Regime Change in the United States.

2006-11-02T08:55:00.000-06:00

I'm back from traveling around the country and the world...Great news today:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign06/countdown.htmlThat's a Washington Post page tracking most of the competitive House and Senate races this year. Don't forget to vote, but even if you do, it looks like the Democratic party is going to make significant gains this season. I wonder why...

The Stupidest Thing EVER Said about Noam Chomsky

2006-10-03T10:13:00.000-05:00

Congratulations, Alan Dershowitz...<>“I don’t know anybody who’s ever read a Chomsky book,” said Mr. Dershowitz, who said he first met Mr. Chomsky in 1948 at a Hebrew-speaking Zionist camp in the Pocono Mountains where Mr. Dershowitz was a camper and Mr. Chomsky was a counselor. “You buy them, you put them in your pockets, you put them out on your coffee table,” said Mr. Dershowitz, a longtime

2006-09-15T09:03:00.000-05:00

Thanks, Colin Powell: That rift [in the Republican party over the treatment of detainees] deepened Thursday when Powell waded into the debate with a letter in which he sided with Republicans who advocate stricter protections for terrorism detainees and warned against Bush's proposal, which allows for harsher treatment and more extreme methods of interrogation. "The world is beginning to doubt the

2006-09-14T08:58:00.000-05:00

Wow. This is kind of a huge fuck-up:Questioning a Kurdish witness Thursday, Saddam said, "I wonder why this man wanted to meet with me, if I am a dictator?" <>The judge interrupted: "You were not a dictator. People around you made you (look like) a dictator." "Thank you," Saddam responded, bowing his head in respect. <>What if Saddam is found not guilty? What will we do then? While Saddam

2006-09-12T09:24:00.000-05:00

Good News from a Swing District:“Republicans believe their party is in trouble and they want to help their campaigns,” Ms. Dodich said. “It is almost like Bush is frantic.”Of course we might not WANT to take control of the House and Senate again. That would not make anything easier for us with George as President... It might be better to wait. On the other hand, who knows how the situation

2006-09-06T08:41:00.000-05:00

Wow. You guys are real idiots:Representative Katherine Harris easily defeated three challengers in the party’s Senate primary.I wouldn't have wished that on my enemies. Good luck appealing to moderates with her running! Let's demand a recount! Just so people know what kind of candidate we're talking about, here's an interview she gave:...but in government and we have to have elected officials

2006-09-01T08:54:00.000-05:00

Yet more evidence that Don Rumsfeld should have resigned 10 years ago:In a cranky speech Tuesday to an American Legion audience, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld compared critics of U.S. policy in Iraq to those who sought to appease Hitler before World War II. For good measure, Rumsfeld suggested (echoing Jeane Kirkpatrick's liberal-bashing speech at the 1984 Republican National Convention

2006-08-29T08:50:00.000-05:00

George Bush's Idealistic Foreign Policy?Three weeks later, the White House is making arrangements to host the leader of Kazakhstan, an autocrat who runs a nation that is anything but free and who has been accused by U.S. prosecutors of pocketing the bulk of $78 million in bribes from an American businessman. Not only will President Nursultan Nazarbayev visit the White House, people involved say,

2006-08-23T09:06:00.000-05:00

A Really Sweet Article:Search hard enough and you might find a pundit who believes what George W. Bush believes, which is that history will redeem his administration. But from just about everyone else, on the right as vehemently as on the left, the verdict has been rolling in: This administration, if not the worst in American history, will soon find itself in the final four. Seriously this is one

2006-08-17T08:47:00.000-05:00

The sinking ship:In a campaign swing [in Lancaster, PA], President Bush on Wednesday picked up his party’s attack against Democrats for having what the Republicans have called the wrong approach to the fight against terrorism. “There’s some good people in our country who believe we should cut and run ... this would be a defeat for the United States in a key battleground in the global war on

Lots of Non-surprises...

2006-08-16T08:47:00.000-05:00

Not surprising:Hezbollah refused to disarm and withdraw its fighters from the battle-scarred hills along the border with Israel on Tuesday, threatening to delay deployment of the Lebanese army and endangering a fragile cease-fire.And why would they want to? They still are trying to look victorious. Conceding to disarmament would undermine their claim to victory. There is no reason at all for

Yo! Miguel!

