Friday, March 31, 2006

Worse Than Watergate

At least, according to Nixon's attorney. Ouch.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Diebold Cheats Utah County out of $40,000

News here. In short: the clerk suspected that Diebold had put something illegal on the machines, called in experts to check, then Diebold came in and said "No, no, no... nothing wrong on these machines (would we lie to you?), but now that they've been examined by other experts, we have to reset them. Here's the bill."

Caught in a Lie

A Republican running for Congress claimed to have visited Baghdad, and as proof of how peaceful it was he posted a picture on his website that he claimed was taken in Baghdad. Immediately, though, people were suspicious. There was no Arabic lettering on the signs, and a woman in the photo was wearing clothing that seemed remarkably provocative for Iraq.

Well, a blogger on Daily Kos learned where the picture was actually taken, then found another photo from the same street as proof. The peaceful street scene wasn't from Baghdad, it was from Turkey, taken in the Istanbul suburb of Bakirkoy.

As another blogger on Kos points out: This is extremely important because Kaloogian is claiming that Iraq is much more calm and stable than most Americans believe. His direct quote: "We took this photo of dowtown Baghdad while we were in Iraq. Iraq (including Baghdad) is much more calm and stable than what many people believe it to be. But, each day the news media finds any violence occurring in the country and screams and shouts about it - in part because many journalists are opposed to the U.S. effort to fight terrorism." He's made the claim that Baghdad is peaceful, then posted a fake photograph in an effort to prove his lie. That the current Republican party for you.

True conservatives, are you ever going to take your party back from these lying scum?

Update: Kaloogian, after claiming repeatedly yesterday that he stood by the photo and his description of it, flip-flopped today and claimed it was the fault of the webmaster. He replaced the peaceful street scene with a long shot of the Green Zone taken from a hotel balcony, but claims it still proves the city is peaceful.

Update: Talking Points Memo sums it up.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Voter Challenges

After the disgusting display of thuggery by the Republican party in challenging voters less than a week before the election, a new bill has been written and passed through both houses in Washington State that make it impossible for the thugs to pull that garbage again.

SB 6362 is due to be signed into law very soon, and redefines both the residency requirements and the process for challenging voters registration. In short, it allows for "non-traditional" residences as long as the place is defined clearly enough to determine where the voter should be voting, and it restricts when a challenge can be issued to a voter's registration (forty-five days before an election for most registrations) and where the information for a challenge can come from (no hastily compiled databases put together by anonymous republican thugs).

I still think that scummy woman who issued the challenges should be charged with perjury for each lie she told (she had NO personal knowledge of any of the voters, and the law REQUIRED personal knowledge, so she committed perjury in each and every case), and thrown in jail to serve out time for her attempts to take away the rights of her fellow citizens. And, as an added bonus, I think her voting rights should be stripped from her forever in this state. But at least the rethuglicans can't try this dirty trick again.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Pro-Life Isn't

Tales of Anti-Abortionists Getting Abortions. These are the very definition of hypocrites, and another reason to believe that so-called "pro-life" people are more interested in controlling female bodies and not actually stopping abortions.

Daily Show and Russ Feingold

Russ Feingold was on The Daily Show, and while he's still a politician, he's one I can live with. I wish he was from Washington State. I wish the Democrats would give this guy the support he deserves instead of acting like scared rabbits.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Linkdump

Iraq, Three Years Later. The "before and after" views of a number of people.

And here's a concise Iraq Timeline.

Other countries are paranoid that the US might sell the fighter planes that can be turned off by the US.

Play the Patriot Act Game, and see if you can keep your civil liberties in Neocon America.

Why are we sending sick soldiers back to Iraq?

Friday, March 17, 2006

Best Religious Quote in a Long Time

"It strikes me that people with a secure sense of their own faith are often the least liable to get upset by parodies or comedies about it. Religions may deal in divine truths, but they are run by human beings. And the combination is often funny. True believers know that; and don't care when they're made fun of. Insecure believers - and they often need fundamentalism to keep their own souls untroubled by doubt - are the touchiest." - Andrew Sullivan

The Fourth Amendment

From the National Archives:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Memorize it. Remember it. Because if Bush has his way, you will no longer have this right soon.

What He Says

Read Mark Evanier.

The President of the United States ALREADY HAS THE POWER TO SPY LEGALLY ON SUSPECTED TERRORISTS. He has had this power for a LONG TIME. The only requirement is that within a few days of the eavesdropping, his minions need to get the spying approved by a secret court that rarely denies any request.

Bush has refused to get his eavesdropping approved by the secret court. He has ILLEGALLY spied on people. And, because he won't even get his spying approved by the rubber-stamping court that is there to protect the people of the United States from abuse of this power by the president, we have every reason to believe that HIS SPYING HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH FIGHTING TERRORISM. Bush has broken the law, and FLAUNTED it. He is PROUD to spit on the Constitution. And now he wants Congress to approve of him ripping up the Fourth Amendment.

Is he insane, or are we a nation full of cowards who would give up all our rights for the illusion of safety?

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Hand on the Bible...

"Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."

Do You Have A Casio Watch?

Then you might be a terrorist! Yup, owning a common Casio Watch is apparently a nice piece of evidence that you are a terrorist planning on blowing something up. If this wasn't about real people, real lives being destroyed by such stupid paranoia, I would find this funny. After all, I wore a Casio watch for nearly 20 years. Via Garrett.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Pharmacists

This article once again makes me extremely angry. A pharmacist is a person who takes a doctor's prescription, determines that it's not going to conflict with the patient's other medications, and provides the medicine prescribed. If a pharmacist has a religious objection to common medicines, then that person ought to find another career, because refusing to provide prescribed medicine on any grounds other than the conflicting medications problem is NOT ACCEPTABLE.

