Sunday, January 29, 2006
Seeing the Future...
This WaPo article gives us a clear idea of how things would be here if the Pat Robertson-ruled, and Sen. Sam Brownback-led, American Hamas gains any more political power than they've already grabbed.0 comments
Some Palestinians See End of Secular Dream
It matters not the country; it matters not the religion; it matters not the political structure; it matters not the era.
They all think the same: "I am right; I am righteous. You must embrace our belief in toto. Otherwise, you must be stopped, banished and/or destroyed (i.e., killed).
Fundamentalist lunatics always look attractive when they're on the outside. They strike folks as "pure," as opposed to those corrupt bastards who currently hold sway. But it's a mirage. Once in power, they always drift towards "scorched earth" policies and leave legacies of hostage-taking, burning women they don't like as witches, instituting the Inquisition and sanctioning the Taliban's raping of Afghanistan's cultural legacy,
So let's sit back and watch as the Middle East's wave of Islamic fundamentalism sweeps the popular vote in elections in country after country. And applaud as a democratic ideal our Neo-con think-tankers never envisioned plants itself across the entire region. Let's watch how these religious lunatics then transform their societies, leaving behind the secular Muslim ideal.
That will at least show us what to expect (if / when) the lunatics of Christian fundamentalism gain political control here.
Rather like a Petri dish.
We're just not gonna like what we see in it.
posted by Gotham 1:55 AM
Saturday, January 28, 2006
More DINO Slime...
...From the gonad-challenged.0 comments
This is from the most blatantly ambitious, unctious politician in the U.S. today (do you realize how hard it is to claim THAT mantle?).
From the Ranking Democrat on the House Slime and Ooze Committee, the Hon. Harold Ford—the anti-John Conyers—comes this:
Rep. Harold Ford, seeking a Senate seat in Republican-leaning Tennessee, dismissed the filibuster approach openly.
"It does not appear that there is any reason to hold up a vote. I hope my colleagues in the Senate will move quickly to bring this process to a dignified end," he said.
We urge Rep. Ford to move quickly to bring this unseemly clutching and grasping his way up the ladder to pass Sen. Barak Obama in the race to become the first black president to a dignified end.
Before the GOP-controlled Congress brings our constitutional republic to a dignified end.
This man is truly loathsome. You listen to him, and you want to take a shower.
He's running for Bill Frist's seat.
Eeeeyuuuuw...There must be something in the water down there...
posted by Gotham 6:14 PM
The Political Winds Are Whipping..
...Across the plains between the ears of Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota.0 comments
"A filibuster is not going to be sustained."
"It is clear to me that a majority of the American people and the people I represent support his confirmation," Conrad said after meeting with Alito in his office.
Y'mean, oil and pharma lobbyists love Sam Alito THAT MUCH??
posted by Gotham 5:49 PM
The Stop Alito Sprint
Here's a great web site for up-to-the-minute info on this weekend's fight for the filibuster.2 comments
WE CAN STOP ALITO THIS WEEKEND | Democrats.com
Pass the word. To one and all. The Democrats are being deluged. Keep it up. The only spine they're about to have is constituent spine. Some Senators are already starting to change their announced positions on the filibuster.
The White House seems already to be pressuring Bill Frist to shoot Harry Reid on the Senate floor to stop this damn filibuster thing. This vote is supposed to be the Welcome Mat for the State of the Union speech.
posted by Gotham 5:04 PM
Is This...
...Where the U.S. is heading?0 comments
Oscar-winning director revealed as spy for the secret police
Of course, it is.
At what point does The Washington Post or Time or The New York Times or Time Warner Cable start passing on information they uncover to the Pentagon?
Oh, I forgot! Verizon and Sprint and Yahoo! are already doing it.
Then, how long until your pastor turns you in? Or until your neighbor tells a neighbor who tells the postman that you...
posted by Gotham 4:28 PM
Filibuster!
