Thousands March Today at Home and Abroad

But oh so little mention overall and almost NO mention of how many soldiers' families joined along with veterans and former supporters of Bush's war.

The Draft

The Selective Service Board is reportedly about to tell the president (March 31st is the date mentioned) that they have a plan in place to begin a draft on 75 days notice. After all, you can only go to war with the army you can force to be there and not the ones who (damn it) refuse to be recruited.

The Army, btw, has just raised the age of military eligibility from 27 to 40.

So here's the question. It's only fair that today's draft would require both men and women in the pool. Yet I believe only males have to register for Selective Service. Why?

Tom DeLay and the Bushies Dancing On Her Feeding Tube

How nice for Tom and the Bushies.

The week began with acknowledgement that Tom's endless ethics violations are becoming so messy they can no longer be ignored and the fact that Iraq's a very dangerous place.

Now, all we're worried about is how fast Tommy, Jebba the Gut, and George can shove a feeding tube back down a brain dead woman's throat so she can enjoy another 50 years of a Foley catheter handling her urine, shitting herself, a feeding tube supplying her food since she can't swallow, bed sores because she can't move on her own, while she blindly watches the circus rolling through her hospital room.

Bush's Compassionate Veterans' Program Cuts

From CNN reporting on the PA governor Ed Rendell's Democratic weekly radio address today:

He maintained that budget cuts include "a $350 million reduction in veterans home funding, which wipes out at least 5,000 veterans' nursing home beds."

"If the president's proposed budget cuts are enacted, nearly 60 percent of the 1,600 veterans will lose their daily stipend that allows them to stay in our state's nursing homes, literally forcing them out into the cold."

Vet co-payments for prescription drugs were tripled two years ago, Rendell said, and "now the president is proposing to again double those increased co-pays."

"In the midst of a war, when many new men and women will join the legion of veterans, does it really make sense for the president to increase the cost of vets' prescriptions by 100 percent?"

Rendell criticized a proposal calling for a $250 fee "to be paid by every vet wishing to participate in the Veterans Administration health care program. "

"There may well be some veterans who can afford to do so, but can all vets come up with an extra $250 a year to pay for health care? I doubt it."

He urged "every patriotic American" to contact their legislators and protest budget cuts for veteran services.

Damn the Dems, Too

Sen. Harry Reid (R-UT), Senate minority leader, led the Democrats into signing onto this preposterous plan - crafted for just ONE person - to let federal courts decide whether Terri Schiavo's feeding tube should be reinserted and virtually assuring that her tube will be reinserted again while they battle this out.

Kind of ironic since Bush's budget cuts nursing home beds for a large number of veterans at a time when we're getting a lot of men and women back here whose severe damage (often resulting in vegetative states) means they cannot or should not live ever again outside of an assisted living facility. What's good for one woman being used as a political football is TOO GOOD for our veterans.

So I tell you, folks. Don't let yourselves get into a situation where a politician or a right-to-my-demands-only lifer decides that it's just wonderful if you live another 40 or 50 years with the mental capacity of a three-month-old baby. Because they might decide to use you as a test case. And perhaps like Terri Schiavo, the government will spend millions of dollars dancing around on the head of a pin to make you live regardless of what you may want.

BUT UNLIKE TERRI SCHIAVO, you'll have to pay for it yourself. See, the good GOP and the right-to-my-demands-only lifers believe in LIFE but they don't want a cent of their tax money to go to paying for the care of a poor child or a sick adult. They'll make sure you have the baby or the quantity rather than quality of life, but they'll sell your organs before they give you a dime to help you support what they demand.

Yup... good Christians these people. Cut the vets, cut the programs for poor children and expectant mothers, turn sex education into "abstinence" only programs that end up promoting sexually transmitted diseases and overpopulation, wipe out public schools, and then tell you what to do with your own life.

May they all have long and lingering illnesses while they actually feel their brains turn to jelly and let's be sure our tax dollars don't fund them either.

Iraq

It was wrong.

It is wrong.

It will be seen in history as wrong.

I'm Just Wild About Harry...

Well, actually, I'm not a big Simpsons fan (I know - I hate chocolate and ice cream, too, shoot me), but comedian Harry Shearer just wrapped up a couple of days of filling in for Josh Marshall (happy nuptuals, Josh - may your marriage be less contentious than this Congress and last far longer than any of the "Family Values" Christian congressmen) over at TalkingPointsMemo.

Harry did a nice job, and interjected some intelligent humor into a very "driven" news week. Jon Chait filled in before him and I think Ruy Texeira takes over until Josh's return.

A Year and a Day in Prison

for Connecticut's former governor, John Rowland.

What amazes me only is that this man got reelection more than one considering he won election first on a lie. He beat Lowell Weicker because Weicker was considering an income tax; Rowland said he would not implement one. But within days of his election, Rowland already had a team togethe to --- ta da! --- implement an income tax. That's John Rowland, the great friend to the Bush family.

