What Do You Expect From A Hick Named Virgil?

I don't even have the words for this kind of shameless bigotry.

The bigotry targeted against Ellison has been incredible. Dennis Prager kicked it off with a disgusting display and was followed up by Virgil Goode who hasn't backed down. The wingnuts have been eating heaping spoon fulls of Zombie brains. Ellison spoke out against it today.

Video coming. 

BLITZER:  All right.  Let me read for our viewers who may not be all that familiar with what Virgil Goode actually wrote to his constituents back on December 7th.  Among other things, he said, "If American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration, there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran."

And you just heard our Brian Todd.  He's on the scene.  He says Virgil Goode is not backing away from that at all.  What's your reaction?

ELLISON:  My reaction?

BLITZER:  Yes, what's your reaction, Congressman-elect?

ELLISON:  Oh, yes, Wolf, I think that, you know, diversity of our country is a great strength.  It's a good thing that we have people from all faiths and all cultures that come here.  And we all support one Constitution, one Constitution that upholds our right to equal protection, one Constitution that guarantees us due process under the law, one Constitution which says that there is no religious test for elected office in America. 

So the document that is the bedrock of our democracy expressly prohibits applying any religious test, and I think that diversity in our nation is a great thing and we should embrace it, not be afraid of it.

Ellison certainly carried himself better than most in addressing the streams of insults and rhetorical assaults on his faith. Then you have Virgil, defending his stance while sounding like a straight up hillbilly. If anything, that kind of backwater, ignorant specimen should be banned from Congress and relegated to Hee Haw.

Worth It To Whom?

For whom is she speaking? Clearly the bulk of Americans do not think the war is winnable nor worth the sacrifice in billions, lives, limbs and sanity. It really is going to be down to Condi, Laura, Dubya and Barney. She should be ashamed of herself. I'm embarrassed for her.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told The Associated Press on Thursday that Iraq is "worth the investment" in American lives and dollars.

The top U.S. diplomat said the United States can win in Iraq, although the war so far has been longer and more difficult than she had expected. She made the remarks at a time when President Bush is under pressure from the public and members of Congress to find a fresh course in the long-running and costly war, which has shown no signs of nearing an end and cost the lives of more than 2,950 American troops.

In the AP interview, Rice was asked whether an additional $100 billion the Pentagon wants for the Iraq and Afghan wars might amount to throwing good money after bad in Iraq. Bush and Congress have already provided more than $500 billion for the two conflicts and worldwide efforts against terrorism, including more than $350 billion for Iraq.

"I don't think it's a matter of money," Rice said. "Along the way there have been plenty of markers that show that this is a country that is worth the investment, because once it emerges as a country that is a stabilizing factor you will have a very different kind of Middle East."

Rice added, "I know from the point of view of not just the monetary cost but the sacrifice of American lives a lot has been sacrificed for Iraq, a lot has been invested in Iraq."

He Needs Another Intervention

Too little too late but Scarborough finally gets that Bush is crazy - as pointed out by Mike Barnicle.

SCARBOROUGH: Well, Mike Barnicle, as you know, I supported this war and I supported this man twice for president, and yet I‘m growing more disturbed every night by how isolated George W. Bush has become. All the Joint Chiefs oppose his plan for Iraq. His lead general opposes his plan in Iraq, and now he‘s going to quit because Bush has ignored him. Colin Powell opposes his plan in Iraq. And an “L.A. Times” poll is showing that only 12 percent of Americans support his plan for more troops in Iraq. Shouldn‘t more Americans be disturbed at this unprecedented example of a White House that‘s in—and you can only call it this—a bunker mentality?

MIKE BARNICLE, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think, Joe, that more Americans ought to be truly depressed by what they saw today on TV, the latest press conference. We have a president of the United States who is isolated. He‘s delusional. He is stubborn. He has had one intervention that clearly didn‘t work, the Baker-Hamilton report. He is clearly in need of another intervention.

You don‘t have to be von Clausewitz to figure out that urban warfare in the city of Baghdad, comparably the size of New York City, a tremendously hostile environment now, will become even more hostile with the introduction of more American troops. It will do very little, if nothing, to lessen the level of violence in Baghdad. The only…

SCARBOROUGH: And you‘re just going more—you‘re only going to get more American kids killed…

(CROSSTALK)

BARNICLE: You‘re going to get more Americans both killed and captured. And the only services that we will have ended up improving in Baghdad are funeral services.

