It's a Small Freakin' World

This borders on the mind blowing. I don't want to spoil it for you. Just hit the link and you'll see.

Just for the Record

I don't give a DAMN, I mean a rat's ass, I mean a flying you-know-what about Britney Spears and her g-d damned hair or lack of it. Nor do I give a shit about the body of the late, pathetic Anna Nicole Smith. Do you hear me, cable news? Do you hear me tabloid press? I don't give a DAMN. War is raging in Iraq, war threatens with Iran, the Saudis are buying weapons to kill our men and women, and hours of coverage is being given to this sickening celebrity bullshit? What the hell is the problem with the people in our "news" business?!?

And people wonder why I get all my news from the Internet.

Science Sunday!

An oldie but a goodie here on how to answer creationist idiocy.

Startling new evidence that there was once liquid water on Mars.

Ha! I knew it!

Enter the world of Ray Kurzweil.

Science's encouraging counteroffensive against the irrational conservatives.

Enjoy. I think I'll take a siesta.

Who is ACTUALLY Killing Our People in Iraq? The SAUDIS

Cenk Uygur explains in this video.

But then again, we can't wage war on them, can we? The Bush family has too many ties with the Saudi royal family.

Democrats, Don't Knuckle Under to Bush! America Hates Him!

Right Wing Radicals Demand Death Penalty for Anyone Criticizing Dear Leader

Glenn Greenwald nails it beautifully here. Key quotes:

Frank Gaffney, one of the country's most influential and well-connected neoconservatives, has a column in today's Washington Times in which he argues that the debate taking place in Congress over the war in Iraq constitutes treason. Gaffney specifically argues that the condemnations of Douglas Feith from Sen. Levin "really should be a hanging offense."

*****

Not only is none of this new for neoconservatives and the hardest-core Bush supporters, it is not isolated either. Countless other examples of similarly radical and freedom-hating incidents have passed more or less unnoticed.

After Howard Dean, in November, 2005, pointed out the obvious -- that the U.S. would not be able to "win" in Iraq (a fact which William Buckley, among others, repeated a few months later) -- Ronald Reagan's son and frequent Fox News guest host Michael Reagan said this: "Howard Dean should be arrested and hung for treason or put in a hole until the end of the Iraq war!"

Ben Shapiro, writing on Townhall, urged that Dean, Al Gore and John Kerry -- just as a start -- be criminally prosecuted for sedition. And none of this should be the slightest bit surprising since the "Father of Neoconservatism," Irving Kristol, has long expressed disdain for America's most basic freedoms, as illustrated by this belief: "I don't think the advocacy of homosexuality really falls under the First Amendment any more than the advocacy or publication of pornography does."

This is what modern conservatism has become--ranting, hate-filled, authoritarian, vicious beyond belief, and scathingly contemptuous of the sacred liberties upon which this country was founded. I've said it recently and I'll say it again, in a typeface big enough for anyone to understand:

THE NEOCONSERVATIVES REPRESENT AS DEADLY A THREAT TO AMERICA AS THE RADICAL ISLAMISTS. BOTH OF THEM HATE FREEDOM AS PASSIONATELY AS THE OTHER. BOTH REPRESENT A MORTAL DANGER TO AMERICA'S SURVIVAL AS A NATION.

Have I made myself clear?

(You really owe it to yourself to read the whole Greenwald column, by the way.)

Nailing McCain's Double Talk BS

See it here.

And to think I used to admire this phony.

Where in the Hell Did $12 Billion of YOUR Money GO??

Jack Cafferty wants to know.

Stop the Impending Iran War

It all has a sickeningly familiar feeling to it, doesn't it? The hyped up stories of enemies threatening Americans, the blustering words from the Administration, the Greek chorus of neocons such as Bill Kristol baying for blood, the Republicans challenging the loyalty of all who have doubts. But this time the target isn't Iraq. It's Iran, an attack on which is a much more serious proposition. I don't know how many times I've emphasized it on my tiny little capillary of a blog but an attack on Iran would be a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions. It would unleash hellishly complicated and unpredictable consequences, especially if carried out with low yield nuclear weapons. The Bush thugs are ramping up the verbal attacks on and accusations against Iran even as I write this. The Los Angeles Times has acted responsibly in debunking many of these trumped up charges. Relevant quote from a recent article:

For all [its] aggressive rhetoric, however, the Bush administration has provided scant evidence to support these claims [of Iranian complicity in attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq]. Nor have reporters traveling with U.S. troops seen extensive signs of Iranian involvement. During a recent sweep through a stronghold of Sunni insurgents here, a single Iranian machine gun turned up among dozens of arms caches U.S. troops uncovered. British officials have similarly accused Iran of meddling in Iraqi affairs, but say they have not found Iranian-made weapons in areas they patrol.

The lack of publicly disclosed evidence has led to questions about whether the administration is overstating its case. Some suggest Bush and his aides are pointing to Iran to deflect blame for U.S. setbacks in Iraq. Others suggest they are laying the foundation for a military strike against Iran.