Sad thing is that Mr. Bush has - since before he took office - done things far worse than Rowland. He, unfortunately, will never see a day in prison.

Terri Schiavo

Oh, jesus. This is SOOOO bad and the woman's family have done nothing but make hateful comments (many of which appear to be flat-out lies) about this woman's husband while every politician has stood on this woman's incapacitated body to win voters.

The tape they keep showing over and over was made a few years ago and covers less than six minutes of a six hour tape. By the best estimates, this woman has been in a persistent vegetative state for most of fifteen years and will not improve (the only doctors who've said she would are NOT specialists in the field of damage she has suffered).

In every poll I've seen today, 9 out of 10 people say they would not want to live in that state. Had Terri given any indication she would like to live this way, I don't think we'd be hearing about this case. But a court decided that it was her wish to die should she get in this state. A court decided her feeding tube should be removed.

When I was four, my father suffered the last of a series of brain hemorrhages that left him in a persistent coma. The VA hospital suggested to my mother that his life support should be disconnected (our government representatives) but the decision was left to my mother. This vibrant 39-year-old man who loved every breath and everything he ever did was gone at that time. She was with him when they disconnected his life support. I was very angry at times in my childhood at knowing this was done because "what if....". But in adulthood, I understand how this decision gets made.

I would not want to be Terri Schiavo. I would not want to be her husband or parents. But I suggest the selfish people here are her parents. They cannot conceive of life without her so they have consigned her to a life that is not a life. Barring convincing proof that she WOULD have wanted to be kept alive in any state, it is time to respect the decision of her legal guardian in letting her die.

I do wish, however, that the method of death was not withholding food or water. While I've read doctors who believe this is nowhere near as horrific or inhumane as it sounds, and indeed, in her current state, medical science would not suggest she would be aware of the effects on her body. But I would not wish that death on anyone just as I would not wish a life like Terri Schiavo's as lived now on anyone.

Shame on the politicians. Shame on the parade of crazy-loos all parading into this woman's hospice room, invading the privacy of so many others, so they can come out and insist this woman is "fine". One woman shown on CNN said she went in - no relation, no friend - and that Terri was awake and talking. That's the level of discourse we've come down to - a religious nut invading this woman's privacy and coming out to spout delusions.

I do not say 'shame you' on the parents. While I do not agree with what they're doing, I can understand their response. It's so hard to let go.

But I tell you, the money and energy that has been expended because of their efforts (but not paid for by them) on this case could have saved any number of lives in Florida alone. Florida is turning away poor kids and adults for medical services because of their financial woes. But because this is a high profile case for politicians, it's much better to make a woman who has little brain function into a cause celebre than worry about people who are still alive and thinking.

My Living Will

is in the top drawer in my filing cabinet. Spoken to my doctor about it. Spoken to friends and loved ones about it.

Great Wolfowitz Line

From Maureen Dowd:

Wolfie's biggest qualification to run the World Bank? His prediction that Iraqi reconstruction would pay for itself with Iraqi oil revenues.

Purrrrr-fect.

Rich on Lay

Frank Rich's column (to make up for the fact that I almost blow an aneurysm every time I start to write about Lay's appearance on "60 Minutes" last Sunday):

JUST when Americans are being told it's safe to hand over their savings to Wall Street again, he's baaaack! Looking not unlike Chucky, the demented doll of perennial B-horror-movie renown, Ken Lay has crawled out of Houston's shadows for a media curtain call.

His trial is still months away, but there he was last Sunday on "60 Minutes," saying he knew nothin' 'bout nothin' that went down at Enron. This week he is heading toward the best-seller list, as an involuntary star of "Conspiracy of Fools," the New York Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald's epic account of the multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme anointed America's "most innovative company" (six years in a row by Fortune magazine). Coming soon, the feature film: Alex Gibney's "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," a documentary seen at Sundance, goes into national release next month. As long as you're not among those whose 401(k)'s and pensions were wiped out, it's morbidly entertaining. In one surreal high point, Mr. Lay likens investigations of Enron to terrorist attacks on America. For farce, there's the sight of a beaming Alan Greenspan as he accepts the "Enron Award for Distinguished Public Service" only days after Enron has confessed to filing five years of bogus financial reports. Then again, given the implicit quid pro quo in this smarmy tableau, maybe that's the Enron drama's answer to a sex scene.

