A Look Into the Future

Very cool.

Shooting Down Neo-Confederate BS

The next time you hear some apologist for the Confederacy talking about the "War of Northern Aggression" or hear him asserting that the South fought only to defend itself and its way of life, remind him of what Mississippi's state government said was its reason for seceding:

Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin.

(Thanks to a poster named "ahermit" on HuffPo for pointing this out.)

The Civil War was about SLAVERY. It was, from the southern point of view, an attempt to PRESERVE HUMAN SLAVERY and to DESTROY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. It was a loathsome, repulsive act of TREASON and the leaders of the rebellion were TRAITORS who should all have been HANGED. The defense of the display of the Confederate flag is nothing more than an attempt to GLORIFY TREASON. It has NOTHING to do with "heritage" and it has everything to do with RACIAL HATRED AND VICIOUS BIGOTRY. (Heritage? Virginia became an English colony 400 years ago. Virginia was part of the Confederacy for four years. How does 1% of the state's historical experience become its "heritage"? Mississippi was part of the Confederacy for 2% of its statehood history. Some "heritage".) The Republicans who defend the Confederate flag are KISSING THE ASS OF RACISTS in order to win the votes of RIGHT WING REDNECK IDIOT NEANDERTHAL PINHEADS.

Have I made my position clear?

Bush to Troops: You're Not Worth the Extra Money

This kind of crap just makes me crazy.

Troops don’t need bigger pay raises, White House budget officials said Wednesday in a statement of administration policy laying out objections to the House version of the 2008 defense authorization bill.

The Bush administration had asked for a 3 percent military raise for Jan. 1, 2008, enough to match last year’s average pay increase in the private sector. The House Armed Services Committee recommends a 3.5 percent pay increase for 2008, and increases in 2009 through 2012 that also are 0.5 percentage point greater than private-sector pay raises.

The slightly bigger military raises are intended to reduce the gap between military and civilian pay that stands at about 3.9 percent today. Under the bill, HR 1585, the pay gap would be reduced to 1.4 percent after the Jan. 1, 2012, pay increase.

Bush budget officials said the administration “strongly opposes” both the 3.5 percent raise for 2008 and the follow-on increases, calling extra pay increases “unnecessary.”

You see, the White House says the wonderful benefits package that the military provides will close the gap. Some might disagree with that, in light of the disgusting treatment of our troops at the hands of Halliburton. And others might point out the many troubles plaguing the VA. But hey, it's the Bush Administration. They wouldn't lie, would they?

Mr. "Support Our Troops" strikes again.

On the Death of Falwell

He repeatedly stirred up hatred against gays. He lied through his teeth about Bill Clinton and hurled every vicious smear against the Clintons he could think of. He was consistently dishonest, a complete moral fraud, and a pseudo-Christian. He was a tyrant who wanted to see science driven out of the schools and a theocracy established in our nation. He had extensive ties to far-right psychotic and financier Sun Myung Moon. He was moral ugliness and hypocrisy personified. So I have no tears to shed for this wretched man. Eric Alterman has more here.

Good riddance.

UPDATE: Think I'm being too rough? Check out the Falwell quotes from this article.

Wow! An Absolute Must-Read From Digby

Haven't you wondered about the perversity of much of our Washington-based political commentariat? They exploded with rage when Bill Clinton lied about sex, but they've tried their damnedest to prop up a dishonest little silver-spooned rich boy who blundered and lied this country into its worst foreign policy blunder since Vietnam. They are a self-designated elite who hold the rest of the country in utter contempt while pretending to be in touch with "ordinary Americans". They consider Washington to be "their" town. Now Digby, on Hullaballoo, has ripped into this sick, perverse, inbred group of losers with surgical, laser-like precision--and it's a devastating indictment. Excerpt:

When the equally phony George W. Bush came to town it was love at first sight, and why wouldn't it be? Here you had a man whom these people could truly admire --- a rich man of the bluest blood, born into one of the most powerful families in America who nonetheless pretended to be some hick from Midland Texas. He took great pride in his phoniness, just as they did, and they all danced this absurd kabuki in perfect step for years each pretending to the other that they were all "just regular guys."

You can see then why some of us have concluded that the Dean [David Broder] and his cadre of establishment courtiers don't actually care much about what "the people" think about anything. And it should also be obvious why we are so skeptical of their reporting skills when they venture out on their anthropological expeditions to find only examples of Americans who strangely hew to their own Hollywood casting of themselves -- an America of Sally Quinns warmly played by plucky Donna Reed and David Broder himself, brought to life by loveable Wilfred Brimleys. ("They came in and they trashed the place. And it's not their place." Can't you just hear it?)

Of course political reporters should go out and interview Americans and write stories about what those Americans have to say about the issues of the day. But those interviews are not any more representative of what "the people" as a whole think than are the liberal blogs or Sally Quinn's fictitious "small town" or the fans at a NASCAR race. This is especially true when it's filtered through the phony bourgeois posturings of a bunch of highly paid reporters and insiders who have contrived a self-serving little passion play in which they are regular blue collar guys from Buffalo and corn fed farmers from the Midwest (Real Americans!) who just happen to summer on Nantucket and get invitations to white tie state dinners with the Queen of England. Pardon us fringe dwellers for being just a tad skeptical that these forays out into "America" are informing us about anything more [than] the embarrassing neuroses of some very spoiled elites.

Nothing I have read recently sums it up better. I urge you to read the whole thing--and then pass it on.

Greenwald Lays the Hurt on Broder the Fraud

Man, if this were a boxing match, the ref would have stopped it. Glenn Greenwald absolutely destroys David Broder and the entire corrupt "Beltway" culture he represents. In a reply to Joe Klein, Greenwald takes issue with Klein's defense of the "Dean" of the political press corps. Excerpts:

Broder seems to have absolutely no idea that the country has turned against George Bush and his war to a historic and irreversible degree, and no cute and clever Rove-designed platitudes at a Press Conference will change that. Anyone remotely in touch with the political sentiments of "Americans" would know that.

