End of the Year Rant

Ah, Abstinence-Only Gun Education. Yup. Makes about as much sense, too.

Timeline of the Death of our Rights.

Let's kill people by forbidding simple checklists! There's the Bush administration for you.

Drunk Driving in King County.

The real cost of Iraq.

What Waterboarding Feels Like. Everyone who thinks that waterboarding ISN'T torture should immediately volunteer to undergo it. If, after experiencing it, they can still say it isn't torture, then maybe I'll listen to them. Maybe.

RantWhineRant

I have a lot more to say, but I can't formulate words, so here's just a couple of links:

Yikes. I wouldn't generally compare Bush to a Stradivarius, but in this case I fear it works.

The Drug War continues to be insane. Oh, good thing the police didn't get killed... never mind the INNOCENT PEOPLE THEY ATTACKED.

More Rantles

Garrett points out Bush's priorities. That's right, for Bush, corporations are far more important than American lives.

Olbermann explains himself to Bill Moyers. Olbermann is the only actual journalist on TV right now. The rest are parrots and propagandists.

Amen, Wil: Thank You, Chris Dodd.

Mmmmm, peach, mint. Vanished into a media black hole.

First-person account of CIA torture survivor. True Americans do not torture. It's a short trip from fighting evil to becoming evil by using evil's tools. Anyone who uses or condones torture is evil.

The War on Science described in book form.

Man from Pakistan could've brought the bird flu to New York before anyone knew about it. Talk about a close call. When the pandemic hits, it will be spread like this, by unsuspecting victims.

Are we in a recession?

Will we be seeing Bush-villes next year? Hopefully it'll only be a recession, not a full-blown economic depression.

A local politician tested toys for lead, and 10 percent of them were unsafe. Nice. Let's just poison the next generation, hey?

I'm disturbed by my own response to Washington State's Katrina, as many of those affected always vote against helping their neighbors. Still, if I had anything to give, I'd give.

Creationist murders biomedical student who disagrees with him. Ok, so this is more of a "drunks are stupid" story than a science one, but it's worth pointing out how passionate some people get over this.

Shredding History. Apparently the Bush administration is so ashamed of what they've done that they are spending record amounts just shredding the evidence of their crimes.

This is Torture

Torture Works.

Many hundred thousand good-nights, dearly beloved daughter Veronica. Innocent have I come into prison, innocent have I been tortured, innocent must I die. For whoever comes into the witch prison must become a witch or be tortured until he invents something out of his head and--God pity him--bethinks him of something.

Rant rant rant rant rant rant ranT

How your civil rights help catch criminals.

If Dick Cheney didn't have government health care, he'd probably be dead by now.

Iraqi bloggers on What's going on in Iraq.

Banning speech isn't the only way to suppress it.

Can you imagine? Gang-raped then imprisoned by your employer. It happened. With a war-profiteering company approved by Bush and Cheney. THIS is what Bush supporters are in favor of, whether they admit it or not.

Life in prison for defending his family against a home invasion: More on Cory Maye's unfair punishment. The drug war is stupid and HAS to stop.

Bush and company Love environmental disasters, and reward the folks that cause them.

Bird Flu

Let's hope that this instance turns out to be the usual, and not a mutated strain, because we just aren't ready for a pandemic.

Rants

A timeline of Bush's gutting of the Bill of Rights.

This statement is one indication of why people really like Ron Paul. I disagree with the man's politics, enough that I'd never vote for him, but he's the only real conservative running on the Republican ticket and the only one of the bunch I have any respect for.

Ranting Again

Situation for Christians in Iraq worse than it's ever been in 2000 years of history. Heckuva job, Bush!

Discovery Institute: Liars and Thieves. Stealing a scientific video and redubbing it to promote Creationism... oh, excuse me, Intelligent Design. Plagiarism is apparently ok if you are promoting your religion over science.

Neocon twits extol the stem cell discovery as if Bush's primitive stance on the study of stem cells actually helped it along instead of delayed it for half a decade. Twits. Brainless anti-science scumbags. Any person who dies in the four years before a cure is discovered for their condition thanks to stem cell discoveries leaves their blood on the hands of Bush and his like-minded cavemen. Yes, I'm saying those future deaths are Bush's fault. Because if he hadn't forced a stop to most stem cell research in the United States, this discovery would have been made years sooner.

Just for reference: How King County Does Mail Ballot Processing.

Is this the start? Let's hope not. I don't think we're ready for a pandemic.

I found this article on how ridiculous conservatism is to be interesting.

Hmmm. Pro-lifers want to restrict access to contraceptives in order to promote abstinence.

Survivor's Guilt, she had insurance and lived, and remembers those who died because they didn't have insurance.

More health insurance: Thanksgiving scene I shouldn't have to witness.

Just a thought... any Islamic person who is angry about the teddy bear is insulting their own religion and making Islam look like a farce to the rest of the world.

Ah, a Venn Diagram to explain a few things.

Blackwater mercenaries face a challenge in California. Hopefully the people of Potrero will win the fight against Bush's illegal private army.

I Just Keep Ranting

True conservative soldier abandons Bush administration. Why? Because he saw the crimes at Guantanamo Bay first-hand.

Highway Patrolman uses potentially lethal force when a man doesn't obey him quick enough (and has the nerve to ask why he's been pulled over). This officer should be imprisoned for assault, or maybe attempted murder, and fired.

More Digby: Choice and Consent. Can you have one without the other?

This is why I support Edwards. No member of Congress, no elected official, should have health care if their are Americans who do not have health care. Period.

Asterism looks at the reality of life in Iraq.

It almost never happens! Except that it's happening all the time. People and their pets are being murdered in botched drug raids.

Rants with Links

Long-Time interrogator expert explains what is lost with torture, and why it is ineffective. No one who has a soul believes that torture consistently works, which makes it worse than useless as an interrogation tool. Do not support "leaders" who think torture is ok, such people are scum worse than the folks they want to torture.

Fox News Porn. I don't watch Fox News, I removed it from my cable box because it is pure propaganda, with little actual news content. So I was surprised to find that this "news" channel, which caters to the self-important ultra-religious, shows porn. So much porn in fact, that this link got removed from Digg for being Not Safe For Work... until someone pointed out that everything shown on the website was shown on Fox News. Oops. Apparently Fox serves the sexually frustrated. So that's why so many people watch it!

Tasers are not stun guns. They aren't the answer to any and all threats. Tasers kill. And any police officer who employs a taser on someone who isn't threatening them with lethal force should be removed from law enforcement forever. While I'm sure many officers use tasers appropriately, we keep learning about instances when the victims of taser attacks were sitting, obeying the police, or under control by other officers when they were tased. This isn't acceptable. Police should not use potentially lethal force against people who aren't endangering them. Period.

Rants and Links

The Founding Fathers Intended...

How Health Care is failing in the United States.

Did Global Warming kill the dinosaurs? And if so, why aren't we more concerned? (Yes, I know the planet will be fine, I'm more worried about the parasites living on the planet).

Biofuels are a 'crime against humanity'. Well, if you use food crops, yeah. The whole point is to use wastes from food crop or non-food crop that can be grown on marginal land. I think of it more like this guy does. I want him to work on my car.

I mostly agree with Steve on Pharmacists who refuse to do their job. As long as pharmacies have a clear indication that they let their employees slack off, I don't mind. I just want to know which pharmacies to avoid if I want to be sure of getting my medicine. So I'd argue that a law requiring pharmacies to tell customers that they think their employees opinions are more important than customers' health, preferably in such a way that said employees can't insult or embarass the customers, is needed.

Why "right of exit" doesn't pass the smell test when applied only to public schools. Why not vouchers for health care? For transportation?