2006-08-15T08:39:00.000-05:00

Finally the Israelis are pulling out of Southern Lebanon. Not surprisingly, they did not defeat Hezbollah and (if they are smart) will not claim to have done so. The American experience in Vietnam should have taught the lesson that it is difficult or impossible for a foreign force to dislodge an entrenched guerilla group that is strongly supported by the local population. The Israeli reliance

2005-09-29T08:44:00.000-05:00

Couldn't happen to a bigger asshole:The indictment of Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, the House majority leader, on Wednesday was the latest in a series of scandals and setbacks that have buffeted Republican leaders in Congress and the Bush administration, and transformed what might have been a victory lap into a hard political scramble.What good news. Don't forget that Bill Frist is also

2005-09-28T08:36:00.000-05:00

Strange news...RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today. According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.Of course this confirms my prejudices so I'm favorably disposed

2005-09-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

Something we have all known about econ majors for a long time anyway:A team of U.S. scientists has found the emotionally impaired are more willing to gamble for high stakes and that people with brain damage may make good financial decisions, the Times newspaper reported on Monday.Great.

Posting from work... shhhh....

2005-09-16T09:39:00.000-05:00

What a bunch of dicks:The drive to pour tens of billions of federal dollars into rebuilding the hurricane-battered Gulf Coast is widening a fissure among Republicans over fiscal policy, with more of them expressing worry about unbridled spending.See, this creates no problems for liberals! We know that taxing and spending are reasonable public policy initiatives! We don't have to worry about

2005-08-25T23:24:00.000-05:00

In case you don't recognize all of these people, I'm third from the left and second from the right. Everyone else is a biological relation. The shirt wasn't mine. I wasn't a communist then...Ten years ago today I arrived in Moscow! Holy shit!

2005-06-07T16:24:00.000-05:00

Miscarriage of Justice in Chile:Augusto Pinochet may be charged with tax evasion but not over human rights abuses committed when he was Chile's military ruler, a court has ruled. ... The court accepted that the general was not mentally fit enough to be prosecuted over Operation Condor - a joint campaign by as many as six South American regimes to hunt down and kill their opponents.What kind of '

2005-06-01T19:09:00.000-05:00

Guantanamo = the gulag? Hopefully you have read Amnesty International's report already. President Bush has helpfully called the allegations absurd, suggesting that they were made by "people who hate America."Thanks George. I'm not really sure what that means. Donald Rumsfeld says that it is reprehensible to suggest that the United States violates human rights....Examining the record suggests

2005-04-28T11:26:00.000-05:00

The month of April is almost over! Will there now be more time???Health Care: Most countries are proud to have a healthcare system. It's an organized way of helping the sick and infirm — a mark of genuine civilization. Not so here, alas, where the health system is rapidly becoming a health hazard. After decades of privatizing, profiteering and insurance company-driven bureaucratization, Florence

2005-03-23T21:37:00.000-06:00

A Really Bad Case:After a predawn ruling by a federal appeals court that rejected efforts to restore nutrition to Terri Schiavo, Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday succeeded in getting a state court to hear new motions in her case, presenting an affidavit from a neurologist who said Ms. Schiavo's condition appeared less severe than previously thought. Governor Bush held a hastily convened news

2005-02-18T11:08:00.000-06:00

Sensible Republicans? The Republican majority leader in the House expressed opposition on Thursday to the idea of increasing or eliminating the cap on earnings subject to the Social Security payroll tax, deflating President Bush's first effort to promote bipartisan trust over how to address the retirement system's projected financial troubles. No. They aren't really sensible. They might look

2005-01-11T21:18:00.000-06:00

Do you persist in thinking the White House is not run by total idiots? The man who insisted that President Bush make the claim that Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium for nuclear weapons in Africa is poised to assume a top State Department job that would make him the lead US arms negotiator with Iran and North Korea, according to administration officials. Robert G. Joseph, a special assistant