Ow!

Now here's a clown car for ya!

A UK woman with two wombs is believed to be the first in the world with the condition to give birth to triplets.



Hannah Kersey, 23, from Northam in Devon, had identical twins Ruby and Tilly, who were born from one womb, Grace, who was born from the other.



The girls had to stay in hospital for nine weeks after being born seven weeks early by Caesarean, but have now returned home to their parents.



The odds of having triplets from two wombs are about 25 million to one.



The chances of a woman with two wombs having twins or two separate births is estimated to be five million to one.



Against the odds

Shocking Beyond Belief

I had a college roommate who claimed not to believe that the holocaust had happened. She also denied that slavery happened. She was supposedly a nice little Italian Catholic girl from a good Catholic family. I wonder if her parents knew that she had some of the views that she had or if, despite their gracious manner, were the source of her hate-speech? There was absolutely no logic behind her views or statements (she called Native Americans half-breeds and once wrote Puerto Rican terrorist group on the door of some Puerto Rican exchange students in our dorm). I've never understood what it buys people to deny the holocaust and other tragic events in global history.

Iran's hard-line president said Tuesday that Israel will one day be "wiped out" as the Soviet Union was, drawing applause from participants in a conference casting doubt on the Holocaust.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments were likely to further fuel the outcry prompted by the two-day gathering, which has gathered some of Europe's and the United States' best-known Holocaust deniers.

Anger over the conference could further isolate Iran as the West considers sanctions in the standoff over Tehran's nuclear program.

But Ahmadinejad appeared to revel in his meeting Tuesday with conference delegates, shaking hands with American participants and sitting near six anti-Israel Jewish participants, dressed in black ultra-Orthodox coats and hats.

"The Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom," Ahmadinejad said during Tuesday's meeting in his offices, according to the official IRNA news agency.

He called for elections among "Jews, Christians and Muslims so the population of Palestine can select their government and destiny for themselves in a democratic manner."

Ahmadinejad has used anti-Israeli rhetoric and cast doubt on the Holocaust to rally anti-Western supporters at home and abroad, particularly in Asia and the Middle East. Several times he has referred to the Holocaust as a "myth" used to impose the state of Israel on the Arab world.

"The Holocaust is the device used as the pillar of Zionist imperialism, Zionist aggression, Zionist terror and Zionist murder," David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader and former state representative in Louisiana, told The Associated Press.

Ahmadinejad announced the conference would set up a "fact-finding commission" to determine whether the Holocaust happened or not. The commission will "help end a 60-year-old dispute," he said.
[...]
Rabbi Moshe David Weiss, one of six members attending from the group Jews United Against Zionism, told delegates, "We don't want to deny the killing of Jews in World War II, but Zionists have given much higher figures for how many people were killed."

"They have used the Holocaust as a device to justify their oppression," he said. His group rejects the creation of Israel on the grounds that it violates Jewish religious law.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday that the conference was "shocking beyond belief" and "a symbol of sectarianism and hatred."

Tony Blair is right. This is shocking beyond belief. But I am not sure what part shocks me most. Is it that someone has given David Duke yet another platform? Is it that even some Jews are participating in this "conference?" Is it that Ahmadinejad is still purposely using language to piss us off? Is it that they even have such a conference to debate something that was already decided upon? I may have issues with Zionism and the way Israel behaves in the region but denying the holocaust is not going to fix or change anything.

More Quality Parenting

They don't even have a bed but have a baby pit bull and a new baby? What can you even say about this?

A pit bull puppy chewed off four of a baby girl's toes while the child's parents slept, police here said Monday. The parents were booked on charges of child desertion and criminal negligence and were being held in the Bossier Parish Jail pending an initial court appearance.

Police said the parents were sleeping on a mattress in the living room of their residence and the month-old girl was in an infant seat beside them when the puppy began chewing on their baby's toes.

Mary Shannon Hansche, 22, and Christopher Wayne Hansche, 26, told police they woke up to the sound of the baby crying, found her mangled foot and took her to the hospital about 8:30 a.m. Sunday.

"They did not see the dog injuring the child," police spokesman Mark Natale said.

The girl underwent surgery Sunday at Sutton's Children's Hospital in Shreveport. There was no way to reattach the child's toes, Natale said Monday.

