Rush: Young People Aren't Interested in Anything But Sex

Also on Shakespeare's Sister, a look at Rush's dissing former VP Al Gore's new cable channel for the 18-34 demographic by way of saying that people of that age are only interested in blow jobs.

Funny thing is, some of the best reasoned, most intelligent political discussions I had prior to the election were with those at the young end of that scale, and some a bit younger than that. Several of the late teens working in local stores up here had watched the presidential debates with great care and I often walked in to find them discussing points in the debate or pointing out stories in the paper to one another on related things.

Not joking. I do think Vermont kids are a bit different in that respect - without quite the overpowering effects of the media and trendiness up here, more emphasis is on reading and critical thinking. There's no mall to run off to unless you're willing to drive 50-60 miles.

But beyond that, I don't think 18-34's are anywhere near as tuned out as some in the 35-50 demographic, for example, who sometimes try too hard "not to take the news too seriously". I also think 18-34's are much more apt to have someone very close to them in the service, affected by some of the dreadful changes in the workplace, watching their quality of living continuing well out below their parents' which we didn't see much in the 80s or 90s when every 18 year old had a brand new car and a $30K line of credit with better furniture than I've ever bought.

So - wow, what a news flash - Rush is wrong! If CNN only reported on when he eats and pops a pill, there would be nothing else for them to say during the 24/7 news cycle.

Completely OFF the Topic of Politics

Shakespeare's Sister talks about the constant DIY experience of home ownership. While my eyes usually glaze over such discussions, Shakes' Sis writes beautifully.

The General Recommends Some iPod Additions for Our President

Find them here.

And, on a personal note, the General is the first person who knows "Drop kick me, Jesus". I swear this song, which played endlessly on the country-western radio station my mother listened to constantly when I was a child, is evil.

Say Hello to

GOPLies.

Stuff

Posting is apt to be light today since I've got a doctor's appointment (I just flunked a bunch of medical tests), tax forms to finish, and trying to track down some missing income so I can include a check with the tax forms. ::cough::

Cross your fingers for me, please. I've reached the point of desperation where I'm looking for magical symbolism. ::snort::

Here's Your Fortune Cookie

Now where's my Hunan chicken?

Prayers to Protect the Hateful and Scared

So I went to one of the "pray for Tom" sites tonight just to see what's being said, and the message is clearly out there that anyone who does anything but acknowledge Tom is terrific is demon spawn shat from the ass of a Dem ass. The word "foment" kept popping into my brain (I'm sure I don't know why).

Here are some of the talking points to woo DeLay support:

Do you want your children to INHERIT an officially God-less nation?

You mean along with the God-less debt that Mr. Bush is going to saddle them with? American isn't a Godless nation. There seem to be many different Gods represented, in fact, and what's amazing is that the so-called leaders of some of the most "righteous" of them purposely pervert the truth for their own agenda.

Are you GRIEVED that 45 million American babies have been murdered by "legal" abortion?

As opposed to 45 million children, many of which may be born into circumstances that will not allow such children to thrive, especially in a climate where health care is becoming exclusively a rich man's luxury, where wages can't begin to keep up with price jumps, where the same people who demand that abortions be stopped also refuse to fund programs to help nurture those babies once they're born?

I'm also grieved about the many children that have faced a possible death sentence in this country. State-funded murder of children is fine when the child is a complete being but AWFUL when the child is still a collection of cells that cannot live outside the uterus.

Are you HORRIFIED that the very sex crimes that provoked God to destroy ancient Sodom are now special, protected “rights” in America?

You know what horrifies me? People who ask questions like that and then hurry home to watch Desperate Housewives, Growing Up Gotti, The Sopranos, and other red-state popular programming.

Again and again, pious people like you are picked up for child sexual abuse, blackmailed to keep quiet about the homosexual liaisons, the mistress, the girl you knocked up and then made to have an abortion.

Do you WEEP over a worldly, divided & largely ineffective American Church?

A worldly church? Oh, the horror that a church would embrace people of different cultures and colors and characters. And there is no "American Church". America was NOT founded as a theocracy. We will stop you from turning it into a theocracy.

Are you OUTRAGED that our Courts are determined to strip us of true religious liberty?

Nice spinneroo. But what you're pissed about is that the Courts refuse to let you exercise your religious liberty against other people. You want everyone to follow your rules. But most of us get over that fantasy around age 7 or 8.

For people like you, religious liberty is defined as the ability to force your religion and so-called great moral values on people who choose to live and believe differently. Just allowing a Jew to visit a synagogue or a Muslim a mosque or an agnostic to sit home is seen by you as a strike against your religious liberty.

Go create a theocracy somewhere. Enjoy. But you're not having this country to debase into something Cotton Mather would find too constricting.

Do you know in your heart that America’s ONLY HOPE is sweeping, God-given Revival & a Biblical Reformation - ushered in by prayer?

No. Our hope is through an intelligent educated public who makes choices based upon knowledge and real moral values (one can be moral without a God, you know) that are in the best interests of not only themselves but their neighbors. The more educated and critical their thinking helps them become, the less likely they are to fall to the bait of your fear and damnation traps.

Shame, shame on you for lying about what God wants to put forth your own nasty agenda. God will get you for this.

West Virginia Makes English the Official Language

From CNN/AP:

CHARLESTON, West Virginia (AP) -- Two days after the end of the legislative session, state lawmakers are discovering something few were aware of: They voted to make English the official language of West Virginia.

The language amendment was quietly inserted into a bill addressing the number of members that cities can appoint to boards of parks and recreation. Among mundane details about record-keeping, the amendment adds the provision that "English shall be the official language of the State of West Virginia."

Senate Majority Whip Billy Wayne Bailey successfully offered that change to House Bill 2782 amid a flurry of bills moving back and forth between the House and Senate on Saturday, the last night of the 60-day legislative session.

"I just told the members that the amendment clarifies the way in which documents are produced," Bailey, a Democrat, said Monday.

The implication that this was snuck into voting bothers me.

But I also must admit that I feel English should be the country's official language. It's obscene that children can go from pre-Kindergarten all the way through high school in the U.S. and yet not learn how to write, read, and speak English. Bi-, tri- or know more languages than that? Fine.

Not being able to understand English in a country that speaks English almost exclusively amounts to functional illiteracy and a very fast way to make certain that people will have limited avenues for jobs, education, public services, and the ability to vote. Many schools, having to cut budgets, have cut mandatory ESL classes.

Now, some Hispanic leaders - especially - have an issue with this. They feel that where Hispanics equal or dominate the white population, Spanish should be the language of record. But I don't think it works that way.

Mind you, I love to be in places where you hear a number of different languages spoken at once. Americans, for folks in a sophisticated, industrialized country, are often well behind foreign countries in being able to speak anything other than the so-called native tongue. I'd love us all to know at least a couple of languages. But Americans should know English. Period.

Beer and Genetically Modified Crops

From CNN:

Anheuser-Busch Cos., the nation's No. 1 buyer of rice as well as its largest brewer, says it won't buy rice from Missouri if genetically-modified medicinal crops are allowed to be grown in the state.

The St. Louis-based beer giant is the latest company to express concern over plans by Ventria Biosciences to grow 200 acres of rice engineered to produce human proteins capable of making medicine.

The company says it is concerned about possible contamination.

Pentagon's Long List of Bases to Close

From the Christian Science Monitor:

As the Pentagon prepares to embark on its first base closings in a decade, it is already clear that this round will be unlike any that has come before, both in its scope and its intent.

The Defense Department has made no secret of the fact that this year's list of suggested closings figures to be the biggest in history. But unlike past rounds, when the process focused primarily on paring down a bloated military, the goal this year is largely to recast the military.

And then they'll keep lying and saying Clinton closed all the bases. BTDT, got the t-shirt, already threadbare.

DeLay Urges GOP to Blame Dems for His Ethics Woes

Heh.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, hoping to hold support among fellow Republicans, urged GOP senators Tuesday to blame Democrats if asked about his ethics controversy and accused the news media of twisting supportive comments so they sounded like criticism.

Officials said DeLay recommended that senators respond to questions by saying Democrats have no agenda other than partisanship, and are attacking him to prevent Republicans from accomplishing their legislative program. One Republican said the Texan referred to a "mammoth operation" funded by Democratic supporters and designed to destroy him as a symbol of the Republican majority.

DeLay also thanked Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., for his recent comments and said the news media had twisted them to make them sound critical, the officials added, all speaking on condition of anonymity.

Sen Tom Coburn's Chief of Staff: Don't Impeach Judges; Impale Them

Ah, that whacky "Culture of Life" is at it again.

From The Nation:

Michael Schwartz must have thought I was just another attendee of the "Confronting the Judicial War on Faith" conference. I approached the chief of staff of Oklahoma's GOP Senator Tom Coburn outside the conference in downtown Washington last Thursday afternoon after he spoke there. Before I could introduce myself, he turned to me and another observer with a crooked smile and exclaimed, "I'm a radical! I'm a real extremist. I don't want to impeach judges. I want to impale them!"

A Personal First

On a terribly personal note, DR at Trailing Edge blog is the first person ever to seek me out for company - OK, not me but my blog - in the morning before I've gargled, brushed, or had coffee.