Klein should also look here, where some of Broder's most out-of-touch and obtuse observations are collected -- including:

* Broder's 2005 canonization of Bush ("the quest for freedom . . . is a central purpose of his administration");

* his November, 2004 criticisms of Bush critics for what he said were misguided concerns that the Bush presidency was radical ("he will have to work within the system for whatever he gets. Checks and balances are still there");

* his November 1, 2004 proclamation that the country likes Bush personally far more than Gore and Kerry and that "the country is truly conservative";

* his April, 2003 decree that "there is little the Democrats can do to shatter the reputation for strong leadership Bush has built, and not much their presidential candidates can do to win equal reputations for themselves";

* his May 2003 confession that "I like Karl Rove" followed by a very moving reminiscence of the quality time he was able to spend with Rove in Austria when (just like the ordinary people): "Tom Mann of the Brookings Institution and I were assembling a cast of American politicians to address a group of 40 emerging political leaders from Western Europe, the former Soviet bloc, Asia and Africa, I suggested we invite Karl Rove to be one of the instructors";

* his October 2002 "report" where he explained how Don Rumsfeld personally invited him to the Pentagon to explain how Iraq is such a grave threat, and at the meeting, Rumsfeld "pulled out a pencil and drew me a simple chart -- a downward sloping line tracing the erosion of Iraq's conventional military strength in the decade since the Gulf War, and an upward sloping line showing its growing store of WMD - weapons of mass destruction." Based on Rumsfeld's crude and condescending scribblings, an obviously flattered Broder pronounced: "Rumsfeld left me with the impression that he is aware of the risks of war with Iraq, but confident they can be handled." And finally:

* his October 2002 attack against protestors trying to stop the Iraq War with meetings in Iraq: "It was all too reminiscent of Jane Fonda in Hanoi or antiwar protesters marching under Viet Cong flags."

Last year, Broder decided to spew pure caricature and cliche about the ordinary people he loves so much by claiming that only [a] few Democrats "have much experience with, or sympathy for, the military."

In sum, Broder has propped up one of the most unpopular and corrupt presidencies in history, all after he spent years waxing hysteric over a deeply popular President and a sex scandal that Americans by and large thought was petty and inconsequential. Time and again, David Broder is on the wrong side of every critical political issue. His judgment proves again and again to be worthless and misguided. And his opinions could not be any more detached from the "ordinary Americans" he thinks he represents.

In truth, Broder is a fraud, a shill for Bush and Cheney (he is, as I recall, Cheney's personal friend) and representative of everything that is wrong with our lapdog political press. Greenwald is right: the "Washington Beltway" insiders ARE the problem in this country, and only a peaceful revolution that displaces them can correct it.

Hmmm. What Could Be Causing This?

New Video on Government Corruption

Here.

Haw!!

Refuting the Big Lie of the "Failing" Public Schools

The buffoons who make education policy in this country at the federal level (and the equally buffoonish commentators on education) never tire of touting standardized test scores as "proof" of the failure of American public schools. As a teacher, I naturally take umbrage at these accusations of incompetence. So I always enjoy seeing these people made to look foolish in articles like this by Gerald Bracey. Key finding:

By comparing the results of foreign students and American students on tests administered in both nations, and then examining the American students' scores on the U.S. NAEP [National Assessment of Educational Progress], it is possible to reliably estimate how well foreign students would perform on the NAEP.

And it turns out that only one-third of those high-flying Swedish kids would be considered proficient readers; the NAEP figure for U.S. fourth-graders was 29 percent. The great majority of the remaining countries would have fewer proficient students than the United States. Using the NAEP standard, no country comes close to having a majority of proficient readers.

Under the NAEP standard, Singapore is the only nation in the world to have a majority of its students be proficient in science, and that by a scant 1 percent. Only a handful of countries would have a majority of students proficient in mathematics.

And yet the NAEP results are constantly used to flog the public schools and scare Americans into thinking that education is in a state of collapse in this country. The reasons this is done are often quite simple: opponents of the very idea of public schools want to take over the education system. These are the John Stossels of the world, driven by ideological motives, who constantly lie about the public schools in order to destroy them. Articles like Bracey's are a refreshing antidote to such lies. Read the whole thing, as they say in blogdom, and see if you don't agree.

Job One: Save the Bees!!

This is pretty alarming, to say the least.

"The Commander Guy"??

Good God, is this guy six friggin' years old or what??

The Bush-Cheney-Kristol-Rumsfeld-McCain Catastrophe: By the Numbers

Courtesy of Think Progress.

On the Fourth Anniversary of "Mission Accomplished", Bush Betrays the Troops--Again

Glenn Greenwald recalls, in scathing fashion, the disgusting groveling and media worship enjoyed by Commander Codpiece four years ago today as he pranced around on the deck of an aircraft carrier, playing dressup so he could feel like a Real Man. (And worship it was. Was there anything more cringe-inducing than Chris Matthews' homoerotic verbal fellating of the Boy King at that time?) This was one of the low points in the history of the modern American media (and that says something).

Now, four years later, with more than 3,300 Americans dead for no good reason, with an Iraqi death toll perhaps in the hundreds of thousands, and $500 billion squandered, the Emperor With No Clothes has vetoed a bill for merely suggesting that a timetable for withdrawal be set. The lack of funding for our troops is Bush's fault. It is he, and he alone, who is holding the process up. Like a spoiled, petulant child, Bush's idea of compromise is "Give me everything I want and don't ask any questions." Well to HELL with that. I hope the Democrats throw the same bill in his g-d damned face again and again until it is abundantly clear who has betrayed America's fighting men and women.

And while we're at it, why is Condoleeza Rice allowed to simply ignore a congressional subpoena? Whatever happened to contempt of Congress?

Democrats, dig in your heels and FIGHT. The people of America are counting on you.

UPDATE: By the way, let's help this go viral.

When Are People Going to Stop Taking Broder the Fool Seriously?

I am convinced that our political pundits and commentators are, as a group, among the very worst on the planet. There are the obvious right wing sociopaths, of course--Limbaugh, Hannity, Malkin, Coulter, O'Beirne, Boortz, Savage, Stossel, O'Reilly, and all the other bottom feeders, trolls, and chronic liars. Then there are the less obvious but even more dangerous "political experts"--Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, and especially David Broder. They're more dangerous because they seem superficially reasonable, and yet they stick the knife in the backs of Democrats just about any chance they get, while playing softball with the right wing criminals that are killing America. Broder stands out as the most dangerous of all because of his high status as the "Dean" of American political reporters. MediaMatters, however, has the Dean's number--and his record. Here is a generous sample:

In 1998, Broder suggested President Clinton should resign, apparently because he "he may well have lied to a federal grand jury." Read that again: Broder wasn't even sure if he thought Clinton lied to a federal grand jury, but thought he should resign. Because maybe he lied. About an affair.

But in 2006, Broder wrote that President Bush "has proved to be lawless and reckless. He started a war he cannot finish, drove the government into debt and repeatedly defied the Constitution." Did he think this "lawless and reckless" president who "repeatedly defied the Constitution" should resign? If he thought so, he did not tell us. Broder believes his president is a lawless man who repeatedly defies the Constitution -- yet this superman, this titan, this great and influential man will not say it is time for the president to step down. Now, if Bush "may well have lied" about sex ... then, perhaps this titan would be stirred to speak out a little more boldly.

Broder has repeatedly and disingenuously defended his window-peering coverage of the Clintons' marriage, despite having previously denounced such journalism. He hasn't entirely abandoned his earlier stance, though: when asked if he would write a similar article about Republican candidates, Broder replied: "Why would I write such an article? I know of no occasion for that." He is, however, "the most objective and respected reporter" Tim Russert knows.