The Bush administration, eager to sell the country on "personal" Social Security accounts, cannot be all that pleased to see Kenny Boy again. He's the poster boy for how big guys can rip off suckers in the stock market. He also dredges up some inconvenient pre-9/11 memories of Bush family business. Enron was the biggest Bush-Cheney campaign contributor in the 2000 election. Kenny Boy and his lovely wife Linda flew the first President Bush and Barbara Bush to the ensuing Inauguration on the Enron jet. Even as Enron was presiding over rolling blackouts in California, Dick Cheney or his aides had at least six meetings with the company's executives to carve up government energy policy in 2001. Even now what exactly transpired at those meetings remains a secret.

US Drug Laws Target Women

From USA Today:

America's war on drugs is inflicting deep and disproportionate harm on women — most of them mothers — who are filling prisons in ever-rising numbers despite their typically minor roles in drug rings, the American Civil Liberties Union and two other groups contend in a major new report.
The report, "Caught in the Net," is being released Thursday as the focus of a two-day national conference in New York, bringing together criminal justice officials, sentence-reform activists and other experts to consider its package of proposed legislative and policy changes. The report recommends expansion of treatment programs geared toward women, says incarceration should be a last resort, and urges more vigorous efforts to maintain ties between imprisoned mothers and their children.

"Drug convictions have caused the number of women behind bars to explode, leaving in the rubble displaced children and overburdened families," the document says.

The number of imprisoned women is increasing at a much faster rate than the number of men, mostly because of tougher drug laws. There were 101,000 women in state and federal prisons in 2003, an eight-fold increase since 1980; roughly one-third were drug offenders, compared to about one-fifth of male inmates.

"Many of the drug conspiracy and accomplice laws were created to go after the kingpins," said the ACLU women's rights project director, Lenora Lapidus, a lead author of the report. "But women who may simply be a girlfriend or wife are getting caught in the web as well, and sent to prison for very long times when all they may have done is answer the telephone."

Thousands of Soldiers' Families to March Against War on Saturday

And that's just at Ft. Bragg. There will be marches everywhere.

Story at USA Today. Nod to Raw Story for the link.

However Will We Tell the Children?

That GOP National Chairman Ken Mehlman "isn't" gay, according to GQ as reported by John at AmericaBlog and Raw Story.

But um... could we please stop - even in jest - associating anyone not married by a certain age as automatically homosexual? I happen to think that people who refrain from marriage when they don't think they want to be married exhibit damned good thinking.

Then there are the Rush Limbaughs and the host of our "Family Values" types who are working on their third, fourth, or fifth marriage.

What Color Is Your Blogger?

Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time after the big "where are the women bloggers?" debate has been waged 30 or more times that someone would question where the bloggers of color are (namely, why are all the bloggers white males?).

Steven Levy tackles this in Newsweek and Steve Gilliard comments on it here.

I agree with Steve that in every media venue I've worked in, white males dominate with maybe a couple of small "chick only" operations. And I've had the pleasure and the trial of being the first or token girl in several departments over the years.

But here's the deal about the Internet. There are FAR more "people of color" and non-white males than you ever might imagine. That's one of the nicer things about the 'net, in fact: you get to know the person for how he/she thinks and presents him/herself before you get to see them in person and start analyzing them for their tangle of visible nasal hair, the way they dress or eat, or how different they may be from you.

I've been working on the Internet (literally) since most people knew it existed. When I have the pleasure of meeting someone new online (and that only happens a hundred or so times a week now - used to be thousand or two), there aren't the superficial things to separate us. Many times, I discover later the generic name is female/Asian/African American/Hispanic/whatever. I suspect that's the case with many bloggers.

Hell, even I'm a non-white male blogger. I could claim "color" status, I suppose, because I'm part Native-American (but I'm too damned pale from my English side).

I'm less worried about why the female bloggers or the non-white bloggers aren't the "big names on the 'net" than I am about why more people of limited means aren't out here yet. We need more diversity.

Bolton and Wolfowitz

Was about to write about these appointments (Bolton to the UN and Wolfowitz to the World Bank, not two of the greater choices) and found that Kevin Drum had already tackled it quite effectively. Go read the whole thing, but here are some salient paragraphs:

Yesterday I suggested that President Bush's appointment of well-known hawks John Bolton as UN ambassador and Paul Wolfowitz as World Bank president were, on a PR level, attempts to prove that he doesn't take guff from anyone. Anyone who thought he was going to back down and take a more conciliatory tone in his second term had better guess again.

For what it's worth, Dan Drezner, Matt Yglesias, and several emailers point out an obvious alternate theory: both men are being kicked upstairs. In reality, they're moving from influential positions within the administration to peripheral positions that most people don't care about much. Certainly it's unlikely that the neocon fraternity itself is overjoyed at seeing these guys shunted into institutions that they think are worthless at best and downright harmful to U.S. interests at worst. As Matt puts it, maybe "this is the way a man who doesn't like admitting to mistakes is admitting that he made mistakes."