Did not Harriet Meiers deserve an Up-Or-Down Vote? Obviously not: To the fanatics financing the modern-day GOP, she didn't.0 comments
This test for the Senate, of affirming or denying a Supreme Courtship to Samuel Alito, ranks in our country's history with Bunker Hill, Harper's Ferry and D-Day—as singular moments, where the very underpinnings of our nation turned. Irrevocably.
Documents show Samuel Alito has lied to Congress each time he has come up for confirmation at every level in his governmental career—giving the Senate positive, upbeat sound-bite answers, then doing the callous opposite immediately upon confirmation. It is no simple oversight if a Senator votes to affirm. There will be no feigning shock. The track record is long and well documented. Every Senator is clear about Sam Alito being Roy Cohn for 2006.
Each Senator who votes to affirm Sam Alito goes to his or her grave knowing they put holding onto their job and their personal wealth and privilege above the great and glorious country they've sworn to serve and protect ("...so help me, God"—as a reminder for the religious among us).
Above the desperate needs of the American people at a time of peril to the core of our republic.
Above the trust the American people placed in them in sending them to Washington in the first place.
Just as Americans learned through bitter experience to believe no statement emanating from the George W. Bush White House, so are we at a point of deciding whether any U.S. Senator is trustworthy, or simply trustless. Especially with so much money and power on the table, ready to be used against us, the average hard-working, clean-living American.
This is a battle for the very souls of 100 U.S. Senators. And their Creator—who taught us clearly that "all men are created equal"—will sit in judgement of those who besmirch a sacred trust.
Update:
One person who comes out of this with a buffed glow is, surprisingly, John Kerry. He has to know that if this filibuster fails, he will be smeared ceaselessly by the gonad-impaired Senator JoeMentums (D-CT) and the Senator Joe Visa's (D-DE) of his own party, and will be used for target practice by all those Church of the Holy Greed and Avarice whacks out there.
While perhaps foolhardy, it certainly is a courageous stand. Very impressive; didn't think he had it in him. (This coming from someone who, although we voted for Kerry as the Anybody-But-Bush candidate, had recently soured on him fully.) Also courageous on this was Ted Kennedy, who was the first to stand up for Kerry on this, and stands squarely beside him. We salute the other U.S. Senators who've found the spine they'd misplaced on that last golf trip to Scotland. and have signed onto the filibuster. The biggest disappointment so far? Robert Byrd, who obviously had that storied copy of the Constitution he brags about carrying with him always, stolen from his pocket. Perhaps he's attained the age where it's difficult to remember its passages without having it in his hand to refer to.
It can be safely assumed that Samuel Alito will become a major cog of the machinery facilitating the destruction of the United States of America—as both a centuries-old political concept and as a people, living day-to-day lives, longing to be free and secure.
On 9/11, Osama bin Laden's minions killed 3,000 individual neighbors of ours, here in NYC and in D.C. and Pennsylvania.
Since then, this fanaticized GOP has worked tirelessly to callously use these murders to kill the very soul of our country—infinitely more destructive and damning than the actions of 19 murderers.
At this juncture of our country's storied history, a vote for Sam Alito is simply an act of treason.
Since the early 2000 primaries, researchers have been hard-pressed to find examples of a member of the Bush administration caught in the act of telling the truth. On any issue. Whatsoever. Playing semantics is the closest we ever get. But never a simple true statement.
This is no time for the pleasant delusion that this newly corrupted GOP has the interests of the American people at heart. These people eat their young.
The day Alito is sworn in begins the full, active process of shifting our American Nation into a "Homeland" of the powerful and the powerless. Since the 1700s, our courts have been the refuge of every David without a sling, in his struggles against Goliath.
A proven Goliath fan, Alito's judicial record is replete with rulings that protect the rights of the Big Guy over the Little Guy; the Government over the Citizen; the Multinational Conglomerate over the Consumer, the Employee and the Neighborhood; the Man over the Woman; the Rich over the Barely-Getting-By; the White Guy over the Not-White-Guy; and the President over Everybody (including Congress, the Courts, the Law and, especially, you).