In 2002, when Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, a prominent leader in the Republican Party, was forced to step down from his leadership position after suggesting the country would have been better off had we elected a segregationist president in 1948, David Broder explained that the "losers" in the matter were ... Democrats, because four years earlier, they hadn't impeached President Clinton.

In 2005, Broder blamed Democrats -- who were in the minority in both the House and the Senate -- for Congress' failure to conduct oversight hearings. Which, of course, they didn't have the power to do, being in the minority and all. Then, in March 2007 -- just two months into Democratic control of Congress -- Broder complained that the House had "slowed to a crawl," doing little other than "filling time with investigations." Later that month, Broder claimed "Democrats find it easier to investigate than to legislate. ... Accountability is certainly important, but Democrats must know that people were really voting for action on Iraq, health care, immigration, energy and a few other problems. Investigations are useful, but only legislation on big issues changes lives." In yet another March column, Broder warned, "It seems doubtful that Democrats can help themselves ... with more investigations ... At some point, Democrats have to give people something to vote for. People already know what they're against -- the Republicans."

So, when Democrats didn't control Congress, David Broder thought that oversight hearings were good, and blamed Democrats -- who lacked the authority to conduct such hearings -- for their absence. Now that Democrats control Congress, Broder warns Democrats not to conduct oversight investigations.

In 2005, Broder actually touted President Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina. 'Nuff said.

In December 2006, Broder praised Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld as "stalwarts of economic and national security policy." No, really.

And this Bush-Cheney apologist is the "best of the best" as he has been called? He thinks Bush did a good job in handling Katrina?!? He thinks Clinton should have resigned for lying about having affair but thinks Bush should stay in office even though Broder has called Bush lawless and blamed him for starting the war?!? What in the hell kind of "logic" is that?!?

Yes, friends, this is the true state of political commentary in America. Whatever happens, according to the pundits, is basically bad for Democrats. All blame rests on the Democrats, even for events over which they had no control. Democrats are "inauthentic" and "elitist". The narrative is simple: People like Cheney are the "serious adults" while Democrats are "shrill". It is this crackbrained cheerleading for the Right that has dragged this country to the brink of catastrophe. Yes, Broder has criticized Bush, but his real fire has been reserved for Bush's enemies--the people trying to save America. Broder has been consistently wrong in his judgments. It is time for him to suffer the ultimate fate of all those who wrongly imagine themselves to be deep thinking and insightful:

To be ignored.

Keith Olbermann (Verbally) Caves Giuliani's Head In

It's a thing of beauty, and it's right here.

Oh baby.

Broder's Boy Bounces All the Way Down to 28%

Aging knucklehead David Broder recently speculated that President Dimwit might be in for a "surge" of support, a "bounce", if you will.

Oh, too bad, Davey. Your hero is down to 28% approval--the lowest of his rotten, miserable excuse for a presidency.

Retire, Broder. Stop embarrassing yourself.

Tom Tomorrow Exposes the Right Wing Idiots

Step Right Up, Folks!

Get your Republican Chickenhawk cards right here! My faves:

The Truth About Mass Murderers

And it sure as hell ain't what the pathetic, fat assed, hated-by-women, drug addict, draft dodger says it is.

No. As in HELL NO

Republicans are floating the name Ted Olson as a possible replacement for disgraced and politically crippled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Olson was the head of the so-called "Arkansas Project" in the 1990s, a project organized to "get" Bill Clinton and lay the basis for the hideous farce of his impeachment. Olson is one of the most corrupt people in our country, a complete and total political hack of the worst kind. Pensito Review has the story:

Now there is word that Republican officials in D.C. are seriously proposing Ted Olson to replace Gonzo. Digby asks, “Is this some kind of a joke?”

Knowing Ted Olson’s history, the answer is sadly no.

During the 1990s, the GOP ran a stealth disinformation campaign against the Clintons, the prototype for Swiftboating, out of the offices of the American Spectator, a rightwing magazine. Internally, the operation was called the Arkansas Project. Hillary famously referred to it as a “vast rightwing conspiracy.” It was funded by Richard Mellon Scaife and its CEO was Ted Olson,
At the same time, Olson’s wife, Barbara, was one of a cadre of wingnut blondes — the others were Ann Coulter, Kellyann Fitzpatrick and Laura Ingraham — who were given untold hours of face time on cable news to bash the Clintons with rumors and innuendos, much of which was processed through the Arkansas Project. Barbara, the author of a bizarrely nasty screed titled “Hell to Pay: The Unfolding Story of Hillary Rodham Clinton,” died on the plane that hit the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

In late 2000, Ted Olson argued for the Bush/Cheney campaign in the Bush v. Gore. For this, he was rewarded with the position of solicitor general, a job once held by his friend Ken Starr, the Whitewater special investigator who spent $60 million of the taxpayers’ money to smear the Clintons with allegations, much of which were generated by the Arkansas Project, but came up emptyhanded except for an unrelated sex lie and stained blue dress.

And the Republicans want THIS son of a bitch to be the head of the Justice Department??? If Olson is nominated and the Democrats help confirm him, then I'm out of the Democratic Party. Period.

If You Want to Know ...

Why Bush and his thugs were allowed to pull off the coup d'etat in 2000 that stole the presidency from its rightful winner, Al Gore...

Why the major media ignored Bush's utter corruption, lies, and complete lack of qualifications...

Why the major media failed in their job of questioning the basis on which the Iraq War was started, and why they have dismissed or ignored the lies that led to the war...

Why the major media have been Bush's good little lapdogs...

Check this out:




And then, decide to do something about it.

Bill Maher on the Rampage Again

Beautiful. Just simply beautiful.

You know, if you played a drinking game where you did a shot every time Rush Limbaugh attacked someone for being elite, you'd almost be as wasted as Rush Limbaugh.

I - I don't get it. In other fields outside of government, "elite" is a good thing, like an "elite" fighting force; Tiger Woods is an "elite" golfer. If I need brain surgery, I'd like an "elite" doctor. But, in politics, "elite" is bad. The "elite" aren't down to earth and accessible like you and me and President Sh*t-for-brains.

Which is fine, except that whenever there's a Bush Administration scandal, it always traces back to some incompetent political hack appointment, and you think to yourself, where are they getting these screw-ups from?

Well, now we know. From Pat Robertson. I'm not kidding. Take Monica Goodling, who, before she resigned last week, because she's smack in the middle of the U.S. Attorneys scandal, was the third-ranking official in the Justice Department of the United States. She's 33 years old. And though she never even worked as a prosecutor, she was tasked with overseeing the job performance of all 93 U.S. Attorneys.

How do you get to the top that fast? Harvard? Princeton? No, Goodling did her undergraduate work at Messiah College... And then went on to attend Pat Robertson's law school. Yes, Pat Robertson, the man who said that the presence of gay people at Disney World would cause earthquakes, tornadoes and possibly a meteor, has a law school.