2005-01-05T22:22:00.000-06:00

It's been a while, but there is bad news... The Unholy Alliance gets worse: A powerful business lobby is preparing a multimillion-dollar campaign to aid the White House in its quest to win approval for conservative judges, a move that could transform the ideological battles over the federal judiciary and the Supreme Court. ... The shift puts the business lobby on the same side as social

2004-12-06T19:34:00.000-06:00

This is a powerful article: The vanquished know the essence of war—death. They grasp that war is necrophilia. They see that war is a state of almost pure sin with its goals of hatred and destruction. They know how war fosters alienation, leads inevitably to nihilism, and is a turning away from the sanctity and preservation of life. All other narratives about war too easily fall prey to the

2004-11-21T22:16:00.000-06:00

Yet more problems with the pseudo-mandate: Even though it will be months before President Bush proposes an overhaul of the income tax, key Republican groups are already divided about how or even whether to proceed. Regardless of which path Mr. Bush pursues, he is likely to be pulled by conflicts between parts of his political base. That is a bit of good news. If his two big, non-overlapping

2004-11-16T22:19:00.000-06:00

Alright. You may have noticed that George is reshuffling his cabinet. First, one of the biggest jerks in the White House announced his departure. I mean, this guy was really horrible. We should all be celebrating. On the other hand, George appointed this guy to fill his place. What's wrong with that guy? Well, for starters this, an awful, awful memo of which all Americans should be deeply

Back to business...

2004-11-08T23:30:00.000-06:00

And business is criticizing George. Justice for Detainees: First of all, some good news from a federal court which ruled today that the military tribunals in Guatanamo Bay are kangaroo courts. This should not be a surprise. "In the 45-page ruling, the judge said the administration had ignored a basic provision of the Geneva Conventions, the international treaties signed by the United States

Presidential Election

2004-11-07T13:53:00.000-06:00

Was it a disaster? Well, the proto-fascists were returned to office so in some ways yes, it was a disaster. On the other hand, there are reasons to be optimistic about this particular democratic defeat. This was not the best time for the good guys to take power for several reasons. 1. The conflict in Iraq is getting worse and more and more each day it seems there is no end in sight. The so

I don't expect this to convince anyone but...

2004-10-31T21:15:00.000-06:00

George Bush is not the man you should be voting for. On every issue, he falls short of what we should be looking for in a presidential candidate. Let's consider a few: A. Security/Foreign Policy. A lot of people seem to think that George is the only man who can keep the country safe and that he is the only man who has a serious plan to fight the terrorists. On the contrary, like no other

2004-10-03T21:09:00.000-05:00

Ok. You need to read the Times' report on pre-war intelligence. Seriously: Today, the Intelligence Committee's report makes clear, that 93-page [National Intelligence] estimate [concerning Iraq] stands as one of the most flawed documents in the history of American intelligence. The committee concluded unanimously that most of the major findings in the estimate were wrong, unfounded or

2004-09-26T19:20:00.000-05:00

Regime change is the obvious answer: US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the conflict between US forces and insurgents in Iraq is getting worse. Remember when we were told that we would be welcomed with open arms? Well, this insurgency has been going on for months now and shows no sign of letting up. There are places that US soldiers can't even go because it's too dangerous! The

2004-09-08T21:53:00.000-05:00

This is such a shameful absurdity: Despite widespread popular support, the federal law banning the sale of 19 kinds of semiautomatic assault weapons is almost certain to expire on Monday, the result of intense lobbying by the National Rifle Association and the complicated election-year politics of Washington. What kind of organization could possibly oppose a ban on dangerous weapons such as

2004-09-07T20:54:00.000-05:00

This is such total bullshit: Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday warned Americans about voting for Democratic Sen. John Kerry, saying that if the nation makes the wrong choice on Election Day it faces the threat of another terrorist attack. That's Soviet-style. "If you oppose Comrade Stalin, you put us all in danger." Saying that is not hyperbole either. That's a Soviet tactic. These

2004-09-03T22:14:00.000-05:00

Islamic Extremism? The siege of a school here in southern Russia ended today in panic, violence and death 52 hours after it began. At least 200 people — most of them students, teachers and parents — died, according to official reports and witnesses, after two large explosions sparked pitched battles between the heavily armed hostage-takers and Russian forces. A lot of people are saying this