"Day of Truth"

[Ed. note: Remember what I said earlier about their happy horseshit names? Case in point.]

From MSNBC - and a question: Will the "Day of Truth" begin with opening remarks by GOP Chairman Ken Mehlman who denounces gays but strangely will not say whether he is gay himself:

Irked by the success of the nationwide Day of Silence, which seeks to combat anti-gay bias in schools, conservative activists are launching a counter-event this week called the Day of Truth aimed at mobilizing students who believe homosexuality is sinful.

Participating students are being offered T-shirts with the slogan “The Truth Cannot be Silenced” and cards to pass out to classmates Thursday — the day following the Day of Silence — declaring their unwillingness to condone “detrimental personal and social behavior.”

Name four types of behavior teens engage in that isn't detrimentally both personally and socially. Not one. Four.

Where Am I? Who Am I? What Am I?

Uh... for the first time in adulthood, I completely lost track of an entire day.

Doing what?

Reading.

Now I need to go do something substantial. Perhaps involving a sponge, a bag of Ramen noodles, and a 105 lb puppy. Then I need to write three chapters on two books and figure out why my hair keeps standing up in the air. The Don King look just doesn't work on a pale white woman.

You Find the Funniest Things at the Mall

"Come on, kids. Let's go to the mall. We'll hit Cinnabuns while Daddy's downstairs getting a half-and-half!"

Err... uh... where was I? Oh yes. From MSNBC:

The Hungarian Interior Ministry looks set to allow prostitutes to tout for business in shopping malls, local media reported on Tuesday.

The ministry is thinking of allowing dedicated shopping centers where prostitutes could strike deals for sex as long as they move to a place of their own to carry out the transaction, the daily Nepszabadsag said.

“There is nothing intrinsically wrong legally with an entertainment center without gratification,” the newspaper quoted from a letter the ministry sent to the businessman who proposed to set up an “all-in-one” sex plaza.

Hungary allows local governments to set so-called “zones of patience” for the country’s up to 20,000 prostitutes, but no municipality has done so yet.

Zones of patience, eh? We could use a few of those although not necessarily for prostitution. Or does patience have a different meaning here?

It's Her Groundhog Day, Too

TCF introduces us to a collaborative serial comic strip, "La Shawn B's Groundhog Day". Go look. I'll wait here.

Feministe Asks: Are We Hitting the Whole "Culture of Life" Thing a Little Too Hard?

From Dylan at Feministe:

So, much has been made, recently, about the concocted phrase “Culture of Life,” (as my friend, Lori said in the comments at SRWU yesterday, “”Culture of Life” that phrase bothers me for some reason..is it redundant? (or simply contrived…). Isn’t a culture definitively something teeming with life?”). The redundancies go far beyond that, however. I don’t know how the Democrats plan to handle this in the midterm elections, but if they aren’t pounding their fists on the podium, and reading off the names of everyone execution that President Bush has presided over in Texas, then they aren’t ready to win.

But, I do wonder if too much assault on the “Culture of Life” might not do us some harm. Right now, the Republicans appear a bit vulnerable on this issue, but they have not been truly vulnerable for quite a few years now, and every time we “mis-under-estimate” them, we have been slapped back down by the harsh mistress of reality. The Republicans are good… very good at this game, and the Democrats have fallen into their traps too often.

The reason I worry is, at some point, don’t we just seem like we are stepping up and attacking “life” in general? If we keep going on and on and on, eventually it gets whitewashed into this sort of din of noise from which the only clear thing that comes out is that we are for killing babies and old, useless people.

Well... er...I agree but not entirely absolutely.

The Rabid Wrongies are great for coming up with happy horseshit names. In fact, they're so good at it that they call their happy horseshit marketing department The Council of Cosmetic Application to a Swine's Lips. Wrap up a bunch of more brawn than brains and more pork than muscle, add blonde hair bleach and a red suit, and call it the "American Family Council" and "Concerned Women Who Are Really Male Homophobes for America" and The Minuteman Project and pretend it's not manned by people who are still disappointed the KKK can't meet in public anymore unless it's for a pro-Bush candidate and sad they had to paint all the lawn jockeys white.

Is this the entire South? No. But they know how to fool the entire South into thinking it is. They're good in their Machiavellian pursuits, I grant you.

At some point, however, you just have to stop pretending to give credibility to every pet project and Patriotic little pap they put forth. Especially when the "Culture of Life" mailing list is probably filled with the same names as the "Hurt Abortionists" and the "Save Some Tax Dollars: Execute Teens" mailing lists.

However, you're right. We can't snark our way out of GOP gridlock in 2006. I think we need to be sure that everyone - including the South - understands that the "Culture of Life" people are the same loonies done up in a different configuration and that they're getting closer and closer to threatening everyone's lives now. You won't be able to take a pill, consult a doctor, decide you don't want half your brain removed, or what is and isn't acceptable for you without having Randall Terry and James Dobson signing off on that.

Rev James Dobson's Linking the Supreme Court Justices to the KKK is Perfectly Understandable

I, for example, have been known to link Reverend Dobson and his little group to the KKK. It must be the black robes both the Justices and Mr. Dobson both wear that confuses the hell out of us. Eh?

Crystal Meth

Natalie Davis of All Facts and Opinions has a post up about the highly popular street drug that has me thinking again about crystal meth. Read hers.

While I have no experience with it (I'm afraid I'm terribly boring in the drug department; coffee is my drug of choice and the others I take all come from the local pharmacy), I had an acquaintance recently surprise the hell out of me by mentioning that she had used and really liked it.

The so-called stereotypic recreation drug user, she is not. She's a soccer mom-slash-freelance marketing wiz, a very moderate Republican, and somebody who, although she was an avid smoker, gave it up cold turkey when they adopted their first child because she didn't want to tell her kids to do one thing while she continued to do another. She's also one of those by-the-books types who honestly doesn't believe (normally) that there are different rules for different people.

This genuinely wonderful woman was chatting with me recently by IM when I cracked a joke about Ecstasy and one of the Bush twins when "Jane Doe" began to tell me how wonderful Ecstasy is and then began to recount her many experiences while taking it. This led to her telling me about discovering crystal meth and how she decided it was wonderful and actually "helping me work better".

I was literally aghast. One of her kids is now in high school and I wondered how Mrs. Junior League (and I really don't want to mock her - she's a very genuine person) managed to rationalize doing Ecstasy and crystal meth herself while telling her 15-year-old daughter that she won't get to go to Bennington if she ever smokes either a cigarette or pot.

But beyond the cognitive dissonance operating there, I know this woman has some medical background. Look at a list of ingredients for crystal meth and tell me that's something you want to put anywhere near your body. And as the piece by Natalie Davis tells us, crystal meth can lead to circumstances that make it much more likely someone may become infected with a particularly virulent strain of HIV/AIDS.

As a former smoker, I know all about the ability to continue self-destructive behavior long past the point where you know it's causing damage. And as a thinking person, I know how ridiculous it is that the government and drug companies have demonized pot to the point where they can make it sound more dangerous than a heroin addict on cocaine. But even pot, when inhaled as smoke, is still going to be an insult (in the physical sense) to the body; that much is true even if you discount the nonsense.

Although I can't profess much experience with drugs, I did a bit, particularly right out of college (in college, I was too grade-oriented to play). I remember how nice the concept - if not the reality - of a nice long toke on a joint on a Saturday night seemed. I don't like alcohol (I'm not abstinent but I almost never drink), so the idea of a toke back then was probably the equivalent (or less) of a beer once a week. In reality, I rarely did it but I sure liked the idea. And yes, I've been through some awful times when you wished for anything that would dull the pain (although I've never found drugs particularly effective for that; instead, they usually end up contributing to and expanding the misery).

Yet there are some drugs I simply cannot understand why anyone would allow to come anywhere near them; among those include crystal meth and cocaine.

How miserable does your life have to be to have those drugs be a "nice escape"?

We can't afford to ignore this one either because - as the world spins out of control - more and more are using something, be it prescription pills, crystal meth, alcohol or whatever, to soothe the pain. With money tight, crystal meth supposedly packs a very powerful punch to those who want something they can afford. If I know a soccer mom using crystal meth, who do you know who may be using? Statistically speaking, probably more than the zero number we think.

In the "God is Going to Get You for That, Bill Donohue" Department

When I posted about sitting through the really nasty diatribe (over the top even for him) from the Catholic League's William Donohue last night on Scarborough Flunky Country on MSNBC (what can I say? I was slumming! meaning: I couldn't find the remote to turn on Forensic Files), I missed something the good folks at Media Matters did not.

It goes like this (and hard to imagine I missed this but I was pretty steamed already):

William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, asserted that "[t]he gay community has yet to apologize to straight people for all the damage that they have done" and denounced gays for "asking for more rights" while allegedly "acting so morally delinquent."
From the April 11 edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country:

DONOHUE: Look, look, there's a new strain of HIV available in New York City. It's because of gay men. All right? All the talk about condoms --
RACHEL MADDOW (guest and Air America radio host): Or virology.
DONOHUE: The fact of the matter is it's due to the behavioral recklessness of gay men in New York City, that they're endangering the lives of everybody. So, you want to talk about the Catholic Church intervening in other people's lives? The gay community has yet to apologize to straight people for all the damage that they have done -- for contaminating the blood supply in New York City and around the country. And I find it amazing that, when people are acting so morally delinquent, that they're asking for more rights at the same time.

