There's a very cool article about Robert Hunter

Find it here!

Digby earns Quote-of-the-day honors

If I have to kowtow to a bunch of childish Republican panic artists who have deluded themselves into believing that fighting radical Islam requires turning America into a police state, then it's just not worth it.

Read the whole post.

FICA and you

There've been several references to a poll that shows a fair amount of support for what the NSA is supposed to be doing (as opposed to what they ARE doing.)Link here Which bring up the question, if this domestic surveillance program is so popular then why couldn't the FICA have been updated to allow it? It's called the law for a reason after all.

Sent to the author of this story in the Indy Star

Imagine if Einstein while working out the theory of general relativity had abruptly thrown up his hands and said this Tensor Calculus is just too complicated to be understood by mere mortals. I should quit now. That’s precisely what the proponents of ID do. I find it very disappointing that you would provide their viewpoint such sympathetic coverage. All of science is based on the premise that the universe is comprehensible through natural law. As soon as you give up that premise, you are no longer doing science.

Article here

Remember - by definition 50% of all people are below average intelligence.

Do you agree or disagree with the federal judge’s decision to bar teaching of "intelligent design" in a science class?


Agree 45% => 1685 votes

Disagree 47% => 1752 votes

I'm not sure 7% => 263 votes
Current number of voters: 3700

No wonder we're in trouble. We're running out of "reasonable Observers"!

Quoting from the Dover PA decision:

"In elaborating upon this “reasonable observer,” the Third Circuit explained in Modrovich, 385 F.3d at 407, that “the reasonable observer is an informed citizen who is more knowledgeable than the average passerby.” Moreover, in addition to knowing the challenged conduct’s history, the observer is deemed able to “glean other relevant facts” from the face of the policy in light of its context."

What better way to learn about Totalitarianism than to experience it firsthand

"The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand's class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents' home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the professors said. "

Link

Posted at Firedoglake

If you think it can't happen in America, think again. We have laws in place for a reason, and when you allow the President to start selectively ignoring them, it sets a precedent for every other law enforcement official in the nation. We fought a revolution in this country to prevent just this sort of behavior -- we are a nation of laws, and not of imperial whim.

Link

No Surprise here

I don't know about you but I've always assumed that the NSA scanned every word I've ever typed on the internet.

Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts

Secret Laws

"Your under arrest!"

"What for?"

"Can't tell you, it's a secret"

It feels like America has been kidnapped and replaced with an imposter.

Details here

Link courtesy Red State Diaries

War on Christmas and the war in Iraq

It occurred to me recently that there is a common thread running though Bill O'Reilly's "War on Christmas" rants and the run-up to the war in Iraq. Both are cases of the aggressor feigning victimhood.

Comment I posted at David Gans' site

I have to think that there are fair number of people who are like me. I never was to much into the taping scene and I stopped going to shows altogether in '91. But my interest in the Dead has rekindled of late and I've bought several items of Grateful Dead merchandise including the 2nd boxed set of studio releases.

So when I happened upon archive.org there were two uses I saw for it immediately. The first was to investigate the other jambands on the scene and check out a lot of the music that I'd been missing. (I live in St. Thomas which makes going to shows other than my own a BIG problem) The other was to grab some of those moments that I knew were out there but wouldn't have ready access to. So far, all I had downloaded was the Milkweg 81, the 11-17-78 acoustic set in Chicago (The Uptown show that evening was my first ever Dead show AND my 21st birthday) and I also picked up a Deer Creek '89 because I remember it having a REALLY JUICY Bird Song to close the first set.

The bottom line is that nothing I was doing on archive.org was in any way going to affect my spending with GD marketing other than perhaps keep me paying attention.

So then all this stuff starts going down and by the time I'd even noticed it all seemed to be resolved in what seemed to me to be reasonable compromise.

Then Weir opened his mouth....

I recognize the rights of musicians (well songwriters actually) to control their own creations but WHAT A BONEHEAD!

nuf said...thanks for listening

Today's favorite line from Joshua Micah Marshall

Frist is actually sort of unique in that it's possible he may not be guilty.

Link

Less depressing than the last Excite poll I posted

Has your opinion of the U.S. government's 2003 decision to use military force against Iraq changed over the past two years?

