Compassionate Conservative

via Wonkette:

From the Press Conference Last Night:

Press Conference of the President [White House]

"Racial Profiling" at the White House?

The Secret Service has requested racial information on journalists and guests scheduled to attend a reception tomorrow night with President Bush.

White House reporters said they were offended that after furnishing the customary information -- name, date of birth and Social Security number -- they were also asked for the race of each person expected to attend the small reception scheduled before the White House Correspondents' Association's annual dinner.

....A White House official from the Clinton administration said race was not a field in the form it used to clear visitors into the executive mansion. A Bush White House spokesman referred calls to the Secret Service......

full story:
Racial Data Sought for Bush Event

Is Limbaugh Going "DOWN"

Fla. Court Refuses to Hear Limbaugh Appeal

The Florida Supreme Court said Thursday it will not consider an appeal from conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh over prosecutors' seizure of his medical records during an investigation into whether he illegally purchased painkillers.

The 4-3 order did not explain the court's reasoning.

University President Says Ann Coulter Speech "Hateful"

The president of the University of St. Thomas on Monday condemned a speech at the Catholic school last week by conservative author Ann Coulter, saying "such hateful speech vulgarizes our culture and goes against everything the University of St. Thomas stands for."

The Rev. Dennis Dease wrote in Bulletin Today, a university newsletter, that "although her presentation may have been meant as an 'act' or a 'shtick' to entertain by provoking those who disagree, such behavior unfortunately contributes to the growing dark side of our culture -- a disrespect for persons and their sincerely held beliefs."

full story:
St. Thomas president denounces Ann Coulter's speech as hateful

CLOUD Invades White House Air Space sends Bush to Bunker

The mysterious flying object first blipped across U.S. security radar 20 miles south of Reagan National Airport at 10:40 a.m. yesterday and appeared headed swiftly toward the District.

About 15 minutes later, President Bush was in an underground bunker at the White House and Vice President Cheney was escorted off the White House grounds to a secure location, officials said.

....After vanishing from radar, the target then reappeared several minutes later.....

.....But all the search teams saw were clouds. Turns out, that's all it was....

full story:
D.C. Alert Triggered By Clouds

Banning "Gay" Books

Books by Tennessee Williams, Alice Walker, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote and others would be banned under an Alabama bill being considered.

A college production tells the story of Matthew Sheppard, a student beaten to death because he was gay.

And soon, it could be banned in Alabama.

Republican Alabama lawmaker Gerald Allen says homosexuality is an unacceptable lifestyle. As CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann reports, under his bill, public school libraries could no longer buy new copies of plays or books by gay authors, or about gay characters.

full story:
Alabama Bill Targets Gay Authors

Picture of the Day

Bush's War on Terror: Tripled in 2004

Looks like Bush is sure winning:
175 incidents in 2003
655 in 2004

The U.S. count of major world terrorist attacks more than tripled in 2004, a rise that may revive debate on whether the Bush administration is winning the war on terrorism, congressional aides said on Tuesday.

full story:
World Terror Attacks Tripled in 2004 by U.S. Count

Did Jeff Gannon Do Sleepovers in White House?

The Bush White House gay sex scandal heats up, as new revelations show that fake reporter and male prostitute Jeff Gannon "slept over" on numerous occasions at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

FOIA documents reveal that Gannon signed in on many occasions, but never signed out, reports John Byrne in an exclusive report on Raw Story

full story:
Bush White House Gay Sex Scandal Stars Jeff Gannon

Wild West Could Be Coming to your State Next

About the Florida law that let's Floridians "meet force with force,":

NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said in an interview that the Florida measure is the "first step of a multi-state strategy" that he hopes can capitalize on a political climate dominated by conservative opponents of gun control at the state and national levels.

"There's a big tailwind we have, moving from state legislature to state legislature," LaPierre said. "The South, the Midwest, everything they call 'flyover land' -- if John Kerry held a shotgun in that state, we can pass this law in that state."

full story:
Fla. Gun Law to Expand Leeway for Self-Defense
NRA to Promote Idea in Other States

Arnold Schwarzenegger Knows How to Get Rid of PMS

Arnold Schwarzenegger explained--------- "If we get rid of the moon, women, whose menstrual cycles are governed by the moon, will not get PMS. They will stop bitching and whining."

Schwarzenegger Lambasted over Sexist Joke

Most Americans Support Use of Filibuster

via Kos:

From the WaPo poll:

Would you support or oppose changing the Senate rules to make it easier for the Republicans to confirm Bush's judicial nominees?

Support - 26%

Oppose - 66%

Savage Even Tooo Hateful for Fox News

whining that he has been banned from the Fox News Channel after he dissed Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity.

The controversial conservative — who was fired by MSNBC in 2003 after referring to a caller to his show as "a sodomite" who should "get AIDS and die" — recently burned more bridges by calling O'Reilly a "Leper-Con who poses as a conservative" and Hannity "another Republican bootlicker who began as a Rush [Limbaugh] understudy" on his "Savage Nation" radio show.

from:
Page Six

Tony Blair Has Bill Clinton Stump for Him not George Bush

This is funny:


Former US president Bill Clinton rallied in support of Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party, urging British voters to turn out in force for a May 5 general election.

full story:
Clinton backs Blair's Labour Party in British election

"JUST US" Sunday

From Raed in the Middle:



A boy lies dead in a street in Ramadi, Iraq on Thursday, April 21, 2005. His body was found in a street near three smoldering cars after gunfire erupted in downtown Ramadi 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad. The U.S. military had no immediate information on the incident.

No "immediate" information! why would they care aslan? it's just a little boy in the middle of nowhere. A little terrorist project in Ramadi.

