the good cop.
It is true that the infamous incident (a postscript here) overshadowed her entire trip to Africa in terms of media attention, but I don't think it was a huge minus diplomatically.
Nor do I think it was such a bad thing for Hillary to tell Pakistanis the truth.
While there, Hillary admirably parried anti-American abuse in public forums, but the pressure pushed her into a comment that undercut her mission. During one meeting with several ornery Pakistani journalists, Clinton “appeared to get annoyed,” as one local paper wrote, and snapped that she found it “hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where [Al Qaeda leaders] are and couldn’t get them if they really wanted to.” After her rejoinder got a testy reception in the Pakistani media, Hillary “carefully scaled back her comments,” as the Associated Press wrote, insisting that she didn’t believe Pakistan harbors terrorists. Crowley says Clinton has no regrets. “To the extent that there is a change in approach to the world,” he says, “it involves a genuine dialogue, not just a delivery of polite diplomatic points.”Indeed, immediate reaction in Pakistani media outlets was mixed; and many opionmakers appreciated the honesty. Her statement could hardly have come as a surprise to Pakistanis themselves. They are, after all, now the victims of terrorist movements of their own creation.
As for the rest of the piece, it's more or less on target, but most Democrats, even those who found her post-Wisconsin 2008 campaign utterly detestable, are just fine with her performance as SOS. And when she does make a gaffe, the President probably doesn't mind being the good cop.
"Goodbye, Lou Dobbs, and good riddance"
Roger Friedman of Showbiz411.com, a former employee of CNN and Fox News, delivers the slam:
So Lou Dobbs is gone from CNN. Goodbye, and good riddance. I freelanced on a show called “Biz Buzz” at CNNfn in the late 90s. Dobbs was abusive and totalitarian to everyone around him. When he left in 1999 for Space.com, no one cried. He was impossibly rude. When he left that time, no one cried.
More recently, Dobbs has lost his mind on CNN. He belongs squarely on Fox News or their little watched Business Network. His right wing opinions about immigration and just about everything else have helped him “jump the shark.” Like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Michael Savage, Dobbs foments hate. He has no connection to objective journalism. CNN scarcely has viewers now. The remaining ones won’t miss him.
The negative vibe of right wing broadcasting and print is taking a big hit these days, and why not? This week a fired New York Post editor sued the paper for sexual harrassment and wrongful termination. She alleges in her lawsuit that the editors at the Post told her they were going to “get” President Barack Obama. I am certain she is correct in this. In mid-March, in the same building, Fox News editors were told the exact same thing. It was relayed to me at lunch right after it happened.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Windows XP was released in 2001
I don't doubt that Windows 7 is an improvement of some sort, but this is just appalling:
Windows 7 is here and it brought with it a huge list of improvements that should have many users wanting to upgrade if they haven't already – unless if you have a netbook.
Recent tests from Laptop Mag, Liliputing and jkOnTheRun all show that netbook users will get longer battery life while running Windows XP than Windows 7. This is slightly surprising given that Microsoft have boasted about all the work that's gone into power efficiency and how it's been improved over Vista. While Windows 7 may be better than Vista, it's not besting XP just yet.
Laptop's tests found that netbooks running Windows XP ran for 47 minutes longer than those with Windows 7. Numbers across tests show varying differences in battery life, but the consistent result is that XP is a better choice for those who need all the battery life one can get.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Leading the way
TPM has been on top of one of the most important Washington stories of the year: the implosion at Sun Myung Moon's Washington Times. There's obviously a whole lot more to uncover, but every other news outlet in the country is too lazy to cover it. The last serious investigation into Moon's activities in the US was on this episode of Frontline.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
A prophetic voice in Arkansas
Ten years old, and such clarity.
There’s a 10-year-old lad, a fifth-grader at West Fork Elementary, who decided he wasn’t going to say the Pledge of Allegiance at school anymore because there was no liberty or justice for all in America, as the pledge’s rote recitation asserts.
He’d concluded that gay people didn’t get equal justice or liberty in this country and that he was loath to mouth something suggesting they did.
Though the substitute tried to make him stand up, he respectfully refused. He did it again the next day, and the next day. Each day, the substitute got a little more cross with him. On Thursday, it finally came to a head. The teacher, Will said, told him that she knew his mother and grandmother, and they would want him to stand and say the pledge.
"She got a lot more angry and raised her voice and brought my mom and my grandma up," Will said. "I was fuming and was too furious to really pay attention to what she was saying. After a few minutes, I said, ‘With all due respect, ma'am, you can go jump off a bridge.' "
Weird
The Q poll out of Ohio has Obama's approval at 45%. The Civitas poll out of North Carolina has it at 50%.
Wait a minute...