Yes - I supported it, but now I don't 12% => 1336 votes

Yes - I didn't support it, but now I do 1% => 145 votes

No - I supported it, and still do 42% => 4607 votes

No - I never supported it 41% => 4492 votes

I'm not sure 1% => 147 votes
Current number of voters: 10727

From The Crisis Papers on DU.

Welcome to the world of American jurisprudence in the post-9/11 era, the operating Bush & Co. principle of which seems to be that since "they hate us for our freedoms," we'll just eliminate the freedoms.


Link

There are worse things to be called

You are Schroeder!


Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Kevin Drum uses stronger than usual language.

If conservatives dislike Dick Durbin's comparison of American practices to those of Hitler and Stalin, they should make clear to Dick Cheney that America doesn't condone the practices of Hitler and Stalin. Because apparently, the vice president of the United States does condone them. Vigorously. It's enough to make any decent human being puke.

Link

Real Freedom and Rubber Turkeys

Which side has the greater claim to innocence? Probably neither. The question of who is most to blame is practically beyond resolution. Perhaps a better hope lies in the world beyond the frog ponds, beyond Us and Them, in the world of real freedom where most human beings carry on with their lives as We, if given the half a chance the average government (and God, don’t they tend to be average!) seems so reluctant to encourage.

Who Is 'We'? by David R. Henderson

Collectivism is the ugliest ideology in the world. It has been directly responsible for well over 100 million deaths in the 20th century. Let's do our part by not participating in it, even – maybe especially – in our language. The only hope we have for a peaceful world is to hold guilty people responsible for their actions and to treat the innocent people in all countries as innocent. Let's quit talking about governments whose horrific actions we detest as "we."

Link

DUH......

Democratic pressure to re­open the debate was, he charged, "a concerted effort, following the Scooter Libby indictment, to put a noose around the president's neck and say that he lied to the American people.

Link

I'm sorry - I find this very disturbing

Do you support the Senate amendment that would prohibit the use of cruel or degrading treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody?


Yes 43% => 2923 votes

No 51% => 3409 votes

I'm not sure 5% => 346 votes

Current number of voters: 6678

From David Corn re Global Warming

Popular attitudes about such matters are important to understand. But so is reality. If public beliefs are contradicted or undermined by facts, the Post shouldn't be shy about stating that. The full story, after all, is that many Americans believe what they believe regarding this crucial topic despite the evidence.


Link

Choose your weapon!

Here's the quote from Alan Bock at Antiwar.com.

"I suspect we'll be more effective if we de-emphasize the "America is evil" rhetoric in favor of "America made a mistake we need to correct," but I can't control what others do. Now is the time for those who question this ill-advised war to make their voices heard. I suspect the seeds will fall on more fertile soil than we have had in a long time."

I prefer the "America isn't evil but is in serious danger of becoming so if we don't do something" rhetoric myself.

The Plaid Adder returns!

You can't even say 'blame game' without sounding like a child. "Blame game, blame game, let's play the blame game! La la la la la la!"

This is not a game. The dead do not come back. Suffering cannot be undone. There are no do-overs.

This is not a game. It is a crime. So I do not blame.

I accuse.

Read the whole thing

From Digby

We are in the middle of a great culture war in this country in which liberals are continually accused of being immoral and indecent by people who profess to hold strong religious beliefs. These morals, however, are almost exclusively confined to personal sexual matters and seem only to apply to the conduct of individuals in their private lives. They seem to have nothing to say about our government conducting itself without regard to morality whenever it is convenient. (Indeed, we have just witnessed one of the most prominent religious moralists in the country calling for our government to assassinate the leader of an oil rich country because it would save money.)

After the last election I read many pieces in which religious people advised that Democrats had to begin speaking in religious terms and appeal to voters on a moral basis. It was immediately assumed that this should be done in exactly the same way that the Republicans do, using their definition of morality. But I would suggest that we should make our own case for moral values --- as a government and a nation. It is there that we will find common ground among truly religious people and non-religious people of all stripes. And it is there that politics and morality are appropriately and necessarily linked in a free and democratic society.