But seriously, why would anyone care who killed the little boy. He's dead, with other tens of thousands, because of the ongoing illegal war. Whether the bullet was shot by a US soldier, or by someone fighting the foreign occupation of his country, both of them didn't mean to kill the boy, but they killed him. .......More

Clinton Impeachment was Revenge for Nixon says retiring Congressman

Republican Congressman Henry Hyde is stepping down after thirty years in office.

....Hyde is also acknowledging that republicans went after Clinton in part as revenge against the democrats for forcing the resignation of President Nixon 25 years earlier....

full story:
Rep. Hyde talks about stepping down
Hyde led impeachment of Pres. Clinton

No More "FREE" Hurricane Warnings -- Santorum Bill

Do you want a seven-day weather forecast for your ZIP code? Or hour-by-hour predictions of the temperature, wind speed, humidity and chance of rain? Or weather data beamed to your cellphone?

That information is available for free from the National Weather Service.

But under a bill pending in the U.S. Senate, it might all disappear.

The bill, introduced last week by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., would prohibit federal meteorologists from competing with companies such as AccuWeather and The Weather Channel, which offer their own forecasts through paid services and free ad-supported Web sites.

".....The National Weather Service Web site would have to go away," Bradner said. "What would be permitted under this bill is not clear — it doesn't say. Even including hurricanes....."

full story:
Feds' weather information could go dark

Maybe this has somthing to do with it contributions made to Santorum by Accu Weather:
Fec Disclosure Report

Private Polling says Rethugs against Nuclear Option

Private Republican polling shows scant support for a plan to stop minority Democrats from blocking judicial nominees, officials said Thursday, as two of President Bush's most controversial appointments advanced toward a possible Senate confrontation.

These officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a recent survey taken for Senate Republicans showed 37 percent support for the GOP plan to deny Democrats the ability to filibuster judicial nominees, while 51 percent oppose.

full story:
Survey: Few in GOP Back Plan to Stop Dems

Michael Moore Scholarship for Student's Freedom of Speech

Filmmaker and outspoken political activist, Michael Moore, will offer new scholarship to Cal State San Marcos students who show they “have done the most to fight for issues of student rights by standing up to the administration of Cal State San Marcos,” he said in an announcement Wednesday.

The Oscar-winning director was schedule to speak on the Cal State San Marcos campus last year, until the school’s president cancelled the appearance stating Moore was too “political.”

Colin Powell Says "Bolton" is TROUBLE

Former secretary of state Colin L. Powell is emerging as a behind the scenes player in the battle over John Bolton's nomination to the United Nations, privately telling at least two key Republican lawmakers that Bolton is smart, but a very problematic government official, according to Republican sources.

full story:
Powell Plays Behind the Scenes Role in Bolton Debate

Check This Out -- From Google "Local" Search

You have to check this out Google Local Search, when you put in Washington DC (the where) then put in Asshole (the what) and see what comes up ~~~ funny.

Religious Man Wants Name of Mountain changed

Man wants to exorcise Mt. Diablo's name

A deeply religious Oakley man has petitioned the federal government to rename Mount Diablo, calling the current name a profane salute to Satan.

Another Mammary Gland Causes Uproar -- Quick call the Booby Police

No not Janet Jackson's this time but a mother breast feeding her child:

A city commission candidate was criticized for breast-feeding her daughter during a public meeting, so 16 other mothers turned up and nursed their children at another gathering as a show of support.

full story:
Moms Hold Breast-Feeding Protest in Fla.

"Red State Values" -- Beating Wife (OK) Cock Fighting (BAD)

In South Carolina they took on two issues: cock fighting and domestic abuse to make each a felony rather than a misdemeanor. The cock fighting passed but the domestic abuse didn't and was tabled for the rest of the year. Read the whole story it is unbelievable what one representative says about wife abuse:

.....Rep. Cobb-Hunter says, "The reality is the law says domestic violence regardless, first, second or third offense is a misdemeanor, and what they passed yesterday says cockfighting is a felony.

Rep. Altman spoke about domestic violence, "There ought not to be a second offense. The woman ought to not be around the man. I mean you women want it one way and not another. Women want to punish the men, and I do not understand why women continue to go back around men who abuse them. And I've asked women that and they all tell me the same answer, John Graham you don't understand. And I say you're right, I don't understand......

full story:
Judiciary Committee passes cockfighting bill, tables domestic violence

Jane Fonda get Spit On By Vet ~~ HMM I thought Only Liberals Did That!

I heard somewhere that liberals were the only loonies out there :

Those Hanoi Jane years may be decades behind her, but there's at least one Vietnam vet who's still spitting mad at Jane Fonda. Literally. The two-time Oscar-winning actress got a face full of tobacco juice Tuesday in Kansas City during a book signing for her new autobiography, My Life So Far.

full story:
Veteran not Fonda Jane

How Propaganda Works -- From the mouth of bush

I saw this at The American Prospect:

I don't know if you've ever heard of Dutch Fork High School in Irmo. I met a very innovative teacher who assigned her students this assignment: Why don't you write letters to the editor about their impressions of Social Security? Here's what one of her students wrote: "By the time my generation gets to the age to draw Social Security, there will be no money left for us to draw on." This is a young high school student writing that. This isn't a professor in economics. This is a high school student. He said, "I don't know about other people, but I don't like the sound of that." People are beginning to get the message that there is a problem in Social Security.

Iraq -- "The War that was Supposed to Pay for Itself!"

From the Christian Science Monitor:

Iraq expects to import $3 billion of refined oil this year because its refineries are in such disrepair.

Only on the Fox Spews Channel

This is unbelievable:

Was Iraq Behind the Oklahoma City Bombing?

On Tuesday's show you heard FOX News' Rita Cosby talking about the quite shocking claims made by a group of victims' families that Iraq was at the bottom of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City

More than seventy bodies discovered in Iraq

......The bodies are believed to be those of the Shiite Muslims held hostage by rebels in the Iraqi town of Madain, 30 km southeast of Baghdad.