Forget taking your fight "all the way to the Supreme Court!" Save your breath. And your money. You'll no longer have any chance; from now on, you'll always lose. Unless you're a Halliburton or a Monsanto. Or some other hefty campaign contributor.
On the day Alito is sworn in, plans begin to: "Impeach Sam Alito," which, hopefully over time, will galvanize people on the left, much as the "Impeach Earl Warren" campaign did for the right.
But have not doubt: this is a singular moment in American History.
What do we each do? We each need to write our own chapter in JFK's Profiles In Courage.
Start by calling and writing your Senators!
Here's the Realtime Iraq Invasion Cost Clock!
posted by Gotham 12:23 PM
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Feel Safe Yet?
Dear Karl Rove,0 comments
I read your speech to the RNC the other day. Very snazzy.
I see you're planning to push your GOP war of terror as the foundation for Republican efforts in the 2006 mid-term elections. The ol' "Be afraid! Be afraid!" meme. And that the GOP—D'uh!—will be the ones to keep "you 'fraidy-cat'" Americans safe. Or words to that effect.
OK. We'll go with that for now.
We'll even discount the time your boss's numbers fell deeper than Dick Cheney's bunker as America noticed this past fall that your office couldn't protect them from that oversized cloudburst. But yeah, seeing average Americans drifting face-down along Bourbon St. did seem to make folks a tad queasy.
For now, we'll even overlook the power of your boss's Osama bin Laden, "Wanted: Dead or Alive or Conveniently Forgotten" edict.
But Karl, really, is this administration really the one to make people feel safe?
However, I do point you to today's NYT "Be afraid! Be afraid!" article:
All's Not Quiet on the Military Supply Front
I dunno, Karl, there's something fishy going on with the level of foresight and planning around the Rose Garden these days. For one, that Pentagon could sure use some of your vision. They need a bit of that "Swift Boaters 'O4" planning you're so adept at. The DoD could certainly use some of that get-ahead-of-the-wave approach in their war gaming that you've used so brilliantly to achieve One Party Rule in the U.S.
Hmmm...and yet...
Thinking of some other strategic hook for the election may not be entirely a bad idea, Karl, y'know what I mean?
Just trying to help.
Best always,
Gotham Notes
posted by Gotham 3:07 PM
Be Sure to Read...
...This important article on the real cost of Bush's war of terrorism.0 comments
Struggling Back From War's Once-Deadly Wounds
Should we begin asking how the suicide rates among Iraqi Invasion returnees will compare with survivors of other conflicts?
If you get through this article, then go right to Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo.
One of the reader reviews on Barnes&Noble.com stated:
I always saw war as something very glorious and patriotic. It once had seemed like something one could be proud of taking part in. I use to believe that the whole concept of dying for one's country was not only patriotic but also showed the intelligence, courage, and willingness of a person. However, after reading this, my views did change greatly. I didn't see war as great as I use to. It seemed logical to me based on what Trumbo said. Johnny, the survivor of this war, did not seem as a patriotic person, but as a victim of the war. This book challenged my sense of my duty to the country in the times of war. It makes me wonder if it is worth it to live like Johnny does for abstract concepts such as freedom, liberty, and equality.
Interesting.
Freedom, liberty and equality are, in fact, the concepts that millions of people have sacrificed themselves for.
Which is what makes this is such a sacred trust for a government. One that is not to be squandered, misused or manipulated.
Or—on risk to their very souls—abused.
A la today's Rumsfeld, et al.
posted by Gotham 1:09 PM
The GOP Re-educational System
My, my...0 comments
This certainly puts a 21st Century GOP spin on the old 1970's issue of school decentralization, doesn't it?:
College Aid Plan Widens U.S. Role in High Schools
When Republican senators quietly tucked a major new student aid program into the 774-page budget bill last month, they not only approved a five-year, $3.75 billion initiative. They also set up what could be an important shift in American education: for the first time the federal government will rate the academic rigor of the nation's 18,000 high schools. [GN emphasis]
The measure, backed by the Bush administration and expected to pass the House when it returns next month, would provide $750 to $1,300 grants to low-income college freshmen and sophomores who have completed "a rigorous secondary school program of study" and larger amounts to juniors and seniors majoring in math, science and other critical fields.