Voting

Yesterday was election day. Today I've been checking out election results and cringing at the total percentage of voters. According to this morning's information, only 25% of registered voters voted so far (not all absentee ballots are in). Considering that registered voters are only a percentage of people who are actually eligible to vote, that makes for an incredibly pathetic turnout.

No wonder this country is turning into a nightmare parody of what it once was.

Question for Real Conservatives

I'm not really that politically savvy, which is why I rant here and not someplace I'm likely to get lots of readers. So there's a question that I'm just burning to know the answer to, but I haven't seen any Republican actually address:

How, exactly, do bankrupting the nation and destroying our military fit in with true Conservative values?

As that's what the Republican party has done for the last seven years, I guess it must be exactly what conservative voters want. I'm just not sure why. Or how it fits with the understanding of fiscal responsibility I learned as a child. Do conservatives really think that destroying the military is a good idea? Does the record deficit really fit into their plan for a strong economy? Why?

What Rush Said, In Context

From the September 26 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: Mike in Chicago, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER 1: Hi Rush, how you doing today?

LIMBAUGH: I'm fine sir, thank you.

CALLER 1: Good. Why is it that you always just accuse the Democrats of being against the war and suggest that there are absolutely no Republicans that could possibly be against the war?

LIMBAUGH: Well, who are these Republicans? I can think of Chuck Hagel, and I can think of Gordon Smith, two Republican senators, but they don't want to lose the war like the Democrats do. I can't think of -- who are the Republicans in the anti-war movement?

CALLER 1: I'm just -- I'm not talking about the senators. I'm talking about the general public -- like you accuse the public of all the Democrats of being, you know, wanting to lose, but --

LIMBAUGH: Oh, come on! Here we go again. I uttered a truth, and you can't handle it, so you gotta call here and change the subject. How come I'm not also hitting Republicans? I don't know a single Republican or conservative, Mike, who wants to pull out of Iraq in defeat. The Democrats have made the last four years about that specifically.

CALLER 1: Well, I am a Republican, and I've listened to you for a long time, and you're right on a lot of things, but I do believe that we should pull out of Iraq. I don't think it's winnable. And I'm not a Democrat, but I just -- sometimes you've got to cut the losses.

LIMBAUGH: Well, you -- you --

CALLER 1: I mean, sometimes you really gotta know when you're wrong.

LIMBAUGH: Well, yeah, you do. I'm not wrong on this. The worst thing that can happen is losing this, flying out of there, waving the white flag. Do you have --

CALLER 1: Oh, I'm not saying that. I'm not saying anything like that, but, you know --

LIMBAUGH: Well, of course you are.

CALLER 1: No, I'm not.

LIMBAUGH: Bill, the truth is -- the truth is the truth, Mike.

CALLER 1: We did what we were supposed to do, OK. We got rid of Saddam Hussein. We got rid of a lot of the terrorists. Let them run their country --

LIMBAUGH: Oh, good lord! Good lord.

[...]

CALLER 1: How long is it gonna -- how long do you think we're going to have to be there for them to take care of that?

LIMBAUGH: Mike --

CALLER 1: How long -- you know -- what is it?

LIMBAUGH: Mike --

CALLER 1: What is it?

LIMBAUGH: Mike, you can't possibly be a Republican.

CALLER 1: I am.

LIMBAUGH: You are -- you are --

CALLER 1: I am definitely a Republican.

LIMBAUGH: You can't be a Republican. You are --

CALLER 1: Oh, I am definitely a Republican.

LIMBAUGH: You are tarnishing the reputation, 'cause you sound just like a Democrat.

CALLER 1: No, but --

LIMBAUGH: The answer to your question --

CALLER 1: -- seriously, how long do we have to stay there --

LIMBAUGH: As long as it takes!

CALLER 1: -- to win it? How long?

LIMBAUGH: As long as it takes! It is very serious.

CALLER 1: And that is what?

LIMBAUGH: This is the United States of America at war with Islamofascists. We stay as long -- just like your job. You do everything you have to do, whatever it takes to get it done, if you take it seriously.

CALLER 1: So then you say we need to stay there forever --

LIMBAUGH: I -- it won't --

CALLER 1: -- because that's what it'll take.

LIMBAUGH: No, Bill, or Mike -- I'm sorry. I'm confusing you with the guy from Texas.

CALLER 1: See, I -- I've used to be military, OK? And I am a Republican.

LIMBAUGH: Yeah. Yeah.

CALLER 1: And I do live [inaudible] but --

LIMBAUGH: Right. Right. Right, I know.

CALLER 1: -- you know, really -- I want you to be saying how long it's gonna take.

LIMBAUGH: And I, by the way, used to walk on the moon!

CALLER 1: How long do we have to stay there?

LIMBAUGH: You're not listening to what I say. You can't possibly be a Republican. I'm answering every question. That's not what you want to hear, so it's not even penetrating your little wall of armor you've got built up.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Another Mike, this one in Olympia, Washington. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER 2: Hi Rush, thanks for taking my call.

LIMBAUGH: You bet.

CALLER 2: I have a retort to Mike in Chicago, because I am a serving American military, in the Army. I've been serving for 14 years, very proudly.

LIMBAUGH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER 2: And, you know, I'm one of the few that joined the Army to serve my country, I'm proud to say, not for the money or anything like that. What I would like to retort to is that, if we pull -- what these people don't understand is if we pull out of Iraq right now, which is about impossible because of all the stuff that's over there, it'd take us at least a year to pull everything back out of Iraq, then Iraq itself would collapse, and we'd have to go right back over there within a year or so. And --

LIMBAUGH: There's a lot more than that that they don't understand. They can't even -- if -- the next guy that calls here, I'm gonna ask him: Why should we pull -- what is the imperative for pulling out? What's in it for the United States to pull out? They can't -- I don't think they have an answer for that other than, "Well, we just gotta bring the troops home."

CALLER 2: Yeah, and, you know what --

LIMBAUGH: "Save the -- keep the troops safe" or whatever. I -- it's not possible, intellectually, to follow these people.

CALLER 2: No, it's not, and what's really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media.

LIMBAUGH: The phony soldiers.

CALLER 2: The phony soldiers. If you talk to a real soldier, they are proud to serve. They want to be over in Iraq. They understand their sacrifice, and they're willing to sacrifice for their country.

LIMBAUGH: They joined to be in Iraq. They joined --

CALLER 2: A lot of them -- the new kids, yeah.

LIMBAUGH: Well, you know where you're going these days, the last four years, if you signed up. The odds are you're going there or Afghanistan or somewhere.

CALLER 2: Exactly, sir.

It's absolutely clear that Rush is calling ANY SOLIDER WHO OPPOSES THE WAR a "phony soldier". If you read that and think otherwise, you are simply STUPID. There's nothing else to it. No one with even a part of a brain could read that transcript and seriously think that Rush is talking about people posing as soldiers. He is talking about soldiers opposed to the war.

Rush Limbaugh hates our troops. And if you listen to him and believe the hate he spews, you're an idiot too.

Wow, talk about over-reaction on the part of the media: 11 Year Olds, Birth Control, and the MSM.

Judge Voids Un-Auditable California Election. The last governor's election in Washington state should have also been voided, as the voting machines in Snohomish county didn't allow for a recount.

Anderson Cooper on R-67. Note this line in the post: The insurance industry is spending a stunning $8 million on deceptive ads to make sure that you are confused... because confused voters almost always vote "no." They are spending $8 million (that could be spent taking care of the people they insure) on ads against a measure that simply says they have to pay out what they claim they will pay out when people get sick. We need a new health care system in this country, one that doesn't involve for-profit companies getting rich when their customers die.