And what kid wouldn't want to attend? It's three years, and you only have to read one book. U.S. News & World Report, which does the definitive ranking of colleges, lists Regent as a Tier Four school, which is the lowest score it gives. It's not a hard school to get into. You have to renounce Satan and draw a pirate on a matchbook.

Ha! Gawd, I love it!

Ah, Is There Hope for the Future?

What in the Hell is He Talking About??

Is he drinking again? Is he off his meds? Take a look at this and tell me he's operating with a full deck.

Want to Reduce Abortion, Teen Pregnancy, and STDs?

In light of the controversial Supreme Court decision upholding the ban on the procedure that is commonly (and misleadingly called) "partial birth abortion", I thought it might be interesting to look at some ways we can reduce the incidence of abortion and other sexually-related problems. And it turns out the answer is a "radical" one:

TALK TO KIDS ABOUT HUMAN SEXUALITY OPENLY AND HONESTLY, AND GIVE THEM COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATION ABOUT REPRODUCTION AND BIRTH CONTROL.

I swear to God, the attitudes about sex in this country are so utterly screwed up that it sometimes drives me to despair. "Cultural conservatives" have done epic damage to this country in many ways, but none worse than in the pervasive hypocrisy about sex that plagues our culture. (And I'm not just talking about conservatives who spew a line of self-righteous crap and then roll around in bed with male hookers while high on meth.) A lot of people seem to think--idiotically--that if we preach "abstinence only" to our kids that we'll magically convince them not to engage in sexual activity. If it weren't for the human tragedies that result from this nonsense, "abstinence only" sex education would be funny. Folks, let's face it--kids are going to be interested in masturbation, oral sex, and intercourse no matter how much we tell them not to be. The results of our kids' sexual ignorance have grown too serious to ignore. We need a better way, and I think I've found it:

Follow the Dutch and German examples.

This article here lays it out beyond dispute: Sex education and sexual attitudes in Europe have a lot to teach us in this country. To wit:

Pregnancy

In the United States, the teen pregnancy rate is more than nine times higher than that in the Netherlands, nearly four times higher than the rate in France, and nearly five times higher than that in Germany.

Birth

In the United States, the teen birth rate is nearly 11 times higher than that of the Netherlands, nearly five times higher than the rate in France, and nearly four times higher than that in Germany.

Abortion

In the United States, the teen abortion rate is nearly eight times higher than the rate in Germany, nearly seven times higher than that in the Netherlands, and nearly three times higher than the rate in France.

HIV in Young Women and Men

In the United States, the estimated HIV prevalence rate in young men ages 15 to 24 is over five times higher than the rate in Germany, nearly three times higher than the rate in the Netherlands, and about 1 ½ times higher than that in France.

In the United States, the estimated HIV prevalence rate in young women ages 15 to 24 is six times higher than the rate in Germany, nearly three times higher than the rate in the Netherlands, and is the same as that in France.

Syphilis

In the United States, the teen syphilis rate is over six times higher than that of the Netherlands, over five times higher than the rate in former West Germany, and nearly three times higher than that in former East Germany. Data are not available for France.

Gonorrhea

In the United States, the teen gonorrhea rate is over 74 times higher than that in the Netherlands and France, over 66 times higher than the rate in former West Germany, and over 38 times higher than that in former East Germany.

Chlamydia

In the United States, the teen chlamydia rate is over 20 times higher than that in France. Data are not available for Germany or the Netherlands.

Despite what George Bush and his fanatical right-wing idiot supporters believe, it is KNOWLEDGE that fights the very things they are supposedly most opposed to, not the SUPPRESSION of knowledge. Don't want your kid to get pregnant, get someone pregnant, have an abortion, or get an STD? Then TELL THEM THE TRUTH--and show the boys how to strap on a condom and explain the pill to girls. Tell the kids something else as well--that they don't need to have sex to prove themselves adults, and they don't have to have sex to live up to other people's expectations. But above all, acknowledge their sexual natures--and show them how to handle their sexuality like real adults do--openly, candidly, and honestly.

The Myth of a Celibate and "Virtuous" Past

It's fascinating how the Internet can lead you into all sorts of tangents. I saw an item on Sullivan linking to an item on Reason that linked to a study on sexual behavior in the United States (and the utter failure of "abstinence only" sex education). I saw the following astonishing information:

By the way, a new report, Trends in Premarital Sex in the United States, 1954-2003, finds that most Americans have been enjoying premarital sex for a long time. To wit:

Contrary to the public perception that premarital sex is much more common now than in the past, the study shows that even among women who were born in the 1940s, nearly nine in 10 had sex before marriage.

The new study uses data from several rounds of the federal National Survey of Family Growth to examine sexual behavior before marriage, and how it has changed over time. According to the analysis, by age 44, 99% of respondents had had sex, and 95% had done so before marriage. Even among those who abstained from sex until age 20 or older, 81% had had premarital sex by age 44.

Well, well, well. Wouldya lookee there. Looks like most people in this country have a premarital roll in the hay despite any religious or parental warnings not to. Maybe we should gear our country's sex ed policies to the way life really is, rather than fantasies based on a world that never existed--namely, the fantasy of the celibate-before-marriage past.

Why do you think so many of our parents and grandparents are kind of "hazy" about the circumstances that caused them to get married so young?

The Sewer of Right Wing Hate Radio

MediaMatters has a tremendous post here that makes an excellent point: the cleaning up of American radio cannot logically end with the elimination of Don Imus. In fact, for years the (Republican) elephant in the media room has been the astonishing outpouring of the most vile bigotry and slander by the radical right on the nation's airwaves.

The phrase "liberal media" has always been a fiction, but no more so than in regard to radio. (Paul Harvey has been spewing out tiresome conservative platitudes since the 1940s, but at least he has been generally civil.) The real right wing nutcases began to appear on the airwaves in much of the country in the 1950s. Beginning with conservative loudmouths Joe Pyne (nationally) and Howard Miller (in the Chicago area), the right's ugliness proliferated. Morton Downey, Jr. kept the ball rolling nicely (he was Limbaugh's immediate predecessor) and then the floodgates were opened: the Fairness Doctrine was repealed under Ronald Reagan. After that, the Right's dominance spread even faster. Rational dialogue? Reasoned arguments? An examination of all sides of a controversy? Who needs that crap? It proved to be much more profitable to appeal to hatred, anger, prejudice, and the hunger for brainless, simplistic "answers" to every complex problem. (Can there be a more repulsive example of "discussion" than a knuckle dragging Limbaugh listener from the 90s shouting, "Ditto!"?)

