Saturday, November 12, 2005
Christians have the answer to everything....
Among our president's appointments of GOP activists to important posts, we've done worse than Melvin Sembler, the Ambassador to Italy who couldn't speak Italian.abu ghraib was just tough love.... Jesus style...
For 16 years, Sembler, with his wife Betty, directed the leading juvenile rehab business in America, STRAIGHT, Inc., before seeing it dismantled by a breathtaking array of institutional abuse claims by mid-1993. Just one of many survivors is Samantha Monroe, now a travel agent in Pennsylvania, who told The Montel Williams show this year about overcoming beatings, rape by a counselor, forced hunger, and the confinement to a janitor's closet in "humble pants" -- which contained weeks of her own urine, feces and menstrual blood.
more excerpts at Jesus General Blog full story on Alter.net
When I was a kid listening to punk rock I use to hear about these christian youth centers ALL the time... ALOT of kids got fucked up in them... and not just in the ones where they illegally abused kids... alot of them they screwed kids up in more non-actionable ways.
BlogPicks
http://derenegade.blogspot.com/
Why NOT to impeach Bush
Connecticut had a corrupt, incompetent governor in John Rowland. Under investigation for his corruption, Rowland's approval ratings were in the dumps and he eventually resigned. Things looked great for the state Democratic Party at the time, with the state GOP in disarray. Then Republican Lt. Gov. Jodi Rell took the reigns of the state and began to clean house. She now has the highest approval rating of all governors in the country. She will have no serious opposition in 2006..
Not sure i agree but it is interesting to think about... ok.. I admit it.... it is just fun to think about impeachment one way or the other...
Notable Quotables...
1) "You can support the troops but not the president."Wow! Where's the mainstream media on these quotes? You'd think that Democrats and cable news talking heads uttering such quotes would be making huge headlines...
2) "Well, I just think it's a bad idea. What's going to happen is they're going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years."
3) "Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?"
4) "[The] President...is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy."
5) "American foreign policy is now one huge big mystery. Simply put, the administration is trying to lead the world with a feel-good foreign policy."
6) "If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy."
7) "I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning...I didn't think we had done enough in the diplomatic area."
8) "I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarified rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our over-extended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today"
9) "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."
10) "I think it's also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn."
...except that all those quotes come from Republican leaders and FOX talking heads from back in the 1990s when President Clinton was committing troops to Bosnia. (1=Tom Delay, 2=Joe Scarborough, 3=Sean Hannity, 4=Rick Santorum, 5=Tom Delay, 6=Karen Hughes [on behalf of George W. Bush], 7=Trent Lott, 8=Tom Delay, 9 & 10=George W. Bush.)
from Julien's List via Operation Yellow Elephant
sorry about the lack of posts, or responses to emails... I am been sick AND BUSY at the same time...
I do not like NPR....
[from mediamatters.org via atrios]
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Time For a Smiting
Pat Robertson interprets Gawd's will once again
Last time we heard from Pat he was calling for the asassaination of Venezualan President Hugo Chavez. His latest Patwa goes out to the folks of Dover, PA. They voted out the 8 school board members wanted to teach the theory of supernatural as opposed to science. Patwa warns them that they'd better call on Darwin, not GAWD when their town gets in trouble. It's hard to believe that if there really were a God, he'd choose Pat Robertson as his mouthpiece. Non-insane Christians should denounce this lunatic, ASAP.
Liberal Patriot Podcast is READY!!!
http://joneaston.podomatic.com/
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Call Congress Toll Free
If you called before - call again! These calls are having an effect on Bradley and Bass.
This is another chance for you to let your Congressman know that you aren’t in favor of budget cuts that will affect low interest student loan programs, student lunch programs, cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, foster care programs, SSI, and also allows for drilling in ANWR.
We need to keep up the pressure! Next year is an election year - we need to remind Bass and Bradley that taking the food off the plates of schoolchildren to pay for $70 billion in tax cuts is flat out wrong, and it won’t sit well with New Hampshire voters.
On Monday, November 7 or any day that week, call 1-800-426-8073 to be connected toll-free to the Capitol Switchboard. Ask to speak to your Representative – either Bradley or Bass.
Don't let the back door hit you.....
US admits to using chemical weapons!!!
That's right. Not from Al Jazheera, or Al Arabiya, but the US fucking Army, in their very own publication, from the (WARNING: pdf file) March edition of Field Artillery Magazine in an article entitled "The Fight for Fallujah":
"WP [i.e., white phosphorus rounds] proved to be an effective and versatile munition. We used it for screening missions at two breeches and, later in the fight, as a potent psychological weapon against the insurgents in trench lines and spider holes when we could not get effects on them with HE. We fired 'shake and bake' missions at the insurgents, using WP to flush them out and HE to take them out."
A good time to be a Democrat!
Great news nationally!
We now have Democratic Governors in Jersey and
All and all a great democratic showing!
