Sanity Pills

So she wrote a wonderfully insightful and truthful piece on this whole Muhammad cartoon things. Oh wait. No, the opposite.

And people thing she is clever?

aaarghh

Among the gems.

In order to express their displeasure with the idea that Muslims are violent, thousands of Muslims around the world engaged in rioting, arson, mob savagery, flag-burning, murder and mayhem, among other peaceful acts of nonviolence.

Muslims are the only people who make feminists seem laid-back.

Wait she just contradicted herself in the same article

Largely unnoticed in this spectacle is the blinding fact that one nation is missing from the long list of Muslim countries (by which I mean France and England) with hundreds of crazy Muslims experiencing bipolar rage over some cartoons: Iraq. Hey — maybe this democracy thing does work! The barbaric behavior of Europe’s Muslims suggests that the European welfare state may not be attracting your top-notch Muslims.

Maybe Iraq has been quiet because all their crazies have been too busy blowing up american soldiers to merely riot and burn down a few embassies. They have better things to protest.

And also way to be bigoted. Lets classify all Muslims as Arabs because they are the same. Just like all white people are americans and everyone with narrow eyes is chinese etc. etc. Hey Ann … Culture and Religion are two different things.

But apparently the Quran is like the Constitution: It’s a “living document,” capable of sprouting all-new provisions at will. Muslims ought to start claiming the Quran also prohibits indoor plumbing, to explain their lack of it.

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Protestants don’t make a peep about other people eating food off one another’s plates. (Just stay away from our plates — that’s disgusting.)

Also lets take a closer look at this gem

Catholics aren’t short on rules, but they couldn’t care less if non-Catholics use birth control.

Maybe some catholics do not care but Geroge W Bush(not a catholic) is very interested in your reproductive freedom. How about a mention about all those millions of aid money going to only to  Catholic/Religious organizations who provide Abstinence Only AIDS prevention programs in Africa. Oh things like the FDA bottling up the morning after pill? hmmmm

And lets not get too holier than thou here. Your friends on the extreme right wing are the ones blowing abortion clinics, gay bars, taking sniper rifles to abortion doctors …. Lets not have two standards here. One will do just fine. Keyword … Fundamentalists everywhere are making the world a lot more interesting for the rest of us.

The Times has a decent piece on how Alito’s nomination is the culmination of a nearly 25-year plan by the Federalist Society to reorgnaize the US court system toward conservative freakshows. The subject matter is great, but there really is hard evidence of bias. Liberal media my ass.

The article adds further proof that Alito is a wingnut and will definitely vote to overturn Roe v. Wade (which, by the way, I’m starting to think won’t be such a bad thing afterall), in addition to increasing the power of the Executive Branch and the influence of corporations over all aspects of our lives (the primary reason to oppose the guy).

Judge Alito’s confirmation is also the culmination of a disciplined campaign begun by the Reagan administration to seed the lower federal judiciary with like-minded jurists who could reorient the federal courts toward a view of the Constitution much closer to its 18th-century authors’ intent, including a much less expansive view of its application to individual rights and federal power. It was a philosophy promulgated by Edwin Meese III, attorney general in the Reagan administration, that became the gospel of the Federalist Society and the nascent conservative legal movement.

I don’t like how the author stated as fact the original intent of the Constitution. First, that’s unknown. And second, their original intent may have been for an evolving Constitution more in line with how liberals currently view it. The author should have phrased this more explicitly to say that the intent of the Federalist Society is to reorient the Constitution to what they THINK is the original intent of the writers.

Where is the competing liberal movement???

By last week it was clear that the judge had enough votes to win confirmation. And the last gasp of resistance came in a Democratic caucus meeting on Wednesday when Senator Edward M. Kennedy, joined by Senator John Kerry, both of Massachusetts, unsuccessfully tried to persuade the party to organize a filibuster.

Was clear or seemed clear? Those are two very different things, and as of this morning, Alito’s confirmation was far less set in stone than it appeared to be at the end of last week. Right now there are 37 votes (some say 39) for a filibuster, but some Dems who won’t back Alito are waffling now about whether to support a filibuster (Biden and Feinstein appear to have switched positions).

Still, on the brink of this victory, some in the conservative movement say the battle over the court has just begun. Justice O’Connor was the swing vote on many issues, but replacing her with a more dependable conservative would bring that faction of the court at most to four justices, not five, and thus not enough to truly reshape the court or overturn precedents like those upholding abortion rights.