Talabani said that the rebels killed the hostages and “threw the bodies into the Tigris," .......

full story:
More than seventy bodies discovered in Iraq

Michael Moore -- Why is he hated so much by the right?

A conservative blogger Freethinker has chastized me in comments for saying that Michael Moore is not a hate-monger like Ann Coulter. He is not. I went to watch him talk at a university during his college tour before the election. He did not talk about killing anyone, he did not talk about blowing anything up, he didn't talk about violence in anyway. He talked about how conservatives are crooks and liars and wrong about what they do. He talked about middle class Americans and how they are voting against themselves when they vote republican, because repubs want to line the pockets of themselves, their rich friends and the corporations that give them money. He said young people are dying in a war that has no justification.

There is no way you can put Michael Moore in the catagory of a hate-monger, vitriol spewer like Ann Coulter. She is racist ("that old ARAB, Helen Thomas), hate filled ("[The] backbone of the Democratic Party [is a] typical fat, implacable welfare recipient"), and advocates violence, ("My only regret with Timothy McVeigh, he did not go to the New York Times Building)."

I keep wondering, have any of these people that depise him so much seen any of his documentaries? Roger & Me was all about corporate greed and the middle-class, Bowling for Columbine explored the social issue of why Americans kill each other with guns more than any other country, and fahrenheit 9/11 showed what happens when a "smirking chimp" gets handed the white house by the Supreme Court and why somone with an IQ of 10 shouldn't be running our country. <~~~~ my interpretation not Michael Moore's. (OK that was a little hateful, but I get sick to my stomach when I think about 1500+ beautiful young Americans dying for Bush).

New Pope intervened in Election 2004

German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the
Vatican theologian who was elected Pope Benedict XVI, intervened in the 2004 US election campaign ordering bishops to deny communion to abortion rights supporters including presidential candidate
John Kerry.

full story:
New pope intervened against Kerry in US 2004 election campaign

Is Jeff Gannon Johnny Gosch??

Bringing this back to the top because the MSM has picked up on the story and is being reported on by KWWL of Iowa:

Has Johnny Gosch Been Found?

In 1982, a paperboy named Johnny Gosch was kidnapped in West Des Moines . For years, his disappearance made national headlines. And now, 23 years later investigators are investigating new developments in Johnny’s case.

....Perhaps just as reliable as the recent phone call Noreen Gosch received telling her Jeff Gannon is her son. Mrs. Gosch says, "He’s been in touch with Gannon for months and months and knows him to be Johnny Gosch.....

full story:
Has Johnny Gosch Been Found?

From Conpiracy Planet:


Former Los Angeles FBI Special Agent in Charge Ted Gunderson, now a private investigator and author of "How to Find Anyone," appeared on the "Mysteries of the Mind" radio program March 8 and claimed that he has "a credible, reliable source" that says "Jeff Gannon" is indeed kidnapped Des Moines Iowa paperboy Johnny Gosch, as described in the "Franklin Coverup," an expose' of high level GOP Republican pedophilia.

Gunderson claimed that "Gannon" has scar on right cheek. Johnny's mother Noreen Gosch has looked at the mark on "Gannon" in photographs and said it was the same as that as on her son.

Gunderson says that a birthmark in the "shape of South America" appears to have been removed from Gannon's chest.

"I think Jeff Gannon is Johnny Gosch, and I think he planned this to get even with them for screwing up his life from age 12 on," said Gunderson.

full story:
Ex FBI Ted Gunderson: Jeff Gannon Is Johnny Gosch

Is Tom DeLay Getting What He Asked For?

New York Man Arrested for Threatening U.S. Judge

Bush's Disapproval

51%

P
U

G
N
I
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Gas Prices - Where is the Outrage?

I saw this at Democratic Underground:

Here is what Republicans said in 2000 about Clinton's gas prices (LMAO!)

This is from the usenet (from author r wiley) so I am not taking credit for the research, but read these links:

What did Bush supporters say when gas prices
approached $2.00 gal in 2000?

http://www.gop.gov/item-news.asp?docId=36898

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/07/14/... /

http://www.house.gov/sensenbrenner/pr20000907.htm

http://www.house.gov/herger/pr_000317.htm

http://www.nationalreview.com/kudlow/kudlowprint032800....

http://www.freedomworks.org/informed/issues_template.ph...

Bush -- How Do You Sleep at Night?

18 Year Old Soldier killed in Iraq

Sam Huff, 18, was killed this weekend in an explosion while driving in a convoy around Baghdad. She was a member of the military police.

Do Away with the Courts -- "JUST SHOOT EM"

Ted Nugent at a NRA meeting:

"Remember the Alamo! Shoot 'em!" he screamed to applause. "To show you how radical I am, I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want 'em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot 'em."

Time "Duped"

from Attytood:

Heh heh...Time has moronic cover AND gets duped!

....the sign is from Communists for Kerry. That should have been a - pardon the hideous pun - red flag for those insightful Time editors. We know Time-Warner has had some accounting woes, but don't these guys have Google up in Manhattan?

Communists for Kerry is a right-wing JOKE, guys -- scroll to the end of this story and you'll see how a credulous Fox News was also duped by these folks last summer......

Cancel Your Time Magazine Subscriptions

from SirotaBlog:

Proof Of the Media's Hard Right Bias

There's been a lot of debate over whether the media is "liberal" or "conservative." But as I saw this week's cover of Time Magazine, I realized just how ridiculous it is for there to even be a debate.

The cover trumpets right-wing crazy person Ann Coulter. This is a woman who advocating blowing up the New York Times offices and claimed Vietnam war hero/triple amputee Max Cleland didn't deserve to be honored for his losing his limbs on the battlefield.