The administration supports screws the troops: by making sure they don't get enough days to qualify for the GI Bill. More evidence that Republicans like Blackwater Mercenary Scum more than they like our own soldiers.

Speaking of Blackwater Mercenary Scum, the Iraqi government wants them gone, but why would the Republican leadership of the War in Iraq want to get rid of war-profiteers like Blackwater?

Republicans attack a 12-year-old and his family, spreading lies about him, because he dares to support health care for more children.

Other Republicans destroy years of painstaking undercover work fighting al-Qaeda because... well, because they can. Shouldn't people who help the terrorists, like these Republicans did, be considered traitors?

If you haven't yet watched this video of San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders explaining how his heart was changed on the subject of same-sex marriage, maybe you should check it out now.

Back to Health Care: John Edwards gets it:

"To show Congress just how serious I am, on the first day of my administration, I will submit legislation that ends health care coverage for the president, all members of Congress, and all senior political appointees in both branches of government on July 20th, 2009 - unless we have passed universal health care reform," Edwards said in a speech to the Laborers Leadership Convention.

I'll vote for Edwards gladly if he's the Democratic nominee. Anyone who understands that the rich bastards in government don't deserve government funded health care if the average citizen doesn't get the same thing gets my vote.

Thoreau notes that moderate Muslims do speak out, but are ignored by the various propaganda arms of the Republican terror-monger party.

More on health: How to Wash Your Hands.

So What?

So, there are reports that Dick Cheney is Barack Obama's ninth cousin once removed. All I can say is: Big Deal. I'm Barack's eighth cousin once removed. When you go back that many generations, it simply isn't significant.

I find my relation to Barack much more interesting, as his mother is my eighth cousin, and we both have the same maiden name. We're both direct descendants from the same guy.

But interesting doesn't make significant. Third cousins, maybe. Fourth cousins, possibly. But much past that, and it just doesn't matter.

More on Blackwater Mercenaries

Blackwater is worse than Abu Ghraib.

Each Blackwater mercenary costs us six times as much as a US soldier.

Blackwater Manager Earns More Than Double General Petraeus, the head of a 34-man security team makes more than TWICE the top US commander in Iraq. And guess who is paying for the mercenaries? That's right, WE are. Why are we paying scumbag mercenaries to do these jobs when American troops could do them better?

Links

I don't know how to categorize this story, but I found it worth reading.

Healthcare Myths on ABC's 20/20. A summary of effective Healthcare Systems.

Bush is a war criminal.

Blackwater is a Terrorist Organization

And Congress should declare them as such, and ban them for good. The United States should not be using terrorist mercenaries to fight our battles.

Republican Coulter

Ann Coulter is... oh heck, just read what she said:

If we took away women's right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democrat president. It's kind of a pipe dream, it's a personal fantasy of mine, but I don't think it's going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women.

In short, Ann Coulter wants to take away the right to vote from women. Think about that. She's a major Republican talking head, and she WANTS TO TAKE AWAY MY RIGHT TO VOTE. Not to mention her own right to vote. In fact, losing the vote is "a personal fantasy" for her. Which might come true, for her alone at least, as she is being investigated for vote fraud.

And, seriously, what is with that Adam's apple? I've never seen any other "woman" with such a prominent Adam's apple. Maybe she wants women to lose the vote then she'll reveal that she's been a guy all along. Or maybe she's just so freaking skinny that her throat is trying to escape her neck.

Veto-Monkey

In only the fourth veto of his "presidency", Bush vetoed a bi-partisan health care proposal that would have helped 4 million poor children.

Bush hates kids.

ARGH!

They are not "contractors"! They are MERCENARIES. Call them what they are. They are hired soldiers with no allegiance to anything but money and death.

They are also illegal. The United States should never be hiring mercenaries to fight our battles. The fact that they not only exist, but exist in larger numbers than our own legitimate troops, should scare the crap out of anyone who believes in a free country.

Blackwater = mercenaries.

Bush has built up his own private army. Can we impeach him for that?!???

Linkdump

Rush Limbaugh's Phony Soldiers.

Wife of Health Care Victim responds to a hit piece which insults her, and her dead husband.

Speaking of health care, Bush continues to hate children and plans to veto attempts to get more children health care coverage.

The Salvation Army hates women. But then, I've known for a long time that the Salvation Army sucks.

A student is punished for posting an insult about school administrators on her blog. She posted it outside of school, but the administration argues that because the website can be seen on school computers, it's the same as if she'd yelled it in the hallway. Unfortunately, a judge actually was stupid enough to agree with the administration. Ug.

Music professor denied entry to the United States, and the State Department won't tell her why. This story is just disgusting, as well. Will we have any rights left after this government is through?

US Soldiers in Iraq denied freedom of religion.

Rush Limbaugh is actually the first one to make the Betray Us wordplay. But it's always ok when neocons do it. Then again, maybe everyone just excuses Rush because he's so addled by his drug addictions.

And again, if liberals had rewritten the lyrics to "God Bless America" to condemn the country, every single news outlet would be screaming for blood. But it's always ok when radical ultra-Christians do it.

Lawbloggers and the Jena Six.

Republican politician is well-versed on how evil liberals are for daring to exercise their first amendment rights to criticize a general, but she didn't even know the name of the last soldier from her district to die in Iraq.

General Strike

Begin a general strike on Election Day, November 6, 2007. Well, would it work?

Vigilante Censorship Leads to Book Reviews

Wow. Library Stuff linked to me. As that's one of my favorite sites I'm pleased and honored. In my post I talked about a case of vigilante censorship, in which a woman stole a book from a couple of libraries in order to protect children from the contents of the book. I visited my local library and flipped through the book, but then decided it deserved an even closer look, so I went back and checked it out. My library had two copies on the shelf. I may end up buying a copy of the book for myself. As I pointed out, vigilante censorship doesn't work, and in this case backfired big time.

The book in question is "It's Perfectly Normal". The book is aimed at children who are starting puberty. It's goal is to demystify the changes that a person goes through, and does so in a very straightforward way. It also has plenty of illustrations, in a gentle style that is not clinical, but not titillating.

I'm going to reiterate that I wish I'd had this book when I was going through puberty. My parents were great, don't get me wrong, but I didn't know what questions to ask. This book would have given me both the vocabulary I needed and answers to a number of questions I dared not ask. And it wouldn't have changed my religious beliefs at all, except perhaps to make me more confident. Something I desperately needed at that time in my life, and didn't get until many years later.

First off, there are about 40 penises in the artwork in this book. There are about an equal or slightly higher number of graphic depictions of female genitalia. Almost every picture is surrounded by text that explains something about the human body. My personal suspicion is that many kids who read this book may focus at first on the pictures, but the text is easy to understand and interesting enough quickly draw them in. And it's great text.

As guides throughout the book, we are introduced to a cartoon bird and bee. The bird is eager to learn, while the bee thinks sex is "gross". These characters appear on almost every page, commenting on the text. They are a way for some readers to distance themselves a bit from the intensity of the subject matter, and a clever narrative device.

The book first defines the word "sex": gender, reproduction system, desire, and the act itself. A quick three pages at the end of this first section describes what people mean by "straight" and "gay", and the last paragraph of this section reflects a theme the entire book takes: "If a person has any questions of thoughts about his or her sexual feelings, talking to someone he or she knows and trusts -- a parent, relative, good friend, teacher, doctor, nurse, or clergy member -- can be helpful." The book is constantly referring the reader (who is presumed to be a child) back to the adults in his or her life.