It seems to me that gay people in this country should apologize to the rest of the people, the way the pope has apologized to other people, and practice sexual reticence. Practice restraint, and you won't have the problem. It's entirely a result of behavioral recklessness that we have this disease [HIV/AIDS]. And it's a politically correct disease, isn't it?

Man, I'd like tickets to watch Bill's Judgment Day. These days, when I get really pissed, I like to consider what it's going to be like for all the "I speak for God and Christ and correct their ambiguities" types like Bill, Jerry Falwell, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, and Dubya to have to account to God for the hate, ignorance, violence, and intolerance they demanded in His (or Her) name.

They'll lie, of course, but God will have the video tape.

[Ed. note: Out of sheer propriety not to mention the fact that some of you may be reading this while eating, the editor has removed the long and very colorfully descriptive detail in which the author fantasized about a slow and exquisitely miserable disease process that might overtake Bill Donohue so he can enjoy some of his own bile. The author is now washing her mind out with bio-degradable and environmentally friendly laundry products and only wishes she could do the same to "that little pie hole of a brain Bill Donohue sports". She is very colorful, isn't she?]

The General and I Agree

Some wonderful 'roo soul at Skippy also brings us this exquisitely honest Wesley Clark quote:

"I think we're dealing with the most closed, imperialistic, nastiest administration in living memory. They even put Richard Nixon to shame."

Not good news, but damned true.

Say Hello to the Gov Docs blog of GMU Libraries

Find them here.

I'm a sap for reference sites of any type. I could be starving to death yet, while on a walk to obtain a life-saving meal, if I came upon a great reference library, I'd try to hang on long enough to go check out the library first. Then maybe I'd look for food vending machines in the basement. But if there were no vending machines, I'd still stay in the stacks as long as I could before passing out from hunger (oops, speaking of which... I made this tuna sandwich five hours ago and it's been in my jacket pocket since then - why? because I was reading).

I know. It's very odd of me. What can I say? For some, it's food. For others, porn. For me? It's a well-stocked library.

Wages Lagging Behind Prices

Pudentilla at Le Rue d'Kangaroo - Skippy to those of you who don't mangle French as badly as I - points out that which most of us have painfully noticed.

But somehow, reading it makes you at least feel like you're in both good and robust company. ::cough::

wages lagging behind prices - for the first time in 14 years, the american workforce has in effect gotten an across-the-board pay cut.

the growth in wages in 2004 and the first two months of this year trailed inflation, compounding the squeeze from higher housing, energy and other costs. [--snip--]

Meanwhile, corporate profits hit record highs as companies got more productivity out of workers while keeping pay increases down.

For Those (Like Me) Balkin' at Malkin (as in Michelle the Shrill)

Scoobie doobie doo... Michelle Malkin... Scoobie Davis Dooooo.

Er...oops, hello. Sorry, we're Google bombing here to blow some shit up and make it fall back into the appropriate place (hopefully in Michelle's bedroom and kitchen). Please don your ear plugs and turn off your radios.

Or wait. The sound of an explosion both sounds better and makes more sense than anything Michelle has either written or said (as for what goes on inside that tiny, Michelle-centric mind of hers, I cannot say and am too squeamish to conceive).

Michelle Malkin
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Byron York and the "Vast Left Wing Conspiracy"

Having watched The National Review's Mr. York "in action" several times as a pundit, I've just got one question: how long has he been out of the sexual orientation closet?

No, I'm not joking. Nor am I merely being snarky because of his habit of deliberating misquoting people for his own ends as he did with the DailyKos last night on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart".

Since he often discusses morality and "agendae", and we're all sick to death of those with raffia-covered houses throwing nuclear boulders and then screaming when paper airplanes are lobbed back (waving to Michelle Malkin and Annie Coulter who are famous for this technique), I think it's time Mr. York came out of the closet as yet another self-hating homosexual male intent on making sure that nearly everyone else is as miserable as he perceives himself to be.

At this point, I'm far more worried about the underlying self-hating [insert one of many categories here] agenda operating in politics today than I am about any of the so-called "moral" causes these people champion against. One thing the world needs less of is more Roy Cohns and J Edgars.

[Ed. note: If I just wanted to be snarky, I'd point out that Byron makes Tucker Carlson and Andrew Sullivan seem macho.]

Bill O'Reilly Lies: Calls Pope Senile Then Says He Didn't

What a surprise, eh?

When I first read this, I knew O'Reilly was lying because someone I know was quite upset when O'Reilly first said this (and notable because there are so many other reasons to be angry at Bill than calling the Pope senile).

Also not surprising, I didn't agree with Bill O'Reilly. I don't believe the Pope was senile at or before his death. He was in much worse shape than the Vatican chose to reveal, but I suspect and hope his mental processes were very much intact regardless of his failing body. As a "sophisticated culture", we're not exceptionally bright at understanding that a mind can still work like a timepiece inside a body that no longer responds to the brain's commands.

But O'Reilly (yet another non-surprise) opted to call the man senile rather than conceive of a more appropriate reason why the Pope failed his followers on the issue of the priest sex abuse. And how typical of O'Reilly to lie about this fact now just as he shrugged off his rhetoric about the Pope in the buildup to war in Iraq.

In the "Why Don't You Just Leave the Country?" Department

About once every two weeks or so, some enlightened being sends me a private note telling me that if I don't like America, I should go back to whatever damned rathole country I came from.

Well, that's a little hard to do for a few reasons. Whether you look at the Native American part of my family or the English side, we've been in America for a very long time, since the beginning of both the native and the colonial experience here. I could tell you my boring Mayflower story about the female ancestor who came with her husband here and then sent for her brothers, but the point is that this is my country; I have no desire to leave.

Sure, I could tell you about my ancestor who headed as Chief Justice the U.S. Supreme Court after an unsuccessful bid for the presidential nomination against Lincoln. He presided over the impeachment of President Johnson and refused to do more evil against those who founded and worked in the Underground Railroad. His daughter, Kate (for whom I am NOT named), was considered the most powerful woman in Lincoln-era Washington politics and is oft-remembered as the most celebrated first lady of Rhode Island. But don't ask me a lot of details because I'm shamefully ignorant about all of this since I figured I'm more responsible for my life and my times than my ancestors.

The point is that I do come from a long line of Yankee horse traders, scholars, and politicians of which I am both proud and embarrassed. The English side of the family really DID escape a time of great religious intolerance (more than a few of my ancestors were executed in England as witches and heretics - in other words, killed for their beliefs that did not correspond to the reigning Church) and worked hard to establish the foundation of this country.

You'll find the name Chase (once "Chaece") goes back a long way in U.S. history. So while I'm not mindful of all the history, I'm cognizant of the fact that my family was there fighting for a new country that did not have all the baggage, the empiricism, the tyranny of "Mother" England.

As a result, I'm not too keen on all the religious intolerance of today or these "born again" politicians who tell us that America was started as a Christian domain and must remain a Christian domain. I know better. I've read a lot of the documents used to help start this country and if anything, they speak to the authors' great resolve to make this a land where God is respected but where religion is not allowed to topple the will of the people or the law of the land.

As both a product of my ancestors and a thinking and caring person of this time period, it is incumbent upon me to:

* ask.. no... DEMAND that people not misquote our country's founders for their own political and powerful means
* DEMAND that religious tolerance remain
* speak up when I see injustice or hear a lie perpetrated

So those looking for me - and I don't just mean me but the collective of people who are coming together now with many voices - to pack up and go home.... well, I am home.

The Big Bucks Behind Bush

Read Greg Palast to learn about the Wyly Brothers.

New Attack on Women's Sports

The Bush administration has mounted a surreptitious new attack on Title IX, the 33-year-old law that has exponentially expanded the participation of girls and women in sports.

Last month, a memo went up on an Education Department Web site that was billed as a "clarification" of Title IX regulations. But the memo amounted to a major weakening of the criteria used to determine compliance with the rule that all schools receiving public funds provide equal sports opportunities for men and women. Under the new guidelines, on campuses where the proportion of female athletes falls notably below the proportion of women in the student body, and sports programs for women are not expanding, a college will still be able to show it is "fully and effectively" obeying the law by doing an online survey that shows women have no unmet sports interests. The department says that if the rate of response is low - as it is with most such surveys - that will be interpreted as a lack of interest.

Currently, such surveys are just one factor used on the college level to gauge interest in women's sports, along with more accurate measures, like participation rates in "feeder" high schools or recreational leagues, and the opinions of coaches and administrators. There is no similar burden on male athletes to register their interest, and surveys are a poor predictor of behavior if sports opportunities are afforded equally. The president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Myles Brand, worries that this loophole "will likely stymie the growth of women's athletics and could reverse the progress made over the last three decades."