The Federal Reserve Board had the power to limit predatory overdraft fees all this time and didn't do it? Maybe economists' salaries need to be limited to $40,000 a year. I'm sure the experience would help them make a "rational choice."
Carrie Prejean: sex offender
Thoughtful.
Let's ignore the fact that God's law, according to her, wouldn't allow her to be naked with a boyfriend at any age (only a husband) but what about the government's law? Under U.S. law any erotic video. of the nature that Prejean admits she made. is considered child pornography unless the performer is over the age of 18. By her own admission Prejean was under 18 years of age when she made the video.
This blog has covered the cases of numerous teens who have been arrested and convicted for child pornography for doing precisely what Prejean did. Those teens are forced to become registered sex offenders and face punishment for the rest of their lives. So, exactly why is Prejean exempt from the law that is imposed on all these other teens?
Common sense says she was not a child and the tape is not child porn. But the law doesn't rely on common sense, it relies on what politicians think they need to get reelected, not on rationality. Is Carrie Prejean exempt from the law? She admits she made the video. She admits she was under age when she did so. She admits it is pornographic. Legally she is an admitted child pornographer and, by law, ought to be on the sex offender registry as well.
But there are double standards. If she were just some oversexed high school boy taking a 3 second video of his girlfriend's breast, the prosecutors would be all over the case. She's a darling of the Religious Right. But, if the prosecutor did take her confession of being a child pornographer seriously, and did prosecute her according to the law would the Religious Right defend her? I would. But would they?
So far it appears no one, except this blogger, has noticed the fact that Prejean violated laws on child pornography. The women at The View, who were speaking to her when she made her confession, didn't seem shocked or horrifed and didn't think she was a child pornographer. The reason that no is noticing is because people are using common sense to consider the matter, not the legislation. Yet, others are selectively prosecuted under this law for doing things far less graphic than what Prejean admits doing. That Prejean's status as a sex offender is being ignored so far is an indication of exactly how out of sync our sex laws are with what the average person thinks. And it is the laws which need changing.
Sullivan: Don't underestimate the Mormon move
He may be right. But if the church is open to equality for gay Americans in everything but marriage, how firmly will they push for it?
The other thing to say about this is that it speaks very highly of the strategy of Equality Utah, the state's main gay group, who decided to call the LDS bluff when the church said it was merely opposed to civil marriage - and not other protections for gay and lesbian citizens. Equality Utah immediately tried to get the church to endorse civil unions. That was a non-starter, but in response, we have this support for an anti-discrimination ordinance. Treating religious groups as interlocutors to be engaged, rather than as enemies to be attacked, has not been successful in most places. I did my best with the Catholic hierarchy in the 1990s and got little but contempt or terrified silence in response. Imagine the impact if the Pope came out and explicitly endorsed anti-discrimination laws for gay and lesbian people and used those words and expressed the kind of respect the Mormons just have. It would do a huge amount of good - for gay people and for the church. This Pope cannot do that; but the Mormons just did. More power to the Mormons.
Carrie Prejean porn tape pays off!
In a big way:
Prominent porn studio Vivid Entertainment has re-extended its $1 million offer to ex-Miss California USA Carrie Prejean to star in an adult film, hopeful that she'd be more receptive to the idea now that they know it's not a matter of her being too shy to strip for the camera.
And timing is everything.
"We originally made the offer in May when Carrie was making headlines during the controversy over her statements during the Miss USA Pageant," Vivid cochair Steven Hirsch, whose company also made an offer to Octomom at one point, said Wednesday.
"She didn't get back to us at the time. Now that it's been revealed that she has actually made her own sex tape, we know her reluctance certainly wasn't based on any fear of performing sexually for the camera."
Carrie Prejean tries to pull a Tancredo
But fails. Watch the Republican heroine's microphone moment on Larry King here.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Holy Joe and his corporate Democrat comrades
Want to strip the Senate health care bill of Ted Kennedy's plan for assistance with end of life care in the home. Amidst the successful fear campaign over Medicare, it just figures that "moderate" Democrats would kill the one thing that might bring over 65's back to the fold. What's more surprising is that Mary Landrieu and Blanche Lincoln don't get how attractive this provision would be for the angry white seniors who are a fixin' to vote them out come November.
That said, seniors tend to get what they want in this country. I remember when Congress refused Bill Clinton's request for a paltry $300 million for childhood immunizations. Just a few years later, Republicans passed the half a trillion dollar giveaway to drug companies known as Medicare Part D. That's a difference of three orders of magnitude, but measles-ridden little kids have a funny way of not being able to vote on the mountain of debt Grandpa's handing to them.
So no worries, revered and deeply missed Senator Kennedy. Once baby boomers hit 80, they'll demand welfare for home care, and they'll get it, on the backs of the increasingly Hispanic workforce they have come to depend on and loathe so much.
