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.