This harmful change, made without public notice or debate, marks a dismaying turnaround. Two years ago, the administration rejected a set of hobbling proposals to alter the criteria for Title IX compliance, including a change similar to the one it has now quietly instituted. Still, there is cause for hope. The Bush administration supported the Supreme Court's important ruling in March extending Title IX's coverage to whistle-blowers who complain about a school's treatment of female athletes. A public outcry may yet persuade the administration to withdraw the new regulation.

It's Just Sooooo Nice to See Them Get Along

Imagine John Kerry and Rick Santorum sponsoring a bill together?

Now imagine John Kerry - always ready now to climb on a fence - helping pass a law that allows pharmacists (hello, what's their job?) to pull a righteous Matilda act with your prescription and then keep his or her job when the pharmacist decides "Viagra good, contraception EVIL."

Now imagine John's chances in 2008 (slimer than mine of making it to Pope).

Judith Regan

It's soooooo nice to see she's learned and grown from the whole Bernie Kerik affair and made time for more plastic surgery so she looks less like Howard Stern's older sister.

I mean, some might be embarrassed to not only have their adultery all over the political pages, but to learn she was shagging this married man in an apartment overlooking ground zero while recovery workers still waged on, breathing in horrible fumes while Bernie and Rudy figured out how to rake in the bucks.

The Homosexual Agenda

Love it.

[Ed. note: Although it's just late enough and I've been playing with a database design for too many hours that I did a double-take on the top pic then opined wisely, aloud, "My goodness, I think those three men are naked!" Can't get anything past me. ::smirk::]

Say Hello

to Spazzzdic Musings.

Ohio, in its Ever Eager Efforts to Make Florida Look Good, Now Does This

From Law Dork as linked to by Atrios:

A state senator is seeking to give prosecutors and the state's Attorney General a say in Ohioans' end-of-life decisions. This and other provisions and proposals are about to hit the statehouse in the wake of the national debate that centered around Terri Schiavo.

According to a letter circulated Friday to Ohio senators (a copy of which can be found here in Microsoft Word format), Sen. Jeff Jacobson (R-Butler Twp.) will be introducing a bill in the coming days to address "[o]ur laws dealing with health decisions."

The bill would "[e]nable[] the attorney general or prosecuting attorneys to present evidence to probate courts before the court determines whether to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment or nutrition and hydration."

In addition, the letter seeking co-sponsors for the proposed bill also details the changes the bill would have in situations when a person does not have a "living will, durable power of attorney over healthcare, or express consent":

Current law establishes specific individuals who are prioritized in a list of classes. Presently, only the highest priority class available can decide to withhold or withdraw nutrition and hydration; those individuals in a lower priority class who disagree would not be consulted until the matter is considered in probate court. This proposal would enable any priority-class individual to have a voice in preserving their loved one's life.

In the House, Democrat-turned-Republican Rep. Derrick Seaver (R-Minster) intends to introduce a bill that would go even further. His bill would direct the probate court to "give preference to the first individual" on the priority-class list who will:

(1.) will sustain the life of the individual
(2.) will incur the cost of medical care for the individual

Have a Cookie

So Who's Prosecuting the Mother of the Kid

who said that she didn't want Michael Jackson to sleep with her son but when Jackson started to cry and asked, "Don't you trust me?" and "We're a family", said OK! and started cashing checks?

And God, won't it be nice when this trial ends so we're no longer treated to details of head licking, whether Michael violated Macauley Culkin or played "bottom" to Corey Feldman's smart ass "top", "and Michael Jackson masturbated while" statements ad nauseum everyday?

I swear I've lost six pounds since this trial began just from nausea while watching the evening news during dinner.

Congress, Helpful as Ever

Somewhere in the great Papal majestry of last week, you may have missed the fact that Congress, these vaulted minds who come together to "help us" (and collect their corporate checks), has found a secret to ending the energy crisis.

Ready?

They want to extend Daylight Savings Time.

No. I am not joking.

This is their answer. Well, this and drilling in a nature preserve in Alaska (the state that WILL sell its own grandmother to get that yearly bonus check instead of paying income tax) where we won't see a drop of oil for more than 10 years and then, at best, it might alleviate worries about maybe six months' worth of American supply.

But Americans may have finally decided to try a hybrid. That's something, anyway.

"Stop, Mr. Sharon. Pretty Please?"

What is wrong with this picture?

With any other country on the planet, friend or foe, Mr. Bush's approach boils down to, "Look, fuckhead, we all know who's sheriff in this here county. So you can smile and do it my way or you can just smile. You got me, boy? You don't want me sendin' Dick Cheney after you 'cos then Condi gets involved and you don't know what she's like angry and she won't let anybody fuck with me. Now I gotta go tell a bunch of fools I'm praying and reading Rapture novels when I'm really napping for two hours everyday."

With Israel on the issue of settlements that Sharon has again and again used to invalidate the peace accords, Mr. Bush suddenly gets all girlish and says, "I really don't like the idea of those settlements, Hairy Ari. Good, now that's settled, you want some beans? We pay this fucking guy - maybe a queer for all I know - half a mil a year to cook regional specialties but all's I ever want is beans. Kinda fun to fart up the Oval Office if you know what I mean."

The NYPD Lied About Protestor Behavior to Justify Arrests?

This is very, very disturbing.

I'm sorry; I still live in that fairy tale little world where cops aren't just operations bouncers for corporate America, where the bad cops really are the rarity, and where I perceive of them as not-totally-comfortable in the role of having to divide the entire world into an Us vs. Them wrestling match. I've continued this belief despite Amadu Dialo, the fellow so badly beaten (his name escapes me), etc. Why? Because I've met many very decent police officers, ones not caught up in the whole political dynamic, still just trying to be the decent peacekeeper in his or her community.

I say this even though I lived in a town where a young black man, while down on the ground, with his back turned, wearing handcuffs, was shot in the back by a police officer who claimed the man made him think he was going to do something. Even in ultra white and aren't we just so urbane? Litchfield County, Connecticut, this was a very hard thing to perceive. Blacks in Litchfield County are generally even more rare than they are in "newer" older money affluent Greenwich and there was some speculation among the populace that perhaps the greatest threat this man seemed to represent to the officer was that he was black. Then various police folks made a bad situation even worse for going after the special prosecutor assigned to investigate the case. Eventually, that officer was tried and sentenced to forty years (which I think was also an aberration, but that's for another post).

Is there really any question that anyone who joins in an assembly to speak something other than "Bush is wonderful" and "Please, Kill Social Security and Public Education! I Know Faith-Based Charities Will Support Me!" is treated very much like "suspicious" people of color who are only suspicious because they are people of color.

The dialog here - spun by the right and hailed by the MSM - in this country has come to call anyone not thrilled with Bush a traitor, Godless, "not a good Catholic like Bob Novak", and "somebody who should leave this country because they don't support our troops because they protest Veterans cuts and wants the troops not sent to war on lies and personal agenda".

I know and have heard from hordes of people who say they got the message. They think twice or twenty times before they choose to participate in even contacting their Congress critters about issues that concern them or write a letter to the editor or sign a petition. They say they know they're under more scrutiny. They hear about the Secret Service or CIA or FBI showing up at somebody's house or asking questions at their neighbors or job. They see the stories about normal Americans - including vets, retirees, and lots of average Americans who may have so little as a critical bumper sticker getting "disinvited" to events, suddenly getting pestered by the IRS, and guys in suits and sunglasses taking lots of pictures and writing down license plate numbers at peace rallies and Bush protests. They've also heard about some of the widows and grieving parents of 9/11 victims and the war(s) trying to express their profound rage and getting attacked for it.

So who's going to hold the police accountable when they decide that if you've got a certain bumper sticker or attend a certain statehouse rally, or solicit signatures on a petition for a particular type of cause, you're a terrorist or unAmerican and they can treat you any way they like with no repercussions? With all the talk of mandates, and "the country has sent a single strong message", and "I think I speak for all of you when I say this country is founded on Jesus Christ Our Savior and the only good law is God's law as I said He meant it, we know have about 60-70% of the population now on the "outs". So don't think you couldn't make it onto the watch list.

Our Tax Dollars at Work

So Keith Olbermann told the sad tale tonight of a former dominatrix who got a job with the U.S. Treasury Department.

Only once she got the job, she discovered her new boss was one of her old clients. She said he began sexually harassing her at work.

She sued; won $50K settlement.

For Those Vatican-Locked-in Cardinals Considering the Next Papal Leader

I just wanted to remind you that if elected, I will serve. Don't let my appearance frighten you (being female, that is). With enough layers of clothing I suppose I can look at least as androgynous as any of you.