In many parts of the country, the far right viewpoint is the ONLY one which is EVER heard. I've been told that to drive through the Deep South during the Clinton presidency and listen to the radio was to be exposed to an unceasing flood of mindless hatred and preposterous lies. And the cancer of the Fox "News" personalities has only exacerbated an already awful situation. (Really, how can there be a just God when people like Sean Hannity are allowed anywhere near a job that doesn't involve the serving of fast food?) Right wing hate radio has been the chief engine of Republican electoral success and a key instrument in the conservative "culture war" (i.e., the war against the rest of America). It has also pandered to the worst instincts of its audience. Here's a lovely example of radical right wing Republican trash that MediaMatters didn't cite--Bob Grant, who was ultimately fired:

One of Grant's favorite words for African-Americans is "savages": The U.S., he said (1/6/92), has "millions of sub-humanoids, savages, who really would feel more at home careening along the sands of the Kalahari or the dry deserts of eastern Kenya--people who, for whatever reason, have not become civilized." He declared (10/15/93) that "if they didn't observe Martin King Day, there would be trouble from the savages." Apologists for Grant say that he only uses "savages" to refer to rioters and criminals (as if applying racial stereotypes to criminals was not racist).

But it isn't true: Grant has referred to black churchgoers as "screaming savages" (4/30/93); he's said (7/15/93) that black fraternity members represent "the savage mind, the primitive, primordial mentality." After overcrowding at a charity event led to deaths, Grant referred to the crowd (1/6/92) as "the 3,000 to 5,000 savages who showed up for the rap stars' basketball game."

Read the MediaMatters article and then add your own observations. To me, the solution to this is obvious: a Democratic president, an increased Democratic majority in the House, and a filibuster-proof Democratic majority in the Senate to allow the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine--and a crushing blow to the Right Wing Noise Machine that has so poisoned and sickened political discussion in our country.

This is Why Don Imus Deserves to Be Fired

He's a foul-mouthed, pinheaded bigot. I'm sick of these pricks like Imus and Limbaugh getting a free pass (or else simply being slapped on the wrist) and then returned to their places of media prominence. To hell with them. And no, don't give me this "you're just a Politically Correct fanatic" bullshit. People who say that simply want to make the public expression of raving ethnic and gender hatred respectable. You can say whatever you want, but you're not entitled to a national radio and TV show on which to say it.

Here, by the way, is collection of Donny Boy's "witticisms". See if you can keep your sides from splitting.

A Disgusting Phenomenon

The people who pull this crap deserve to have the book thrown at them.

Henry Kissinger: War Criminal

Can there really be any doubt, in light of recent revelations, that Henry Kissinger is the most remorseless and unprincipled war criminal in American history? This outstanding article is a summary of Kissinger's appalling career. It was Kissinger that goaded Richard Nixon into prolonging the Vietnam War for purely political reasons from 1969 to 1972. It was Kissinger who helped push Cambodia into disaster in 1969 and 1970 through a campaign of illegal and massively excessive bombing. It was Kissinger who "tilted" U.S. foreign policy toward Pakistan at a time when the people of East Pakistan were being slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands in 1971. It was Kissinger who aided the overthrow of Chile's government in 1973. It was Kissinger who gave U.S. approval to Indonesia's extermination of the East Timorese that began in 1975. It was Kissinger that Bush tried to put in charge of the 9/11 "investigation" (in order to bury it). And it was Henry Kissinger who flattered our shockingly unfit "president" into believing that invading Iraq would be a good idea and that he, Bush, would be considered a courageous figure for prosecuting the war.

Through all this Kissinger has maintained a brutal, callous indifference to human suffering, sacrificing all considerations to realpolitik. He has repeatedly sneered at those who raised human rights concerns. And he has been perfectly willing to look the other way as governments of which he approved committed the most egregious crimes. From Human Rights Watch, discussing Argentina's brutal government in the 1970s:

Recently declassified U.S. government documents reveal the strong support given by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to the Argentine military junta in 1976, at a time when the junta was responsible for massive human rights abuses. According to a record of a conversation between Kissinger and Argentina’s then-Foreign Minister, Adm. César Augusto Guzzetti, Kissinger told Guzzetti: “[I]f there are things that have to be done, you should do them quickly. [Emphasis added.] But you should get back quickly to normal procedures.” The documents show how Kissinger undermined efforts by the U.S. Congress and the U.S. ambassador in Argentina to press the Argentine military to stop the abuses.

In other words, beat, torture, and murder whomever you need to and then get back to normal.

Henry Kissinger, Republican, has been a cancer on our nation's foreign policy for more than 30 years. He is utterly amoral and willing to countenance any barbarism in the name of his perverted sense of "national interest". He's old now, but I want him to end his life in prison. I know it won't happen, of course.

But in a truly just universe, it would.

Fun With Optical Illusions

or delusions.

Cheney is Insane and Must Be Removed From Office

He continues to insist on a link between Saddam and Al Qaeda (and by implication a link between Saddam and 9/11) despite ALL EVIDENCE, including a statement from Bush himself. He is living in a "reality" that exists entirely in his own mind--clear evidence of delusion.

...a declassified Pentagon report released Thursday said that interrogations of the deposed Iraqi leader and two of his former aides as well as seized Iraqi documents confirmed that the terrorist organization and the Saddam government were not working together before the invasion.

The Sept. 11 Commission's 2004 report also found no evidence of a collaborative relationship between Saddam and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network during that period.

Cheney is mentally incompetent. The lunatic Neocon dreamworld that he lives in has become a mortal threat to our nation's survival. We all realize that Cheney is evil. Now we have to recognize an additional fact:

This son of a bitch is crazy.

Well, Well, Well. Look Who's in the Lead

And he's an actual living, breathing Democrat.

Bravo, John Edwards!

He pulls out of the proposed Fox-sponsored Congressional Black Caucus debate on 23 September and issues the following statement:

"We just called the CBC to let them know that we're looking forward to their January debate with CNN but we're not going to participate in the proposed debate with Fox. The CBC champions critical issues that matter enormously to the future of our country, and we look forward to discussing them throughout this campaign and at their debate in January. But we believe there's just no reason for Democrats to give Fox a platform to advance the right-wing agenda while pretending they're objective. If there was any uncertainty as to Fox's objectivity, it was put to rest when they attacked Democratic candidates, Democratic constituency groups, and the Nevada Democratic party when their last proposed debate was cancelled for lack of support."

Outstanding! Fox is not a legitimate news organization. It's a refuge for right wing hacks, liars, and character assassins. Way to go, John! Screw 'em!