2004-08-29T22:15:00.000-05:00

I'd like to make a strong pitch for this effort: AlterNet has launched a national legal challenge against the Fox News Network. We are suing to cancel its trademark ("Fair and Balanced") on the grounds that it is misleading, deceptive, and "notoriously mis-descriptive." Go ahead, give $10. It's worth it. A Gathering of Dangerous Extremists Cannot Pass Unopposed: Tens of thousands of

2004-08-27T18:12:00.000-05:00

Have Republicans EVER served in the military? It doesn't look like it, if you read this. Congratulations, John Ashcroft! You have the highest score! SIX student deferments and ONE MORE occupational deferment, which you earned by teaching LAW, of all things (especially all things vital to national security in a time of war - this one is at least as important as building guns). You are the

2004-08-24T19:12:00.000-05:00

A lot of shit circulates about some supposedly liberal media which controls debate in this country. Most of the people who report this are part of a large and loud group of conservative media organizations which have neither standards of any kind nor any regard for the truth: Last Thursday, the Washington Post reported that the military records of Larry Thurlow, one of John Kerry's major

2004-08-18T19:40:00.000-05:00

Shouldn't it be obvious that Jesus doesn't vote a straight Republican ticket? He'd have to be ignoring almost everything he taught: Just a few miles from George W. Bush's former office at the state Capitol, a panel of religious experts weighed a question with relevance to many people of faith: How would Jesus vote? Would the "Prince of Peace" have voted for war in Iraq? Think about that

2004-08-16T22:02:00.000-05:00

This administration has been politicizing science for four years, and now it threatens your health: The Data Quality Act -- written by an industry lobbyist and slipped into a giant appropriations bill in 2000 without congressional discussion or debate -- is just two sentences directing the OMB to ensure that all information disseminated by the federal government is reliable. But the Bush

2004-08-14T18:41:00.000-05:00

This is so dangerously stupid: A once-quiet campaign by several top Republicans to abolish the IRS and replace the federal income tax with a European-style national sales tax has burst into the open, leading President Bush to withhold his blessing of the controversial proposal. Yet the plan has strong backing within the GOP hierarchy, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, who has

2004-08-03T19:54:00.000-05:00

Walmart is no good. Don't shop there. Inadequate wages and benefits force workers at Wal-Mart stores in California to seek $86 million a year in state aid, according to a report released Monday by the UC Berkeley Labor Center. ... In their report, Berkeley researchers Arindrajit Dube and Ken Jacobs contend that more than other retail workers, Wal-Mart employees rely on a variety of public-aid

2004-07-28T22:27:00.000-05:00

Good work in Afghanistan, George. It's a big success story for you: The international relief group Médecins Sans Frontières has announced it is pulling out of Afghanistan after 24 years because of security concerns and frustrations with the U.S. military. So... they could work there under the Soviets, but not under us? Nice. Yes I know a lot of this cannot be blamed on George personally.

2004-07-21T08:12:00.000-05:00

Totally, totally awesome: Drunken passengers often give air crews trouble, but Russia's leading airline on Tuesday reported an "unprecedented" reversal: A passenger was assaulted by intoxicated flight attendants. Two crew members on a domestic Aeroflot flight beat up a passenger who had complained that the flight attendants were drunk, airline spokeswoman Irina Dannenberg said.

2004-07-14T13:25:00.000-05:00

Wow. This is third-world dictator shit: U.S. counterterrorism officials are looking at an emergency proposal on the legal steps needed to postpone the presidential election in case of such an attack, Newsweek reported on Sunday. Are you joking? Postpone the election? That's the classic way proto-dictators become real dictators! "In the interests of 'public safety' we will suspend the

2004-07-14T12:59:00.000-05:00

Keeping us afraid so we'll vote for the incumbent: U.S. government terror warnings to local police and citizens fail to give the specific information many authorities say is needed to protect the public, a report made for Congress said Monday. ... The report by the Government Accountability Office, the independent, nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, was based on survey of 28 agencies and