Of course, for some folks, just the fact that the book doesn't declare homosexuals to be sinners destined for hell makes it a bad book.

The next section of the book talks about the human body. And on page 20-21 there is an impressive double page spread of a bunch of naked people of every shape, size, color, and age. No doubt these pages would give fundamentalists a heart attack. What the fundamentalists don't seem to understand or remember is that children are extremely curious about the human body at that age. Isn't it better for them to look at cartoons in a book than seek out a fellow child to experiment with? Just because you do not acknowledge their curiousity does not mean it will go away. This book is all about satisfying curiousity.

The section continues with a detailed overview of the sexual parts of a female body, then an overview of the sexual parts of a male body. It's illustrated, of course, and there is a LOT of emphasis on the fact that these body parts are designed for making babies. It sure seems like a lot of the point of this book is to make sure children understand that sex generally results in babies... a fact that I would think any fundamentalist would want their child to learn.

The section ends with a bit about "dirty" words, and how sex is taboo. Again, it ends with the suggestion that children seek out a trusted adult if they have questions.

The third section is all about puberty and what happens to a body as it goes through puberty. This section talks about periods, wet dreams, and erections. Again, it emphasizes that having sex can result in pregnancy. Over and over. It also talks about acne (the bane of all youth), bras, and jockstraps. It discusses hygiene and health, and the new emotions that come along with puberty. And, horror of horrors, the very end of the section covers masturbation.

The fourth section talks about families and babies. It starts with the difficulties of caring for babies, then talks about genetics, then moves into the actual acts that lead to babies. Again, there is a massive emphasis on how likely it is for a baby to result from intercourse. This section also goes into birth control, and what doesn't work. There appear to be a lot of myths out there, and this book attempts to de-mystify and de-mythify. The rest of the section is devoted to actually having a baby, and what the woman goes through. Frankly, if that part doesn't convince girls to be careful, I'm not sure what would. The final bit of this section talks about other ways to have a child, including in vitro and adoption.

The fifth section is about decision making. It covers abstinence and birth control, and emphasizes that the only way to make sure you won't have a baby is to not have sex. The end of the birth control part again refers the child to a trusted adult. The last part of this section is about abortion, and covers it as fairly as I've seen. There's a slight overriding disapproval of the whole matter, which is only to be expected from a book celebrating the human body and life, but it doesn't condemn abortion. Again, the mere fact that it doesn't condemn it is probably enough to make it a bad book for some folks.

The last section deals with the very serious topics of sexual abuse and sexually transmitted disease. The book advises children to go to an adult if they are abused, and then to another if they are not listened to. It's good advice, and something that some children, sadly, really ought to know. Like the overview of pregnancy, the pages on STDs ought to scare some children into being careful. There is a longer part on AIDS, and then the book finishes up with more about making choices.

Again, this is a great book. I would not hesitate to hand it to my own children. I wouldn't give it to someone else's children, but I'd recommend it for the parents to read and decide for themselves. It's a book that requires an adult to be ready to answer questions. I don't consider that a bad thing at all.

Top 10 Modern Differences Between Progressives and Conservatives

The Top 10 Modern Differences Between Progressives and Conservatives:

Number 10

Progressives want to improve America for everyone.

Conservatives believe America is #1; improvement is impossible by definition.

Number 9

Progressives believe in facts.

Conservatives believe that anything that does not explicitly favor them is biased against them.

Number 8

Conservatives would rather die than have gay soldiers help win the wars they start.

Progressives would let any qualified citizen serve in the military, but would rather not start wars.

Number 7

Progressives manipulate language to elucidate their own opinions.

Conservatives manipulate language to distort progressives' opinions.

Number 6

Progressives dislike hypocrisy.

Conservatives dislike Progressives' hypocrisy.

Number 5

Progressives believe that protecting life means protecting people who are alive.

Conservatives believe that protecting life means protecting people who are in hopeless vegetative states, microscopic cells, flags, virginity and ignorance.

Number 4

Progressives criticize the media because they don't like how it behaves.

Conservatives criticize the media because they don't like that it exists.

Number 3

Progressives believe that everyone is entitled to the pursuit of happiness.

Conservatives believe that everyone is entitled to the pursuit of happiness except women, minorities, gays, atheists, Muslims, pot smokers, immigrants, foreigners, the impoverished and the Clintons.

Number 2

Conservatives believe that 9/11 "changed everything," so we must do anything not let the terrorists win.

Progressives believe that convincing ourselves that 9/11 changed anything lets the terrorists win.

And, the Number 1 Modern Difference Between Progressives and Conservatives

Progressives believe that "we are all in it together."

Conservatives believe that "you are on your own."

Why We Need Net Neutrality

Here's a graphical illustration of what will likely happen if we do not get Net Neutrality:

"While his hired captains jeer us in the street."

Mercenaries are Making a Killing in Iraq. There are more Blackwater "security" guards in Iraq than American soldiers. Blackwater doesn't answer to US Military law, nor are they responsible for their actions to the Iraq government. And they ignored the demand by the Iraq government that they leave. Think about it. A bunch of macho mercenaries answerable to NO ONE, running around in Iraq shooting innocent people without fear of punishment. And we wonder why we are losing the occupation??!??

Winning Season

The Mariners have a winning season this year! Yay!

(the key to being an M's fan is to keep your expectations low for most years)

Fascism

The Ten Steps To Fascism:

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy ("terrorists")
2. Create a gulag (Guantánamo Bay, CIA "black sites")
3. Develop a thug caste (Blackwater, young Republicans)
4. Set up an internal surveillance system (wiretaps)
5. Harass citizens' groups (anti-war protests stopped, animal rights protestors defined as "terrorists")
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release (no fly lists)
7. Target key individuals (whistleblowers punished)
8. Control the press (Fox Propaganda Channel)
9. Dissent equals treason (McCain suggests kicking MoveOn out of the country)
10. Suspend the rule of law (habeas corpus anyone?)

Bush and Cheney should have been in prison for treason four years ago. When we finally start goose-stepping, then are we allowed to compare Bush to Hitler?

Lotsa Links and Rants

Some phone numbers on the national Do Not Call list will expire soon, so make sure your numbers are re-upped at donotcall.gov. You can verify your phone numbers are on the list at the website (mine are good until 2011), or add a phone number to the list. I have gotten VERY few unwanted calls since I put our numbers on the list.

Stephen Colbert on the Simpsons (YouTube).

Bush hates poor children.

Heavily monitored areas in London are NOT seeing a reduction in crime. Apparently Big Brother is pretty much ineffectual.

Newsweek has a good summary of what happened in Jena, LA. If you don't know about it, read. If it doesn't disgust you, then you aren't human, like the driver of the truck in this article.

Guantanama Underwear Flap. Military accuses lawyers of sneaking underwear into their clients... clients they haven't been allowed to see in a year, and underwear that is popular with military (not lawyers).

Iraq: Yesterday, Congress learned that $6 billion worth of contracts are under criminal review. $6 BILLION stolen from American taxpayers. By a lot of companies run by close friends of Bush and Cheney. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

If there is a World War III, this is the start of it.

The Opposite of Progress...

Congress wastes time condemning a freaking NEWSPAPER AD while Bush gets away with murdering our troops in Iraq. And then Bush, who insulted our armed forces far more than Move On ever has, whines about the ad as well. Whatever happened to FREE SPEECH???

Here's Olbermann on the hypocrisy of our "president".

Guns in School

Should a teacher be allowed to carry a gun to school? My first instinct is "NO!"

But read this story, and this article. Has your opinion changed?