In a vacuum, you can certainly argue that its fine for a magazine to explore the ramifications of Coulter on America's culture. But this isn't a vacuum. When was the last time you saw someone of equal (if not more) importance on the left promoted on the cover of America's mainstream magazines?

full story:
Proof Of the Media's Hard Right Bias

Wesley Clark ~~ 2008

I saw General Clark on Bill Maher on Friday and boy was he talking tough. I loved it. Now
I see at Tim Kaine's :

He asks for our help. He says that last time, he had no political experience, no political strategy, no money when he started and no staff. This time, he promises that if we help, he’ll have the money, he has the strategy, he’ll have the staff, and he has the experience.

Folks, I’m sitting next to General Clark’s media consultant who doesn’t want me to say this so blatantly, but what I heard is that General Clark is running in ‘08. He explained to us that he intends to spend the next few years building the strategy, working the language and connecting the grassroots together for, as he calls it, “a giant march on Washington.”


If he gets his act together I think he would be the perfect candidate for our party.

Bush Administration Eliminating 'Terrorism Report' -- Are They Afraid of What it Might tell Us?

The State Department decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered.

....former officials charged that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's office ordered "Patterns of Global Terrorism" eliminated several weeks ago because the 2004 statistics raised disturbing questions about the Bush's administration's frequent claims of progress in the war against terrorism.....

full story:
Bush administration eliminating 19-year-old international terrorism report

The New? "CRUSADES" -- The American Taliban and the Filibuster

At the bottom it reads:

THE FILIBUSTER AGAINST PEOPLE OF FAITH -- The filibuster was once abused to protect racial bias and now it being used against people of faith.

The Nuclear Option

from Kos:

We have all 44 Dems and Jefforts. We have McCain and Chafee.

These are the swing votes. We need four of them.

Collins (ME)
Hagel (NE)
Snowe (ME)
Smith (OR)
Sununu (NH)
Gregg (NH)
Lugar (IN)
Warner (VA)

If you are a constituent (and only if you are a constituent), it's time to make that call.

Comment on "Watch What You Say You May Get Beat Up at the Post Office"

From FreeThinker:

So, in your "progressive liberal minded" logic, it's okay for you to spew whatever happens to come into that small mind of yours, but for someone else to voice an opposing view is somehow wrong? What happened to "freedom of speech"???? Or does that particular freedom only apply to those who voice similar opinions to yours? Sounds to me like you'd rather revert to the thought police of the former USSR or Nazi Germany, where the only views allowed would be yours. Sorry, that's NOT going to happen! deal with it. You have YOUR views, others have theirs, and BOTH are equally free to voice them! YOUR rights to freedom of speech do NOT impede others from their dissenting views! Will you libbypukes EVER get that through your heads???????? I doubt it, since you ALL seem to share the single braincell allocated to "Progressives"!

I Think he/she makes my point ever better than I did. He/she is the problem, we cannot have a polite conversation where opinions differ, in this country anymore. I really think that is the difference between us and them. If we have an opinion that differs with someone we are more than willing to sat down and discuss it without telling the other side if you don't like it leave. That's just crazy and scary too. Freethinker says the lady was giving me her side, if she had turned and said I believe what you are saying is wrong then fine I would have been OK with that, but she didn't offer any opinion she just said "Leave America." She was the one wanting to stifle my free speech not the other way around.

Bush Not Sexy -- Really (Sarcastic)

'Bush Not Sexy'
He may be leader of the free world and Time magazine's "Person of the Year," but a new international survey of women makes certain that US President George W Bush is far from being the sexiest man alive.

In a recent online poll conducted by Esquire magazine, 11,000 women in 15 countries were asked to rate Bush's sex appeal on a scale of one to 10, and America's commander-in-chief failed to register much more than a two.

Women in Australia, Germany and the Netherlands were the harshest judges of George W.'s sexual allure, giving him an average rating of 1.4 each, Esquire said in its survey released earlier this week.

By contrast, Indonesian women were the most generous, giving Bush an average score of 2.2; American women found their president slightly less appealing, rating him a 2.1

What Liberation Looks Like

From Rational Enquirer:


the top photo is from the toppling of the Saddam Statue, the bottom is from the protests that took place on the 2nd anniversary of its fall.

Is This What "Liberation" Looks Like?

Chanting "Death to America" and burning effigies of President Bush and Saddam Hussein, tens of thousands of Iraqis flooded central Baghdad yesterday in what police called the largest anti-American protest since the fall of Baghdad, the capital, exactly two years ago.

Poor ARNOLD -- Not Quite a Rock Star Anymore

Efforts to generate grass-roots support for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ``Year of Reform'' agenda fizzled today at the State Capitol at a tepid rally that drew anemic support.

With private security guards stationed along the Capitol grounds to fend off counter-protesters, only a few hundred Schwarzenegger supporters turned out for a ``Thank You Arnold'' rally hosted by Hollywood actor Tom Arnold.

.....The small turnout was in stark contrast to the thousands of anti-Schwarzenegger activists who have organized boisterous protests across California at his political fundraisers......

full story:
Few turn out at `Thank you, Arnold' rally

Bush - Cheney - Rumsfeld "You SLIME MOLD"

Namesakes of the U.S. President and two of his key people might be crawling around your back yard as you read this.

Three new beetles of the genus Agathidium have been named after members of the current administration: A. bushi, A. cheneyi and A. rumsfeldi.

Two former Cornell University entomologists, Quentin Wheeler and Kelly Miller, were in charge of naming 65 new species of slime-mold beetles, which they discovered while studying the insects’ evolution and classification.

full story:
Slime-mold Beetles Named for Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld

Watch What you say you Could Get Beat Up at the Post Office!