Foreign Policy Getting Stupid

Not totally surprised. We've lost all of our political bargainingship. No one is afraid of us. Bush is still spouting about us not talking to Iran unless they suspend nuclear efforts. It's such a hollow mantra because we have no means of successfully backing it up. Now, Iran has their own mantra. They will talk when we decide to leave.

Iran will only hold direct talks with the United States on Iraq if Washington announces plans to pull its troops out, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday.

Mottaki was responding to this week's U.S. Iraq Study Group report, which recommended Washington should directly engage with Iran and Syria to try to stabilise Iraq.

U.S. President George W. Bush has said he will not talk to Iran unless it suspends its nuclear programme.

On the question of direct talks, "the first and most essential step ... is the United States announce they have decided to withdraw from Iraq", Mottaki told reporters at a security conference in Bahrain.

"Iran is ready to help the administration to withdraw its troops from Iraq," he said, but his country did not "see such political will yet in the United States".

Washington has said it will keeps its troops in Iraq as long as the Iraqi government wants.

We have a Kindergarten president inspiring Kindergarten diplomacy.

Excessive Bingo Causes Molestation?

I don't get the connection.

A man who pleaded guilty to molesting two girls told a judge he did it because of his wife's excessive bingo playing.

"My wife was never home," Floyd Kinney Jr. said during his plea hearing Friday.

Kinney's explanation did not sit well with Northampton County Judge F.P. Kimberly McFadden,

"Some people, when their wives are not home, decide to do other things, like clean their living rooms," McFadden said. "Your behavior is beyond the pale."

Kinney, 49, said his wife would sometimes argue with him over money and that he was angry she was spending too much on bingo.

"She would be going to bingo three, four times a week. I told her to stop going to bingo, and she said, 'If they had bingo every day, I'd go every day,"' he said.

Records say Kinney molested one of the girls, now 26, from 1992-97. He sexually assaulted the second girl, now 17, for a year beginning in January 2005, records show.

So, it's his wife's fault that he molested underaged girls? Is he saying he was lonely? Why didn't he do what "normal" men do and go out and get a mistress who was his own age? The only thing his wife is guilty of is marrying a sick loser ... but then I guess that's why she was hiding out at bingo instead of being at home with him. Divorce folks! It's not that hard anymore.

Oh The Horror!

There's a war next door. There could be possible air strikes by America or Israel over your nuclear ambitions and your outrage is over rumor that Ahmadinejad may have been in the vicinity of dancing girls?

Holy hypocrisy! Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in hot water after being filmed apparently watching a troupe of dancers and singers, including female vocalists performing sans veils, the Guardian reports.

The controversy erupted after video footage of Ahmadinejad at the opening ceremony for the Asian Games in Qatar, seemingly in the audience for the song and dance, surfaced on the Web. Under Islamic legal code, women are banned from performing this way before men, and government officials are expected to ditch any events where such debauched displays break out. The president's press secretary insists Ahmadinejad left before the show began.

Still, Ahmadinejad's fellow right-wingers are outraged by even the possibility of his having seen the spectacle. "We have heard from some sources that Ahmadinejad was in the stadium at the time," Jalal Yahyazadeh, a conservative M.P., told the Guardian. "Those who created the conditions for his presence should be investigated as quickly as possible." Conservative Web site Baztab, which is often critical of Ahmadinejad, posted video footage of the president apparently sitting in his seat following the performance. "The failure of Ahmadinejad to object and his constant presence has damaged the image of Iran's Islamic revolution and its commitment to Islamic rules in contrast with the Arab countries in the Gulf," the Web site rails.

Yup! He's a failed leader alright!

Iraq Study Group: The Real Deal

Oil! Oil! Oil!

At least somebody finally admits it.

MY GOODMAN: Former Secretary of State James Baker in 2003 went to Rome, Moscow, London, first official trip since he joined the Bush administration as a point person on issues around Iraq in 2003, but remained a senior partner in the law firm, Baker Botts, which, among others, represents Halliburton, as well as the Saudi government, in the suit filed by family members who lost relatives in 9/11. Now, that’s the family members who lost their loved ones versus the Saudi government, and he was representing the Saudi government.