And this paragraph made me see red: For example, a pharmacist at a Seattle hospital in May refused to fill a woman's prescription for antibiotics because it came from a facility that provides abortions. The pharmacist cited religious objections, Luftig said.

That pharmacist should be fired and banned from the business. The pharmacist didn't do his/her job, and as a result could have easily endangered someone's life. Heck, I would go so far as to say that such a pharmacist is a criminal and ought to be treated as such. Some jail time for endangering a patient through criminal negligence, maybe.

Just as any pharmacist who refuses to dispense the morning-after pill ought to pay child support if their actions result in a baby being born. If they think they have a moral right to force someone to have a baby, then they also have a moral obligation to provide for the upbringing of the child. If you're going to force someone into childbirth with your actions, you really ought to be forced to help raise the result.

And as long as I'm talking about forced childbirth, let's talk about South Dakota. Perhaps the religious idiots in that state should be forced to contribute to a fund to help all the mothers who would've had abortions. If they are truly "pro-life" then they should have no problem contributing to the raising of the child they are so desperate to see enter the world.

They aren't, of course. "Pro-life", I mean. They don't care about kids and whether or not they live or die. The anti-abortionists are mostly out to control women and prevent them from having all that naughty sex. I suspect they are jealous when anyone gets more sex than they do. If they were truly pro-life, they would educate women instead of punishing them, and create a social net to protect babies instead of ignoring them once they got out of the womb.

Ok, enough ranting. But should any pharmacist deny me medicine for "religious reasons", I will do my level best to get that pharmacist fired. Because, frankly, if you can't do the job, then you shouldn't be a pharmacist.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

News From Iraq

An Iraqi Blogger lets us know what's going on in her corner of the world.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

"Is Death Created?"

In response to the incredibly stupid rant by a conservative radio host, Pharyngula explains exactly what happens when a sperm fertilizes an egg.

As I've said many, many times before, I'm anti-abortion but refuse to ally myself with the so called "pro-life" people who murder doctors and only care about a fetus until it becomes an actual baby... at which point it's not worth their attention anymore and can die in filth and poverty for all they care.

If those people WERE pro-life, and not just determined to appear pious, they would do more to help *people* instead of screaming about the unborn. Their actions speak far louder than their words, and I've seen precious little actions on their part to reduce unwanted pregnancies and help educate people so life is easier.

And as long as they kill doctors, or quietly condone the murder of doctors, they lose all moral high ground. You cannot be "pro-life" if you are willing to kill.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Sunday, March 05, 2006

The worst of last year's movies...

Tonight, the Oscars are being presented! So you know what that means, don't you? Yup, the Golden Raspberry Awards were given out last night, for the worst of last year's movies. Sorry, nobody actually showed up to accept their award this year (like Halle Berry did last year for Worst Actress in Catwoman — why isn't someone showing these on telelvision???), but it's still an entertaining list. In fact, here's the list of winners losers.

Heckuva Job?

I agree with this post about the status of Brownie, who has now turned on the administration and is exposing the corruption in DHS... but still is responsible for a lot of what happened during Katrina.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Anti-Abortion? Then...

...you must be Anti-IVF as well. Firedoglake explains.

Predictable

Peter David can predict the future! PAD's prediction and yesterday's news.

A Simple Proposal

I really like this Simple Proposal. Having congresscritters give up an hour a month to honor war dead might bring home to them just how much is at stake when they play their political games. Not that the proposal itself isn't a political game the way it's stated... but I'd like to see the thing really happen.

Bush Knew

Video proves it. Bush knew what Katrina was capable of, and had been warned of the damage that was coming, and he still did absolutely nothing. Then, worse, he LIED outright about it, claiming that "no one could have anticipated the breech of the levies." The video shows him being told AHEAD OF TIME about it.

Bush is a man with blood on his hands. He's willfully sent our soldiers into a war based on false pretenses, resulting in thousands of deaths. And now we know that he could've saved lives in New Orleans, but decided to do nothing. All the dead from Katrina that could have been saved by simply adequate response from the government are now on Bush's head. He's a man with lots of blood on his hands. He deserve a prison sentence. A week for every person he's murdered by his inaction or incompetence, and he'll be locked away for the rest of his miserable life.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Filter This!

Boing Boing is being blocked by some poorly designed filtering software because of nudity, and has asked all bloggers that think this sort of censorware is wrong/silly/stupid to post some classic artwork on their blogs. I'm all for it:

David Spirit of Justice
Eugene Delacroix - Liberty

The first image is of Michelangelo's David sculpture, which is classic smut. The second is of the "Spirit of Justice" statue that Ashcroft was so embarrassed to stand in front of that he had it covered with drapes. The third is Eugene Delacroix' Liberty painting. Smut smut smut!

The Bill of Rights

Via Mah Two Cents: an AP survey that reports that more people know the members of The Simpsons family than what rights are guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. Also, one in five believe the right to keep a pet is one of the rights protected.

Here is the Bill of Rights, courtesy of My Bill of Rights, an organization trying to get Bill of Rights monuments installed, as there currently aren't any. Please get the word out, so that those in power won't further erode our rights:

December 15, 1791
Preamble

Congress OF THE United States
begun and held at the City of New York, on Wednesday
the Fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.

THE Conventions of a number of the States having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best insure the beneficent ends of its institution

RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz.:

ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution


Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Amendment VII
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.