I think mine has. I've never been opposed to guns. I've been opposed to people with no training carrying guns. This woman has gone through training. She knows what she's doing. And she has a VERY good reason to carry a weapon. It still bothers me that she may carry a gun, but I'd rather that than she die at the hands of her ex-husband.

The Mariners

Yay. They won't have a losing season this year.

Book Banning!

Human Filtering... a woman checks out multiple copies of a sex education book from the library and refuses to return them, proudly proclaiming that she is taking them to prevent any children from reading the books. As a result, the library has to order more copies of the books due to requests from the publicity resulting, and the book gets more sales.

Vigilante censorship doesn't work.

Out of curiosity, I went to my local library and looked at the book in question, "It's Perfectly Normal." I flipped through it and immediately saw what the book thief was no doubt horrified by: accurate cartoons of the human body showing sexual organs. I read through the words that accompanied the offending pictures, and found that it was a very straightforward, basic text on the human body. The kind of book I really deeply wish I'd had when I was a teenager/pre-teen going through puberty. The book emphasized acceptance, intelligent decision making, and hygiene. Altogether, a really great book that I'd be happy to get for my own kids (if I had any).

Of course, it's also a book that requires a parent to actually be involved in parenting. You don't just hand this to a kid and say, "here, figure it out!" Clearly, though, parenting is too difficult for parents like the book thief. Better to just make sure the kids never see anything you disagree with. It's like The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg all over again.

Political Rants

Happy Constitution Day.

The Annotated Constitution. If you haven't read the constitution recently, read it again now.

Iraqi Blog Roundup.

Two of the seven soldiers who contributed to an op-ed about the war are now dead. Another is wounded. Read the column.

The almost non-existent Iraq Government has banned Blackwater, the mercenary criminals who are being paid far more than our troops with no oversight. I knew an extremely pro-Bush Vietnam vet who planned to join Blackwater because it paid more than the military and would let him "kill terrorists".

Only a neocon would be stupid enough to believe in the "amero" coin. Speaking of stupid, the Museum of Hoaxes has a couple of election hoaxes that were entirely successful.

The war on drugs terrorizes another innocent family. The war on drugs has to stop. There's got to be a better way to reduce drug use than attacking and murdering innocents in ill-conceived drug raids. At least this time no one was killed.

And on another war topic, The ACLU files a "friend of court" brief in support of Larry Craig. Basically, their complaint boils down to the fact that the sting operation was not crafted to avoid capturing innocent people. While I find a certain morbid glee in a hypocrite getting caught while doing something he's publicly condemned, the whole sting seemed pretty dodgy to me.

Distracted Driving. Don't we have laws against driving while distracted? Like "negligent driving" and such? Why do we need new laws? Just punish people to the full extent of the current laws. Sheesh. Why do we have to spell out what people can or cannot do?

More on fixing healthcare. It seems that some people think computerizing medical records will magically solve everything. If it's done correctly, computerization can help. But the way most systems are run simply adds another layer to the mess a patient has to work through to get help. One key to a good health care system is allowing doctors to be the final word on treatment instead of insurance companies.

Quote of the Day:

"The President has been allowed to spy on Americans without a warrant, and our U.S. Senate is letting it continue... You know something is wrong when the New England Patriots face stiffer penalties for spying on innocent Americans than Dick Cheney and George Bush."

-- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, quoted by NBC News.

Appeals court throws out conviction in the Jena Six case. If you haven't heard about this yet, go read and be prepared to become very angry or very sick at how barbaric and backwards our country still is.

Another Republican finally realizes what true conservatives have been saying for years and quits the party.

McCain thinks that people who legally express their opinion should be deported if they don't agree with Bush and his mouthpieces.

Good-bye waterfront. Whether or not we caused it, global warming affects us dramatically. Maybe it would be a good idea to at least try to stop it? Unless we really want to end the human race.

Six Years Later

Six years ago we were attacked, on American soil, by Osama Bin Laden. Our leader claimed at that point that he was going to capture Osama Bin Laden, dead or alive. Our leader didn't. In fact, he diverted all resources from the search for Bin Laden to a war profiteering adventure, totally unrelated to the War on Terror.

George W Bush could've been the most popular President ever, if only he had kept his promise and just FINISHED what he started in Afghanistan by capturing Bin Laden and destroying the Taliban.

Instead, he decided to give his old buddies taxpayers' money by creating a threat in Iraq and invading a country that had nothing to do with the attacks on America.

Six years later, and we are in Hell thanks to Bush. Heckuva job, Bushie.

The Surge Has Failed

Iraqis believe the Surge has failed. But hey, who cares about the Iraqis, right? They're only the people totally affected by whatever Bush and his fellow war profiteers intend to do to the country. I mean, we can't have the general populace having a say in matters, that would be entirely too much like democracy. And you can't have war profiteers and democracy!

So, we know the Surge is a complete failure and that the best choice would be to start withdrawing American troops from the illegal and immoral war in Iraq immediately. Let's see how the White House and their pets spin this.

Various Links

Another failure of infrastructure. More people died in the heatwave than the bridge collapse, but no one seems to be screaming about power companies needing to upgrade their systems like bridges need to be repaired. But at the root, it's the same problem. Money isn't going into maintaining what we have. The result is preventable deaths.

Do you understand where you are?

Is the lastest Bin Laden video a forgery?

Iraqi inside Iraq:

My son is a coin collector and was quite impressed and said out loud, "Mum , let's go down to the al-Rasheed tomorrow (my day off) and look up this place, the items are good and the prices are right. Let's Mum!"

"I'm sorry baby, we can't. I will take you to another shop near al-Mutanebbi, you might find similar things."

"Why, Mum? Why can't I go to this shop?"

"Because it's in the green zone baby, and you're Iraqi."

Football and Politics

Football and politics collide. As a Seahawks fan I have this to say: Disliking Matt Hasselbeck and Mack Strong for their action, even criticizing them heavily for it, is fine. Harrassing them personally is not. There's a line. Free speech is important, but from the sounds of it, some of the anti-Bush crowd went over the line. That's wrong.

I loved Steve Largent as a player, but was horribly disappointed in his actions as a politician after he left the game. But at least Largent kept politics and football apart (mostly). Hasselbeck and Strong made a starkly political presentation to a traitor who was in town for no other reason than to raise money for a lackey. And they pulled the hometown team into the mud with them. For that, I really don't like either man anymore. But I would never harrass them personally. They are entitled to their opinions, just as I'm entitled to mine.

I just watched Shut Up and Sing last night. As the Dixie Chicks made clear, they had no problem with people not liking them for that single comment. What was wrong was the death threats, harrassment, and the way that people who were still fans weren't allowed to express their opinions at all. This is the same sort of situation. Hasselbeck and Strong are allowed to be stupid, but only a complete moron would harrass them for it.

Impeach Now

The GAO Report on Iraq. Conclusion? Things are getting worse. Most benchmarks weren't met. The "surge" didn't work. But watch and see how the Bushies spin it!

Nuns call for inpeachment of Bush and Cheney. I think we ought to turn the pair of criminals over to the Hague for war crimes trials, as well.

A summary of Iraqi stories. One example:

I tried to stop the bleeding but wasn't skilled enough to do it. I was losing them – they were dying in front of my eyes!

Suddenly the door was kicked in. American troops poured into the house, shouting "What the ... ..."

They came to a stunned stop.

Looking at us – at the blood – at my broken family...

They said they were sorry. They had set up an ambush for somebody and we had walked into it. They thought he had taken refuge in this house, and followed him in.

They said they were sorry, again and again. Asked if we needed first aid; help in bandaging the wounds; asked if we wanted to be taken to hospital.