The bad news is that Bloomberg bought the Mayoral race in NYC [he spent $118 PER VOTER!], the OHIO vote initiatives were voted down [badly worded], Texas has passed an amendment to ban gay marriage [which may also ban straight marriage!! Ehehe], and Baines lost his Mayoral race in Manchester, NH. Also Laconia, NH decided to CAP town spending. So look for there schools to go down the toilet [even more so].
New Liberal Patriot Podcast coming out today!!! http://joneaston.podomatic.com/
start shopping
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
The Boys of Pod
Left: Will Cowie, Future NH State Senator Right: Jon Easton, Free Lance Agitator
The nude calender will be out in time for xmas.
Pete Duffy for Congress
Who do you support to outst the corrupt Republican Jeb Bradley?I like Pete Duffy http://www.peteduffyforcongress.com
Pete Duffy is for:
Energy Independence
Universal Health Care Coverage
Full Funding of All Federal Mandates
Congress Coddles War Profiteers at the Expense of Guard and Reserve Soldiers
Staged Withdrawal from IraqChurch to loses Tax Exempt status for preaching against war....
from Rachael Maddow show blog
Online Freedom of Speech.. what it's all about....
HR 4194 is sponsored by Shays and Meehan, and only those two, as they honestly have no clue what they've gotten into. Their complete lack of understanding of this medium would be quaint and cute, for two old out-of-touch luddites, if it didn't have such real-world repercussions. Yet on issues of campaign finance these two have a well-earned reputation, one which allowed them the use fear, uncertainty and doubt to kill HR 1606.
For example, see Rep. Tammy Baldwin's explanation for her vote:
Congresswoman Baldwin voted against HR 1606 because, basically, it purports to fix a problem that doesn't exist, while opening up huge loopholes that could allow corporations, unions, and soft money to again re-enter the political process via the internet.
Bloggers who are concerned that under FEC rules (and court decisions), they will be unable to state their political views freely should know that under current law bloggers are not covered by "public communication" FEC laws.
Well, sure. Current law is good. Problem is that Shays and Meehan sued to overturn current law, and in turn forced the FEC to add restrictions. The legislation that Baldwin (and lots other Democrats and Republicans) voted against would've preserved that status quo that Baldwin thinks is so great.
That FUD was introduced by a dishonest lobbying campaign by Meehan and the "reformer" groups -- one in which they flat-out lied about the effects of the legislation. In fact, their fantastic scenarios of soft money flooding into the Internet were easily refuted by the fact that in four years of a free and unfettered internet none of the horror stories they've conctocted have occured.
Today, Shays and Meehan circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter to fellow congresspeople urging consideration of their alternate bill, 4194. This bill is completely unacceptable. The text:
Paragraph (22) of section 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431(22)) is amended by adding at the end the following: `Such term shall not include any communication made over the Internet, other than a communication placed on another person's website for a fee, a communication made by any person described in section 316 (other than a corporation described in such section whose principal purpose is operating a web log), a communication made by a State, district, or local committee of a political party described in section 323(b), or a communication made by any political committee.'.
Adam B explains the problem:
It does not protect online group activity from regulation. Basically, any group site that has > $1000 in server and other costs/expenditures over the course of the year, and which uses its site to occasionally discuss federal candidates, would have be classified as a political committee with formal filing and disclosure requirements. Its protection to corporations "whose principal purpose is operating a web log" is silent as to other already-existing and yet-to-exist forms of online activity. What about podcasters? Wikis? P2P networks? Most importantly, this "principal purpose" test would not protect incorporated entities like DailyKos.com, as the reformers see it. As they have explained in formal comments to the FEC and elsewhere, the same groups which drafted HR 4194 have argued that a site like this one or FiredUp has a principal purpose of "electing Democrats," not blogging, and therefore should not be protected from byzantine FEC regulations.
Why do I keep calling the reformers, Shays and Meehan out of touch? This alternate bill shows it. Not only does their legislation endanger group blogs (Bye bye Booman Tribune, TPM Cafe, and so on), but their notion that political discussions on the internet are somehow limited to the blogosphere is laughable.
That's how clueless these people are -- they don't realize that the internet is bigger than the blogs.
I made this point when testifying before the FEC:
It's truly impossible for any one person to truly grasp the scope of internet communication technologies. As I wrote this, off the top of my head, I could think of the following internet communication technologies - blogging, email, instant messaging, message boards, Yahoo Groups, internet relay chat (IRC), chat groups, pod casting, Internet radio, flash animation, web video, web cams, and peer to peer networks like LimeWire and, before yesterday, at least, Grokster. The new Apple operating system has little applications called "widgets" that live on my desktop and get automatically updated via the web. So I get my 5-day weather forecast not from a browser, but from my widget. Microsoft promises much of the same in their next version of Windows.
All of these technologies have political applications, yet they are vastly different. In fact, the only element they all have in common is that they use the Internet to connect people from all reaches of the world. What those people do with the connections is limitless. And collectively, these communication technologies have even less in common with the offline communications that the law was designed to regulate.
I'd be willing to bet my left foot that people like Meehan and his "reformer" friends don't even know what a "wiki" is. Or IRC. Or the difference between a message board and a Yahoo Group.