If I had been polled after the last election I might very well have said that moral values were a primary reason for my vote. I found the conduct of this war deeply immoral. And I also believe that this immorality makes us less safe. If Democratic politicians want to run on restoring moral values in government they can count me in. I'm a proud member of that moral values crowd and I'll happily hold hands with any religious person who wants to join me.

Link

File under "Poor choice of words"

The latest good news from Iraq

"A 'car-buying boom'"

Yikes. I personally hate it when cars go "Boom".

Via Justin Raimondo

Yea - What he said.....

And while the religions may be different, the core of them is not -- opposition to rival faiths, hostility to science, interference in people's private lives, control over women's bodies, an irrational belief in the supremacy of the male over female, militancy, anti-intellectualism and a rejection of logic, an unassailable belief in their own righrousness, and the deifying of certain unelectable, unaccountable individuals as "spokesmen for god", be it Pat Robertson or the Ayatollahs.

Link From Kos

Blessing the Bombs by George Zabelka

For the last 1700 years the Church has not only been making war respectable: it has been inducing people to believe it is an honorable profession, an honorable Christian profession. This is not true. We have been brainwashed. This is a lie.

War is now, always has been, and always will be bad, bad news. I was there. I saw real war. Those who have seen real war will bear me out. I assure you, it is not of Christ. It is not Christ's way. There is no way to conduct real war in conformity with the teachings of Jesus. There is no way to train people for real war in conformity with the teachings of Jesus.

The morality of the balance of terrorism is a morality that Christ never taught. The ethics of mass butchery cannot be found in the teachings of Jesus. In Just War ethics, Jesus Christ, who is supposed to be all in the Christian life, is irrelevant. He might as well never have existed. In Just War ethics, no appeal is made to him or his teaching, because no appeal can be made to him or his teaching, for neither he nor his teaching gives standards for Christians to follow in order to determine what level of slaughter is acceptable.



As posted on Lew Rockwell

From Billmon

At this point, to call the Commander in Chief detached from reality would be an insult to paranoid schizophrenics everywhere.

Link

Strangly familiar

This quote from Atrios-

It's pretty damn easy to be moral when all it requires is worrying about the morality of other people and not actually adjusting one's own behavior.
Link

Now where I have seen that before?....Oh Yeah!

Matt 7:3-5
7:3 Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? 7:4 Or how can you say to your neighbor, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' while the log is in your own eye? 7:5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye.

Other Link

LA Times headline

Bush says, leaving, "Iraq would be a mistake"

Its all in how you say it!

Nothing says "freedom" quite like passing through the metal detectors on the way to the rally!

Q: Where do I check in for the America Supports You Freedom Walk?
R: Participants are encouraged to arrive at the Pentagon South parking lot between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. for screening to avoid long lines. The first 1,000 to arrive for screening at the Pentagon on September 11, will receive the official America Supports You campaign lapel pin.

Link

Great post from The Green Knight

Well, the crucial element in the right-wing attack is that the modern American right doesn't live in the real world. For them, you can't change your mind about a real-world politician or policy, because for them, the real world doesn't exist. All that exists for them is a set of unchanging, idealized fictions. If you change your mind about one of those, well, it must be because you're weak or perverse: you've lost the faith and become evil.


Link

From Anthony Gregory

The American right has long dedicated itself to the promotion of limited government – limited to its key functions of cracking skulls, caging sinners and leveling cities. Helpful to this program of state violence is the fact that most people, left, right, center and libertarian, believe that protecting people’s rights to life, liberty and property against foreign and domestic threats is the one unquestionable purpose of government. People tend to consider organized force a legitimate means to defend the innocent against violent criminals, terrorists, and the like.

Read The Whole Thing

Inspiration

This inspired me to give my quarterly contribution to antiwar.com even though the original is from Daily Kos Link here

A less discussed reason the war in Iraq is misguided.

"The Bush administration has decided to topple the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein despite the fact that the war against al Qaeda is unfinished because the White House has concluded that a successful campaign against Iraq would "shatter the psychological advantage within the Islamist movement and demonstrate U.S. power,"
Link

What effect do you suppose a failed campaign will have?

Digby on libertarians.

Instead, the Republicans are creating a national government that seeks to intrude in the most personal of ways, interfering with people's religious and moral choices. That wasn't what the independent, individualistic western style libertarian signed on for. They are ours for the taking if we have the nerve to say what Paul Hackett said up there.