Terrifying stories continue to circulate of Bush and Cheney's determination to strike Iran in the spring, despite their repeated denials. (Who in their right mind believes these lying bastards any more?) If Bush strikes Iran without congressional authorization, there is only one alternative: the Democratic House must initiate impeachment proceedings against both Bush and Cheney. Although getting convictions in the Senate would be hard, at least such proceedings would force the Administration into the white hot glare of public scrutiny, especially the mole-like Cheney, who has become dangerously unbalanced and arrogant in his conduct. Actions must have consequences; if Bush acts unconstitutionally to launch war without congressional approval, he must be removed from office--or at least be exposed as the corrupt little dictator he is.

Why I Hate Dick Cheney's Guts

And I don't mean that figuratively. I hate him in the basic sense of that word. Here's one of the many reasons why.






Thank you, buhdydharma on Daily Kos.

Thoughts on NewsMax and Dick Morris

Right wing smear sheet NewsMax recently ran an article reveling in the fact that former White House aide and general walking hemorrhoid Dick Morris is planning a major anti-Hillary "documentary" to help Swift Boat her candidacy. I received news of this via e-mail. I replied as follows:

1. It's NewsMax, your #1 Scaife funded "news" source on the paranoid-delusional right. If these idiots told me my own name, I'd still look at my license to double check. About 90% of NewsMax is straightup lying bullshit. The other 10% is simply insane.

2. Dick Morris has a pathological hatred for Hillary. Guess he needs to spend more time sucking the toes of hookers to assuage his anger. Then again, with him in a cathouse room, it would be hard to tell which person was the bigger whore.

3. A whopping 29% of a recent national sample wants to see a Republican elected in 2008. Oh my. That's not very many, is it?

4. Really, when you think about it, what shit can the rightwingers throw at Hillary that they haven't already? Calling her "Hitlery"? (Go ahead and Google the term.) Accusing her of having Vince Foster killed? The Whitewater "Scandal"? Being an international drug kingpin via the Mena, Arkansas airport? They've thrown everything at her. There's nothing left. I think a lot of rightwingers really hate her because they're scared of her--she beats the hell out of Republicans on election day, she knows how to fight dirty, and she's got a whole shitload of money. She can win--and they know it. And they've got nothing left to stop her with!

5. By the way, I'm supporting General Clark. But seeing Hillary as president would be so very VERY satisfying on some levels.

--It would finally push Bill O'Reilly over the edge on which he has been so dangerously teetering. They'd have to take him out in a straight jacket.

--Sean Hannity would chew off his own hands, thus destroying his sex life.

--Rush Limbaugh would be back on the Hillbilly Heroin.

--and best of all, Ann Coulter would finally overdose. Nobody would be able to tell the difference.

See yez later.

Must See: The Power of Nightmares

Yes, I'm disappointed that my beloved Bears lost the Superbowl, but there are much more important things to think about. One of them is the 2004 documentary from the BBC called The Power of Nightmares. It is the story of the rise of two dangerously misguided movements: radical, violent Islamism in the Middle East and the neoconservatives in the United States. These two movements have both used irrational fears and mythology to gain power and influence. The series is so filled with shocking revelations that I think you'll be as floored as I was. No short summary on my part can do justice to this three hour epic, now available on Google Video.

Part One is here.

Part Two is here.

Part Three is here.

If you want a solid explanation of how we got into the current mess, and the true nature of the enemies we face, watch all three parts. And by the way, the Islamists and the neocons share one common feature: they both hate and fear human freedom and regard the whole liberal tradition as a threat. In a perverse sort of way, they were made for each other.

And both of them have to be defeated, for the sake of our survival.

I Love K. O.

Keith does it again right here. The smackdown of Limbaugh in here, btw, is priceless.

(Hat tip: Al Rodgers)

In Memory of Molly Ivins

Molly Ivins was one of the great voices of humane progressivism. She died yesterday at the age of 62. (See HuffPo's article here.) She was always insightful, always funny, always right on the money, and always terrific in her writing. She mocked George Bush and his friends more effectively than almost anyone I can think of. What a contrast she was to the wretched, vicious harpy who calls herself Ann Coulter. It is inconceivable to imagine Molly having joked about wishing her opponents dead or spitting out accusations of treason against those who disagreed with her. That wasn't her style at all. She was an intellectual and spiritual universe away from someone like Coulter, and she had more class in her little finger than Coulter has in her entire anorexic body. She was the best, and we'll miss her.

And courtesy of The Chicago Tribune, here's her last column. Excerpt:

This Iraq war is being prosecuted in our names, with our money, with our blood, against our will. Polls consistently show that less than 30 percent of the people want to maintain current troop levels. It is obscene and wrong for the president to go against the people in this fashion, and it's doubly wrong for him to send 20,0000 more soldiers into this hellhole, as he reportedly will announce next week.

What happened to the nation that never tortured? The nation that wasn't supposed to start wars of choice? The nation that respected human rights and life? A nation that from the beginning was against tyranny? Where have we gone? How did we let these people take us there? How did we let them fool us?

It's a monstrous idea to put people in prison and keep them there. This administration has done away with rights first enshrined in the Magna Carta nearly 800 years ago, and we've let them do it.

God bless you, Molly. You genuinely spoke truth to power.