TodayI went to the post office to mail out my weekly Ebay stuff and did my normal conversational rant on Dubya and his administration with Monty my postal guy. As I was leaving a woman at the other window turned around and yelled at me "If you don't love America you should Leave!" At first I was shocked that someone was listening in on a private conversation, when I recovered I just stated that I love American but I hate George W. Bush and his administration and what they are doing to this country. I proceeded out the door with her following a few minutes later, pounding her chest saying "I love America and I am a good American."

Geesh! I guess you have to do a Britney Spears and say "I think we should all support our government no matter what." It is unbelievable that you cannot have a discussion anymore in this country about what you may dislike about the government without being accused of being unpatriotic.

That's Sick

Via Jesus' General:




LGF'er Aaron created a line of catwear and accessories to celebrate the crushing of Rachel Corrie by an Israeli bulldozer.

Secret Service Visit Art Show at Columbia University

The agents turned up Thursday evening, just before the public opening of "Axis of Evil, the Secret History of Sin," and took pictures of some of the art pieces -- including "Patriot Act," showing President Bush on a mock 37-cent stamp with a revolver pointed at his head.

The agents asked what the artists meant by their work and wanted museum director CarolAnn Brown to turn over the names and phone numbers of all the artists. They wanted to hear from the exhibit's curator, Michael Hernandez deLuna, within 24 hours, she said.

full story:
Secret Service visits art show at Columbia

One Take George

Check out these Bush audition reels at DNEXT

Christiane Amanpour: "If You Want Better News Write the Stations"

via Democratic Underground

While at a speaking engagement Christiane Amanpour was asked how to get better news coverage from the media she responded:

A letter-writing campaign. Christiane Amanpour said that if we mount a massive letter-writing campaign, demanding better news and more news (rather than more talking heads), that is what CNN will deliver.

We should all do this, it is pretty sad when we Americans have to watch BBC to actually find out what is going on in the world.

The DRAFT is Coming!!

.....If the shortage of new soldiers persists, many worry that the government will be forced to reintroduce a compulsory military draft for the first time since the Vietnam War.

There are already signs that the Selective Service System (SSS), as it is known, is gearing up for business. By Mar. 31, the SSS boards in every state must certify to Washington that they are ready to induct the first young men within 75 days.

”They’re putting in place the mechanisms to actually do a draft,” said Dustin Langley, a spokesman for the Troops Out Now Coalition representing more than 400 labor, community and human rights groups.....

read more about this:
Uncle Sam Really, Really Wants You..
Activist speaks on draft

“On March 31, the Selective Service System (SSS) will report to President Bush that it is ready to implement the draft within 75 days. Right now, the SSS is staffing local draft boards, training volunteer registrars to work on high school and college campuses, and streamlining its induction process. They have also gained access to the Department of Education's computer files, to ensure maximum registration.”

---from an Action Center email dated 3-15-05

Devils and Dust Too, or Beware the Ides of March

More Troops Deciding They Don't Want to be Cannon Fodder for Bush's Illegal War

As the tally of Americans killed and wounded in Iraq continues to rise, so does the number of soldiers uneasy about serving in the two-year-old war.

US army figures indicate that since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, about 5500 military personnel have absconded.

full story:
More US troops questioning Iraq duty

Bushonomics: Corporate Profits increase Workers Wages go Down!

Falling Fortunes of Wage Earners

Poland Leaving Iraq

Poland's government decided on Tuesday to withdraw its troops from Iraq at the end of 2005, making official an earlier proposal, Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said.

..... Poland, a close ally of Washington in Europe and one of the few supporters of its war to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003, has about 1,700 soldiers in south-central Iraq, where it runs a multi-national stabilization force.....

full story:
Poland to Pull Troops from Iraq at End of Year

Cookie Monster Cutting Carbs ~~ Oh Pleasssse!!

It appears the PC Police has taken over Sesame Street. Cookie Monster has a new song that Cookies are not always the food he should have. Oh Pleassse, how ridiculous can you get, when a pretend monster can't have his favorite food anymore because it is not politically correct to eat too much carbs. This is getting a little silly:



"Cookie Monster" will now advocate eating healthy. His "C is for cookie" song has been replaced with a new song "A Cookie Is a Sometimes Food." There's more.

The show's vice president of research and education says each episode will open with a "health tip" and there will be new characters, like talking eggplants and carrots.

full story:
'Cookie Monster' Cutting Back On Carbs

Have You Tried the new GOOGLE Satellite Maps?

Go Here:

Google Maps and click on Satellite

it is pretty neat, type in an address and they take you to a a satellite image you can zoom into. The images are several months old but still neat to look at. Go to Washington DC and put in White House. It is kinda weird, it seems they are covering up the image of the White House!

Former Abu Ghraib General Karpinski says "Abuse still happening" -- No one Reporting it

Serious charges tonight from the general who was in charge of Abu Ghraib prison. She believes the abuses are still happening. Even more disturbing, Brigadier General Janis Karpinski says the investigation into the scandal has been covered up. She spoke today with ABC7 political reporter Mark Matthews.
General Karpinski says she's getting messages from soldiers who are still at Abu Ghraib.

......Gen. Janis Karpinski, U.S. Army: "Through email or through a message left on my telephone, that you need to know that it's still happening........"

full story:
Former Abu Ghraib General Believes Abuse Is Still Happening

Bush Social Security Tour Cost Taxpayers 2.2 Million

The Bush administration has spent millions of dollars in the past two months on its campaign to overhaul Social Security, narrowly skirting laws that prohibit spending of taxpayer funds to indirectly lobby Congress.