2004-06-18T12:43:00.000-05:00

Bald-faced Lies from the White House: President Bush insisted Thursday that Saddam Hussein had "terrorist connections" to Al Qaeda — despite a finding by the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks that there was no credible evidence of cooperation between the ousted Iraqi dictator and the global terrorist network. Cheney said "the one thing we have" indicating Iraqi support for the

2004-06-16T12:22:00.000-05:00

Someone should let Dick Cheney know: Bluntly contradicting the Bush administration, the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks reported Wednesday there was "no credible evidence" that Saddam Hussein helped Al Qaeda target the United States. "On Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney said in a speech that the Iraqi dictator "had long established ties with Al Qaeda."" Now that's just a

2004-06-10T23:22:00.000-05:00

Many of you may have heard that there is a new draft on the way. According to this rumor, bills have been proposed in the House and in the Senate to reinstate the draft, provide no exemptions for those in universities, etc. Well, these rumors are basically false, at least in the form they have been circulating over the past year or so. First, the Senate bill, S. 89: It was proposed by Sen.

2004-06-10T15:57:00.000-05:00

Since the last time I posted, the most notable event has been the death of Ronald Reagan. What was his real legacy? 1. Fiction has its place -- especially at the time of one's passing. And so, the American airwaves glisten these days with tales about how it was Ronald Reagan who engineered the defeat of communism and the end of the Cold War. 2. PRESIDENT Bush proclaimed: "Ronald Reagan

2004-05-27T21:54:00.000-05:00

A Principled Republican: [Armed Services Committee Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.)] says his committee has a "solemn responsibility" to discover what went wrong [in the prisons in Iraq] and to "make sure it never, never happens again." But we should not be surprised to hear this: "I think he should stop the hearings at this point; we've heard enough," said Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), a

2004-05-26T23:53:00.000-05:00

Special Update on Ahmed Chalabi, the war, the New York Times, and the Administration! "Either Chalabi perpetrated the greatest con since the Trojan horse or he was the agent of influence for the most successful intelligence operation conducted by Iran, or both." (from the second of these two articles) I found two articles in Salon which are just great. You need to watch this silly ad from GE

2004-05-26T22:36:00.000-05:00

How could we possibly look like bigger idiots? An urgent investigation has been launched in Washington into whether Iran played a role in manipulating the US into the Iraq war by passing on bogus intelligence through Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, it emerged yesterday. Just imagine that. We have no idea whether this is really what happened, but think about it. Our administration

2004-05-24T20:20:00.000-05:00

A Major New Policy Speech from George! Highlights: "The rise of a free and self-governing Iraq would deny terrorists a base of operation, discredit their narrow ideology and give momentum to reformers across the region," he said in a speech at the Army War College in Pennsylvania. "This would be a decisive blow to terrorism at the heart of its power, and a victory for the security of America

2004-05-24T17:48:00.000-05:00

2004-05-22T23:39:00.000-05:00

American POWs in Vietnam vs. Iraqi POWs in Abu Ghraib: IN OCTOBER 1965, combat pilot Fred Cherry was shot down over North Vietnam, taken to a village, and told to disclose his bombing target. Instead, the American withdrew his Geneva Convention identification card, outlining his rights as a prisoner. "Forget about it," the interrogator said, ripping it up. "You're a criminal." As the first

2004-05-20T16:07:00.000-05:00

Yet again, The Onion sadly anticipates the news before it happens From The Onion: In a response to recent acts of extreme violence against Americans in Iraq and mounting criticism of U.S. military policy at home, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced the government's new strategy of fighting terror with terror Monday. "Look, in order to catch a rat, you gotta think like one," Rumsfeld

2004-05-18T22:40:00.000-05:00

You guys have no goddamn shame. How the hell do you liars live with yourselves? Like many of its predecessors, the Bush White House has used the machinery of government to promote the re-election of the president by awarding federal grants to strategically important states. But in a twist this election season, many administration officials are taking credit for spreading largess through

2004-05-18T17:16:00.000-05:00

The Battle Plan of the Enemies of Justice: "The documents being issued all across Massachusetts may say 'marriage license' at the top but they are really death certificates for the institution of marriage," said James Dobson, founder of the conservative Christian lobbying group Focus on the Family. And just in case you were wondering about these people who are ruining this really important