ANTONIA JUHASZ: Yeah, he’s definitely had his allegiance spread, and it almost always, in the bottom line, has to do with oil. And as the public has been very clear in saying in its reports on Baker -- or rather, excuse me, the media -- that Baker is a pragmatist. He is a pragmatist. The Iraq Study Group report, page 1, chapter one, says that the reason why Iraq is a critical country in the Middle East, in the world and for the United States, is because it has the second-largest reserves of oil in the world. The report is very clear.

The report is also very clear, however, that this isn’t a report where the recommendations can be picked and choosed. It says that all of the recommendations should be applied together as one proposal, that they shouldn’t be separated out. That means that the authors of the report are saying that oil, privatization of oil, and foreign corporate access to oil is as key as any other recommendation that they have made.

And the report also says that the US government will withhold military, economic and political support of the Iraqi government, unless the recommendations are met. That’s a pretty straightforward statement. The US government will not provide any support to the al-Maliki government, unless it advances the changes to the Iraqi constitution and changes to Iraqi national law that essentially privatize Iraq’s oil.

That is something for us in the antiwar movement to be very, very clear about, that this is their objective and that we have to, as I repeatedly say, not just call for the end of troops in Iraq, but make clear that the US corporate invasion cannot be progressed or continue, as well.

AMY GOODMAN: Antonia Juhasz, I want to thank you very much for being with us, author of The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time, speaking to us from San Francisco.

They can keep lying and saying they didn't go into Iraq for the oil, but daddy Bush's friend Baker made sure that this report states that we won't leave without it.

And Still They Breed ... Part 200,640

I forgot to post this mess. I think these parents need to get a call from CPS. Who in their right mind would give a child a scalding hot (or do they not watch to see how the Baristas make the cocoa) cup of anything?

A Hancock County couple have filed a lawsuit against Starbucks, accusing a Fishers store of serving scalding hot chocolate that seriously burned their little girl.

Michael and Alexis Brennan filed the suit Tuesday in Marion Superior Court on behalf of their daughter, Rachel.
Rachel's age is not included in the lawsuit, but it says she was in a child restraint seat in the back seat of the family car Nov. 2, 2004, when Alexis Brennan went to the Starbucks at 116th Street and I-69.
Brennan ordered a child's hot chocolate with whipped cream and an adult hot chocolate without whipped cream at the drive-through. According to the lawsuit, Starbucks' policy is to serve child drinks at lower temperature than adult drinks to avoid kids getting burned.
Brennan handed her daughter the child drink, and as she pulled away from the window, it spilled into Rachel's lap.
The child was "screaming in pain," and her mother pulled over, got Rachel out and removed her clothes to find the "skin on Rachel's leg was falling off of her."
She suffered serious burns that required repeated medical attention and could require more medical attention, the lawsuit said. The parents are seeking unspecified damages.
"Starbucks Corporation takes seriously its obligation to provide a safe product to all our customers, and we are truly sympathetic to the Brennan incident that resulted in injuries to this customer's child," Indianapolis-based Borshoff, Johnson and Matthews, a public relations firm representing Starbucks, said in a written statement.
"The incident happened after the vehicle had pulled away from the drive-through window," the statement continued. "While Starbucks regrets this incident, we believe our store partners prepared and served the drink properly and that we are not responsible for the injuries."

If it is hot enough to have a sleeve with a warning, it is too hot for a small child who still needs a car seat! I hope they get laughed out of court and right into parenting classes!

Would America Really Pick This Dick For President?

I never got the whole Guliani-mania. I guess I wasn't feeling his paternal warmth all the way out here in California after 9/11. People act like he was some God but what Mayor (or President for that matter) wouldn't have stepped up on the mound of rubble and expressed somber and comforting thoughts?

On 9/11, all Americans were frightened children, and in a moment of mythic personal heroism, Mayor Giuliani filled the gaping leadership void. The president looked like a petrified chimp; Cheney was spirited to an underground bunker. Only Giuliani could pull himself together sufficiently to get on TV in the midst of the wreckage and show America that a grown-up was still breathing. On that terrible day our reptile brains looked at Rudy Giuliani and said, "We're OK now. Daddy's home."



And we forgot, some for a moment, some permanently, that Daddy was psycho.



The attack on the twin towers blew a hole in downtown Manhattan and in our collective memory. Osama bin Laden and company did a better P.R. job for Giuliani than spin ghouls Hill Knowlton ever did for Dick Nixon. He made everyone but the most grouchy and resentful New Yorkers forget that before planes crashed into the World Trade Center, Rudy was a hyper-authoritarian narcissist with a lust for overkill verging on the sociopathic.