Administration has spent at least $2.2 million so far

full story:
Bush lobbying effort skirts law

It's Nice when Daddy is Prez ~~ Embarrassing Videos Just Disappear

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


via
NYDaily News

Mystery Man with Suitcases Causes Capitol Evacuation

Suspicious Man Tackled At Capitol

Building Evacuated As Precaution

All employees inside the U.S. Capitol are being evacuated because a suspicious person with what appeared to be two suitcases was standing on the west side of the building.

That's the side of the building facing the National Mall and the Washington Monument. A camera watching the situation showed the person simply standing with a suitcase on either side.The U.S. Capitol Police Department asked for the evacuation.At about 1:40 p.m. four armed officers approached the man, tackled him and dragged him away. The two suitcases he was standing with remain outside the building while the investigation continues.

Michael Moore, Anne Coulter Make Time's 100 List

The TIME 100, the annual list of the world's most influential people was unveiled this Sunday, included in the List: Michael Moore, Anne Coulter, Jon Stewart:

full list:
TIME Magazine unveils the "TIME 100" list of the world's most influential people

Some Wealthy Americans Don't Want Bush Tax Cut

Some of America's wealthiest individuals have declined billions of dollars in tax cuts bestowed upon them by President George W. Bush's administration and have urged others among the country's richest and most famous to donate their federal tax cuts to campaigns against the Bush package, often described as ''tax breaks for the rich.''

''It's obscene that Washington is handing out tax breaks to millionaires with one hand and shredding the safety net with the other,'' said Marta Drury, a member of Responsible Wealth, a national network of affluent Americans advocating what they term ''widespread prosperity'' and concerned that a deepening wealth divide in America is undermining the country's social and democratic fabric.

full story:
Some of America's Richest Say 'No, Thanks' to Bush Tax Cuts

Man Arrested for Using $2 Bill

How Dumb can you get?



A man trying to pay a fee using $2 bills was arrested, handcuffed and taken to jail after clerks at a Best Buy store questioned the currency's legitimacy and called police.

full story:
Man arrested, cuffed after using $2 bills

Bush Trying to Cover up Number of Wounded Soldiers?

The Pentagon has been accused of smuggling wounded soldiers into the US under cover of darkness to avoid bad publicity about the number of troops being injured and maimed in Iraq. The media have also been prevented from photographing wounded soldiers when they arrive at hospital.

Records show that flights from military bases in Germany arrive in the US only at night.

...Just as the Bush administration has banned the media from taking photographs of the coffins of American troops killed in Iraq as they arrive in the US, opponents say it is now trying to cover up the number of wounded....

full story:
US 'smuggles wounded troops home' under cover of darkness

Chri Shays: "Tom Delay an Embarrassment to the Republican Party"

"He is an absolute embarrassment to me and to the Republican Party," U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Bridgeport, told more than 50 Greenwich residents yesterday morning at Town Hall. He was in Greenwich to host a public forum, open to all political parties, on whatever pressing issues attendees were interested in discussing.

A public forum open to all political parties: This is what our government elected officials should do

Yesterday, Shays flatly denied supporting DeLay, telling the small but lively gathering that the Texan probably will not last out this term as house majority leader, lacks credibility and will never attain the prominent position of speaker of the house.

"Do I think Tom DeLay will be the majority leader by the end of this term? No," Shays said. "I don't think Tom DeLay is going to survive. He goes to the edge and he goes beyond . . . Even knowing there's a microscope on him, he continues to do these things."

full story"
Shays bucks DeLay

Thousands Protest in Baghdad on Anniversary of Fall of Statue

Chanting "No! No to terrorism!" and "No! No to America," thousands of supporters of a radical Shiite cleric who once led uprisings against U.S. troops called Saturday for American forces to withdraw from Iraq, staging a massive protest at the same square where — two years ago to the day — protesters pulled down a towering statue of ousted Saddam Hussein.

full story:
Thousands protest on Baghdad anniversary

Bush's "Culture of Life" -- Cut Housing for the Poor

Republicans like to talk about "moral values" and "family values" and the "culture of life" alot but it has nothing to do with loving and taking care of the weak and the poor in our society:

The Bush administration pays lip service to the goal of "ending chronic homelessness" - while undermining the very programs that keep poor people from ending up in the streets. The Housing and Urban Development Department is proposing unreasonable cuts in federal subsidies, which would make it harder for underfinanced housing authorities to keep their developments livable and safe. And a proposal in Congress would make it harder for the poor to get rental subsidies from Section 8, the public-private partnership that underwrites rents for nearly two million of the country's low-income families and encourages builders to develop affordable housing.

full story:
Killing Off Housing for the Poor

Oldest Known Object on Earth to be Displayed ~~ 4.4 Billion Years Old

A tiny speck of zircon crystal that is barely visible to the eye is believed to be the oldest known piece of Earth at about 4.4 billion years old. For the first time ever, the public will have a chance to see the particle Saturday at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where researchers in 2001 made the breakthrough discovery that the early Earth was much cooler than previously believed based on analysis of the crystal.

full story:
Earth's Oldest Known Object on Display

Bill Clinton is Rock Star in Rome while Bush was Booed by Crowd

While Romans were unlikely to catch a glimpse of President Bush - he moved only in motorcades and appeared only at a few official events - Mr. Clinton was clearly reveling in the fact that shoppers, tourists having lunch at outdoor cafes and Italian business people walking to meetings all stopped to greet him.

"Isn't this a great city?" he said. Along the streets, people starting yelling "Bill, Bill, Bill," and a few shouted "U.S.A.!" One shopkeeper raced out with a photograph of Mr. Clinton on a past visit.

full story:
A Lovely Day for a Stroll: Bill Clinton in His Element

Car that Runs on Air

from CNN:

A Korean company has created a car engine that runs on air.

The engine, which powers a pneumatic-hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), works alongside an electric motor to create the power source.