Someone actually GETS IT!

The tragedy of September 11th shook our sense of security and made us realize that we, too, are vulnerable to acts of terrorism. Unfortunately, some believe that this threat renders our Constitution obsolete. This is a Constitution for which men and women have died and continue to die and which has made us a model among nations. If that view is allowed to prevail, the terrorists will have won.

It is my sworn duty, and as long as there is breath in my body I'll perform it, to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

We will be in recess.
Link

Whooda thunk

Who would have thought as I was growing up in the Sixties that at some time in a future political conflict, my sympathies would come down squarely on the side of the CIA!

An excellent Plame case summary here

via e-mail

I get a lot of spam but I must say that today was my first ever opportunity to "Authorizate my PayPal account"

Van Jones on the Huffington Post

Somewhere, in all of these stirrings, I see the seeds of a wisdom-based, Earth-honoring, pro-democracy movement – one that affirms and applauds religious and spiritual impulses, while opposing fundamentalism, chauvinism and theocracy. Over time, that kind of progressive movement has the potential to win – and win big – in the United States. To be honest: it is probably the ONLY type of progressive movement that stands a chance in a country as religious as ours.

link

from Mark Morford

Rove, with his meager education and porcine sheen and this-one's-for-all-the-girls-who-shunned-me-in-high-school revenge demeanor, essentially reinvented American politics, created a new language of hate and fear, rewrote the GOP rule book to include the notion that actual facts don't matter and a politician can get away with absolutely anything if the denials are orchestrated just right and if the accusers are immediately counterattacked and mistakes are admitted absolutely never.

Link

Billmon on Coulter

I know Ilse's just trying to stand out in a crowd here, which isn't as easy as it used to be, now that nuking Mecca has gone mainstream.
Link

From The Green Knight

Jesus once upon a time threw the money-changers out of the temple. The problem is, in America today, the money-changers have built their own.
Link

From Paul Krugman

"Ultimately, this isn't just about Mr. Rove. It's also about Mr. Bush, who has always known that his trusted political adviser - a disciple of the late Lee Atwater, whose smear tactics helped President Bush's father win the 1988 election - is a thug, and obviously made no attempt to find out if he was the leaker."

Losing all the modifiers and extracting the meat of the sentence yields -

"Mr. Rove is a thug."

It's about time someone said it out loud.

Link

From Kevin Drum

Who would have thought that one day the White House would be run by someone who made Richard Nixon look responsible and forbearing?

Link

Just a Thought

Any enterprise that depends on the stupidity of its customers for its success is inherently evil. (Think lottery tickets and infomercials)

Now consider the Bush administration.

Anthony Gregory goes to the heart of the matter.

Conscription is slavery, and if it returns, any arguments over whether America is a free country become obsolete.
Link

From Riverbend

Don’t Americans know that this vast wasteland of terror and terrorists otherwise known as ‘Abroad’ was home to the first civilizations and is home now to some of the most sophisticated, educated people in the region?

Don’t Americans realize that ‘abroad’ is a country full of people- men, women and children who are dying hourly? ‘Abroad’ is home for millions of us. It’s the place we were raised and the place we hope to raise our children- your field of war and terror.

The war was brought to us here, and now we have to watch the country disintegrate before our very eyes. We watch as towns are bombed and gunned down and evacuated of their people. We watch as friends and loved ones are detained, or killed or pressured out of the country with fear and intimidation.
Link

Recent Riverbend

The Green Zone is a source of consternation and aggravation for the typical Iraqi. It makes us anxious because it symbolises the heart of the occupation and if fortifications and barricades are any indicator- the occupation is going to be here for a long time. It is a provocation because no matter how anyone tries to explain or justify it, it is like a slap in the face. It tells us that while we are citizens in our own country, our comings and goings are restricted because portions of the country no longer belong to its people. They belong to the people living in the Green Republic.
Link

I suppose its close.

You scored as Classical Liberal. You are a classical liberal. You are sceptical about much of the historicity of the Bible, and the most important thing Jesus has done is to set us a good moral example that we are to follow. Doctrines like the trinity and the incarnation are speculative and not really important, and in the face of science and philosophy the surest way we can be certain about God is by our inner awareness of him. Discipleship is expressed by good moral behaviour, but inward religious feeling is most important.