There's probably something to this, especially in the case of Bolton, who was most likely given the UN position as a bone after being rejected for a high-level State Department position by Condoleezza Rice. Wolfowitz is a little harder to figure, though, especially since it's been widely reported that Bush canvassed the World Bank board, found widespread opposition to Wolfowitz, and then went ahead and nominated him anyway. It's hard to read this as anything but a thumb in the eye of the Europeans, even if it's also true that Bush and Rumsfeld wanted Wolfowitz out of the Defense Department for other (unknown) reasons.

Bolton and Wolfowitz

Was about to write about these appointments (Bolton to the UN and Wolfowitz to the World Bank, not two of the greater choices) and found that Kevin Drum had already tackled it quite effectively. Go read the whole thing, but here are some salient paragraphs:

Yesterday I suggested that President Bush's appointment of well-known hawks John Bolton as UN ambassador and Paul Wolfowitz as World Bank president were, on a PR level, attempts to prove that he doesn't take guff from anyone. Anyone who thought he was going to back down and take a more conciliatory tone in his second term had better guess again.

For what it's worth, Dan Drezner, Matt Yglesias, and several emailers point out an obvious alternate theory: both men are being kicked upstairs. In reality, they're moving from influential positions within the administration to peripheral positions that most people don't care about much. Certainly it's unlikely that the neocon fraternity itself is overjoyed at seeing these guys shunted into institutions that they think are worthless at best and downright harmful to U.S. interests at worst. As Matt puts it, maybe "this is the way a man who doesn't like admitting to mistakes is admitting that he made mistakes."

There's probably something to this, especially in the case of Bolton, who was most likely given the UN position as a bone after being rejected for a high-level State Department position by Condoleezza Rice. Wolfowitz is a little harder to figure, though, especially since it's been widely reported that Bush canvassed the World Bank board, found widespread opposition to Wolfowitz, and then went ahead and nominated him anyway. It's hard to read this as anything but a thumb in the eye of the Europeans, even if it's also true that Bush and Rumsfeld wanted Wolfowitz out of the Defense Department for other (unknown) reasons.

Drilling in ANWR

All of that damage for so little product.

Big HooHoo Trials

So Scott Peterson gets death and Robert Blake has been found not guilty on the most serious of charges (first degree murder and solicitation of murder) in the death of his wife Bonnie Lee Bakley, the charming lady who did a lot of scurrilous things in her life but probably didn't deserve to get popped in a dark parking area on that May night in 2001.

I'm sort of a court-a-phile from graduate school days and the feeling I come away with from both trials (but much more in Peterson) is that we're down to treating criminal trials like it's another "American Idol" show where the public gets to vote and there are a million Simons ready to opine ad nauseum about the horrible nature of those who had least try to have some talent (what the hell is Simon talented at besides nastiness? I ask because I'd rather eat tar than watch a show like that).

Last night, the media was going on non-stop with two stories: the poor hostage from the Atlanta case who might not get all the reward money for saving her own life and the fact that Laci Peterson's mother was having a shit fit because every seat in the court room for the sentencing wasn't going to "friends of both Laci and Connor".

Connor was the unborn child and California pulled a nice one for promoting the "fetus as person" Bush initiative by charging Peterson with both. I don't think until a creature is actually deemed alive (i.e. with documented birth) can it be considered a full fledged person. That's not intended as a hateful distinction but one based on how you look at a government's distinction of a person. Go try to apply for a social security number or a birth certificate or life insurance on a fetus and you'll find you can't get them on someone not yet alive.

With this in mind, I don't think Connor had hundreds of friends yet that needed seats. Let's not take this "life begins at the moment of ejaculation of sperm" effort too far. That's not to say the child isn't greatly anticipated, planned for, first thought of as an impending son or daughter. The life at that stage is valuable. But elevating Connor to a life equal to that of his mother negates the mother. It's a political distinction so let's not lose sight of that.

But do we really want to have trials whose results can be decided like a popularity contest? In both of these cases, there was circumstantial evidence but almost no forensic evidence. Both juries listened to a lot of "these are bad men" media attention before the trials began. I suspect that the only thing to save Robert Blake the same verdict was two-fold: (sadly) the reputation of the deceased (not the exalted, always grinning Madonna we saw with Laci Peterson) and the fact that Blake's trial got a lot less attention.

From what I heard of the evidence presented at the Peterson trial, I do not believe I could have voted guilty. The prosecution did not prove their case forensically or legally; they proved it by making Peterson look so damned bad as a human being (and I'm not making excuses for him or what he did - however, I do recognize that you can be a very rotten person and still not be guilty of a specific crime).

Yet this is how so many criminal cases get decided. It's not just.

And those loud-mouth jurors from the Peterson trial who keep grabbing press attention to spew hatred at Peterson. I really think the male juror we keep seeing is going to appear in appeal documents filed later. Enough with elevating jurors to celebrity status.