Why did you shoot at us?? We had our headlights turned off as you asked, and the dome lights turned on

Why did you shoot?? Couldn't you see it was a family in the car?? Couldn't you see?

Just make way for us to get to our home, please.

And they did.

My daughter lost two fingers. My husband has a punctured lung and a steel sliver embedded in his arm, still to be seen to.

This is Bush's definition of success in Iraq. Attacking innocent families in a war zone so confused that it's nearly impossible to tell friend from foe. Four-year old girls having their fingers blown off in a case of mistaken identity. THIS IS BUSH'S IRAQ.

We lost Iraq the day that Bush and his war profiteering buddies decided they didn't need to plan for occupying Iraq. Staying in Iraq now is just denying the inevitable, and by that denial wasting the sacrifice of our troops. We should impeach Bush and Cheney, and any other member of their administration that participated in the Iraq debacle, and withdraw our troops from Iraq as quickly as feasible.

Speaking of withdrawing... Riverbend has left Iraq and fled to Syria, joining at least 2.35 million fellow Iraqis in exile.

Better Hope You Can Swim

The Melting Arctic Sea:

Worse, it's happening much faster than scientists expected it to happen. Better build an ark.

Dorothy Counts

The Dorothy Counts Story. On Sept. 4th, 1957, a 15-year-old girl named Dorothy Counts took a walk that changed Charlotte. Fifty years later, Charlotte remembers.

Stopping Terrorism

German police have stopped a terrorist plot. Using good, old fashioned police work. The Germans didn't have to invade an unrelated country to stop the plot. They didn't have to take away every right of their citizens. They used common sense and good police work.

Why is America incapable of the same level of competence?

Massive Linkdump (with rants!)

Yikes. This story is both a warning to not post personal information on the internet, and a indication that the far Right find nothing wrong with casually destroying other people's lives over petty stupidity.

Good-bye Mountains (of course, to someone who lives in Seattle, it isn't a mountain unless it's got snow on it year-round, so these are actually "hills" being destroyed, which is still very bad).

The American Taliban continues to mock itself, by once again making the comparison of the Radical Right to our enemies in terrorism too obvious to ignore.

Woman punished for registering her dog to vote. She did it to prove that identification requirements are too lax. She proved her point. Now the problem needs to be fixed. Oddly, the reports focus on the dog, not on the voting registration problems.

Wal-Mart sucks. A memorial marker.

Petraus is just another Bushie who allows Republican propaganda to be given to the troops.

Make people scared, then make them vote, and they'll always vote for the more extreme option. Republicans want all voters to be terrified, so they'll vote to continue to destroy the Constitution.

The drug war continues to attack the wrong people. Check out this map of botched raids. The war on drugs is stupid, murderous, often illegal and should be stopped. Make drugs legal and tax the heck out of them, with heavy penalties for any crimes committed while under the influence of any drug. And stop arming police officers to make war on the people they are supposed to protect.

Do you have to show ID? At least one cop thought so. "Papers, please," we're slowly becoming a fascist state.

Lucky to be Insured... ok, Not really. Even the insured can't get covered for live-saving procedures. And I'm one of the uninsured.

Never accept a phone from your employer if you intend to sneak out early.

The White House "wholeheartedly disagree" with the fact that Bush's "surprise" visit to Iraq was just another stupid photo op. But then, the White House always disagrees with the facts.

Links

Mark Evanier explains the estate tax for people who believe the lies about it. And he links to a mythbusting page on the lies of the rich folks who want the tax repealed.

Reforming the Electoral College.

Religion gets a bad rap from media, because media tends to focus on the radical right, instead of the average church-goer.

Don't trust banks? The police will steal your money instead. All in the name of the "Drug War", a war that's harmed far more people than it's helped.

The Great Iraq Swindle. Links to more information on the sickening war profiteers who created the mess in Iraq and what they've gotten out of it.

My School Reform

My school reform would never happen, because in this nation we seems to value the wrong sorts of things. But I can't stop thinking about it...

First off, we promise education to every child in this nation. That's a wonderful goal. I think we ought to redefine what "education" is exactly, though. There ought to be several levels of goals in education. The most basic level would be the only one that is mandatory. Every other level would be attempted, but if the child shows no interest or ability, the child should be allowed to opt out. With the caveat that every child has the ability to come back to school, free (on the taxpayers' dime) until they reach the age of 19.

What ought to be in the most basic level? The ability to read, write, and balance a checkbook (practical math). The understanding of their rights as a citizen. And that's it. If we made it an absolute priority to make sure that every single child has mastered the most basic of educational needs, then I think we'd be a heckuva lot better off as a society.

The thought that some children make it through to high school, and beyond, without being able to read sickens me. If you can't read, you can't progress alone. You are reliant on other people. Every single person ought to be read. It's just common sense.

Writing is a little more difficult, but if we say that writing also involves the ability to communicate thoughts, it should cover the needed areas of learning. The ability to be able to explain yourself clearly is crucial to a person's life.

Practical math is something that doesn't get enough emphasis. Just knowing how to handle money, and understanding basic interest rates and what credit cards really do, would help so many people get themselves sorted out. And maybe prevent some people from getting into horrid debt in the first place. It may not be sexy math, but it ought to be the main concern at the most basic level of learning.

Citizenship is never tackled enough. Citizenship includes all your rights as a human being as well as specific rights granted by the State. Every child should know what habeas corpus is and why it is so important. Every child should understand what an honor it is to be able to vote. Every child should learn to respect those around them as fellow citizens.

There should be a few simple tests that make sure that every kid gets the minimum. The tests could also cover other potential goal levels, but at the very least the four basics should be learned throughout the early grades. If at some point the child says, "enough!" to school, they can leave and enter the workforce or an apprenticeship. Again, with the caveat that they cannot just drop out of school and do nothing, and if they wish to return before they turn 19, they can. By the same token, children who learn faster and wish to learn more should be allowed to proceed at their own pace and not be held back by old-fashioned curriculum or teachers attempting to teach far too many students in one tiny classroom.

Unfortunately, to change the schools to this kind of format would be a huge undertaking. Additionally, I doubt that most people would agree with me that a basic education is all that some people need. Heck, I'm not entirely sure of it myself. But I needed to get the words down and spit these thoughts out while I'm thinking about them, so here it is. I'd be delighted to hear critiques of it.

Albert "It's OK to torture people" Gonsales Gone

Good riddance to bad rubbish. Let's hope someone can be put into the office of Attorney General who will respect the Constitution and restore our stolen rights from the Bush administration. But I'm not holding my breath.

Another Day, More Outrage

Here I go, ranting again...

NIE Report: Iraq is getting worse. The Bush Administration is going to spin the surge as working, but it isn't. We need to get out, before more soldiers die for Halliburton's profits.

The Bush Administration has an anti-protester manual. In other words, Bush refuses to allow any visible protests near him. He can't deal with dissent at all. His ego is way too fragile. One wonders how he can exist at all. A dissenting word apparently will pop him.

How many of our soldiers will die in those cost effective 35 days? Are the lives of our soldiers really so worthless that they can't even ship lifesaving equipment by the fastest means possible instead of BY FREAKIN' BOAT???

Trying to help.

Iraq is like Vietnam. Even Bush admits it now. Ok, he doesn't seem to be talking about the same Vietnam that actually happened, but he admits it. Time to bring our troops home. NOW, not after another six years of pointless battle.

It's the economy. For the first time since WWII, the average income of Americans has gone down... since Bush took office. The rich are rapidly getting richer, but everyone else has been left behind.

Support the Troops: Kill a Prophet. A biblical lesson on claiming that dissenters are undermining the troops.