Classical Liberal		93%
Emergent/Postmodern		89%
Modern Liberal		82%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan		36%
Neo orthodox		32%
Charismatic/Pentecostal		14%
Roman Catholic		11%
Reformed Evangelical		7%
Fundamentalist		0%

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

From Berkowitz (Couldn't resist)

Elsewhere, after White House adviser Karl Rove created a furor with his remarks about liberals and 9/11 last week, the White House demoted Mr. Rove from Bush’s Brain to Bush’s Ass.

Link

I've been thinking about history lately.

If the history of the 20th century teaches us anything, it's that these extreme cases are relevant. They do happen. And they not only can be part of a rational conversation about political principles, I would argue that they should be.

quote pulled from

In Defense of Referencing Hitler
by B.K. Marcus


Link

Don't laugh, they'll be coming for you next!

Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes

link

This from the "Freedom Fries" guy.

I can always tell you that my daddy, who served for 26 years in the United States House of Representatives, always told me to vote my conscience first, my constituency second, and my party third."

Quoted by Justin Raimondo

This just in......

In an effort to prevent the desecration of the US flag, Congress today voted to desecrate the Constitution.

Ernest Partridge of The Crisis Papers via DU

It is most unlikely that Dana Milbank will every recover the reputation that he relinquished with this attack on John Conyer's hearing. I can testify that I will never again take seriously anything he writes.


Link

Butler Shaffer from Lew Rockwell

Our lives are haunted by "dark side" influences within our collective unconscious that cause us more anguish than do "terrorists" from the external world. Such inner "shadow" forces represent all the shortcomings, doubts, fears, temptations, anger, and other discomforting qualities we have about ourselves; but about which we may be induced to part by projecting such traits onto others. Political systems thrive on the unresolved conflicts we have within ourselves, by convincing us that our inner turmoil is really the fault of others; others who need to be punished and/or controlled in order to make our lives more orderly. Those selected as recipients of our projections (i.e., the "scapegoats") can be comprised of any number of interchangeable persons or groups. Depending upon circumstances, the "scapegoat" can be either "Jewish" or "Palestinian," "secularist" or "evangelical," "manufacturer" or "consumer," or any seemingly endless mix useful for the moment
Link

The Plaid Adder on Fred Phelps

Consciously or not, he identified the one form of bigotry that is still socially acceptable (not the only one that still exists, but the only one that a politician can still profess openly and lustily without fear of electoral consequences)

Read the Whole Thing
She's always insightful.

Karen Kwiatkowski even spunkier than usual

I haven’t thought about her in years. Michael Rubin and Anthony Gancarski, and others of their ilk, remind me of my friend all those years ago.

Now, I’m not calling them whores of the anti-freedom, pro-fascist, lying neoconservative hijacking team, or sluts of the far right wing. I’m not calling them apologists for falsely advertised preemptive war and facilitators for the obstruction of the Constitution. I’m not calling them chickenhawks who would sooner run from a military uniform that don one. I’m not even calling them lying sacks of crap.

OK, I can’t lie, and never could. I am calling them that. Oh and I almost forgot! They also like to beat up girls.



Link

I actually write something.

My comment to a Green Knight post re: the cluelessness of the MSM.

Link to original post.

It is totally market driven. There's only so much bad news people will digest before their attention shuts down. Especially if the bad news is "by the way, the Americans are the bad guys in this movie".

The real tragedy is the self-fufilling nature of it. With the media only telling people what they want to hear, there's no room to actually LEARN anything.

Justin Raimondo is particularly sensible today.

The reason is simple: the means contradict the ends. It is like holding a gun to someone's head and saying: Be free, dammit – or I'll blow your head off! That's some "freedom"!

Link

Another Test

You scored as Materialist. Materialism stresses the essence of fundamental particles. Everything that exists is purely physical matter and there is no special force that holds life together. You believe that anything can be explained by breaking it up into its pieces. i.e. the big picture can be understood by its smaller elements. Materialist 100% Existentialist 94% Modernist 81% Postmodernist 44% Fundamentalist 25% Romanticist 25% Idealist 19% Cultural Creative 19% What is Your World View? (corrected...again) created with QuizFarm.com

Sorry...I couldn't resist

You Are Incredibly Logical

(You got 100% of the questions right) Move over Spock - you're the new master of logic You think rationally, clearly, and quickly. A seasoned problem solver, your mind is like a computer!