Fox: Our Staff is Morally Righteous

Apparently, Faux is striking out for balance, trying to be sure there are as many sex-crazed nutcase females working there as males. This from a reader at Wonkette:

A disgruntled Wonkette reader vents: "After being FIRED at the end of January for having pictures taken of her simulating sex in the local NYNY Fox affiliate's truck with a married colleague, this ho (Julie Banderas) has been hired by Fox News (as of March 9th) to be a reporter! Unbefrigginlievable."

Unbefrigginlievable is right! Because apparently, a hearty appetite for fake truck-sex is not Banderas' only attribute. In January, the Daily News, bragging that it had the pix to prove it, reported: "There's one of Banderas (beer in one hand, cigarette in the other) straddling a man in the front seat, their crotches pressed together and her ankles wrapped around his head...And did you know she can lick her own chest with her unusually long tongue?"

What is wrong with the cable news industry when it takes someone with a resume like that over a month to get a new job?

Well, At Least Someone Covered the Bush Press Conference

And from what I can tell, Wonkette gets it dead on right (which is about where the Immoral Majority and Bush have left this country so far):

10:15 Bush looks nervous. He loves FDR. (Don't tell Franken.)
10:16 "Making progress" in Soc Sec reform, by Iraq definition of making progress. Actually, things going better there.
10:17 "I urge members to talk aboiut solutions I am not brave enough to make. Urge them to talk to constituents maybe they'll do better job than i have."But hey, he is "enjoying myself on these trips." Raids mini bar withoutguilt
10:18 Ah, the Italian question. David Gregory shirt confusing t.v.
10:19 "He wanted me to know that there was little change in his policy." Except for the pulling out part
10:20 "You'll find countries anxious to get out when iraq can defend itself." Yes. Also anxious to get out before that. And some countries so anxious to get out they never went.
10:22 "Lemme just come to the history right quick." He's so adorably folksy. It makes it less scary when he says going to invade
10:25 Bush: "personal accounts do not solve the issue" How long do we give the dems before that quote shows up in mass e-mail?
10:26 10...9.....8....
10:27 Huh. Not here. No WONDER they keep losing.

Visit Our Favorite Warrior for Christ

If you haven't been to General JC Christian lately, you just must. His letters to the righteous righties are just too special although I'm not always convinced the recipients are able to appreciate quite the way we do.

The General truly is one of the best voices in Blogtopia* (Skippy would want us to remember he coined that phrase) and his letters invariably have me laughing until I cry or crying until I laugh. Or one of those.

This Saturday: Vigil to Mark Two Years in Iraq

I'm sharing this message from MoveOn:

March 19th, 2005 will mark 2 full years since the bombs started falling in Iraq. As of yesterday, 1,516 American troops have been killed in combat, and over 11,220 have been seriously injured. Uncounted tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died, and millions are without electricity or running water. The Bush administration is in the middle of an optimism campaign on Iraq, and wants us to believe that a stable peace is around the corner. But most realists see years of chaos and violence ahead. The two-year anniversary of the invasion is an important time to come together in response.

Our friends at Sojourners--a network of progressive faith-based communities--are organizing peace vigils all across the country, and they have asked MoveOn members to join them. You can either find a vigil in your neighborhood, or start one of your own. It's a first step--an opportunity to mark this date with a solemn recognition of those we have lost, and a firm commitment to finding a better way.

To find a vigil near you, just go here.

To host a vigil, go here.

The vigils will take many different forms. Some are hosted by churches, synagogues and mosques and include religious prayers. Some are hosted by local peace groups and are non-denominational. Resources are available online to help you organize either type. Common elements include reading the names of fallen Americans and Iraqis, prayer for peace, and silence.

This anniversary is also an important time to reflect on the war itself, and where we go from here. The fundamental error of the invasion has left us, as a nation, with no opportunity for a quick fix. But together, we must address the catastrophe Bush has created, and ensure we are never again deceived into a reckless war.

Last summer, we surveyed MoveOn members to determine where folks stood on Iraq. An overwhelming majority of us agreed that we need to have a clear exit plan. And that consensus remains: in order to gain the trust of the Iraqi people, they must know that we don't intend to be there forever.

In the days ahead, we will work together to end the war, by pressuring the President to negotiate a binding exit plan with the Iraqi government. We will push to ensure that America doesn't establish permanent military bases in Iraq, which would send such a terrible message to the world about our motives there.

Together, we will demand that Congress root out the corporate corruption that has undercut the rebuilding efforts and washed billions we've already put into Iraq down the drain. This is especially crucial as Congress prepares to approve another $80+ billion for Iraq.

And we will counter the Bush doctrine of shortsighted, go-it-alone militarism by promoting healthy engagement with the international community--the best way to accomplish diplomatic goals, and address real security threats.