America Stands With Nancy Pelosi

And it stands against the insane, radical right wing agenda of Bush, Cheney, Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity, Malkin, Kristol, and all of the other conservative criminals who are killing this country with their lies, their malice, and their almost unbelievable incompetence. Aiding and abetting these criminals are many in the so-called "mainstream media" who have been stupidly and irresponsibly attacking Pelosi. Glenn Greenwald lays down a crushing smackdown of these idiots here.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The "liberal media" phrase is a lie, a myth, utter BS. The so-called MSM are virulently anti-Democratic Party and they kowtow to every right wing fruitcake and nutjob in America. Russert, Matthews, and all of their enablers try to give the appearance of being "fair" but the only thing we Democrats, independents, progressives, liberals, and moderates ever get from them isn't an an even hand--it's the back of it.

He Still Refuses to Withdraw!

Click here for the full story!

The "Recovery": A Farce

And the right wingers are STILL lying through their teeth about the "great economy".

BTW, note the strong increase in corporate profits--the only "positive" sign.

A weak "recovery"+flat or dropping wages+record government debt+a collapsing housing market+foreign policy catastrophe=disaster for the Republicans in 2008.

An Interesting Quote by Rush Limbaugh

Limbaugh actually said this several years ago, but I thought it would be appropriate to post it today, the 39th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King:

"You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray. We miss you, James. Godspeed."

Ray was the confessed murderer of Dr. King.

Great Moments in Conservative History: 1980

Ronald Reagan speaks at the Neshoba County, Mississippi fair as part of his 1980 campaign. His use of the phrase "I believe in states rights" sends a clear message to the huge white crowd gathered to see him. Neshoba County was where three young civil rights workers had been killed in 1964. There was in 1980 as yet no conviction for these crimes. An account of Reagan's visit and its connection to the "Southern Strategy" of the Republican Party can be found here.
(And yes, I voted for Reagan in 1980, but I'm not sure I would have in light of this.)

This has been another...GREAT MOMENT IN CONSERVATIVE HISTORY!

Great Moments in Conservative History: 1921

The Tulsa, Oklahoma race riot that may have killed more than 300 African-Americans. Read about it here.

This has been another...GREAT MOMENT IN CONSERVATIVE HISTORY!

Pathological Liars or Complete Idiots?

You decide.

Hatch and Limbaugh: made for each other.

The Real Power Watches From a Distance

And in a spectacular display, Cheney's mouth didn't move once while Bush was "speaking".

Are You Surprised? I Wish I Were

Transcripts from secret recordings of Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon during Nixon's presidency. (From Robert Dallek in this month's Vanity Fair):

Using language that has a painfully contemporary echo, Kissinger and Nixon very quickly came to private conclusions about Vietnam that they never revealed publicly and denied entertaining. "In Saigon the tendency is to fight the war to victory," Nixon told Kissinger, according to the transcript of a 1969 phone conversation. "But you and I know it won't happen—it is impossible." Even so, according to Haldeman's unpublished diaries, Nixon later urged that Democratic critics making this same point should be labeled "the party of surrender." When someone told Kissinger that Nixon could not be re-elected, because of Vietnam, he disputed it and added, according to a memo of a conversation, that "anytime we want to get out of Vietnam we can," and that "we will get out of Vietnam before the [1972] election." Nixon wanted to plan the removal of all U.S. troops by the end of 1971, but Kissinger cautioned that, if North Vietnam then de-stabilized Saigon during the following year, events could have an adverse effect on the president's campaign. According to Haldeman's diaries, Kissinger advocated a pullout in the fall of 1972, "so that if any bad results follow they will be too late to affect the election." He apparently had nothing to say about the American lives that would be lost by deliberately prolonging the war. Just before a peace treaty was signed, Kissinger in a phone conversation advised Nixon against stating that this was a "lasting peace or guaranteed peace because this thing is almost certain to blow up sooner or later."

I'm old enough to remember the way Vietnam fractured this nation. I'm also not shocked to see the ugly cynicism and calculation by Nixon and Kissinger. And I'm not surprised in the least to see the Republicans using the same filthy tactics against critics of a war that should never have been fought.

Remember this story if you're ever standing in front of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington.

Simply Beautiful

This is so freaking cool. (I would suggest going full screen on this, by the way.)

Conservative Heroes: Jesse Helms

Savor the profundity of these wonderful quotes!

"To rob the Negro of his reputation of thinking through a problem in his own fashion is about the same as trying to pretend that he doesn't have a natural instinct for rhythm and for singing and dancing."

"The Negro cannot count forever on the kind of restraint that's thus far left him free to clog the streets, disrupt traffic, and interfere with other men's rights." (Commenting on civil rights demonstrations.)

When a caller to CNN's Larry King Live show praised guest Jesse Helms for "everything you've done to help keep down the niggers," Helms' response was to salute the camera and say, "Well, thank you, I think." (Wilmington Star-News, 9/16/95)

There's more. Check 'em all out!

Jesse Helms...CONSERVATIVE HERO!

Great Moments in Conservative History: 1964

Angered by President Lyndon Johnson's embrace of civil rights for all Americans, conservative Strom Thurmond switches from Democrat to Republican and warmly supports Barry Goldwater for president. Goldwater had voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Thurmond's switch is a harbinger of things to come, as the Republican party openly solicits support from southern white racist conservatives, the "Southern Strategy" that transforms the South into the Republican heartland.

This has been another...GREAT MOMENT IN CONSERVATIVE HISTORY!

Chickenhawk Slime O'Reilly Smears Genuine Patriot

Read the disgusting details here.

Great Moments in Conservative History: 1919

Conservatives in Omaha, Nebraska lynched, shot, and then burned a local African-American named Will Brown despite attempts by the mayor and police to guarantee due process. Conservatives lynched more than 2,500 blacks between the 1890s and 1920s.

This has been another...GREAT MOMENT IN CONSERVATIVE HISTORY!

Great Moments in Conservative History: 1963

Peaceful, non-violent civil rights marchers are blasted with fire hoses by conservatives in Birmingham, Alabama. Other demonstrators were attacked with dogs, and four little girls were killed in a church bombing in this same bastion of white conservatism.

This has been another...GREAT MOMENT IN CONSERVATIVE HISTORY!

Great Moments in Conservative History: 1924

Some 4 million conservatives were in the Klan at its height in the 1920s.

This has been another...GREAT MOMENT IN CONSERVATIVE HISTORY!

An AC/DC Song As You've Never Heard It

Right here.

Gawd, I love it.

Devastating New Commentary from Bill Maher

In which traitors are called out by name. See it here.

(Thanks to Al Rodgers)

A Study in Absurdity

The more lethal drugs are near the bottom of this chart. (Notice where alcohol ranks.) The least lethal, least dangerous one is at the top.

Guess which one is illegal.

And this makes sense to you?

(Graphic from Sully)

The Right Wing Strategy for 2008: FNB

Click here to find out exactly what the term FNB refers to. Let's just say it's going to be the heart of the Republican strategy in 2008. It involves attacking the sexual orientation, ethnic background, and gender of the leading Democratic candidates. Expect Coulter and Fox "News" to trot it out often.

Interesting.