Only HR 1606 (penned by Harry Reid, remember) protects ALL internet communications, both present and future. Only HR 1606 protects group blogs. Only HR 1606 protects Daily Kos and Talking Points Memo and every other incorporated blogger (a number that is growing rapidly).
We got an early look at the friends of the medium with that first vote on HR 1606. I've since talked to several congresspersons and staff that said they would've voted for 1606 if they had heard both sides of the story. In short, they only heard one side of the story, and that was the dishonest portrayal given by the reformer groups and Meehan. Next time, we'll be better organized on Capitol Hill.
So there will be several opportunities for our ranks of friends to grow. A vote against HR 4194 will be the next test.
CommonCause.org and Democracy21.org are AGAINST Online Freedom. They are out of touch and dishonest. I will no longer have anything to do with either groups.
Monday, November 07, 2005
PBS.... muh
Board Chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Quits
Kenneth Tomlinson has been accused of trying to politicize public broadcasting programming. Before CPB Inspector General, Kenneth Konz could publish the findings of his investigation, Kenneth resigned. The report details Kenneth's activities, which included paying outside researchers to check public programming for liberal bias. The corporation for Public Broadcasting is supposed to be non-partisan.
I use to like Public Broadcasting, I still like the concept, but during Bush's 1st term and going into the Iraq War NPR totally disgusted me. If they had a segment on actual information about
Over and over faithful lapdog NPR would report what Bush said he would do and ignore what he did or had done.
Why do the Bushies lie so obviously when people [and reporter’s] know they are lying? Because Media, including NPR, have abdicated their roles of reporting the news they merely echo information.
They now only act only as Parrots. Whether or not information is true or false. Whether or not it will lead public opinion to support an illegal and immoral war which will get thousands killed and cost hundreds of Billions of dollars. If the Bush Administration said the world was flat Newspapers would read "Shape of the World in Doubt." This is the new version of journalistic objectivism.
Bush and Co. can count on the mainstream media, and NPR, to pass on their talking points without any analysis or without EVEN comparing their words to their actions. The only place that media is allowed to TRY to put the news in some kind context is in the arena of PURE opinion and ONLY with ample ring wing pundits present or moderating.
The mainstream media has betrayed the American people. NPR more so because they claim to adhere to higher principals which the corporate press does not pretend to subscribe.
Bill Moyers laments a future of media where people subscribe to whatever point of view skewed news they want. He believes, and rightly so, that this will lead to more of a division in
I agree but this situation was not brought about by the likes of Air America Radio or EVEN the ring wing media. It is a situation that directly arose by the refusal of the mainstream media to report on important news AND to put that information in a relevant context.
Newspapers are useless....
With the Executive Council demanding more answers about purchase terms for a proposed ATV park, city officials expected a public hearing Monday would show strong support for the project.
The proposed 7,200 acre park near
The purchase price is $2.16 million dollars, but executive councilors questioned terms that would give current owners Thomas and Scott Dillon, of
I can't find any info on time or place for this public hearing... can anyone else?
Drowning in the BathTub with Norquist
TABOR is "the taxpayers bill of rights.' Among other things it says that a state CAN NOT spend more in the current year than they did last year. The problem is say a the state is in a recession and they cut spending to get through it. Let's say next year they are ok again and they bring in more money [even wth the SAME level of taxation]. TABOR says that they MUST give that money back to the taxpayers in a rebate check.
The State can not spend any more one year than the last [adjusted for inflation] on roads, schools, healthcare, or anything else. What has basically happened is ever since they passed TABOR, Colorado schools [especially their university system] have become some of the worse in the nation [behind even Mississippi I believe]. Not to mention health care and transportation infrastructure.
Well, now that citizens in Colorado have experienced the painful reality of the anti-tax republican nightmare they have voted to suspend TABOR.
On Nov. 1, Colorado voters spoke: No more TABOR.
Coloradans passed Referendum C, suspending TABOR (Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights). TABOR is a hodgepodge of “anti-tax” initiatives that have impaired Colorado’s ability to set priorities and respond to crises. Since TABOR’s passage in 1992, Colorado’s public services have severely suffered. A sampling:
The percentage of Coloradoans with no health insurance rose from 12.7 percent in 1992 to 15.6 percent in 2001.
K-12 education spending per student fell by more than $300 compared to the national average from 1992 to 2000.
In-state tuition at colleges and universities increased 21 percent over the last four years.
The progressive victory in Colorado unhinged its right-wing opponents. Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax reform, attacked Referendum C supporter Gov. Bill Owens (R):
Young Republican children years from now will be scared in campground campfires by stories about Bill Owens - the tax-cutting Republican who magically turned into a tax-increase bad guy…and they will not be able to sleep all night.
Douglas Bruce, the author of the 1992 TABOR amendment, also responded maturely:
[Colorado voters] have to accept the consequences of voting themselves back into slavery.
Clearly, the right isn’t used to losing. But they had better get used to it.