Finally, we'll organize to increase the political consequences for misleading the country into war. Future lawmakers must know that illegitimate wars come at a great political cost.

Our work together goes on. But this Saturday, let's begin by commemorating what has happened, mourning those we have lost and building hope together for a more peaceful world.

Rosie O'Donnell

I discovered at Blogger Buzz, the new blog discussing Blogger, that Rosie O'Donnell has started a blog called "Once Adored" that I think is pretty cool because it's very human.

Now, I've never been a huge Rosie O'Donnell fan in terms of her comedy, her acting, or her TV show. If anything, I admired that a woman who isn't a size O made it in front of the camera. There was nothing I particularly disliked about her but her personality just seemed a little tough for me.

However, Rosie the person who's emerged into the public in the last handful of years is someone I admire more. I certainly don't agree with her on everything and her style is still not one I'm thrilled with (caveat: my style grates on me, too). Yet none of this takes away from the fact that she is a courageous woman who puts her energies where her loud mouth is.

With her TV show, she had a very good thing going. It took a lot of guts to decide that she would stop when she did, that she was no longer content with being one person "on screen" and another in the rest of her life, and continue that stance even after she became the butt of many jokes. She made an enormous amount of money and could have simply taken the money and gone into obscurity. She didn't.

One criticism I've often heard repeated about Rosie is that since she came out, she "pushes her sexuality in our faces". But I don't think that's true. After the "secret" was out of the bag regarding her homosexuality, the media was eager to talk with her; it was a curiosity. After all, if she shut up, she might have kept riding the gravy train. The media was the one who treated us to non-stop lesbian discussion and if Rosie had refused to play, they would have pursued this regardless.

Yet practicing an alternative lifestyle (now there's a phrase) is just one part of the whole woman. She believes in peace. She obviously cares very much about her role as a mother to four children and about being a decent citizen of the world. She clearly considers her life a journey to learn more and she's struggling right along with the rest of us who've decided to take that path rather than just sit home watching TV. Just like the rest of us, she soars at times and sinks other times.

Yeah, I think Rosie O'Donnell the human being is a whole lot more three-dimensional, interesting, and deserving of respectul attention that Rosie the celebrity was. I'm glad she's blogging and I expect to stop over there once in awhile.

Welcome 802 Online!

[Ed note: "802" is Vermont's one and only area code]

It's nice to see 802 Online, another Vermont-based blog - and this one from a frequent contributor to a neat publication that comes out free here each week called "Seven Days" we try to grab each week - with some additional Vermont links listed.

Actually, with the state of newspapers up here, blogs become more important (IMHO). For example, we're served by two papers here, one a daily called the Times Argus which seems to miss much of the less mainstream stuff that makes up a good part of life here, and the weekly Hardwick Gazette (yup, about like it sounds). But one strong part of the Times Argus is its letters to the editor section. There are some damned good letters in there intermingled with many "if you don't love everything this president does you ought to be shot and THEN exiled to Canada" ones.

Queue the Twilight Zone music

I've been sleeping very badly and after finally slipping off to sleep at 6:30 this morning while watching the early news, I awoke again around 10 to Bush giving a long, meandering address about Iran (well, let me add, I'm not sure whether it was on Iran or Iraq". Peeking out from beneath my blanket, I heard things like "if they don't do this, we'll take it up with the Security Council" and "(unnamed country) would do better as a democracy."

(Yeah, democracy's a nice idea. I remember when we had one here.

Doesn't this sound familiar?

I mean, just stop and think how rarely this president bothers to answer press questions (and even when he takes them, he doesn't actually answer them. So to have him appear in this venue saber rattling makes the hair go up on the back of my neck. This is a man who may have already decided we're headed into Iran or Syria or both, and now he's making a half-hearted attempt to sell the action.

And if we thought Colin Powell whored himself out to appear before the UN Security Council on Iraq, we can only imagine the job Condi and her shit-kicking boots will do. Colin - at least before we went - impressed people as being a man who understood one does not seek a military response as the first response. Condi, however, will do whatever her president wants.

Does anybody believe Italy or Britain or any of the other "coalition of the we-don't-want-to-be-on-Bush's-shit-list" will stand up with us this time? Italy is booking out of Iraq.

Too Much Secrecy

From CNN:

The more information the government tries to keep secret, the greater the chance that what should be withheld will be leaked to reporters, a retired Associated Press executive said Tuesday.

"Overdone secrecy raises, rather than reduces, the risk that really vital secrets will be breached," Walter Mears, former AP executive editor and vice president, told a Senate panel. "If everything is classified, then my colleagues are going to go after everything."

Mears, who also was a Pulitzer Prize-winning political reporter, was among five witnesses appearing before the Senate Judiciary terrorism, technology and homeland security subcommittee. The panel is looking at legislation designed in part to force government officials and agencies to respond more quickly to requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act.