No secret ballot in Ohio. From a comment:

This is yet another reason that electronic voting should be turned into electronic assisted voting. You get your ballot from the poll worker. You may elect to mark or punch the ballot yourself and put it in the ballot box. Alternatively, you may insert the ballot into an electronic machine that does all the things that people value electronic machines for. When you press "Done", the electronic machine marks or punches the ballot and gives it back to you. You may check it or not before you put it in the ballot box.

Just because you can accumulate and count votes inside an electronic machine does not mean you should. In fact, it may mean exactly the opposite.

Pit-Bull owner had already been cited before the two dogs entered a neighbor's home, killed a dog in the home and seriously injured the woman living in the house. As far as I'm concerned, the owner should be in jail for assault. Letting any dog loose is bad, letting dangerous dogs loose should result in jail time.

Primaries

I find the race to get the earliest primary election to be utterly hilarious. The whole nation hates the current administration so much that we just can't wait until a reasonable time to start the whole election season. Gotta have it sooner!

It doesn't matter to me. I don't belong to a political party and I won't vote in a presidential primary if I'm forced to declare a party. As Washington state cowardly bowed to the parties' demands and forces voters to declare a party before voting in primaries now, I won't have any input whatsoever in the selection of a candidate for either party. And while it bothers me a little, it doesn't bother me much because I think the method of choosing candidates in this country is insanely stupid anyway.

And again, I'm of the opinion that Bush and his cronies should be impeached immediately. So all this election garbage is just getting in the way of dealing with the lame duck president who is trying his best to destroy America in his final few months.

Politics

Our country's shame: Katrina revisited.

More on how much Bush hates children. First he poisons them with lead, then he takes away their health insurance. He's anti-abortion, but he hates children once they are out of the womb.

Bush Supporters Hate Democracy

I wish that post title were just my usual hyperbole. It isn't. Read Digby's Blog to get the full scoop, but here's a nice selection of quotes:

This rage at President Bush is an inevitable result of the system of government demanded by the people, which is Democracy.

The inadequacy of Democracy, rule by the majority, is undeniable – for it demands adopting ideas because they are popular, rather than because they are wise.

...

By elevating popular fancy over truth, Democracy is clearly an enemy of not just truth, but duty and justice, which makes it the worst form of government.

...

President Bush can fail in his duty to himself, his country, and his God, by becoming "ex-president" Bush or he can become "President-for-Life" Bush: the conqueror of Iraq, who brings sense to the Congress and sanity to the Supreme Court. Then who would be able to stop Bush from emulating Augustus Caesar and becoming ruler of the world? For only an America united under one ruler has the power to save humanity from the threat of a new Dark Age wrought by terrorists armed with nuclear weapons.

THESE PEOPLE ARE IN CHARGE OF OUR COUNTRY!!!! Impeach now. Now, not when Bush cancels the elections to make himself dictator. Now. Before these nutcases can do more damage to our democracy.

Political Links

What the press isn't telling you about the mine disasters.

Soldiers tell it like it is.

The pathetic state of reporting today. A reporter doesn't do enough research in an article complaining that blogs don't do research, then allows an editor to insert a false example into his piece.

The Daily Show goes to Iraq. The Daily Show is one of the few shows on television that features real journalism... which should be ironic, because it's a comedy show, but isn't, because the corporate owned media is basically a joke anyway.

Speaking of Iraq, Yikes!

The Bush Administration hates kids who are uninsured. But then, we already knew that Bush hates anyone who isn't rich.

Baseball

I've been closely following the Mariners this season, but without most of the passion I used to have for the game. Part of that is the taint of drug use in the Major Leagues that makes every game, every at bat, suspect. Part of it is the knowledge that most fans don't even care. They are perfectly fine with the illegal use of drugs because it apparently makes the game more exciting. Whatever.

The M's have a good record, are well over .500, and I hope they make the playoffs. But I'm not inclined to actually make an effort to see the games or go nuts over stats. The last time I did that was 2001... and some horrible things happened that year. Both in my personal life and ... well, you know. Sadly, a crazy devotion to baseball is now associated with those bad things in my mind.

I don't know why I'm posting this. I just feel like I ought to mention that my team is doing well, and I'm not completely ignoring them. Strange.

Political Ranting (with links!)

Stephen Colbert has joined Daily Kos. As seen on his show.

From toilets to terrorists, John Ostrander looks at the art of compromise.

Some bloggers are journalists, says the CIA and NSA.

Dennis Kucinich was homeless growing up. Think about that. He's probably the only Presidential candidate who has ever experienced true want in his entire life. Via Garrett.

"Papers, Please!" If you don't have your papers, you are obviously an enemy of the state and must be punished. Screw Real ID and screw any idiot who supports it.

The Pearl Jam censorship wasn't the first time that AT&T censored political speech. Do we really want companies like AT&T controlling all content on the internet? Net Neutrality is ESSENTIAL.

The facts about our secret wiretapping and eavesdropping are so secret that they can't even be discussed in court, even when it's a court specifically about the illegality of those same programs.

Just break the glass already.

Fox Propaganda Channel likes to rewrite history on Wikipedia. Of course, they constantly rewrite history on their broadcasts anyway, so I don't see how this is any different than their usual stupidity. Only morons and the ignorant watch Fox Propaganda Channel.

How To Win A Fight With A Conservative shows off the "logical fallacies" that Republicans tend to employ to spread their lies.

You know, Jose Padilla may have been guilty. I would even go so far as to say "probably" was guilty, of radical thoughts and stupidity, if nothing else. But our government tortured him and didn't charge him with the crimes until forced to do so. How on earth can our justice system retain any moral authority when it TORTURES PEOPLE?!????? Americans do not torture. Americans know torture is wrong AND useless. So how can we even look at the verdict of the Padilla trial as anything but a sham? The Bush Administration shames and stains every American by condoning torture. The entire administration, every single so-called human in it, should be put in prison for the rest of their lives for their crimes against humanity. That's more humane that holding people for years in prison without ever charging them with crimes.

It's true, the Radical Republicans are utter cowards who think that the Muslims are going to somehow take over this country unless we kill them all first. And they somehow are stupid enough to think that if people aren't peeing their pants in fear along with them, then they want the terrorists to win.

One way to look at the threat posed by Islamic radicalism (let us call it Option A) is to see it as the Epic War of Civilizations, the Existential Threat to Everything, the Gravest and Scariest Danger Ever Faced which is going to take over the U.S. and force us all to bow to Islam.

Another way to look at it (let us call this Option B) is to dismiss it entirely, to believe there is nothing wrong with Islamic radicalism, to think it should just be completely ignored because it poses no dangers of any kind.

There are, however, other options besides A and B. Therefore, to reject Option A is not to embrace Option B.

One would have thought that logical principle too self-evident to require pointing out, but as is typically the case when one assumes that, one is proven wrong.

Hello, cowardly Republicans! You can oppose radical Islam without making it out to be more dangerous than it actually is! And in any case, how does Iraq have anything at all to do with the war against radical Islam? We attacked Iraq so that Cheney's old company Halliburton could make a huge profit (which they have).

The war profiteers and their hired goons are already coming up with excuses to blame the Left for failure when we ultimately leave Iraq. Never mind that it was the Bush administration's screw ups that caused the mess in the first place. Never mind that the war itself was illegal. It'll surely be the fault of Liberals when we lose. As for me, I know exactly where the blame goes, and forever the name of George W Bush is going to equate in my mind with the deaths of thousands of American troops for war profits.

Countering the claim that things are actually getting better in Iraq are some actual facts. Like refugees having troubles, hundreds of Iraqis dying in bombings just yesterday, Iraqi women forced into prostitution by poverty. Things are getting WORSE over there, and our continued presence isn't helping at all.