It leaves it to the secretary of education to define rigorous, giving her a new foothold in matters of high school curriculums.
Who does George W. Bush think he is? Mike Bloomberg?
Let's see...
Bush has trashed the most robust economy in our history, disembowled the most powerful military on earth, shredded the same Constitution that millions of Americans have died for, has economically barred most non-elite American families from sending their kids to college and has now found a way to codify that two-track, have/have-not system all the way down to our high schools.
So, Bush cherry-picks what smart, poor kids he can find, throws the others overboard, while squeezing what little funding goes to poor schools that aren't deemed "rigorous" by GOP-Choate-Yale standards. The academic equivalent of bodies floating down the street in New Orleans becomes clear for all to see.
"I do not see this, at all, as an expansion of the federal role," Sally L. Stroup, an assistant secretary of education, said in an interview.
Well then, ol' Sally L. Stroup is as blind as she thinks we are stupid.
Washington, she said, would not impose a curriculum, just judge programs of study outlined by states. "Our job is to make sure that those are valid standards and valid programs," she said. Furthermore, states and communities can decide on their own whether their students will compete for the grants. "We don't force people to do anything," Ms. Stroup said.
Sally just codified her own incompetence. Either that, or she hasn't been in D.C. very long. Who's campaign did Sally contribute to in order to gain this job?
Remember, the Nazis went after the school systems, too.
Welcome to the land of Lords and serfs.
Enjoy your home now.
When your children are grown, they'll live in thatched huts.
And forage.
And grunt.
While the kids of the GOP live in castles, drink wine from goblets and have private tutors.
America the Beautiful.
posted by Gotham 10:12 AM
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Storm Clouds Over the GOP
Yesterday's Talking Points Memo item by Josh Marshall does an excellent job of summing up R. Jeffrey Smith's long WaPo article on Jack Abramoff.0 comments
Rumors abound saying that "Casino Jack" is ready to talk and that the announcement could come as soon as tomorrow.
When he starts singing, every member of the GOP will be cleaning crap off their shoes, whether they, individually, are clean or dirty. When enough Republican office holders are indicted, the political balance shifts for every GOP member of the House of Representatives, as well as for every U.S. Senator and state and local GOP official running for re-election this year.
It will firmly establish reverse Swift-Boating as the basis for political dialog.
Thanks to Jack Abramoff, ex-Rep. Duke Cunningham (CA) and soon-to-be ex-Rep. Bob Ney (OH), every GOP Rep. and Senator will be hit with this exchange on an ongoing basis throughout their campaigns:
INTERVIEWER: "(Rep. ____ or Senator ____), are you dirty, like former Leader DeLay, Ney or Cunningham?"
GOP INCUMBENT: "Absolutely not!! Absolutely not!!
I AM NOT A CROOK!
I am pure as the driven snow!"
INTERVIEWER: "Oh yeah? OK. PROVE IT!!"
The remainder of the interview is then taken up with the GOPer stammering about ethics, and chasing his/her tail, trying to convince folks that "while, yes, I may well have rubber-stamped every breath the Bush administration has taken since January, 2001, that doesn't mean that I'm a crook like all the other guys are! I'm just NOT! Ya gotta believe me!" Thus does a frustrated GOP Chairman Ken Mehlman rarely see his precious talking points gain the light of day.
Meanwhile, we can rest assured that the good citizens of the Left Blogosphere will be furiously digging up all instances of GOP inpropriety to keep this balanced discourse going.
Well, not digging, necessarily. More like simply scooping them up off the ground and passing them on. Total Republican control hasn't exactly made this info gathering a difficult task.
BTW, I stand by my assertion yesterday that Tom DeLay probably stands a better chance of physical survival at the hands of his various prosecutors than he does at the hands of the slew of appreciably nasty folks he swindled and reneged on. Think in terms of which river you're found in after you steal from the mob.
posted by Gotham 9:04 PM