After the September 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush administration set a higher threshold for FOIA disclosures, advising agencies to make sure the information they released would not jeopardize national security.

"Too often, security becomes an excuse for shielding embarrassing information and secrecy can conceal mismanagement or wrongdoing," Mears said, recalling former President Nixon's effort to use national security as an excuse for the Watergate cover-up. "Forgetting history risks repeating it."

Rats Deserting the Good Ship Bush

From CNN:

Italy will begin a partial withdrawal of its roughly 3,000 troops from Iraq in September, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Tuesday, making it the latest member of the U.S.-led coalition to announce plans to leave.

First We Ask the FCC to Stop Fake News

Sign here at StopFakeNews.org....

and then we ask the networks and newspapers to do it. :)

The Stink Isn't Going Away

From Time:

Where the controversy goes from here is difficult to say. DeLay's increasingly precarious situation has paralyzed the House ethics committee. Democrats on the committee, one of the few in Congress in which they have as many votes as Republicans do, have shut it down. The Democrats refuse to accept a new rule that would prevent the committee from launching any investigation without the support of at least one Republican--a restriction designed to protect the majority leader. The strain is showing on DeLay, who was treated in a hospital last week for fatigue and an irregular heartbeat. And for the first time, a significant number of Republicans have begun to question DeLay's political survival. Frets a senior G.O.P. Congressman about the odor surrounding DeLay: "It just isn't going away."

Some idiot named Stephan Moore from the Free Enterprise something lost ALL credibility with me when he appeared on PBS tonight as he started off his pro-DeLay spiel saying Tom DeLay is the most honest and ethical politician I have ever know.

Nobody thinks that. Not even DeLay!

A Face Only a Mother - and Andrea Mitchell - Could Love

Well, any mother but a baby boomer mother who worked 30+ years only to discover she's going to take a cut in the benefits her taxes fund for others now.

Greenspan always strikes me as a caricature of what an artist might draw if asked to sketch a longtime bureaucratic cum Fed chief.

Beware the Ides of March

Although it's probably no more worrisome than any other day when Mr. Bush is Commander-in-Grief.

While the Anthrax Perpetrator Remains at Large

(Sorta like Osama bin Forgotten)

This from CNN:

Two Pentagon mail facilities were closed and nearly 300 workers tested for exposure to anthrax after sensors detected the bacteria in mail at the buildings, Pentagon officials said Monday.

Follow-up field tests done Monday came back negative for anthrax, but samples were sent to the U.S. Army Research Institute for Infectious Diseases in Fort Detrick, Maryland, for further tests to confirm or rule out the existence of the bacteria.

Test results are expected back within 48 to 72 hours, Pentagon officials said.

My guess is Mr. Bush's or Mr. Rumsfeld's poll numbers dropped OR they wanted to take the press' mind off the fake news stories.

Mind you, all these scares have turned out to be nothing since 2001 but it sure makes people nervous.

The Charity Begins At Bernie's

From The Daily News (really, $75K in royalties on a book for which he wrote a few sentences?):

Former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik accepted thousands of dollars in royalties from a book published to raise money for the families of heroes killed on Sept. 11, 2001, the Daily News has learned.

Kerik contributed an 11-sentence foreword to the book of photographs, titled "In the Line of Duty," in which he praised police and firefighters who "desperately fought and struggled and bled and died in a noble effort."

"Theirs is a story beyond words; a story of bravery, fidelity and sacrifice; a story that must never be forgotten," Kerik wrote.

Kerik's royalties on the book have so far totaled $75,954.52, sources told The News.

The deal came about when Kerik was engaged in a torrid year-long affair with the book's publisher, Judith Regan, as The News revealed in December.

In contrast, former Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen, who also wrote an introduction to the book, accepted no money. Von Essen directed ReganBooks to include his payment in its charitable donation, according to the publisher's spokesman.

"Von Essen did not want to get paid, and in lieu of getting paid he wanted the money donated to charity," said Paul Crichton, a ReganBooks spokesman.

Kerik's reps say he donated some of the money to charity but declined to show documentation of that.

Some Awfully Sweet 9-11 Deals for the Likes of Kerik (and Rudy and their ilk)

From The Daily News (really, $75K in royalties on a book for which he wrote a few sentences?):

Former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik accepted thousands of dollars in royalties from a book published to raise money for the families of heroes killed on Sept. 11, 2001, the Daily News has learned.

Kerik contributed an 11-sentence foreword to the book of photographs, titled "In the Line of Duty," in which he praised police and firefighters who "desperately fought and struggled and bled and died in a noble effort."

"Theirs is a story beyond words; a story of bravery, fidelity and sacrifice; a story that must never be forgotten," Kerik wrote.