And now, at a time when the machinations of another hubristic bully have brought an unprecedented expansion of the powers of the presidency, "America's Mayor" may be our next chief executive. He is neck and neck with John McCain when Americans are asked their preference for the next occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It is alarming to think that the murky dealings and totalitarian tendencies that have marred the current administration could flourish even more under another control-junkie Republican. It is even more frightening to think what a commander in chief who already has a violent record of abusing authority could do with the unrestrained might of a geopolitical superpower. Given Giuliani's historic willingness to take Spanish Inquisition-style action against threats both real and imaginary, is anyone in doubt that it is every American's duty to keep Rudolph Giuliani as far from the White House as possible?

SteveG recalls some of the more sordid (and I do mean sordid) details about this man:

First, what you have to understand is that Giuliani was a serial philanderer before he was married, and that first marriage ended with some really nasty rumors of abuse. The one to his third cousin.



It is said that Donna Hanover won his election in 1993 with her familiarity to the New York viewing public. She was an anchor on the local Tribune station for several years.



Within six months of being elected, he was caught buying Lategano a skirt on Madison Avenue. If you've never been to New York, that's like shopping on Rodeo Drive. Despite the reputation, 5th Avenue is far more egalitarian than Madison Avenue above 59th St. That's where the high end boutiques, Missoni, DKNY, Vera Wang, Jimmy Choo all are. So he had to have dropped a couple of hundred bucks on the spot. Only problem, it made the front page of the Daily News.



But then, for one Father's Day, Hanover, wondering where her husband was, rolled down to City Hall, where she caught him dick deep in Lategano, according to widely acknowledged rumors.



Giuliani was not subtle. He would take Lategano to the Yankees games with his kids. Until the wife had enough of it. Lategano and his wife would not be in the same room again ...

They DOGGED Bill Clinton for being a whore monger but this man is brazen and unapologetic about publicly humiliating the women in his life. I want to see how much of his lewd and lascivious lifestyle the red state people can stomach before they cry uncle (or Jesus).

ASS ... HOLE!

I DO believe his day will come.

At a press conference this morning with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a reporter asked President Bush whether his use of the word “unsettling” to describe the violence in Iraq would “convince many people that you’re still in denial about how bad things are in Iraq.”

Bush responded curtly, “It’s bad in Iraq. That help?” and then chuckled. Watch it:( I refuse to look).

On The Next Maury ...

Melanie Brown: 'Eddie Is My Baby's Father'

Former Spice Girl Melanie Brown insists ex-boyfriend Eddie Murphy is the father of the baby she's carrying and says she can't imagine why he would publicly question the child's paternity.

"I am obviously upset and distressed at some of the comments made by Eddie Murphy to the media," Brown, who is in the second trimester of her pregnancy, says in the statement released Thursday. "I have no idea why anybody would want to conduct themselves in this kind of manner about such a personal matter in such a public way.

"My main concern is for the well being of my (seven-year-old) daughter Phoenix and of course the baby. I was astonished at what Eddie said – there is absolutely no question that Eddie is the father."

It's 2006 and grown ass folks still haven't figured out how babies are made. I'm going to refrain from my usual rant on indiscriminate breeding (after taking a few deep breaths).

We Broke It. We Bought It.

They expect us to fix it.

A call for President George W. Bush to reduce US support to Iraq if Baghdad fails to improve security drew a sour response from Iraqi politicians, who said Washington had an obligation to back their government.

"The US calls itself an occupying force in Iraq and, according to the Geneva Conventions, if you are an occupier then you are responsible for the country," said parliamentarian Mahmud Othman, a Kurd.

"They have no right to to do this. This is unfair."

Bassim Ridha, a top advisor to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said the White House has to support Baghdad "all the way".

"If they do not support the government then it will look as if they do not do what they preach," Ridha said. "We need their support to go forward."

A high-level, bipartisan panel urged Bush Wednesday to act to halt a "grave and deteriorating" crisis in Iraq by holding talks with Iran and Syria and starting to withdraw US combat forces.

The report said Washington must step up action -- including the threatened reduction of political, military and economic support -- to make the Iraqi government improve security.

Haidar al-Abadi, a member of Maliki's Dawa party and close associate to the prime minister, said most of the panel's recommendations, including a dialogue with Iran and Syria and increased training for Iraqi security forces, had been expected.