That said, seniors tend to get what they want in this country. I remember when Congress refused Bill Clinton's request for a paltry $300 million for childhood immunizations. Just a few years later, Republicans passed the half a trillion dollar giveaway to drug companies known as Medicare Part D. That's a difference of three orders of magnitude, but measles-ridden little kids have a funny way of not being able to vote on the mountain of debt Grandpa's handing to them.
So no worries, revered and deeply missed Senator Kennedy. Once baby boomers hit 80, they'll demand welfare for home care, and they'll get it, on the backs of the increasingly Hispanic workforce they have come to depend on and loathe so much.
Rupert Murdoch agrees with Glenn Beck
Take a moment to add your name to a letter asking him to explain how he'll stop Glenn Beck's racism if he supports (and bankrolls) it.
Astonishing fact about Organizing for America
Fundraising:
That's fundraising we can believe in. But there's a lot more going on. The organization may have had a big role not only in NY-23 but Joseph Cao's health care vote. If Democrats escape the 2010 election cycle with a decent majority in the House, OFA could be a big reason why.
TPMDC has learned that 24.7 percent of the donations made online to OFA are new donors - people who didn't give during the campaign. That's a pretty striking figure give that a record 3 million people donated during 2007 and 2008.
That's fundraising we can believe in. But there's a lot more going on. The organization may have had a big role not only in NY-23 but Joseph Cao's health care vote. If Democrats escape the 2010 election cycle with a decent majority in the House, OFA could be a big reason why.
Alas,
The truth about our society can now only be told elsewhere:
He's wrong about one thing. Islam is not more tolerant than Christianity. Not yet anyway. But there's plenty of forces in Christianity giving Islam a run for its money.
As President Barack Obama prepares to visit Japan later this week,
a top official in Japan’s new ruling party said Christianity was “exclusive and self-righteous” and that U.S. and European societies with a Christian background are “stuck at an impasse.”
Ichiro Ozawa, secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and one of the country’s most powerful political figures, talked about religion after meeting with the head of the Japan Buddhist Federation. “U.S. and European societies, civilizations with an exclusive Christian background, are now stuck at an impasse,” the Asahi Shimbun newspaper quoted him as saying. Other newspapers also quoted him as saying to reporters that Christianity was “extremely exclusive and a self-righteous religion.”
Ozawa, who is credited with devising a campaign strategy that helped the DPJ sweep to power and unseat the Liberal Democratic Party for the first time in nearly six decades, also said that Islam was “exclusive too, but less so than Christianity.” Christians are a small minority in Japan, and the country has few Muslims.
He's wrong about one thing. Islam is not more tolerant than Christianity. Not yet anyway. But there's plenty of forces in Christianity giving Islam a run for its money.
"Blanket permission to lie"
The crucial enabler for the GOP. And it is, indeed, "very bad for America."
This story is unbelievable
Well, maybe not so much. Fox News and a lack of education can do this to you:
The Republican Party has found its poster children. Between Carrie Prejean's Christianist homophobia and this guy's xenophobia, they cover every key Republican except tax cuts. When she gets out of porn and he gets out of prison, Fox News should give them a home. They'd be a ratings blockbuster. FNC probably pays better than porn; it won't take long till they want tax cuts, too!
Marine reservist Jasen Bruce was getting clothes out of the trunk of his car Monday evening when a bearded man in a robe approached him.But it doesn't end there. Jasen, you see, has done some modeling:
That man, a Greek Orthodox priest named Father Alexios Marakis, speaks little English and was lost, police said. He wanted directions.
What the priest got instead, police say, was a tire iron to the head. Then he was chased for three blocks and pinned to the ground — as the Marine kept a 911 operator on the phone, saying he had captured a terrorist.
Police say Bruce offered several reasons to explain his actions:
The man tried to rob him.
The man grabbed Bruce's crotch and made an overt sexual advance in perfect English.
The man yelled "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is great," the same words some witnesses said the Fort Hood shooting suspect uttered last week.
"That's what they tell you right before they blow you up," police say Bruce told them.
Bruce ended up in jail, accused of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He was released Tuesday on $7,500 bail. Marakis ended up at the hospital with stitches. He told the police he didn't want to press charges, espousing biblical forgiveness.
Jasen Bruce, 28, enlisted as a reserve Marine as a teenager, was discharged honorably when he finished his contract, and enlisted again this March. He has never been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, a Marine Corps spokesman said. He got married last month in full dress uniform.The good people at Talking Points Memo have found a link to his pictures. Warning: they're not for the fainthearted.
Bruce is a sales manager for APS Pharmacy in Palm Harbor. His blog entries tout the benefits of increasing testosterone and human growth hormones. He was charged with misdemeanor battery in 2007 for hopping over the bed of a tow truck and shoving its driver. He pleaded no contest.
Online photo galleries depict him flexing big muscles wearing little clothing.