How Logical Are You?

Fresh wisdom from Anthony Gregory

To defend Americans from anti-U.S. terrorism, a necessary element is reducing State terrorism, greatly scaling back the power and size of the U.S. government, and revoking its license to kill and get away with it. Conservatives today might be able to wrap themselves in the flag and condemn dissidents as traitors, but before they know it, another Clinton might come to power and they’ll be the ones again accused of assisting the enemy by opposing the State. They might come, once again, to see the difference between love of country and love of the government, only it might be too late to bask in the distinction, thanks to the anti-dissident political atmosphere they are helping right now to create. Today’s leftists, it is to be hoped, will remember the feeling of being branded a traitor, should a Democrat be in power during the next national crisis or war.



Link

With thanks to Adam P. Short

The White House did not immediately say why the President was unaware of plans announced by his administration just a week earlier.



The Original


The Blog Link

Re: the Schiavo memo

Just follow the link

From "Auntie Pinko" at DU

That won't happen if we simply sit back and let the "nutjobs" stage their various circuses under the GOP Big Top. There are plenty of clown shoes and rubber noses in Democratic closets, too, and you can bet that the clever and financially well-endowed Republican manipulators of public opinion will be doing their best to throw a spotlight on them.

Here's da link!

From Lew Rockwell

It is no accident that both parties make an appeal to libertarian notions about the dangers of power. Love of liberty is what unites us as Americans. Our most important job right now is to work to show how nationalist warmongering, cultural agitprop, and government belligerence of all sorts work at cross purposes with libertarian ideals.

Also, the left needs to learn a lesson from the Bush regime: the answer to fascism is not socialism but freedom itself. They need to lose whatever romantic attachments to power they still have.


Read the whole thing

I've been waiting for someone to say this....

As far as I am concerned, the amazing hypocrites in our Government are not making up for killing thousands of innocent Americans and Iraqis by passing emergency legislation to save one life. Every member of Bush’s executive branch (past and present) and every member of Congress who voted to give George the authority to invade Iraq have innocent blood on their hands. For the next State of the Union address, maybe the hypocrites in Congress should shamefacedly display blood soaked hands, instead of proudly wriggling fingers stained with ink to symbolize sham Iraqi elections. This shameful Congress should go back on vacation and go back to their home districts and look for people who have been devastated by the illegal occupation of Iraq.

The Amazing Hypocrites
by Cindy Sheehan

Another can't resist quote, this one from James Wolcott

The Terri Schiavo soap opera, with Senator Frist guest-starring in the role of Dr. Bob and unveiling the uncanny ability to make a long-distance telepathic diagnosis without using his mind, shows yet again how sentimentality and brutality are the Doublemint twins of American culture, ripe for exploitation.

Link

Great turn of phrase from the Bull Moose

One can only marvel at this extraordinary demagoguery! Tom DeLay is now attempting to save himself by associating his fate with this woman's tragedy as he languishes in a persistent unethical state.


Link

Argle Bargles (And Other Beasts) from DU

A short guide to modern trolls.......

It's found a new life recently with some right-wingers trying to confine the definition of "terrorism" strictly to dark-skinned foreigners hijacking jets in the name of Allah (as opposed to pale-skinned middle-America types firebombing clinics in the name of Christ) and Bush administration officials trying to redefine "torture" so it doesn't include drowning, beating, sleep deprivation, and sodomizing somebody with a light tube.

Link

Good one-liner from The Green Knight

Creationism is not just bad science; it's bad theology.
Link

Justin Raimondo - follow his links too - I learned a lot

Of these three, militarism really is the fountainhead, the first principle and necessary precondition that gives rise to the others. The militarist openly declares that life is conflict, and that the doctrine of economic and political liberalism – which holds that there is no necessary conflict of interests among men – is wrong. Peace is cowardice, and the values of prosperity, pleasure, and living life for its own sake are evidence of mindless hedonism and even decadence. Life is not to be lived for its own sake: it must be risked to have meaning, and, if necessary, sacrificed in the name of a "higher" (i.e., abstract) value. That "higher" value is not only defined by the State, it is the State: in war, the soldier's life is risked on behalf of government interests, by government personnel, on behalf of expanding government power.