2004-05-16T21:08:00.000-05:00

Good work, Alberto Gonzales: The Iraq prisoner abuse scandal shifted Sunday to the question of whether the Bush administration set up a legal foundation that opened the door for the mistreatment. Within months of the Sept. 11 attacks, White House counsel Alberto Gonzales reportedly wrote President Bush a memo about the terrorism fight and prisoners' rights under the Geneva Conventions. "In my

2004-05-12T17:16:00.000-05:00

Alright. I think it's bad enough that Ralph Nader is running for the Presidency AGAIN, but apparently his party is completely deluded: In a statement, [Reform Party Chairman] O'Hara said: "Ralph Nader has stood up for the rights of American citizens his entire life. He is a man of peace, and with the help of every citizen who did not vote in the primaries, he can win the November presidential

2004-05-11T22:34:00.001-05:00

This is how we win hearts and minds. It worked in Vietnam, and no doubt all of Iraq will love us soon enough: A Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee dismissed Tuesday the outrage over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops, saying Iraqis depicted in widely broadcast photographs probably had "blood on their hands." ... "I'm probably not the only one up at this table

2004-05-11T22:34:00.000-05:00

2004-05-10T20:58:00.002-05:00

Good news!!!! President Bush holds a single-point lead over Democratic challenger John Kerry in the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll of likely voters, but voters' approval of Bush's performance and support for the war in Iraq dropped to new lows in the survey. With nearly six months remaining before the November election, Bush led Kerry 48 percent to 47 percent in the survey -- a reversal of a

2004-05-10T20:58:00.001-05:00

2004-05-10T20:58:00.000-05:00

2004-05-10T13:38:00.000-05:00

Of course they are totally incompetent! You'd have to be blind not to see that! After three years of sweeping actions in both foreign and domestic affairs, the Bush administration is facing complaints from the conservative intelligentsia that it has lost its ability to produce fresh policies. The centerpiece of President Bush's foreign policy -- the effort to transform Iraq into a peaceful

2004-04-29T20:02:00.000-05:00

Always our most perceptive news source: Truly, the bottom line weighed heavy on our hearts and minds. Predicting what happened on Sept. 11 would have necessitated the hiring of numerous new employees—many of them highly paid specialists in such esoteric fields as Islamic history and Middle Eastern languages. Was this the right way to handle this? The session with the 10 members of the

2004-04-27T23:25:00.000-05:00

Now this could truly be revolutionary. We could finally stop the class-based funding of our public schools and give the poor a chance! Massachusetts is shortchanging children in its poorest school systems and should overhaul the way it finances public schools, a judge ruled yesterday. The judge's decision, the latest chapter in the 26-year battle over school funding in Massachusetts, could

2004-04-25T22:31:00.000-05:00

Ignorance and Political Preference: The poll also showed a correlation between people's ignorance and their political affiliation. Among those who believed WMD had been found in Iraq, 72 per cent said they would vote to re-elect Mr Bush in November and 23 per cent said they supported his Democratic challenger, John Kerry. Among those who knew that no WMD had been found,74 per cent supported Mr

2004-04-23T17:23:00.000-05:00

The Soviets tried to hide it from the Russian people in Afghanistan, and the Bushiets (sorry for that) want to hide it from the Americans, but here are pictures of the dead returning home from Iraq: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/23/national/23PHOT.html And from the NY Times: "Among the national television news organizations, only the Fox News Channel had no plans to use any of the photos or

2004-04-21T22:48:00.000-05:00

Protect the right, or lose it: For the first time in 12 years, a coalition of abortion rights advocates will hold what they hope will be a major march in Washington on Sunday, trying to return the issue to the forefront of American politics — and to highlight what they contend is the Bush administration's extremism... [Bush] embraced a platform four years ago that calls for an outright ban on