“It has been a long time coming,” Judge Bork said, “but more needs to be done.”

Jesus Fucking Christ.

UPDATE: The unthinkable has happened. A Republican broke rank. According to Armando at DailyKos, Lincoln Chafee will not back Alito. I doubt he’d support a filibuster, but who knows. He comes from a liberal region and is currently the second most conservative Senator from New England, right behind Joe Lieberman.

UPDATE 2: Jeffords will not support cloture. I never understood why he didn’t just switch parties all the way.

Disregard my post on January 26th.

More ammo for O’Reilly’s “War on Chrsitmas.” A tree decorated by elementary school students in Oklahoma that was displayed in the state Capitol was removed because one lawmaker (Rep. Randy Terrill – R) thought it was inappropriate. Did this lawmaker make a Constitutional argument against a state sponsored religion? Nope, he complained because the idiot kids (and even more idiotic teachers) decorated the tree with used lottery tickets, an institution he disagrees with. Here’s what a representative of the school said:

“They had been studying about the lottery and understood that the lottery money benefits public schools,” Fair said. “They came up with a theme about the gift of education.”

Way to encourage a variety of bad behaviors: gambling, collecting trash, and creating stupid-ass themes.

I’m going out on a limb here and saying that this tree was probably fucking ugly as hell. They should’ve taken it down because it sucked. Most things elementary kids do are pieces of shit.

FYI, take a look at Terrill’s wife. Jesus Fucking Christ.

Well a little anyway.
Lets start with the following:
- We had no right to invade Iraq. Iraq posed no threat to the US and had no links to Al Qaeda. That much is as clear as day no matter what anyone else says.
- We invaded Iraq for the following reasons: OIL, He tried to kill my daddy, OIL, Haliburton, OIL, having an american base of operations in the middle east, OIL, Oedipus, and for the bunnies
- Iraq is not better off now. Yes Saddam is gone and he is/was a bad man but Iraqis were united in hating him as opposed to the west. There was an infrastructure in place(utilities, govt etc… no matter how corrupt) and there weren’t bombings taking place every day killing dozens.
- Women had more rights under Saddam than it looks like they will once a theocratic islamist regime/govt comes into power soon.
- 2000+ and counting US deaths and at least 100k Iraqis killed by US military. This is the blood on our conscience that will not wash away much like Vietnam.
- The US is most definitely not safer now than we were before we invaded. This has not only created a great recruiting tool for “the terrorists” but also caused a general feeling of ill will with the Muslim world and absolutely wasted the political cache and sympathy we had following 9/11

Now where do I agree with Bush: We cannot pull out now or anytime soon.
- Just because we invaded for the wrong/no reason and have destroyed the country doesn’t mean we can “cut and run” now. We have to fix or at least make a good faith effort to fix the mess that we have caused. Those 100K+ deaths and the many more to come are on the US’s hands now.
- The leaders of the resistance are definitely aligned or associated with Al Qaeda now and they are more organised than any other group in Iraq. If we leave, they will take over and that is bad.

What we should do:
- Apologize. Not to the american people but to the Iraqi people. Engage in diplomacy and use Imam Al Sastani (sp) one ofthe more respected people in Iraq to calm tensions. Explain US intentions clearly without double talk.
- Stop torturing people. Pass laws. Prosecute Rumsfeld and Cheney (realistically at least a slap on the wrists). Make the 10% or so of the military in Iraq who are complete idiots take some “How to behave like a decent human being” classes.
- Insist on a true democracy. Model it after the former Pakistani govt(an Islamic republic where women had at least quasi-equal rights) or a democracy that works in a majority muslim nation(indonesia?Bangladesh?).
-Send more soldiers if necessary. Thats what the generals want. Hire actually qualified people to implement the occupation!
- Impeach Bush

Maybe the Joe-mentum can keep going for Mr. Lieberman and take him to the nomination in ’08. The Republican nomination that is.

Pucker up.

FINALLY!!!

Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) is calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. I hope he’s not one of the few Democrats that has balls (and common sense). We have to get out of there as soon as possible.

Considering I’ve never heard of Murtha, and that he appears to be an old-timer, I doubt he’s making these statements to gain some notoriety for a personal political gain. He’s just doing the right thing, which is a lot more than can be said for the Presidential hopefuls: Hillary “Cunt” Clinton and Joe “Senator MBNA” Biden.