But the threat to reduce support was new.

"We were told there would not be pressure as such," said Abadi. "In our dialogue with the US administration, we said that we would work together."

While recognized US concerns over where its money goes, he emphasized that this was everyone's fight.

"We are all in the same boat; we are not fighting only internal criminals but we are fighting international terrorism," Abadi said. "We need support for that."

Like I've said before, it's not like they begged us to invade them and save them from Saddam. Anything that happened in that country after we invaded is our fault. We can't just say "you better clean up the mess we made." At least not if we ever want to know anything close to peace on earth again.

Crying For The Wrong Son

All these tears for the son who (supposedly) did things right.

One child grows up to be
Somebody that just loves to learn
And another child grows up to be
Somebody you'd just love to burn
Sly Stone, Family Affair

Former President George H.W. Bush broke down in tears as he cited his son, Gov. Jeb Bush, as an example of leadership.

Bush was addressing lawmakers, his son's top administrators, and state workers gathered in the House chamber Monday for the last of the governor's leadership forums.

He said he was proud of how his son handled losing the 1994 governor's race to popular incumbent Democrat Lawton Chiles, and vaguely referred to dirty tricks in the campaign.

"He didn't whine about it. He didn't complain," the former president said before choking up. As he tried to continue, he let out a sob and put a handkerchief to his face. When he spoke again, his words were broken up by pauses as he tried to regain composure.

"A true measure of a man is how you handle victory and how you handle defeat, so in '94 Floridians chose to rehire the governor. They took note of his worthy opponent, who showed with not only words but with actions what decency he had," Bush said before again sobbing.

I think he is really crying because of Dubya. Because of Dubya's disastrous Presidency, Jeb (the one who should have been heir apparent for the Presidency) probably has a slim chance to none for ever getting the nomination. Because of the way that Dubya handled assumed and premature victory, he is incapable of handling defeat and clearly established failure.

Obamarama

Obama is even wowing the Fundies:

American politics took an important turn last week at a church in the foothills of Southern California’s Santa Ana Mountains.

When Rick Warren, one of the nation’s most popular evangelical pastors, faced down right-wing pressure and invited Sen. Barack Obama to speak at a gathering at his Saddleback Valley Community Church about the AIDS crisis, he sent a signal: A significant group of theologically conservative Christians no longer wants to be treated as a cog in the Republican political machine.

For his part, Obama, the former community organizer from Chicago, showed why he is this moment’s hottest commodity in 2008 presidential politics, even though he has not entered the race yet.

For a quarter-century since the rise of the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition, white evangelical Christians have widely been seen as a Republican preserve. No one did a more comprehensive job of organizing them than President Bush, and he carried the white evangelical vote in 2004 over John Kerry by a margin of nearly 4-1. Many of the most politically active evangelical leaders have insisted that the morally freighted social issues—abortion, stem-cell research, gay marriage—took priority over all questions.

[...]

That Obama received a standing ovation suggests that Warren is right to sense that growing numbers of Christians are tired of narrowly partisan politics and share his interest in “the whole bird.’’ In their different spheres, Warren and Obama are both in the business of retailing hope.

One more thing: If you read Obama’s speech, you’ll realize he demonstrates a much truer Christian spirit than the GOP masterminds who have recently tried to push people away from Obama by pointing out that his middle name is “Hussein.’’

Yeah, I've noticed that suddenly his middle name is being used by certain types. The folks who are trying to put his light under a bushel by ethnically linking him to our enemies are really low and desperate. But this is one reason why I do not want him to run in 2008. He's a decent guy so far and it's really hard to get too far and remain that way.

Downright Un-American

All of this feigned outrage (has to be fake because these folks cannot be serious) over this Congressman wanting to be sworn in with the Quran instead of the Bible needs to stop! It's like these guys open a spigot and once they get going, the ignorant hate-speech just gets more vile and insulting as it pours out.

Yesterday, ThinkProgress noted that right-wing talk radio host Dennis Prager — who demands that Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN), a Muslim, swear in using a Christian Bible — was appointed by President Bush to the taxpayer-funded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.

The Holocaust Memorial Museum has now issued a statement distancing itself from Prager. The museum emphasizes that Prager “speaks solely for himself,” and that his statements “do not reflect the position of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.”

The statement also points out that the museum does not have the authority to remove Prager from its board, since he is a presidential appointee.