The Republican Party has found its poster children. Between Carrie Prejean's Christianist homophobia and this guy's xenophobia, they cover every key Republican except tax cuts. When she gets out of porn and he gets out of prison, Fox News should give them a home. They'd be a ratings blockbuster. FNC probably pays better than porn; it won't take long till they want tax cuts, too!
The latest from Japan
"My boyfriend is the President." Don't ask me what this means, other than its being a parody of something equally incomprehensible. Why doesn't anything this crazy come out of our studios?
Via Bitchspot.
Via Bitchspot.
Carrie Prejean on porn
From her recently published book: She's against it.
Our bodies are temples of the Lord. We should earn respect and admiration for our hearts, not for showing skin to look sexy.Prejean's hateful little heart, alas, was never a candidate for respect and admiration. "Showing skin to look sexy," otherwise known as porn, was the only alternative left open for her.
Is Rhode Island liberal?
Quick answer: yes. Obama defeated McCain by 28 points there. The only states that gave him bigger victories were Vermont, DC and Hawaii.
Which makes the actions of their Republican governor pretty incomprehensible.
Which makes the actions of their Republican governor pretty incomprehensible.
Gov. Don Carcieri vetoed legislation Tuesday that would have given same-sex couples in Rhode Island the right to plan funerals for deceased partners.Carcieri's actions place him squarely in the mainstream of Republican thought nationally, but it's pretty mind boggling for this to have happened one of the three or four most liberal states in the country. You've got to pity his poor grandchildren.
Segal noted the funeral planning bill was supported by the overwhelming majority of members of the Assembly who oppose marriage for gays and lesbians It passed by a vote of 63-1. And Segal expressed outrage over Carcieri’s veto.
"This bitter, cruel, pathetic man is grossly unworthy of the esteem the people of Rhode Island have bestowed upon him," Segal wrote in a blog post on Rhode Island’s Future.
Carcieri has a contentious history with Rhode Island’s LGBT activists. The Governor was widely condemned for his appearance at a Massachusetts Family Institute fundraiser last month. The governor told the 300 attendees he believed marriage was "not a civil right.".....
A statement on MFI’s Web site describes homosexuality as "an unhealthy practice and destructive to individuals, families and society." The organization also maintains gays and lesbians can be cured through prayer.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Carrie Prejean's sex tape
"The government shouldn't allow homosexuals to marry, but no one should judge me because I make porn." Don't worry Carrie, your morality will be that last thing on most viewers' minds. A year from now you can hit the 700 Club and launch a second career in Christian rock.
The President at Fort Hood
We are a nation that endures because of the courage of those who defend it. We saw that valor in those who braved bullets here at Fort Hood, just as surely as we see it in those who signed up knowing that they would serve in harm's way.
We are a nation of laws whose commitment to justice is so enduring that we would treat a gunman and give him due process, just as surely as we will see that he pays for his crimes.
We are a nation that guarantees the freedom to worship as one chooses. And instead of claiming God for our side, we remember Lincoln's words, and always pray to be on the side of God.
We are a nation that is dedicated to the proposition that all men and women are created equal. We live that truth within our military, and see it in the varied backgrounds of those we lay to rest today. We defend that truth at home and abroad, and we know that Americans will always be found on the side of liberty and equality. That is who we are as a people.
Tomorrow is Veterans Day. It is a chance to pause, and to pay tribute - for students to learn of the struggles that preceded them; for families to honor the service of parents and grandparents; for citizens to reflect upon the sacrifices that have been made in pursuit of a more perfect union.
For history is filled with heroes. You may remember the stories of a grandfather who marched across Europe; an uncle who fought in Vietnam; a sister who served in the Gulf. But as we honor the many generations who have served, I think all of us - every single American - must acknowledge that this generation has more than proved itself the equal of those who have come before.
We need not look to the past for greatness, because it is before our very eyes.
This generation of soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen have volunteered in a time of certain danger. They are part of the finest fighting force that the world has ever known. They have served tour after tour of duty in distant, different and difficult places. They have stood watch in blinding deserts and on snowy mountains. They have extended the opportunity of self-government to peoples that have suffered tyranny and war. They are man and woman; white, black, and brown; of all faiths and stations - all Americans, serving together to protect our people, while giving others half a world away the chance to lead a better life. [...]
Long after they are laid to rest - when the fighting has finished, and our nation has endured; when today's servicemen and women are veterans, and their children have grown - it will be said of this generation that they believed under the most trying of tests; that they persevered not just when it was easy, but when it was hard; and that they paid the price and bore the burden to secure this nation, and stood up for the values that live in the hearts of all free peoples.
So we say goodbye to those who now belong to eternity. We press ahead in pursuit of the peace that guided their service. May God bless the memory of those we lost. And may God bless the United States of America.
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