Link here

From James Wolcott

Along with millions of other people, I opposed the war before it began, and we opposed it not because we thought we might lose or fail in Iraq, but because invading Iraq was wrong. It was wrong because they were lying about why we were invading; it was wrong because the whole notion of preemptive invasion is immoral and dangerous; it was wrong for a dozen other plainly irrefutable reasons that will not change if Iraq is magically transformed into Switzerland by next year."

Link

Makes me proud to be a hippie tie-died liberal!

"I say we tell those liberal, tree-hugging, Birkenstock-wearing, hippie, tie-dyed liberals to go make their movies and their music and whine somewhere else," Gibbons said to another burst of applause.

Link

courtesy Americablog

From Americablog

In other words, Bush used lies, deception, bait and switch tactics, attack ads and homophobia to push its agenda -- all in a bald-faced, hamfisted, clumsy, transparently mean-spirited and patently untrue manner that flew in the face of logic and common sense. But this time it DIDN'T work.

Someone explain to me why this time was different so we can make sure it keeps happening again.

Link Here

From Newdonkey.com

Part of the full-human-life-begins-at-conception point of view is typically that "conception" occurs at the moment when an ovum is fertilized. Anything that deliberately interferes with live birth after that instant is an "abortion." Thus, most really hard-core right-to-lifers believe that birth control methods (including not only morning-after pills but IUDs) that in part or in full rely on preventing implantation of the fertilized ovum in the uterine wall are not "contraceptives," but "abortifacients" that are morally indistinguishable from a late-term abortion or, for that matter, infanticide. Never mind that this kind of "abortion" occurs naturally in a very high percentage of proto-pregnancies; ideology is ideology.

Justin Raimondo feels optimistic

Of course they want U.S. bases – as protection against their neighbors and as sources of income. I think it's a lousy idea, but it underscores how ready the Sunnis are to make a deal. George W. Bush would be a fool not to take it.

Oh, wait…

http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=4907

On the Jeff Gannon Story

I thought I'd let things play out for a while before selecting a favorite quote.
This one's it.

Are you kidding me? Memo to Howard and Sean. The man’s name was not really Jeff Gannon, he was lying. He was not a journalist, he was lying. He worked for a fake news organization, he was lying. Are you following me? A man with a fake name, fake credentials, and working for a fake news organization was granted free and unfettered access to the White House press pool, for the apparent sole purpose of bailing out the President or his representative. The story here is how the government planted a fake reporter in their pool to further their propaganda efforts against the people of this country. Let’s see if Sean or Howard covers that story or if they are just whores for this administration.


link

You wouldn't want war to be unpleasant - would you?

According to an audio recording of General Mattis's remarks obtained by The Associated Press, he said: "Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right upfront with you, I like brawling."

He added, "You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil."

General Mattis continued: "You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."



Link Here

The Plaid Adder compelled out of hiatus by dire events.

This battle matters, people. No matter how stupid it looks. This is not just about whether same-sex parents will ever be visible in children's television, or whether gay people will ever be treated right in this country. This is about whether the voters of the next generation will believe that tolerance is a virtue to be encouraged or a vice to be avoided. These people are playing long ball. We have to understand the importance of what they are doing, and dedicate resources to fight it. Otherwise our children - or, well, your children, in Bush's brave new world I am clearly not entitled to have any - will grow up not even knowing what tolerance means.


Read the whole Article

per Digby

I occurs to me that the neocons are a lethal combination of the worst traits of both sides of the political spectrum --- starry-eyed kumbaya idealists who think the best way to make the world see things their way is by kicking the shit out of it.
Link

Paul Craig Roberts is even more upset than usual

After listening to his inaugural speech, anyone who thinks President Bush and his handlers are sane needs to visit a psychiatrist. The hubris-filled megalomaniac in the Oval Office has promised the world war without end.