If elected, I promise to do the following:

* sell off Vatican City to EuroDisney and use the funds to help programs for the poor as well as those victims of priest abuse.
* Sell off the PopeMobile to Michael Jackson (he doesn't do well walking; he falls frequently and this leads him to come to court crying and in jammies); funds will go to educate men and women throughout the world on how to use contraceptives and safe sex to limit unplanned pregnancies and stop the spread of sexually transmitted disease.
* Sell off ALL that artwork and return it to the local parishes.
* Fire you guys.
* Allow priests to marry.
* Give priests access to far better education in far more subjects than they now receive.
* Embrace all Catholics, not just the rich, the straight, and the easily led.
* Permit anyone fully qualified to become a priest regardless of their gender or sexual orientation.
* Promote an understanding that one can be intelligent and faithful - and stop deciding that the stupid can be easily manipulated - and to let them know that being a Christian doesn't have to be a punitive sentence either for the person or the people around them.
* Once a week, have the priest give a public confession.
* Stop acting like more Catholics is better than healthy, wise Catholics.
* Stop involving the Church in politics ("Mr. Kerry is a bad Catholic so he gets no communion wafer but Rudy Giuliani - and all of his ex-wives he cheated on - is a superb Catholic so he gets TWO!").
* Tell Noni Scalia to worry about his own immortal soul and to allow the courts to act like courts, and the Church to act like a church.
* Send Opus Dei to Reform School.
* Declare "The Pope is human and therefore fallible; even great Popes make great mistakes."
* I'm willing to work Sundays but I don't do Italy. Thus, the new world HQ will be in Boston and there will be no gold, no executive chefs for the Pope, no silly hats, and no graft.

There's more, but I know many of you are very old so I don't want to make this too long.

Oh yes, and I know the Pope appointed all but about two of you. But let's try thinking of what is in the best interests of the people and the world, for a change, and not what's most comfortable for you

Look "Homophobe Bigoted Smarmhead" Up in the Dictionary and You See Bill Donahue's Picture

He's on (God forbid) Joe Scarborough right now saying that all the bigots (he seemed to get his "ot"s mixed up at one point because I swear he almost uttered the word "faggot") are going nuts blaming the Pope for stuff like AIDS in Africa and homos hurting kids in America.

THEN the Catholic League's favorite nutjob goes on to say isn't it pretty interesting that in South Africa "where everybody uses condoms ALL the time - nobody would ever have sex there without a condom, we all know that" (paraphrasing because I didn't take dictation) the place has 70% of the population infected with AIDS.

Really? South Africans with no resources all use condoms ALL THE TIME? The place where many think that having sex with a virgin (and because rape is so prevalent, they often use a 4-5 year old child for this) will cure one of AIDS? Where everybody is terribly, terribly poor?

Because here in the US, not enough people use condoms although most have the funds to buy them. While condoms are not fool proof, they are have an exponentially better success rate than abstinence pledges.

But people like Mr. Donahue don't want condoms sold or used. Because it makes perfect bloody sense that God gave us the beauty of our bodies and minds so that we would only ever have sex except 1) when we're married and 2) only then when you want to conceive a child.

Which means what? All sex stops at age 39 or whenever a woman's fertility fails? Not for the "family values" men who seem to either take mistresses or dump the mature wife for a 20-something bimbo.

Does Anyone Like John Bolton?

The rest of the world is stunned at some of Bush's most recent appointments like Paul ("Iraq will pay for itself many times over") Wolfowitz at the World Bank and Condi ("First I make a really mean face at you and then I tell My President he can drop bombs on you - that's my style of diplomacy") Rice.

But the promotion of John Bolton to the U.N. struck some as even more arrogant, even more "if you put this in a novel, no one believe it", and even more in-your-face-fuck-you-and-your-French-mother-too. Even Old Europe - nor Vermont! - could not quite conceive that Bush had this strange little piece of sodomy-done-up-as-bangup-American-diplomacy-and-good-will in him that he'd be willing to play in primetime.

Yet I also notice that last time I looked at the CNN poll asking if Bolton was the right choice for the U.N., about 80% were screaming Noooooo!

BTW, I swear that either a third world country or Ken Lay is hiding in Bolton's moustache.

Damned if You Do, But for This GOP ArchAngel, it's Here Comes Both Grooms

::Cough::

Arthur J. Finkelstein, a prominent Republican consultant who has directed a series of hard-edged political campaigns to elect conservatives in the United States and Israel over the last 25 years, said Friday that he had married his male partner in a civil ceremony at his home in Massachusetts.

Mr. Finkelstein, 59, who has made a practice of defeating Democrats by trying to demonize them as liberal, said in a brief interview that he had married his partner of 40 years to ensure that the couple had the same benefits available to married heterosexual couples.

"I believe that visitation rights, health care benefits and other human relationship contracts that are taken for granted by all married people should be available to partners," he said.

He declined further comment on the wedding, which was in December.

Some of Mr. Finkelstein's associates said they were startled to learn that this prominent American conservative had married a man, given his history with the party, especially at a time when many Republican leaders, including President Bush, have campaigned against same-sex marriage and proposed amending the Constitution to ban it. Mr. Finkelstein has been allied over the years with Republicans who have fiercely opposed gay rights measures, including former Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, and has been the subject of attacks by gay rights activists who have accused him of hypocrisy. He was identified as gay in a Boston Magazine article in 1996.

You know, I'm very happy for this Mr. Finkelstein and his male partner in marriage.

But isn't it a tad hypocritical to support all the people and programs who make certain other homosexuals can't marry while taking advantage of it yourself? (Waving to Andrew Sullivan whose little torch lights up whenever the president doesn't go quite so far as suggesting Andrew's little torch needs to be amputed in Christ's name.)

That's what I don't get again and again with the current wave of politics. We see one after another African American, Hispanic, woman, homosexual, corrupt-piece-of-pork-ass and Bill Bennett say one thing to make "the party of Lincoln" happy and healthy, while they do something completely different for themselves.

And isn't that a big difference between Democrats and Republicans? Rank-and-file Dems basically believe that if you create a law, then everybody's basically supposed to be subject to it. Today's GOP, however, is happy to create laws but is sure these laws only apply to the "riff-raff" while they themselves can break that law with impunity because it really didn't apply to them.

Minor Technical Problem

If you see that a few images won't load, fear not. It's just a short term problem with a block of domains. It should be corrected either later tonight or first thing tomorrow (or whenever the hell the authentication gets run again).

In the "Phew! We Were Soooo Worried" Department

From NYDN:

The White House can relax. You may have heard about the videotape that allegedly showed thong-baring Jenna Bush down on all fours and doing Da Butt dance at club NerveAna. We're told that the tape, which every print and electronic tabloid wanted, has mysteriously disappeared...

So who do you think beat the shit out of the photographer? The Secret Service or Karl Rove?

Heartbreaking Story of Young War Widow who Opposed War, Sent Gifts to Troops, and Murdered by Father

Story here from Maine.

I'm Sure There's a Reason

why posts are now disappearing.

No, Really, I'm Going Back to Work Now

Honestly. Really.

Sister Cutlass of Reasoned Discussion

That's my new name according to the Unitarian Jihad Name Generator (get yours here). See my post on the Jon Carroll piece from yesterday for details.

I sorta like it. But let's see what happens if I appeal:

* The Howitzer of Mild Reason (I dunno... that's just not me... I'm at least a snub-nosed pistol)
* The Sabre of Love and Mercy (sounds a little phallic to me)
* Sister Nail Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (ok, but can I get a weapon out of the title?)
* Sibling Hand Grenade of Patience (hmmm...)
* The Shuriken of Compassion (what the fuck is a shuriken? - loading dictionary - fuck, it's not in the dictionary - is it anything like a shrike? - OK, it's a four-pointed throwing star - also a weapon?)
* Sister Dagger of All Sides of Looking at a Question (too wussy and also reminds me too much of MacBeth, "Is this a dagger I see before me, its handle toward my hand... come let me clutch thee... I have thee not and yet I see thee still..." - see what I mean? You start quoting Shakespeare randomly in the middle of a Monday and it's time for a visit to the nunnery)
* Sister Claymore of Sweet Reason (sounds nice but also sounds like I take too many Xanax when it's clear from my personality that I take none)
* The Katana of Compassion (oh crap, back to the dictionary - OK, this either makes me a motorcycle or premium Japanese warrior sword)

What the fuck. Just call me Kate. And not Sister Kate either.

As I once told the parish priest, "Look, it's Father Kate or I'm going secular."

And Speaking of the Culture War

The Boston Globe brings us this:

Top conservative leaders gathered here a week after Terri Schiavo's death to plot a course of action against the nation's courts, but much of their anger was directed at leading Republicans, exposing an emerging crack between the party's leadership and core supporters on the right.

Conservative leaders criticized President Bush for failing to speak out strongly against removing the feeding tube from Schiavo, the 41-year-old incapacitated woman who died March 31. They blamed the president's brother, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, for failing to employ State Police powers to take control of Schiavo. They condemned comments by Senate majority leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and Vice President Dick Cheney expressing support for the nation's judges.

And yesterday they issued an ''action plan" to take their crusade for control of the nation's courts well beyond Senate debates over judicial nominees, pressing Congress to impeach judges and defund courts they consider ''activist" and to limit the jurisdiction of federal courts over some sensitive social matters -- a strategy opposed by many leading Senate Republicans.

''This is not a Democrat- Republican issue; it is a liberal-conservative issue," Rick Scarborough, a Baptist minister and chair of the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration, sponsor of the gathering, said in an interview. ''It's about a temporal versus eternal value system. We are not going away."

...While conservatives have long accused liberal judges of making, rather than interpreting, laws, Massachusetts' adoption of gay marriage last year and Schiavo's death last week have magnified their fury. Whereas before they complained about ''judicial arrogance," speakers this week accused courts of ''gang violence" and waging ''unholy war" -- and drew applause when they called for the removal of judges who believe that interpretations of the US Constitution should change with the times. Representative Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas and a member of the House Judiciary Committee, called the situation ''a crisis."