Yesterday, the Council on American Islamic Relations said “Prager’s continued presence on the council would send a negative message to Muslims worldwide about America’s commitment to religious tolerance.” The Anti-Defamation League, a group that combats anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry, called Prager’s views “intolerant,” “misinformed on the facts,” and “downright un-American.”

Prager is Jewish and I'm just stunned that he'd spout this kind of venom. Besides, no holy book is required when being sworn in and it should be at the discretion of the incoming member to choose and/or use one. I'm glad this group is distancing itself from this conduct unbecoming of their cause.

Ten Today

10 soldiers killed today!

Ten American service members were killed from improvised explosive devices in Iraq on Wednesday. The news came hours after a mortar attack killed at least eight people and wounded dozens in the Sadr City Shiite district of the capital, police said. In the 10 American deaths, five troops were killed in the north, and five were killed in Anbar province, a U.S. military official told NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski. No further details were immediately available.

It's Not About You George!

I doubt Bush can make himself do it but he needs to heed Al Gore's advice.

Gore: Well, the report this morning is actually one of several studies. There's one in the Pentagon. There has reportedly been one in the White House itself is (garbled) up. They're all basically saying the same thing, Matt–this is an utter disaster. This was the worst strategic mistake in the entire history of the United States and now we as a nation have to find a way, in George Mitchell’s words—"to manage a disaster." but—I would urge the president not to try to separate out the personal issues of being blamed in history for this mistake and instead recognize it’s not about him. It’s about our country and we all have to find a way to get our troops home and to prevent a regional conflagration there.

(watch the video)

Poor Kofi

I feel so badly that he will finish his term at the UN with so much of the world in shambles due to our deleriously inane President. Of course, there is nothing he could do to stop Bush but I just hate seeing him go out like this.

The level of violence in Iraq is "much worse" than that of Lebanon's civil war, outgoing U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said in an interview aired Monday.

Speaking to the British Broadcasting Corp., Annan agreed that the average Iraqi's life is worse now than it was under Saddam Hussein and called the situation in the country "extremely dangerous."

"Given the level of violence, the level of killing and bitterness and the way that forces are arranged against each other, a few years ago, when we had the strife in Lebanon and other places, we called that a civil war; this is much worse," Annan said.

Last week, when asked by reporters whether the fighting in Iraq could be considered a civil war, Annan said "almost."

"I think given the developments on the ground, unless something is done drastically and urgently to arrest the deteriorating situation, we could be there. In fact we are almost there," he said last week.

In the BBC interview, Annan agreed when it was suggested that some Iraqis believe life is worse now than it was under Saddam Hussein's regime.

"I think they are right in the sense of the average Iraqi's life," Annan said.

"If I were an average Iraqi obviously I would make the same comparison, that they had a dictator who was brutal but they had their streets, they could go out, their kids could go to school and come back home without a mother or father worrying, 'Am I going to see my child again?'" he said.

"And the Iraqi government has not been able to bring the violence under control. The society needs security and a secure environment for it to get on — without security not much can be done — not recovery or reconstruction," Annan added.

He urged the international community to help rebuild the country, saying he was not sure Iraq could do it on its own.

Annan's term as secretary-general ends Dec. 31.

Mary Had A Baby

Oh Lord!

Well, not yet but she will. Funny how the VP's daughter is living a life so contrary to the President's mission.

With this development, Mary and her partner Heather Poe are going to make her father’s religious right friends go apesh*t again.

It’s a baby boom for grandparents Dick and Lynne Cheney: Their older daughter, Elizabeth, went on leave as deputy assistant secretary of state before having her fifth child in July. “The vice president and Mrs. Cheney are looking forward with eager anticipation to the arrival of their sixth grandchild,” spokesman Lea Anne McBride said last night.

Remember, Mary and Heather live in the official homo-hate state of Virginia, which passed its heinous amendment in November that bans the possibility civil unions and any legal arrangements approximating marriage rights.

Poe’s legal status in regards to their child is clearly an issue; Virginia permits single GLBT adoption, it doesn’t clearly prohibit joint gay adoption. Second-parent adoption law is also unclear.