Link Here

from Mercury Rising

Professed Christians vs. Professional Christians

I myself am not a Christian. I'm not really an atheist, either -- in part because the atheists can be just as messianically obnoxious as the worst of the alleged Christians. Besides, I do know a few genuine Christians out there. They are the sort who obey Jesus' injunction to pray in private, and not to do so publicly in a boastful manner. (Yeah, Jerry Falwell and SpongeDob StickyPants, I'm talkin' to you. Among others.)

Here's the Link

Text of a letter to the Dover PA school board

re:
Letter--Biology Curriculum

I feel compelled to write to let you know that I find it appalling that you are deliberately lying to your students when your primary responsibility is to educate them. The sentence "Gaps in the theory exist for which there is no evidence" is patently false. If you purport to teach science, then your responsibility is to teach science as it is, not as certain people wish it to be. That is why you have Academic Standards in the first place.

Sincerely,
Paul Dirks

Yes...but how do you REALLY feel?

This is about the time your head spins all the way around and you shudder in disbelief and you stifle a giggle and hold your sides and restrain yourself from gagging, think happy thoughts about sex and love and trees because otherwise you just smash your head with a brick and throw puppies into paper shredders to numb the pain and quiet the screams.



From SFgate by Mark Morford

Quote of the Day

I think anyone who was paying attention this past election realizes by this time that right now, elections are being decided by people who aren't paying attention

From the comments section of (The Return of) Ignatz, by Sam Heldman

To Whom Does the Bill of Rights Apply?

The important point is that the Constitution doesn't apply to Americans, it doesn't apply to citizens, it doesn't even apply to "people." It applies to the federal government. The body of the Constitution tells the federal government what it is allowed to do, and in some places it explains how to do it (election procedures and such). The Bill of Rights tells the federal government what it is not allowed to do . . .

Make no law abridging freedom of speech, press, religion, or assembly,
Do not infringe on the right to keep and bear arms.
Don't quarter soldiers in peacetime.
Don't conduct unreasonable searches and seizures.
Don't commit double jeopardy or force people to testify against themselves.
Don't deny an accused a speedy trial.
Don't deny an accused a trial by jury.
Do not impose excessive bail.
Just because certain rights of the people aren't mentioned in this Constitution doesn't mean you're allowed to usurp them.
Don't exercise any power not authorized in this Constitution.

by Harry Browne

"All The Legal News Fit For Parody"

From Sean Carter

“We’re not going to let a piece of paper stand in our way of protecting the liberty of the American people,”

From Joe Conason

Evidently this scheme is the latest brainstorm of the "liberators" intent on bringing democracy, freedom and the rule of law to the oppressed peoples of the Middle East. The brilliant idea of assassinating recalcitrant Iraqis seems to have originated among the same Pentagon bureaucrats who crusaded for the Iraq invasion and promoted abusive interrogation techniques in the war against terrorism.

Workin For Change

Random encounter on the net

Reasonably funny

From Antiwar.com

The issue of torturing and killing prisoners can perhaps best be summed up by recalling Talleyrand's famous remark to his master, Emperor Napoleon, with respect to one of Napoleon's actions: 'Sire, it is worse than a crime, it is a mistake!'

Ernest Evans via Justin Raimondo

by Jacob G. Hornberger

While some people might believe that those on the Left wing of the political spectrum pose the bigger threat to the freedom and well-being of the American people, nothing could be further from the truth. Today, the much bigger threat (Read here and here) comes instead from the Right wing or conservative side of the political spectrum, for it is the conservatives who are either indifferent to – or squarely in favor of – military rule, torture, and suspension of habeas corpus and civil liberties for suspected terrorists. And those things constitute a much more ominous threat to our freedom and well-being than anything leftists endorse.

From Lewrockwell.com

In sharp contrast to......

We enjoy talking about how we are the greatest military power on earth, when this greatness is a chauvinistic delusion.



From Intervention Magazine

William Safire is losing his mind

Call me a chauvinist unilateralist, but I believe America's human and economic sacrifices for the advance of freedom abroad show our personal, political and national character to be stronger and better than ever. This moral advance will be more widely appreciated as an Islamic version of democracy takes root. (What's triumphalism without a triumph?)

Well..he is...

I've cretaed a monster!

All i wanted to do is post a comment on Raul Grooms Site and I found I've created my own blog.
I'm confident that it will remain comfortingly obscure.