How DARE courts try to change with the times!

What's the matter with these judges? Don't they know the world is flat, that women are chattel and "darkies" are livestock, that white men rule, that abortion is ALWAYS WRONG unless the man responsible for the pregnancy is a conservative "man of God" who doesn't want to embarrass his wife with a bastard child born to his 4th, 5th or 17th mistress in their family values mindset, and that God demands we burn witches at the stake?

And Mr. Bush and Mr. DeLay Want to Remove All Malpractice Protection from Americans

From the Washington Post:

Virginia Board of Medicine records show that an Arlington ophthalmologist who performed cataract surgery under the influence, his hands shaking and his speech slurred, still has his license. So does a Loudoun County gastroenterologist who deprived his colonoscopy patients of painkillers and injected himself with the drugs between operations.

Scores of physicians in the area and across the country have been given repeated chances to practice, despite well-documented drug and alcohol problems, a Post investigation has found. They have stayed in business with the permission of state medical boards and hospitals, even when many have relapsed multiple times and posed a danger to patients, records show.

Andrea Dworkin is Dead

Some of you may remember the usually characterized as a radical feminist and author. I remember her chiefly from the 70s when she was one of the strong voices of the feminism movement along with Betty Friedan and others at a time when those of us still in grade and high school were lobbying for the right to wear slacks in school. It's been just a generation since that right was fought for and won.

I love watching movies that depict the 70s because they're always showing kids in high school wearing jeans, including the girls. But in many schools in the nation, this was simply not allowed. Many schools even had edicts - some imposed, some not - against the wearing of jeans at all because these were still seen by the "oldsters" as indicative of smelly farm attire.

Funny this comes to mind now when the so-called Culture War is trying to forcibly return us all to a time when slacks and jeans weren't allowed, when girls were still seen largely as possessions upon whom big and important white men had to act as the societal parent, when it was more important to pretend that kids didn't have sex than to educate them about the dangers inherent and how to protect themselves against such dangers through the use of science and good sense.

Welcome to...

[Ed. note: Yeah, I know I said I was going back to work. But I also gave myself the weekend "off" which meant I only logged 27 hours of time on the job - thank God it was the weekend or I wouldn't have had 21 hours of non-work to "rest" up.]

Say hello to Peter at Pibbshow and stop by and visit Common Prejudice.

Good Piece on Death of Serious News in LA Weekly

Read here; it's worth your time, IMHO.

Now I need to go do something useful like make the world safe from database indignities.

Rhode Island Residents: Call Chaffee

That's the word from the John Kerry camp (and several other organizations) to try to stop the placement of John ("We don't need no stinkin' U.N.")Bolton as the U.S. rep on the U.N.

Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island is under enormous political pressure from the White House and right-wing organizations to cast the deciding vote in favor of the nomination of John Bolton to serve as the United States’ Ambassador to the United Nations.

I don’t believe that, in his heart, Senator Chafee thinks we should have a U.N. ambassador who once said “if the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference.”

Bolton’s nomination is another example of the Bush Administration’s determination to award high government posts to those who have been the architects of some of the most disastrous foreign policy decisions of the last four years. Why should we retain, much less promote, those who have failed to make America more safe and secure? Donald Rumsfeld? Paul Wolfowitz?

In other words, stop promoting the worst, the people most apt to get us hated even more throughout the world, the people who will vote in Mr. Bush's best interests rather than America's.

If only Kerry had spoken up more during ... y'know.. that little presidential campaign we just had.

Working Class Writer Wins Pulitzer

From Ed and Pub (and one wonders if Kevin Drum will raise the issue of women bloggers again and start a new round of "I'd link to more women bloggers if only they were men" debate):

Connie Schultz is thrilled to win the Pulitzer Prize as a columnist who's a woman, a feminist, from a working-class background, not syndicated, and a staffer on a newspaper -- The Plain Dealer of Cleveland -- she feels deserves more prominence than it has.

"I'm very happy for The Plain Dealer because [the commentary Pulitzer] helps put us on the map," Schultz told E&P. "A lot of great people work here -- including my editor, Stuart Warner. There's no way I would have won the Pulitzer without him."

At a time of great debate about why there aren't more women on Op-Ed pages, Schultz's win underscores that there are many great female writers out there. To find them, said Schultz, newspapers and syndicates need to look to America's heartland -- not just to the East and West coasts.

Schultz, 47, added that her working-class roots -- her father was a factory worker and her mother a nurse's aide -- permeates her work.

The snarky comment above wasn't meant to just flippantly impugn Kevin, whom I respect. I'll even credit Kevin for raising the topic occasionally, although it always feels more like hand wringing than useful discourse.

However, women bloggers often do get short-changed in the process. At the same time, I do notice more of the big boys network referencing a woman blogger first (not so long ago, it seemed that if a woman blogger originated a particular line of discussion and the BBN picked it up, they would only go back so far as to credit the first male who picked up the discussion from the woman).

Nor is it a question of just women not being represented more within the blogosphere. Television panels - even when the topic is inherently woman-oriented - are male. Television panels about blogging have only discovered two female bloggers: Ana Marie Cox of Wonkette and Michelle Malkin of the Planet Wank. Ana isn't exactly mainstream political blogging and Michelle is... well... eerily like the results one jokes about when discussing the offspring of siblings and first cousins who marry.

[Don't get me started on the number of times the Freeper Creepers have announced that all women bloggers are by their very definition lesbians. Last time I checked, I seemed awfully heterosexual. But you know what? I don't usually take one's sexuality into account when I read them. And the only blogger I've ever seen wear his sexuality like a tie or noose around his neck is Andrew Sullivan, hardly a lefty (or very smart).]

But then, it's not just women underrepresented. Don't see a lot of bloggers of color represented in blog links and on TV panels that include bloggers. Don't hear much of left-of-center bloggers or many moderate or conservative-but-not-wingnut bloggers either.

Beware of the AARP Alternative Funded in Part by Drug Companies

From the wires:

Say this for him, Charles Jarvis doesn't think small.

Jarvis is chairman of the United Seniors Association, an organization he markets as the small but scrappy conservative alternative to the venerable AARP. Brash and blunt, Jarvis has taken on a high profile in the capital this year--on television, in print and on the Internet--as he savages AARP for its opposition to President Bush's plan for private accounts within Social Security.

But the story of his fight with the nation's best-known seniors group is hardly one of David versus Goliath. The group is also known as USA Next and is funded primarily with millions of dollars from pharmaceutical and energy companies, among others.

Like hundreds of tax-exempt organizations on the political left and right that flourish in Washington, USA Next is not required to disclose its donors or contractors. And the money involved is sizable, $28 million in 2004, according to Jarvis' estimates.

Records obtained by Public Citizen show that PhRMA, the trade association for major U.S. drug companies, has in past years been a large donor, along with drug giant Pfizer Inc.

USA Next's powerful connections, however, extend beyond contributors. In fiscal year 2003, other records show, USA Next mistakenly filed with the IRS a list of its top five contractors. The top contractor for that tax year, earning more than $1.3 million, was a firm whose founder is also a principal in another firm with strong ties to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas).

And United Seniors has packed its board with prominent Republican consultants over the years. Board members include Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist under investigation by the Justice Department and Congress who also has links to DeLay.

Even at the Pope's Funeral, Bush is Booed and Jeered

When Bush’s face appeared on giant screen TVs showing the ceremony, many in the crowds outside St. Peter’s Square booed and whistled.

I guess the Vatican must be old Europe.

Bloggers as a Force to Subvert Democracy?

The Personal Democracy Forum brings us an important piece on the whole South Dakota - John Thune/Tom Daschle race (which at least for me has been difficult to piece together except that shit occurred). I encourage you to take a few minutes to read, whether or not you're a blogger or someone who visits blogs regularly; this phenomenon could effect us all.

From the article:

At the end of January, newly-elected South Dakota Senator John Thune briefed his colleagues at a closed-door GOP retreat in West Virginia about the importance of blogging in contemporary politics. Thune earned his bragging rights by defeating former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle this past November, in a race where conservative bloggers played a small but important role. But the story that Thune has to tell isn't anything like earlier political blog successes such as the Dean for America campaign blog or DailyKos.

The blogging efforts on behalf of Thune's Senate campaign didn't cause greater civic participation or bring in piles of small donations. Instead nine bloggers -- two of whom were paid $35,000 by Thune's campaign -- formed an alliance that constantly attacked the election coverage of South Dakota's principal newspaper, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. More specifically, their postings were not primarily aimed at dissuading the general public from trusting the Argus' coverage. Rather, the work of these bloggers was focused on getting into the heads of the three journalists at the Argus who were primarily responsible for covering the Daschle/Thune race: chief political reporter David Kranz, state editor Patrick Lalley, and executive editor Randell Beck.