But then, Halliburton hasn't squeezed every single possible penny out of the war, and haven't given enough dirty water to our troops. So, according to the Bush Administration, we'll just have to stay a bit longer.

Three Years

Ah... three years ago, on a whim, I started this blog to put stuff that didn't fit in my regular blog. Stuff like political thoughts, the Olympics, personal bits (like house problems). It hasn't entirely worked out, but I do enjoy ranting here every once in awhile. I do claim this is a boring blog... that's what it's intended to be. The boring side of me.

Three years. My how the time has flowed.

Sunday Links

Just Read This. A truly amazing piece of writing by a former Seattle Times reporter about the Pike Place Market and the Great Depression. Just go read it.

Iraq vets bear witness. Not for the faint of stomach. And definitely read the comments on the article, as some of those quoted follow up with criticism or praise for the article.

The math was wrong, but it doesn't change the facts.

Republicans are praying for another terrorist attack on America.

The RNC threatens the elderly to get donations.

An editorial about menu rules that I pretty much agree with.

Iraqi Blogosphere Roundup.

Elvis was NOT racist.

Another Blow for Women's Rights

Federal Court: Pharmacists Can Refuse to Dispense EC.

In the comments of that post there is a VERY interesting take on the problem, which I'm going to paraphrase/rephrase/edit quite a bit here:

The "call of conscious" usually means that the person who objects makes a sacrifice. However, in the case of the pharmacist refusing to sell legal medication to a woman of age he is making another person sacrifice.

The idea of doing what is morally right requires sacrifice and courage on the part of the person standing up for what he/she believes in. But refusing to give out a medication forces a different person, in need of the medication, to sacrifice and suffer.

Determining the course of another person's life IS NOT a moral choice, it is domination and control. If these pharmacists want to actually do something moral, then they need to leave their profession in protest.

Sacrifice for conscience is okay, but don't think that controlling others IS sacrifice. It's not. It's sadism.

I attempted to keep the gist of the argument clear, but please refer back to the original comment if you have doubts that I managed to do so.

Back to Politics

Arrested for not watering her lawn? Well, not exactly, but still!

AT&T censors Pearl Jam. This is another example that shows why Net Neutrality is essential. Imagine AT&T in charge of what you can see on the internet. Now imagine they don't like your opinion. Oops. You are silenced. Net Neutrality NOW.

Speaking of AT&T, Boing Boing has a story of how they fought for privacy against an intrusive government wanting to wiretap... 80 years ago.

Mighty Machete Missionaries

It's been awhile since we had Mormon missionaries in our yard, cleaning up the blackberries and ivy. But today a pair of them turned up on the porch, and were ready and willing to do some work as soon as I let them. I have no objection to anyone helping with yardwork, and I know it is a nice change for these guys to get to attack plants instead of knocking on doors, so I told 'em sure, come on and get to work.

They ran home to change into work clothes, then returned with a machete and work gloves. I supplied a rake and clipper, but they only used the rake. The first one, from Denver, attacked the back yard with his machete like he was working out some frustration. I helped the other, from Costa Rica, to rake up small plants from the sides near the house. After awhile he was able to rake up some of the machete leavings.

Eventually they switched places, and I told them they should only work until the yard waste bin was full. It didn't take them long at all, and they made a decent dent in the backyard jungle. While they worked, I also used my outdoor broom to clean off the back "porch" and make it walkable again. So, thanks to them showing up, I actually feel like I accomplished something outside today. Yay.

Links

Today is a sad anniversary. Let it never happen again.

Boing Boing will help you find your perfect candidate. Of course, my perfect candidate is one who will never win, but eh, that's life. Oddly enough, the three Democratic candidates most likely to get the nomination tied for a distant third place for me. *sigh*

Saving Soldiers' Jobs. Of course, when we get right down to it, the administration has ZERO interest in supporting our troops. The only thing Republicans care about is more corporate profits.

The Bridge

Slate has a roundup of bloggers posts on the Minnesota bridge disaster. Boing Boing also roundups posts.

Google Sightseeing points to images of the bridge.

A history of bridge collapses in Washington State. Not inclusive.

The current Republican party wants to shrink the government to the point where they can drown it in a bathtub. Deferred Maintenance is the result. The infrastructure of the United States decays while idiots play politics in Washington DC and State governments.

Links Again

Asterism on Soccer.

An unsolved killing with ties to Seattle and the Attorney General scandal.

Fox Propaganda Channel has won a court case. In short, "there is no rule against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States." About sums it up.

I can't feel bad about what blogger Mike Stark did to "falafel", though I don't approve of it, after reading what "falafel" put Andrea Mackris through. Of course, Mike himself was threatened by "falafel" with a home visit, so his little trick could be considered turnabout is fair play.

Ohio's 2004 Presidential Election records destroyed in violation of Federal Law. Funny how all the evidence that the 2004 election might have been stolen conveniently disappears.

Wal-Mart Pays Mexican Teens Nothing.

Iraqi Government Goes on Break

The Iraqi "Government" is on break, perhaps our troops should go on break until the Iraqis get back to work.

Links

Utterly sickening. An oral surgeon is sued for a disgusting practical joke, and gets $1 million out of it. Sick. No insurer should have to pay for an idiot scumbag pulling an immature joke.

Iraq by the Numbers. Some examples: "$1.4 billion: Overcharges by Halliburton." "$9 billion: Taxpayer money that disappeared in Iraq." "6,000-10,000: Estimated number of U.S. troops whose injuries have included brain trauma."

We're living in a golden age, and it's coming to an end.

Iraq celebrates victory in football (soccer).

Linkages

Speeding Insurance. Huh.

W's Grandfather Planned Fascist Coup of USA.

Cheney Criticizer Arrested for Verbal Assault. Apparently, free speech is illegal in Cheney's United States.

Paying people to sign up voters leads to stupid stuff.

The drug war is insane and needs to stop.

Obama doesn't get it either.

Michael Moore served subpoena.

Links

There should be limits on presidential pardon powers.

Idiot who failed his bar exam blames Gay Marriage for his personal stupidity.

Patriot Act Abuses Abound.

Death threats for teaching evolution. Are we living in the dark ages?

Speaking of, Evolution is Not Just a Theory.

Conversations with Neocons.

Umbridge.

Anger over sex crimes builds.

Was Pat Tillman Murdered?

The AP has some evidence that indicates it wasn't "friendly fire", it may have been intentional fire.

More here.

Links

Don't take your citizenship for granted. Zoila Meyer thought she was a citizen, but learned she wasn't after she won an election and became an active citizen.

Bob Harris recommends a 1987 movie set in 1856 Nicaragua to explain 2007 US foreign policy.

50 High School Presidential Scholars give Bush and Anti-Torture Letter. No report on how soon the kids will be sent to Gitmo.

Girl sues for the right to wear a purity ring to a school with a strict "no jewelry" rule. She eventually lost the fight, because the ring is not integral to her faith.

Still no liberty.

Asterism sums up Iraqi blogs early July and later July.

Shift freight to trains, spare the roads, air, and money. Not to mention shorten commutes.

Links

Why Bush is a Loser. A rebuttal to Kristol's "everything is wonderful" column.

Quote of the month: "Imagine putting drug war money towards healthcare. Its not hard if you try." - damn dirty ape at MetaFilter.

Crud. King County has passed a stupid restaurant menu law like New York's, in which nutrition information has to be ON THE MENU boards, with the prices and such, instead of just easily available. There are far more intelligent ways to make the information available and easy to read than forcing it onto the menus. This is a poorly written law, and ought to be altered substantially before it goes into effect next year.