The system eliminates the need for fuel, making the PHEV pollution-free.

full story:
Car that runs on compressed air

Bush Booed at Papal Service

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

Pope John Paul II Is Laid to Rest

Reward for Jenna Bush "Butt" Video?

Jenna ... gone WILD?

Did Pope John Paul II Think Bush was the Antichrist?

From Online Journal:

Latest neocon target: The Vatican

By Wayne Madsen
.....according to well-placed journalists for Catholic Italian newspapers whom I spoke to in 2003, the pope commented to some of his closest assistants that what he feared most in Bush was the coming of the Anti-Christ as prophesized in the Book of Revelation......

From Counter Punch:

Bush's "Christian" Blood Cult

Bush's blood lust, his repeated commitment to Christian beliefs, and his constant references to "evil doers," in the eyes of many devout Catholic leaders, bear all the hallmarks of the one warned about in the Book of Revelations - the anti-Christ. People close to the Pope claim that amid these concerns, the Pontiff wishes he was younger and in better health to confront the possibility that Bush may represent the person prophesized in Revelations.

Secret Service Protecting Pregnant Duck

From Cnn:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Secret Service, which has the job of guarding the president and other dignitaries, now has a new temporary duty -- protecting a mother duck and her nine eggs.



full story:
Secret Service protects expectant duck

Bush's Numbers

Going
D
O
W
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44% Approval Rating

Tuminator Less Popular Than Dubya

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is showing himself to be an ordinary mortal after all with a significant policy retreat on Thursday and a new poll showing his approval rating down sharply.

Swept into office in an unprecedented recall election in 2003, the Republican's approval rating fell to 43 percent from 59 percent in January, according to a Survey and Policy Research Institute poll released on Thursday.

full story:
Once Invincible Schwarzenegger Looking More Mortal

More Pies in the Face ~~ This Time David Horowitz

A conservative activist who criticizes what he calls the leftist domination of college campuses was struck with a pie Wednesday night at Butler University.

David Horowitz, president of the Center for the Study of Popular Culture, had just started a lecture at Butler when he was hit.

full story:
Activist hit by pie at Butler lecture

Connecticut could become the first state to recognize civil unions

Hartford Connecticut:

A bill that would give same-sex couples many of the same rights as married couples has passed the State Senate.

The vote was 27-to-nine in favor of the bill, which is also expected to clear the House.

A House vote has not yet been scheduled.

full story:
senate approves civil unions bill

Good Joe Biden Quote on Schiavo Memo

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) said he believed that the memo originated with the GOP because it is "totally consistent" with how the Republicans have operated for the past four years. "They just shouldn't lose their memos," he said.

Daylight Savings Time may be Extended

Lawmakers crafting energy legislation approved an amendment Wednesday to extend daylight-saving time by two months, having it start on the first Sunday in March and end on the last Sunday in November.

"Extending daylight-saving time makes sense, especially with skyrocketing energy costs," said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Michigan, who along with Rep. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, co-sponsored the measure.

full story:
Congress may extend daylight-saving time

More ReTHUGlican "Family Values"

While misleading Americans (and it seems they do a good job of it) by professing they have such good "moral" and "family" values republicans continue their attack on the poor and working class of America. Here is another program they are trying to cut:

Congress is expected to pass reforms to make it tougher for single mothers receiving welfare to gain access to job skills or higher education. It's all part of the work-first philosophy that puts jobs ahead of economic sustainability.

Single mothers receiving welfare who are trying to better their lives by earning a two- or four-year college degree recently got a lifeline in their continuing struggle to stay afloat. But it appears their time is running out.

.......The goal of Republican welfare reformers is "work first," meaning that jobs -- no matter how dead-end and how low-wage -- are preferable to education and training.......

full story:
Hello, Minimum Wage

Comments on Bush by Former Harvard Business Teacher

From The Harvard Crimson:

By YOSHI TSURUMI

Thirty years ago, President Bush was my student at Harvard Business School. In my class, he called former president Franklin D. Roosevelt, Class of 1904, a “socialist” and spoke against Social Security, unemployment insurance, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other New Deal innovations. He refused to understand that capitalism becomes corrupt without democratic civic values and ethical restraints.

.......Bush is the first president of the United States with a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA). Yet, he epitomizes the worst aspects of America’s business education. To privatize Social Security, he is peddling a colossal lie about its solvency. Furthermore, Bush, along with today’s business aristocrats, shows no compassion for working Americans, robbing them to benefit big business and the very rich. Last year, due to Bush’s tax cuts, over 80 of America’s most profitable 200 corporations did not pay even a penny of their federal and state income taxes. Meanwhile, to pay for his additional tax cuts for the very rich, Bush is drastically cutting back several social services, such as federal lunch programs for poor children......

full story:
Hail to the Robber Baron?

Jenna Bush does BUTT DANCE ~~ Excellant Moral Values Instilled by Parents

From NYP:

JENNA IN DIRTY DISCO DANCE

VIDEOTAPE of Jenna Bush in very high spirits at a bachelorette party is being sold and could end up on national TV by the end of the week. Luckily for Jenna, the cameraman missed "the high point . . . Jenna on all fours doing 'the butt dance' — and doing it very well — as guys were ogling her thong," said our source. Club patrons do the suggestive dance when the deejay plays the 1988 hit "Da Butt," by E.U. The president's blond daughter arrived at NerveAna, a '90s-themed lounge on Varick Street, at 10:30 p.m. last Friday with several other pretty young things in a battered old blue minivan. Sources said it was Jenna's third visit to the club, which features replicas of Monica Lewinsky's blue dress and O.J. Simpson's white Bronco. Jenna, who plans to teach school in D.C. next fall, wore jeans, moccasin boots and a midriff-baring, satiny blue top. She lit up a cigarette "and she was very polite when she was told she'd have to go outside to smoke," said our source. Before leaving at 3:30 a.m., Jenna and her pals gamely joined a conga line and danced around the club.