Led by law student Jason van Beek and University of South Dakota history professor Jon Lauck, the Thune bloggers tormented and rattled the Argus staff for the duration of the 2004 election, clearly influencing the Argus' coverage. They also appear to have been a highly efficient vehicle for injecting classic no-fingerprints-attached opposition research on Daschle -- most of it tidbits that perhaps might never have made it into the old print media -- directly into the political bloodstream of South Dakota. What they did may turn out to be a "dark side of politics" model for campaign-blogger relations in 2005-06 -- made all the more telling by the fact that the Thune bloggers relied heavily on now-discredited Jeff Gannon/James Guckert of Talon News for many of their stories.

Jeff Gannon as a source? Cripes.

I don't know if I'm the "typical" political/media blogger. I see my blog as a way to express myself while also sharing information you won't find or find presented badly in the MSM. But as I blog - just as when I vote - I try to think about more than "what's best for me?" Not that I'm one of the top names in blogging but if I were, I would not want my blog to achieve certain desirable results JUST BECAUSE I COULD.

For example, I cannot knowingly perpetuate a lie nor do I much enjoy exploiting another stupidity. I'd rather try to get people informed on all sides of the issue and then let them make their own decisions. I'm an exceptional marketing and PR writer, for example, but I choose NOT to work in those venues because it would be tough to only work on projects I believe in AND feel benefit more than harm.

Will The Arnold Turn into The Terminated?

From The Desert Sun:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger must be wondering if someone gave him the wrong script. In the movies, our action figure governor gets to trample over anyone in his way.

In real life, those he tries to brush aside as the annoying "extras" on his set are not robots but the real-life heroes of our society - firefighters, teachers and nurses.

While some pundits try to pigeonhole the current debate into the more familiar terrain of a narrow partisan Republican-Democrat spat, the stakes are far greater for the most fundamental values of our society - quality education, patient-safety standards, retirement security for our families, respect for the rights of working people, dignity for our most vulnerable neighbors, and preservation of our democracy.

Schwarzenegger waltzed into office marketing his celebrity and a self-fashioned image of a "populist" who would root the money grubbers out of Sacramento and "could not be bought" due to his own personal fortune.

But the façade has undergone an extreme makeover. Californians today see a typical politician mouthing the rhetoric of reform while shattering all records for the fundraising he once mocked, virtually all of it coming from wealthy interests who benefit financially from the tsunami of dollars they bestow on the governor.

Those $100,000-a-plate dinners (each of which would pay for a $10 meal every day for the next 27 years for the rest of us) come with a steep price - the promise of deregulation, privatization, increased corporate control over our daily lives, and the wholesale auction of our health, education and public protections to the highest bidder.

The Drumbeat Against DeLay

While the drumbeat to oust him at least as Majority Leader grows louder and louder, I grow more concerned that we'll just get rid of the public DeLay.

This level of corruption and this level of buying other politicians through the money he can amass took years to develop; years in which DeLay flew beneath the radar. He was a danger then. He's a danger now. He'll be a danger tomorrow, regardless of whatever title is removed from him.

Now, the Rabid Wrongies might go so far as to suggest a man like DeLay should be rubbed out as they've done with everything from OB/GYNs to judges to Clinton. But I don't even want that for a DeLay. The notion that a DeLay should be killed for his beliefs is as reprehensible to me as the idea that a Clinton or a Judge Lefkow (the judge whose husband and mother were killed because she became a target for white supremacists) would be.

However, if DeLay is removed, he has to be removed TOTALLY. Not just gone as Majority Leader. Not just removed from the House. He has to be severed from every form of politics out there (leave him the right to vote but that's it), including fund raising for politicians. And that's going to take a full time crew watching him 30/8, if you get my drift.

Remember, there's a reason they call it the DeLay Machine. It's bigger than DeLay. MUCH bigger. And it threatens the very future of our nation. So symbolic hand slaps are just going to make this snake more angry and likely to target.

"A Culture of Death, Not Life"

Frank Rich. You must read.

Cost of the War Counter

Notice at the top of the right-hand column the Cost of War counter for Iraq.

The scary thing is that this is just the tip of the iceberg for the actual costs of war. Since 9/11, we've given the Pentagon phenomenal powers to hide money and not explain where it goes.

Oh yeah, and notice how quickly the counter changes.

Broken Fortunes #2

The Unitarian Jihad

You have to read this (and thanks to Buzzflash for the link).

People of the United States, why is everyone yelling at you??? Whatever happened to ... you know, everything? Why is the news dominated by nutballs saying that the Ten Commandments have to be tattooed inside the eyelids of every American, or that Allah has told them to kill Americans in order to rid the world of Satan, or that Yahweh has instructed them to go live wherever they feel like, or that Shiva thinks bombing mosques is a great idea? Sister Immaculate Dagger of Peace notes for the record that we mean no disrespect to Jews, Muslims, Christians or Hindus. Referred back to the committee of the whole for further discussion.

We are Unitarian Jihad. We are everywhere. We have not been born again, nor have we sworn a blood oath. We do not think that God cares what we read, what we eat or whom we sleep with. Brother Neutron Bomb of Serenity notes for the record that he does not have a moral code but is nevertheless a good person, and Unexalted Leader Garrote of Forgiveness stipulates that Brother Neutron Bomb of Serenity is a good person, and this is to be reflected in the minutes.

The "Talk" of Bringing Troops Home

I'm afraid that's all it is.

This is a well-planned propaganda event to try to shore up the president's ever sinking figures, the deeper and deeper financial losses we're taking in widespread corruption among many including all those companies who "bought" contracts with the Pentagon and State Dept.

The last time I looked at the CNN poll, 78% today said they did not believe our troops would be out within two years for this war that would be "in and out", a "cakewalk", "one that could pay for itself", "if we're still there in six months from invasion, I'd be very surprised", "they'll great us with flowers and smiles", and "oh, we won't be picking up the entire bill because we have the Coalition of the Willing".

Rolling Stone: Evangelicals Who Want to Remake American in Their Own Image

[Ed. note: Is it war yet?]

Read this. It's both terrifying and enlightening. I worry about those who pronounce their God's "advance guard" and "we'll win at all costs".

Meet the Dominionists -- biblical literalists who believe God has called them to take over the U.S. government. As the far-right wing of the evangelical movement, Dominionists are pressing an agenda that makes Newt Gingrich's Contract With America look like the Communist Manifesto. They want to rewrite schoolbooks to reflect a Christian version of American history, pack the nation's courts with judges who follow Old Testament law, post the Ten Commandments in every courthouse and make it a felony for gay men to have sex and women to have abortions. In Florida, when the courts ordered Terri Schiavo's feeding tube removed, it was the Dominionists who organized round-the-clock protests and issued a fiery call for Gov. Jeb Bush to defy the law and take Schiavo into state custody. Their ultimate goal is to plant the seeds of a "faith-based" government that will endure far longer than Bush's presidency -- all the way until Jesus comes back.

"Most people hear them talk about a 'Christian nation' and think, 'Well, that sounds like a good, moral thing,' says the Rev. Mel White, who ghostwrote Jerry Falwell's autobiography before breaking with the evangelical movement. "What they don't know -- what even most conservative Christians who voted for Bush don't know -- is that 'Christian nation' means something else entirely to these Dominionist leaders. This movement is no more about following the example of Christ than Bush's Clean Water Act is about clean water."

Software Designer Who Says His Company Was Paid to Throw the Vote Passes Polygraph

Brad Blog has the Clint Curtis story (this is the one tied to the investigator who turned up dead of a supposed suicide and to Rep. Tom Feeney).

And Now the Jackals Attack Supreme Justice Kennedy

It makes no matter that Kennedy - considered a conservative by some and a moderate by others - was appointed by Our Holy Father Ronald Reagan. And God forbid these people see the irony in calling themselves Culture of Life and then attack a Supreme for thinking a civilized nation should not be killed by the state (the Rabid Wrongies make sure the babies are born but after that - unless and until they become one celebrated case - they'll happily hasten the kids' death.

From The Post:

Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is a fairly accomplished jurist, but he might want to get himself a good lawyer -- and perhaps a few more bodyguards.

Conservative leaders meeting in Washington yesterday for a discussion of "Remedies to Judicial Tyranny" decided that Kennedy, a Ronald Reagan appointee, should be impeached, or worse.

Phyllis Schlafly, doyenne of American conservatism, said Kennedy's opinion forbidding capital punishment for juveniles "is a good ground of impeachment." To cheers and applause from those gathered at a downtown Marriott for a conference on "Confronting the Judicial War on Faith," Schlafly said that Kennedy had not met the "good behavior" requirement for office and that "Congress ought to talk about impeachment."

Next, Michael P. Farris, chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association, said Kennedy "should be the poster boy for impeachment" for citing international norms in his opinions. "If our congressmen and senators do not have the courage to impeach and remove from office Justice Kennedy, they ought to be impeached as well."

Not to be outdone, lawyer-author Edwin Vieira told the gathering that Kennedy should be impeached because his philosophy, evidenced in his opinion striking down an anti-sodomy statute, "upholds Marxist, Leninist, satanic principles drawn from foreign law."
Ominously, Vieira continued by saying his "bottom line" for dealing with the Supreme Court comes from Joseph Stalin. "He had a slogan, and it worked very well for him, whenever he ran into difficulty: 'no man, no problem,' " Vieira said.