Piece of Human Garbage Limbaugh Attacks John and Elizabeth Edwards

It says something bad about the right wingers that so many of them listen to Rush Limbaugh and buy into his lying bullshit so fervently. What kind of cretin takes someone like this seriously? What kind of moral degenerate thinks Limbaugh is right about everything? But evidently a lot of these wretched people do. Now their hero continues to plunge new depths: he's ridiculing and questioning the sincerity and bravery of John and Elizabeth Edwards, who are dealing with a diagnosis that could be a death sentence for Elizabeth. MediaMatters has the story here.

Slime. Absolute slime. And think about all the other sick perverts who are part of the Noise Machine that is pouring out right wing filth 24/7--Beck, Hannity, O'Reilly, Coulter, Savage, Hume, Cavuto, Gibson, Kristol, Gigot, and all of their acolytes. Think of the way they have ruined and distorted political discourse in America.

And think of who the heroes of the Republican Right are. It tells you all you need to know about why the conservatives need to suffer such utter and total electoral defeat in 2008--and for decades beyond.

Christians for Cannabis

No joke. Check it out here.

A small voice of sanity.

It's Beginning to Look Grim for the Right Wingers

From the most recent Pew Poll (via Kevin Drum):




Heh heh heh.

DeLay Can't Even Tell the Truth About His Own Freaking Book

This is just weird. What a pathetic, lying little weasel this bastard is.

Tom DeLay: Ooohh, He's Wuff and He's Tuff!

Ah me. Who doesn't remember and cherish the halcyon days when Tom DeLay was riding high, running the Abramoff fueled K Street project, blocking the regulation of his little forced labor/forced abortions nightmare in the Marianas, (scroll down) and spitting out accusations of treason against anyone who dared to criticize Dear Leader? Now this self same Tom DeLay (also affectionately known in these parts as Cockroach Man) has a new book out. (Oh joy!) And he's being aggressive, by golly! Chris Kelly at Huff Po has a bead on it:

Actually, the full title of the DeLay book - which came out Wednesday -- is No Retreat, No Surrender: One American's Fight. Yes, it's a story so bellicose, even the subtitle is scrappy.

And he's earned the right to talk tough, too. Not just because of his own student deferments, but also by the student deferments of Rush Limbaugh (who wrote the forward) and the "other priorities" of Sean Hannity (who wrote the preface) and the book's co-author, Stephen Mansfield.

Four fightin' Americans. Zero seconds in uniform. $25.95 at bookstores everywhere.

No retreat. No surrender. No shame.

(Stephen Mansfield is a truly special case, by the way. His avoidance of military service - -not that there's anything wrong with that -- hasn't stopped him from writing The Faith of the American Soldier, or American Heroes: Stories of Faith, Courage and Sacrifice from the Front Lines or an open letter to Cindy Sheehan where he tells her she's threatening to "dishonor Casey's heroism.")

(How did he get to be on a first name basis with Casey Sheehan? He certainly didn't run into him in combat.)

(It's almost like he's an asswipe.)

HA HA HA! Great stuff! Why is it that all these draft dodging little right punks always talk so tough but never seem to do any of the bleeding and dying? It's almost as if they're trying to compensate for something.

Maybe gutless cowardice?

End the Horror of Female Genital Mutilation

This barbarism is still being inflicted on millions of young girls all over the world. I warn you, though: the information on this site is only for the strongest of you. It's pretty appalling.

When, when, when, will humans be fully civilized?

To HELL With the Damned Drug Warriors

This is just f---ing wrong.

My GOD do I hate these "anti-drug" bastards who are willing to let people die in agony just so they can have the satisfaction of forcing their "morality" on everybody else. They are the real criminals in this situation.

LEGALIZE MEDICAL MARIJUANA RIGHT NOW

The Truth About Opinion Concerning a Libby Pardon

Andrea Mitchell of NBC recently asserted that the majority of Americans think "Scooter" Libby deserves a pardon.

From CNN's poll on the matter:


28. As you may know, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Dick Cheney's former top aide, was recently found guilty of obstruction of justice and perjury in connection with the CIA leak investigation. Do you think George W. Bush should or should not give a presidential pardon to Libby?


Mar. 9-11
2007

Should pardon 18%
Should not pardon 69%
No opinion 13%

Andrea, honey, do you know what the hell you're talking about? Or are you too busy spouting White House propaganda to find out?

Fox "News": Right Wing Propaganda Cesspool

Larry Johnson has assembled this appalling and enraging set of screen captures from Fox "News" that will convince you (if you still needed convincing) that Fox is nothing more than a vomitorium of Right wing slander, lies, distortions, smears, and perverted "reporting" that echoes everything, and I mean everything, so many of us have come to hate about the "movement" conservatives who have done such horrendous damage to our country. It's all here, folks, especially the despicable cheerleading for torture that so many wingnuts love to hear.

Fox is a sickening nest of radical right sewer rats and liars--Hannity, O'Reilly, Barnes, Gibson, Hume, Cavuto, all of the scum that we have come to know and despise so well. We need someone richer than Rupert Murdoch to buy or squeeze Fox out of his control and clean out the whole rotten operation--and shut down the network that exists only for one reason: to push the rejected, minority agenda of the wingnuts.

Democrats, boycott Fox. When a Democrat becomes president on 20 January 2009, his or her first act should be to suspend Fox's White House press credentials. It makes no sense to legitimize this organization that has less shame than the old Pravda. To borrow from Cato the Elder, Delende Est Fox News--Fox News Must Be Destroyed.

UPDATE: Cenk Uygur weighs in here.

What I'm Looking at Tonight

This outstanding letter on Sullivan's website.

This thoughtful article from The New English Review.

All about Flaming Carrot.

The Edge.

The very cool Earth from Space.

I love the internet.

Union, YES!

Eric Alterman has done a tremendous job documenting the significance of union membership for the economic health of American workers and the political health of the Democratic Party. (Scroll up for whole post.) The radical Right that runs so much of America is doing its utmost to reduce the typical American worker to indebted peonage, and the weakening and eventual destruction of labor unions is a top rightwing goal. Well folks, the facts speak loudly and clearly. From the article:

Union workers' median weekly earnings: $781

Nonunion workers' median weekly earnings: $612

Union wage advantage: 28%

Union women's median weekly earnings: $723

Nonunion women's median weekly earnings: $541

Union wage advantage for women: 34%

Union workers with access to guaranteed (defined-benefit) pension: 73%

Nonunion workers with access to guaranteed (defined-benefit) pension: 16%

Union pension advantage: 356%

Union workers whose jobs provide access to health insurance: 92%

Nonunion workers whose jobs provide access to health insurance: 68%

Union health insurance advantage: 35%

Union workers without health insurance coverage: 2.5%

Nonunion workers without health insurance coverage: 15%

Union advantage: 500%

[Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics]

Union members stand with us for a reason: we Democrats, liberals, moderates, and progressives, stand with them. Surveys show that almost 50% of Americans would join a union if they were allowed to. The conservatives have had great success in killing off unions and crowding all but corporate interests from the national discussion. They've also had great success intimidating union organizers among workers.