Quote of the Day

"2006 is one very important election, maybe more important than 2004 was because there is an unchecked government going on in Washington."-- Former White House Counsel John Dean

Back to the WILD WEST?

via Crooks and Liars:

The World is going Crazy

Florida eyes allowing residents to open fire whenever they see threat

MIAMI (AFP) - Florida's legislature has approved a bill that would give residents the right to open fire against anyone they perceive as a threat in public, instead of having to try to avoid a conflict as under prevailing law...read on

So much for the culture of life. Of course the bill was supported by the NRA. They have more guns to sell. Do you think Jeb Bush is a fan of Deadwood?

GOP Schiavo Talking Points Leaked

Bringing this back to the top as it had been reported that Dems secretly used this to make rethugs look bad. Now we know that The legal counsel to Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) admitted yesterday that he was the author of a memo citing the political advantage to Republicans of intervening in the case of Terri Schiavo, the senator said in an interview last night.
full story:
Author Of Schiavo Memo Steps ForwardSen. Martinez's Counsel Cited Upside for GOP

from RAW Story:

A source on Capitol Hill has leaked the print version of the Republicans’ “talking points” on the Florida woman who Congress is attempting to keep alive to RAW STORY late Monday afternoon. The document appears below, followed by the print version of the talking points.

The document was not printed on any letterhead or attributed to any specific Republican office, and has been rebuked by Republicans on the Hill despite its apparent authenticity.

For Just $1250 You Can Be "Doctor of the Year"

From ABC News: Doctor named "Phyiscian of the Year" for a fee

The good news reached the Jamestown, N.Y., office of Dr. Rudolph Mueller in a fax from a congressman in Washington. Mueller had been named 2004 Physician of the Year.

But to receive the award in person at a special two-day workshop in Washington last month, Mueller found out that he would have to make a $1,250 contribution to the National Republican Congressional Committee. It was a disturbing discovery, he said.

"To actually buy your award and it's not from your peers or from your patients or from the community that you serve, it's really deceptive," said Mueller, author of "As Sick As It Gets: The Shocking Reality of America's Healthcare, A Diagnosis and Treatment Plan." "It's not being honest, it's just not right."

.....To see what the award process was all about, Mueller sent in his $1,250 contribution and ABC News paid for his travel to Washington for the scheduled events March 14-15, which included a tax-reform workshop as well as appearances by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and President Bush......

.....Mueller soon found he was not the only winner. There were hundreds of Physicians of the Year present, many of whom found the criteria for being selected equally as opaque......

full story:
Are Honors for Physicians the New Political Diploma Mill?

Army Thinking of Spending 1.4 Million for Naming Rights to RFK Stadium

The US Army is looking into buying the naming rights of RFK Stadium in DC, the home of the new Nationals team. It seems the Army could spend as much as 1.4 million a year for the naming rights. One would think they would have better things to spend the money on like: Armored vehicles and body armour!

Army May Sponsor the Nationals at RFK?

As District officials search for a sponsor for Washington Nationals games at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, talk has turned to one organization that is not a traditional corporate advertiser: the U.S. Army.

.....According to Orange, Tuohey said the Army might be willing to pay an average of about $1.4 million per season to become the primary sponsor for the three years the Nationals play at RFK.

"He said the Army was trying to raise their profile," Orange said yesterday.......

Tom DeLay "Cocktail For Disaster"

via AmericaBlog:



Yesterday's Washington Post:

"Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) says Democrats suffered major setbacks in the 1990s when an ethics-challenged leader -- House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.), who resigned in 1989 -- became a larger symbol of his party than its platform issues. 'That's a cocktail for disaster,' Graham said. If a political leader's personal problems are coupled with 'some policy decisions that are disconnected to the public, then you've got an opening' for trouble, he said. 'If we don't watch it, it could happen to us.'"

New Blog Help Me Chronicle all The Wingnut Quotes and Actions

I have started a new blog Wingnut Central to keep track of all the nutty quotes and actions of those like Anne Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Bill O'reilly, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and so many others. If you happen on something please email me (email address in my profile) so we can keep track of all the loonies that are out there saying and doing crazy things.

FINALLY People Are Seeing The Scary Conservative Theocratical Agenda

The controversy over Terri Schiavo has raised concerns among many Americans about the moral agenda of the Republican Party and the political power of conservative Christians, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll finds.

In the survey, most Americans disapprove of the efforts by President Bush and Congress to draw federal courts into the dispute over treatment of the brain-damaged Florida woman. She died last week.

Some old stereotypes about the two parties have been reversed:

•By 55%-40%, respondents say Republicans, traditionally the party of limited government, are “trying to use the federal government to interfere with the private lives of most Americans” on moral values.

•By 53%-40%, they say Democrats, who sharply expanded government since the Depression, aren't trying to interfere on moral issues.

full story:
Many wary of GOP's moral agenda Poll: Public disliked Schiavo intervention

16 Americans Killed in Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan

A U.S. military helicopter crashed in bad weather in southeast Afghanistan today, killing 16 people, including American crew members, in the deadliest military crash since the U.S.-led offensive began in 2001.

full story:
U.S. military helicopter crashes in Afghanistan, killing 16

Dubya's The most Unpopular Re-elected POTUS

From Editor and Publisher:
President George W. Bush's approval rating has plunged to the lowest level of any president since World War II at this point in his second term, the Gallup Organization reported today.

Here are the ratings for presidents as recorded by Gallup in the March following their re-election:

Truman, 1949: 57%.

Eisenhower, 1957: 65%.

Johnson, 1965: 69%.

Nixon, 1973: 57%.

Reagan, 1985: 56%.

Clinton, 1997: 59% .

Bush, 2005: 45% .