The full Stalin quote, for those who don't recognize it, is "Death solves all problems: no man, no problem." Presumably, Vieira had in mind something less extreme than Stalin did and was not actually advocating violence. But then, these are scary times for the judiciary. An anti-judge furor may help confirm President Bush's judicial nominees, but it also has the potential to turn ugly.

Don't get distracted by the Dump DeLay bandwagon rolling through a Capitol near you; we need to stop this Culture of Threats.

Citizen Subject

Nice t-shirts. Would I were only flat chested (t-shirts look better on flatter chests).

Goodbye, Hummvee!

From Diana at Democracy for California:

America's love affair with the SUV is fading as gas prices continue to rise. Sales of full-size SUVs fell 21 percent last month and 31 percent in January according to a study released Monday by Power Information Network - Post-Gazette

Or folks could buy a small SUV. We have one that gets about 32 mph highway and yet accommodates myself, my partner, a large dog and his girlfriend (also a dog, lest you question) and groceries. If finances ever improve here, I'll be buying a hybrid.

Well before this current price crisis, it irritated the hell out of me when I'd sit somewhere in traffic surrounded by huge honking SUVs with one person in them. One does not need to buy and drive daily a vehicle designed to hold an entire football team.

BTW, a Belated Thanks to Whomever...

placed the Prozac or Zoloft or LexaPro or Celestra or whatever antidepressant it was in my coffee this morning. It's been an exceptionally pleasant day considering I've been doing taxes, database writing, and picking bubblegum out of my hair.

Get Yours

A Loyal Bush Voter?

State police have charged the driver of a Miller Lite beer truck with drunken driving in Montville after they say he went on a highway rampage.

State Police say that yesterday afternoon Asher Robbins kicked off his afternoon by striking five vehicles in a parking lot used for construction equipment.

State Police say he then headed southbound on route 85, prompting several emergency phone calls from people about a beer truck traveling erratically on the highway.

State police say that Robbin was swerving in and out of traffic, speeding, running red lights and stop signs and forcing vehicles off the highway, including three school buses.

Discussion on a Robbery

In my neck of the woods, it's pretty rare to find doors locked. After my first two months of living here, I stopped locking mine as well.

But the other day, I heard that one of my closest neighbors was robbed of a couple of electric guitars and an amplifier. Like my own setup, his home is really more of a collection of buildings, something pretty common here, and like my own, he's set a bit back from the road so you have to know where you're going to find it. So when I heard about the robbery, it bothered me personally for about five minutes before I just felt badly he lost his music making. It seemed most likely someone who knew the house and went to get those items specifically was responsible for the robbery.

Last night after dinner, however, my partner came back to the house after playing his old electric guitar in the studio and said he stopped. Why? Because he said he felt funny after hearing about the robbery and then went into elaborate detail that he knew that if someone was stopped at a certain spot along our road, they could see into the second floor loft where he plays. This, he said, might put his own guitar and amp - plus a lot of other equipment used there for production of different types - at risk.

Huh? Besides the fact that the person who happened to notice that if they stood at a certain point on our road and peered just right through the dense half mile of trees at a time of night when my partner is in the studio playing the guitar in front of the picture window and properly illuminated so he could be seen would also have to be felonious and specifically desiring of a guitar and amp (both nice but not exactly something to risk even a short jail sentence to acquire), it just seems nuts.

Why would you change your entire mode of operation around because one person decided to commit an act of burglary?

Now I've been robbed more than once and it's a very unpleasant feeling that usually exists and persists regardless of the value (or not) of the items taken. It's a violation of trust and home that sticks with you. In terms of non-violent crimes, the sensation is often about as close to the overall effects of rape as you can come in my experience of having gone through both.

Granted, it's not a case that things don't get stolen around here. The year before last, for example, the state police finally busted a guy whose home quite near here was filled to overflowing with a humungous treasure trove of stuff he'd taken from countless homes, including some on our road. This had been going on since shortly before we took up residency.

But damn, I feel blessed that I live in an area where my neighbors all seem like truly decent people, whom I usually don't mind just walking into my home unannounced and without knocking. I love it that even when I'm here alone late night or overnight, I don't feel like I have to lock every door and window. While none of my neighbors are within shouting distance, a quick phone call and anyone of them would come to help (and I them). Someone has a problem along our road, and the next person along is very likely apt to stop and see what he/she can do. They do that as often with strangers as neighbors.

So I sent my partner back to sit in front of the window to play his guitar and not worry about one miscreant. I just hope our neighbor gets his guitars and amp back. I hear nice music coming from down that way on warm evenings that draws me out to the deck outside my office to sip coffee, listen, and say a thank you that I found such a nice place to live.

Laying Down the Law

As anyone with a TV noticed this week, the former head of the Boston diocese, Cardinal Law, not only got a front-center spot in the Papal funeral extravaganza, but he was also used as an expert panelist numerous times by the so-called news shows. Amazing, everyone seemed to have forgotten why Law went down and how much the late Pope protected this ::cough:: man. You know, the inconvenient fact that Law was going to do anything possible to protect priests, the Church, and the Vatican from children alleging sexual abuse?

Well, apparently not everyone forgot, even if CNN and Company who hired Law did.

Anyone Else Get the Impression...

that the Powerline blog - more of a rat-chewed extension cord strung up from the neighbor's yard because the poor bastards are too cheap to pay for their own - is something of an embarrassment just as Time Magazine named it flog of the year?

And no, I didn't forget to provide a link to them. I chose not to provide a link to them. I don't do Drudge, Malkin, Coulter, Freeper Creeper land, or Powerline.

Preemptive Karma

Say hello to Preemptive Karma ("Sacred cows slaughtered daily"), a new discovery when I joined the Progressive Women Bloggers ring.

Brunch in Blogtopia

(and yes, Skippy coined the phrase, Blogtopia!)

The beautiful weather (I actually fired up the grill last night and made this really nice dinner I didn't eat but the dog love-love-loved followed by home made vanilla ice cream - I don't like ice cream but my dinner company does and scarfed it down again when the homemade ice cream made another appearance at brunch atop Belgian waffles) is making me want to do something else than sit on the computer.

So, I'm going to go play human being in sunshine while I leave you with some tasty morsels to peruse.

First, now that the Rabid Wrongies want Tom DeLay to go down, he's going down faster than a hooker in need of a heroin fix and even Newsweek spills the story of just some of Mr. DeLay's Corruption Extravanganza. Elsewhere in Newsweek, Tracy McNicholl brings us this Q&A with a GI who explains why he cannot go to Iraq. Finally, there's also this piece in Newsweek indicating the corruption is like way out of control in Iraq and we're just tossing money down blind rabbit holes now.

The Carpet Bagger Report has joined my cry of dismay in asking, "There's a Pentagon Channel?" On another point of agreement, he also wonders how in the heck JC Watts, the former slavishly GOP Congressman from OK, managed to get anywhere with so few abilities. The sad truth is that the GOP uses people of color with mad abandon, giving the statistically few who agree with the likes of Armstrong Williams and such the microphone whenever they can to make it appear that African Americans heart Bush and his policies.

Majikthise offers us some good points on the whole discussion of "framing" and whether we need "nurturant parents" as a society. Go read. I thought it offers some important perspective.

Want to know more about the Schiavo Memo Fiasco? Go to Media Matters where they offer a timeline. And throughout blogtopia, you can find pretty convincing evidence that the so-called memo writing Martinez staffer has deep ties to Tom DeLay and a lot of other skank and that Martinez has one hell of a long history of blaming staff for his antics. Thanks to Skippy for the link and while we're at it, stop and see Skippy's posted picture from the Iraq protests against Bush and American occupation yesterday.

If you haven't visited before, check out Trish Wilson, another strong voice who manages to blog even though she doesn't have a prostate.

A letter posted at First-Draft (and thanks to Discourse for the link) written by a veteran who attended an Ann Coulter uh.. speech gives us an illuminating look at Ann's "support for the troops".

Digby offers some insight into the Jeff Gannon-National Press Club fiasco panel the other day, including:

Gannon has quite the schtick going for him. I don't know if it's a natural gift or if he has had help, but he handled it all quite deftly, I thought. He makes absolutely no sense, wanders off into unrelated subjects, claims victimhood at every turn, avoids questions like a pro and appears to me to be incredibly stupid, arrogant and deluded all at the same time. A clown that nobody in their right mind could take seriously. In others words, meet the next GOP nominee for President of the United States.

I spent years right on this old blog screeching about George W. Bush being just as I described, assuming that any sentient person could see that he makes no sense, that he speaks in riddles that he is coached (badly) and that he has absolutely no idea that he is an idiot. It took me a long time realize that that is exactly what a lot of people like about him. He doesn't need to make sense as long as he claims to represent the "real" people who are predisposed to support him against the pointy headed know-it-alls who lord over them. I have little doubt that they think Gannon really kicked ass.

Well, this is enough to get you started, but why not share some of your favorite or most thought-provoking links around Blogtopia ::placing another dime in Skippy's royalty jar:: here in Comments?

Now... sunshine, here I come!

Tom DeLay: A Man with Support in Warm and Wonderful Places

The Catholic Cardinals Go Quiet

Says CNN, but it's clear from this AP photo that their minds are very actively engaged in their great quest!