I dunno if this has been adjusted for whatever adjustments all you fancy pants financiers adjust when you’re bored and like fucking with numbers, but here’s something that’s funny nonetheless.

BUSH ADMINISTRATION BREAKS RECORD

Administration Borrows more from Foreign Nations than Previous 42 Presidents Combined

WASHINGTON D.C.- President George W. Bush and the current administration have now borrowed more money from foreign governments and banks than the previous 42 U.S. presidents combined.

Throughout the first 224 years (1776-2000) of our nation’s history, 42 U.S. presidents borrowed a combined $1.01 trillion from foreign governments and financial institutions according to the U.S. Treasury Department. In the past four years alone (2001-2005), the Bush Administration has borrowed a staggering $1.05 trillion.

Hot.

Doubleman has been asking me to get off my lazy ass and post, so here goes. I absolutely loved the whole closed door senate fiasco. Hopefully, the phase II investigations can be carried out in a professional and timely manner (yea, right). I felt the ned to share with you all the elusive rule 21:

Sessions With Closed Doors

1. On a motion made and seconded to close the doors of the Senate, on the discussion of any business which may, in the opinion of a Senator, require secrecy, the Presiding Officer shall direct the galleries to be cleared; and during the discussion of such motion the doors shall remain closed.

2. When the Senate meets in closed session, any applicable provisions of rules XXIX and XXXI, including the confidentiality of information shall apply to any information and to the conduct of any debate transacted.

Adding to the indictment blue balls is this juicy nugget from today’s Times.

Umm:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 – I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, first learned about the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak investigation in a conversation with Mr. Cheney weeks before her identity became public in 2003, lawyers involved in the case said Monday.

Notes of the previously undisclosed conversation between Mr. Libby and Mr. Cheney on June 12, 2003, appear to differ from Mr. Libby’s testimony to a federal grand jury that he initially learned about the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, from journalists, the lawyers said.

And:

Mr. Libby’s notes indicate that Mr. Cheney had gotten his information about Ms. Wilson from George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, in response to questions from the vice president about Mr. Wilson. But they contain no suggestion that either Mr. Cheney or Mr. Libby knew at the time of Ms. Wilson’s undercover status or that her identity was classified. Disclosing a covert agent’s identity can be a crime, but only if the person who discloses it knows the agent’s undercover status.

Cheney telling Libby about Plame’s identity isn’t illegal, but Cheney greenlighting Libby to reveal Plame’s name to Judy Miller after some late-night anal-blasting, that’s a different story.

Bush:

Abu Mazen, Palestinian Prime Minister, and Nabil Shaath, his Foreign Minister, describe their first meeting with President Bush in June 2003.

Nabil Shaath says: “President Bush said to all of us: ‘I’m driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, “George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.” And I did, and then God would tell me, “George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq …” And I did. And now, again, I feel God’s words coming to me, “Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.” And by God I’m gonna do it.’”

Abu Mazen was at the same meeting and recounts how President Bush told him: “I have a moral and religious obligation. So I will get you a Palestinian state.”

Gore:

I thought maybe it was an aberration when three-quarters of Americans said they believed that Saddam Hussein was responsible for attacking us on September 11, 2001. But more than four years later, between a third and a half still believe Saddam was personally responsible for planning and supporting the attack.

At first I thought the exhaustive, non-stop coverage of the O.J. trial was just an unfortunate excess that marked an unwelcome departure from the normal good sense and judgment of our television news media. But now we know that it was merely an early example of a new pattern of serial obsessions that periodically take over the airwaves for weeks at a time.

Are we still routinely torturing helpless prisoners, and if so, does it feel right that we as American citizens are not outraged by the practice? And does it feel right to have no ongoing discussion of whether or not this abhorrent, medieval behavior is being carried out in the name of the American people? If the gap between rich and poor is widening steadily and economic stress is mounting for low-income families, why do we seem increasingly apathetic and lethargic in our role as citizens?

On the eve of the nation’s decision to invade Iraq, our longest serving senator, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, stood on the Senate floor asked: “Why is this chamber empty? Why are these halls silent?”

The decision that was then being considered by the Senate with virtually no meaningful debate turned out to be a fateful one. A few days ago, the former head of the National Security Agency, Retired Lt. General William Odom, said, “The invasion of Iraq, I believe, will turn out to be the greatest strategic disaster in U.S. history.”

Who would you rather have as president?

How the fuck does this happen?