Kerik's royalties on the book have so far totaled $75,954.52, sources told The News.

The deal came about when Kerik was engaged in a torrid year-long affair with the book's publisher, Judith Regan, as The News revealed in December.

In contrast, former Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen, who also wrote an introduction to the book, accepted no money. Von Essen directed ReganBooks to include his payment in its charitable donation, according to the publisher's spokesman.

"Von Essen did not want to get paid, and in lieu of getting paid he wanted the money donated to charity," said Paul Crichton, a ReganBooks spokesman.

Kerik's reps say he donated some of the money to charity but declined to show documentation of that.

And While I'm Already Pissy

Who gave Karlo permission to go hiking?

Oh crap, there's Ashley on Olbermann with her sixth outfit and her 14th version. God, this is the worst thing yet. They shouldn't be running this crap.

The Whole "Hero" Thing

OK, I'm going to become the first person to go against everyone else who isn't so charmed with either a) the way the Atlanta courthouse thing got blown way up and b) our new media darling, Ashley, the hostage.

First, there's a $60,000 reward that was posted for someone leading to the capture of the guy known to have killed three and believed to have killed a fourth. Today, I kept hearing that they want to give Ashley the reward for being such a hero. Ashley instantly has a team of lawyers and media people (apparently she expects to have one of those dumb twins play here in the movie of her courageous life). GMA and Today actually had a war going on over who got Ashley's new dress on screen first. With each telling of her story, Ashley's account seemed to grow (she's not only saved Atlanta, America, and the rest of mankind, but she single handedly convinced the perpetrator of her devoted motherhood, saved him by witnessing Jesus upon him, helped him understand the American judicial system).

Now the media has joined her telling America she really DID save America - you know, in trying to keep herself alive, something many hostages might try - and deserves the $60,000 award and should get a medal from the President.

We use the word hero way too loosely, which means we don't recognize true heros appropriately. I'm not at all saying she wasn't through an ordeal. But what the fuck is wrong with the media/us when we turn somebody like Ashley into an extremely sought-after, well paid, world recognized hero?

The media doesn't get the total blame here, although they whipped up the frenzy on Friday. It was their BIG story of the week. (I mean, how many nights can you hear about Michael Jackson masturbating during the dinner news and still have the requisite shock?)

But if people had turned off the dial on Friday - as a lot of us did - we wouldn't be consumed with Ashley. Saving your life doesn't usually mean a huge check, a staff of 30, and a book/movie deal. Unless you're the new media darling. And with her staff of consultants, we'll still be talking about Ashley long after she uses some of the sixty thousand to do up those dark roots and hopes Jesus forgives her for blowing $30K in Vegas whereupon the media will do a new story on her about her recovery from hitting the bottom.

Then Michael Jackson will start sleeping with puppies and we'll be talking about that endlessly (especially Rick Santorum - for such a righteous rightie he spends an enormous amount of time discussing bestiality).

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go beg somebody to take me hostage so I can make my mortgage payment this month. Cough.

Our Tax Dollars Manufacturing News

Democracy Now had a piece today on how those fake news pieces the White House has produced before have now become standard operating procedure. They're packaging up these fake spots all the time now and the media is just running them like they're real.

Regardless of what side of the political spectrum you're on, this isn't good. We're paying for the Pentagon to run its own TV network now (available on Dish Network and other services).

Conservatives should hate this (at the very least) because tax money should not be used for pretend news and propaganda. We all should.

No Luck with the Exlax

Blogger is still acting very poorly here (damn, when it works, it works so well but when it doesn't.... oh my!). I think I'll try a Dulcolax suppository on it next and then work my way up from Drano to colonoscopy to full sigmoid resectioning with anastomosis (and no, we won't be taking pictures of Katie Couric's cute-as-a-button colon either).

Condi Grrrrrrrl for Prez in '08

Oh yes. Definitely.

She's done such a bang up job everywhere and with everything she has done that she really, really should be rewarded.

The only part of this I'm enjoying is how warmly and graciously she will be accepted by all those red state Southerners who have just been so damned eager to have not just a woman run for president, but an African American woman at that. Who's never been married. Who many rumors say is a woman who keeps her "alternative sexual orientation" well under wraps while she spends more on one pair of boots than many of those crackers make in a month.

Yup. Condi for 2008. Can't wait. Somebody send me a bumper sticker.

OK, Blogger

I'm putting Exlax in a post to see if it helps your constipation.

How Does He Do It?

How can George Bush utter a line like:

The time for authoritarian rule is over. It's the last gasp of a nation living in the past.

that without falling over laughing?

Well Screw That

Blogger is eating URLs and changing them with Blogger's address.

How Michael Jackson and George Bush Are Similar

For those with a higher speed connection and a passion for bad audio (my first attempt - and who knows, perhaps only -at audio blogging), go here.