I almost posted this story directly from the article I saw earlier this morning but then I saw this on Pandagon and it included the vapid, ridiculous and throughly non-sensical comments from the Freepers so I had to go with it:

I see no dignity in artifical insemination resulting in pregnancy supported by some anonymous seman donar at the clinic. I certainly see no class in that. Decency? Toward what? Lesbians raising children? How do you later in the child’s life explain to them that they were artificially conceived by some anonymous donor?

How do you later in the child’s life explain to them that they were artificially conceived by some anonymous donor? Not to defend the practice, I think kids, especially boys, need fathers, not two mothers, but how much harder could that be than explaining the usual process?

I think same sex parents are harmful to the memetic development of children. Some studies like ones from a researcher at UVirgina portray a more positive outlook.

How is this anyone’s business except Miss Cheney and her “partner” or whatever we’re calling it this week? I don’t want to hear about people’s sex lives, unlike most of the lemmings and sheeple in this country, getting their news from E!, People Magazine and Jon Stewart. What happened to the United States of America that I grew up in?

I see no dignity in violating the principals set out in the bible on how to procreate a child. I feel sorry for the Cheney family but Mary is their burden and is not for us to carry. I believe that God may have a different take on artificially manufacturing a child. You plea reeks of more feminazi emasculation of the already weak American male.

Okay, I think I'm done laughing now!

Unhappy Ending

Up against all hope, it ended this way.

A San Francisco man who became stranded in the snowy wilderness with his family nearly two weeks ago was found dead Wednesday in the mountains, authorities said.

James Kim’s body was discovered two days after his wife and two daughters were rescued from their car, stuck on a remote road. Kim had set out on foot over the weekend to find help for his family.

Kim’s wife, Kati, and two daughters, Penelope, 4, and Sabine, 7 months, were rescued Monday at their car, stuck in the snow on a remote road. When he left the car Saturday, James Kim went about two miles along the road, and then headed down into a drainage area called Big Windy Creek, said Lt. Gregg Hastings of the Oregon State Police.

Since this guy is from the Bay Area, this has been all over our news. I was hoping he'd be found alive but I guess it wasn't in the cards.

We Needed No Panel

To state the obvious.

President Bush's policy in Iraq "is not working," a high-level commission said bluntly on Wednesday, prodding the administration to embrace diplomacy to stabilize the country and allow withdrawal of most combat troops by early 2008.

After four years of war and the deaths of more than 2,900 U.S. troops, the situation is "grave and deteriorating," and the United States' ability "to influence events within Iraq is diminishing," the commission warned in an unsparing report.

It recommended the United States reduce "political, military or economic support" for Iraq if the government in Baghdad cannot make substantial progress toward providing for its own security.

What I don't get is how on earth the Iraqis are supposed to clean up this fiasco that we caused and are still inspiring. They didn't ask us to come in and unleash every extremist in the country and region. Regular people with regular families just want to live a regular life. They don't want to take up arms and battle insurgents - particularly those who are in another part of the country. We broke it. We bought it. We need to fix it or leave.

Delaware a Slave State? WTF?

Actually, I didn't know that but Joe Biden seems to be intent on telling everyone.

The Senator from Delware (yes, they get Senators for some reason) continues his quixotic run for the Presidency by turning into a weird racist.

Delaware, he noted, was a “slave state that fought beside the North. That’s only because we couldn’t figure out how to get to the South. There were a couple of states in the way.”

Biden said basically the same crazy nonsense back in August. But tragically, the Liberal Media refuses to expose him because he is still Joe Biden and who the fuck cares about Joe Biden? Even his own Macaca moment was kinda lame.

As with Kerry's lame efforts, I think Biden was being sarcastic and trying to make a little jokey joke. I don't think he's gunning for the redneck vote or trying to use a little "Southern strategy." Perhaps these dry humored politicians from the Northeast should stick to their day jobs and leave stand-up to the professionals.

See Ya!

He's got some sense! He quit before he got fired!

Lacking the votes to keep his job, embattled U.N. Ambassador John Bolton said Monday he would resign, a defeat for a chagrined President Bush who had clung to hopes of Senate confirmation.

Bolton got the position in August 2005, appointed by Bush when Congress was in recess. With that temporary assignment about to expire, and his long fight for confirmation going nowhere, Bolton made it official.

He handed in a resignation letter that did not mention the political fight behind it. It said simply: "I have concluded that my service in your administration should end when the current recess appointment expires."

"I accepted. I'm not happy about it," Bush said Monday afternoon in the Oval Office, with Bolton at his side.