But we're about to change that. See if we don't.

The Double Standard: Giving the Psychotic Right a Free Pass

This piece by Digby says it all: the savages of the radical Right can say anything, can utter any smear, can advocate butchering their political opponents, can spread any lie, and they will still be treated respectfully by the mainstream media. This is the same MSM that will wildly exaggerate any misstep by a Democrat and scream and shout about how "unhinged" the political left is in America.

The depth of the Right's viciousness is almost beyond belief. Digby--and I--take them seriously. Some of his examples:

When Limbaugh said, "I tell people don't kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus - living fossils - so we will never forget what these people stood for," we didn't doubt him anymore.

When Ann Coulter said "we need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too, otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors," to rapturous applause at the 2002 CPAC, we knew she wasn't just kidding.

**********

It continues today. Dinesh D'Souza just published a book saying that liberals are the cause of terrorism. Ramesh Ponneru calls us "The Party of Death." And when Michele Malkin then creates a career out of calling the left "unhinged" the Washington Post treats her like she's discovered the Holy Grail.

This is why it is so shocking to us when we see people like Howard Kurtz and various others call for the smelling salts when some members of the left have reacted in kind by saying hateful, violent things about Dick Cheney's assassination attempt. (These anonymous commenters, by the way, are not best selling authors making a personal televised appearance at a gathering that includes most of the Republican presidential candidates, members of congress and even the Vice President himself.)

I certainly agree that such appalling comments are not to be accepted. Indeed, I recall how my stomach turned when when I read what Coulter had to say at CPAC last year:

On Democrats: "Someday they will find a way to abort all future Boy Scouts." College professors: "sissified, pussified." Harvard: "the Soviet Union." John Kerry: the other "dominant woman in Democratic politics." Her post-9/11 motto: "Rag head talks tough, rag head faces consequences." For good measure, she threw in a joke about having Muslims burn down the Supreme Court -- with the liberal justices inside.

Then came questions. A young woman asked Coulter to describe the most difficult ethical decision she ever made. "There was one time I had a shot at Bill Clinton," Coulter said.

And yet, vile scum like Limbaugh, Coulter, O'Reilly, Hannity, Kristol, Savage, Beck, Cavuto, Gibson, D'Souza, Malkin, and all of their poisonous offspring continue to be feted by their friends in the so-called "mainstream media". Democrats in general and liberals specifically are ridiculed and attacked relentlessly while Right wingers advocate genocide and war. Al Gore, WHO HAS BEEN 100% RIGHT ON EVERY ISSUE IN PUBLIC LIFE, is called mentally unbalanced by sneering little bastards like Chris Matthews while Bill Kristol, WHO HAS BEEN 100% WRONG ON EVERY ISSUE IN PUBLIC LIFE is promoted and given increasingly broad platforms from which to brand anyone who disagrees with his lunatic neocon agenda a traitor.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Ann Coulter is wildly popular with the hardcore Right that runs the Republican Party. These people hate anyone who disagrees with them, and would sincerely like to see people like me either killed or intimidated into silence. They routinely speak out for mass murder, as when Coulter suggested carpet bombing Iran, and yet continue to get a free pass by our media "watchdogs". We need to call these "watchdogs" on this loud and clear.

There can be NO COMPROMISE with the radical Right. There can be NO DIALOGUE with them. They cannot be reasoned with, they cannot be talked to, they cannot change. These are the delusional 29% of the American people who actually think Bush is doing a good job as president. They cannot be engaged; they can only be utterly and totally opposed, crushed, and defeated. The murderous radical Right commentators are not at the fringe of the Republican party--they are the Republican Party. The sooner those of us in the sane, reality based part of America grasp this, the sooner these people will be politically destroyed for all time.

I Have a Book for Sale!

I've been a teacher for 33 years and in that time I like to think I've learned something about what it takes to be good at it. If you're so inclined, check out my book on the art of teaching at the high school level here. Preview it and see what you think. (I'll also keep a link on my blogroll.)

Thanks mucho!

The Shocking, Ranting Insanity of John Hagee

This item should frighten the hell out of you. John Hagee is a prominent member of the ultra right wing of the so-called Christian Right. He is best known as a "Christian Zionist" who sees Israel's establishment as the precursor to Armageddon. (For real. I wish I was joking.) He is now openly advocating a pre-emptive war against Iran. Talk to Action has the story:

In a recent Charisma Magazine issue John Hagee, in a piece entitled "The Coming Holy War", wrote : "Israel and America must confront Iran's nuclear ability and willingness to destroy Israel with nuclear weapons."

On July 19, 2006, at a CUFI sponsored Washington DC event called "A Night to Honor Israel", with GOP Party head Ken Mehlman and US GOP Senators Sam Brownback and Rick Santorum (President George W. Bush sent recorded greetings to the event) , Pastor John Hagee declared :

"The United States must join Israel in a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God's plan for both Israel and the West... a biblically prophesied end-time confrontation with Iran, which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation [...] and [the] Second Coming of Christ."

Hagee's beliefs are actually part of mainstream Christian Zionist thought, which tends to hold that, after Christians are "Raptured" bodily up to heaven, most Jews ( 2/3 to be precise ) will die in a subsequent terrible conflict centered around Israel.

Hagee is an influential and powerful member of the ruling circles of the Republican Party. He is a dangerous, completely delusional fanatic who is doing his utmost to push this country and, indeed, the entire world, into disaster. He is every bit as deranged as any Islamic jihadist. His thinking is respected in the Republican Party. If his views prevail, there will be very little left of the world. He, and the neoconservative lunatics in sympathy with him, must be stopped, if only for the sake of our unborn children and grandchildren--not to mention the ones who are already here.

The Indispensable Daily Howler

Is there a better political site on the Internet than Bob Somerby's Daily Howler? No one does a better job of ripping into the blatantly anti-Democratic lies and idiocy of the mass media better than Somerby. He has been particularly piercing and brilliant in exposing the vicious smears that ruined Al Gore's attempt to win the White House, and the lies that are still being spread about him. His wonderful, scathing contempt is a joy to behold. He is also a meticulous gatherer of evidence, and he has a long and unforgiving memory. Want to find out what's really happening in American politics and in the river of puke we laughingly call our national political "discourse"? Latch on to Somerby. You'll learn something new every time you do.

Right Wing Coke Whore Strikes Again

Unbelievable. Un-freaking believable.

If a Democrat had said something like that, it would be the lead story on the f---king national news.

Some "liberal" media.

International Crisis!

I'm shakin'--and I'm shaken!