2004-04-18T17:32:00.000-05:00

The Soviets didn't like doing this either. There are too many parallels to note, but this is an important one: The U.S. military in Iraq doesn’t like numbers, or at least it doesn’t like to add them up. Soldiers killed in Iraq are announced, incident by incident, in terse press releases that give the scantest of details....In addition to the minimalist announcements, the military avoids keeping

2004-04-16T20:58:00.000-05:00

Funny headline from the Boston Globe: They are here. Yankees in our midst. Wearing road grays with ``New York'' splashed across the chest, the highly paid All-Star cast from the Evil Empire will take the field tonight at Fenway Park. And something much less funny: Governor Mitt Romney yesterday asked the Legislature for special authority to seek a stay of the Supreme Judicial Court’s

2004-04-12T23:43:00.000-05:00

This is so childish: Kerry, his foes complain, might as well be French. "The French believe John Kerry has `a certain elegance,' " sneers a contributor to the FreeRepublic.com website, over unflattering pictures of the Massachusetts senator playing ping-pong, catching a football, and throwing a baseball. "Of course, the French also think Jerry Lewis is a comic genius. Think about it," the

2004-04-12T00:25:00.000-05:00

It's really important that you read this article. I don't care if you're a Republican, Democrat, atheist or agnostic. This was clearly criminal behavior: Let's go back to Sept. 13, 2001, and look at several scenes that were taking place simultaneously. Three thousand people had just been killed. The toxic rubble of the World Trade Center was still ablaze. American airspace was locked down. Not

2004-04-10T11:39:00.000-05:00

In case you are one of those people who does not believe that Jesus died and then came back, you should read this, which will surely convince you. There is still time to repent! DEAR DR. [BILLY] GRAHAM: I'd like to be a Christian, but I have a hard time believing that Jesus rose from the dead. You see, I'm an intensive care nurse, and I know that once a person dies, that's the end. Maybe you

2004-04-07T22:36:00.000-05:00

In case you've been following and for some reason believing the things reported in the ridiculous smear campaign against the UN and the Oil-for-Food Program that's been launched by some conservative publications: Between 1996 and the end of the program in 2003, every contract for every humanitarian purchase had to be unanimously approved by the 15 members of the Security Council, including

2004-04-03T10:09:00.000-06:00

The first paragraph is funny: Representative Patrick J. Toomey, Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, has been ripping his opponent for being a "Ted Kennedy" liberal, too fond of taxes and spending, too close to activist judges and trial lawyers, too supportive of abortion rights and the United Nations. And his opponent is Arlen Specter, a well known liberal.... yes.... What a clown

2004-03-29T18:41:00.000-06:00

Secrets and lies: National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, at the center of a controversy over her refusal to testify before the Sept. 11 commission, yesterday renewed her determination not to give public testimony and said she could not list anything she wished she had done differently in the months before the 2001 terrorist attacks. Fortunately Ms Rice it's not up to you to decide whether

2004-03-11T17:30:00.000-06:00

Please read this, and cease doubting that the evidence for war was deliberately and consciously exaggerated and distorted: From May 2002 until February 2003, I observed firsthand the formation of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans and watched the latter stages of the neoconservative capture of the policy-intelligence nexus in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. This seizure of the reins of

2004-03-10T23:07:00.000-06:00

SWEET!! First a computer hacker, now an eco-terrorist! FBI agents arrested a 23-year-old Caltech graduate student Tuesday and charged him in connection with a brazen string of environmentally motivated attacks last summer that caused more than $3.5 million in damage to four auto dealerships in the San Gabriel Valley. ... Last August's early morning fire bombings, carried out in less than three

2004-03-10T18:04:00.000-06:00

Good news!! Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who will turn 80 this year, acknowledges that he is thinking about retirement. But he will not say when that might come. "At age 79, you can't help but think about retirement," he told NBC's "Today" show in an interview airing today. "Your life expectancy isn't what it once was. And you've got to think about the possibility of retirement." More

2004-03-09T16:47:00.000-06:00

You should be very sad that this woman is also an American citizen: A Georgia woman who tried to use a fake $1 million bill to buy $1,675 worth of merchandise at Wal-Mart was arrested, and police later found two more of the bills in her purse. Ha ha ha: Global hamburger giant McDonald's latest line in healthy looking salads may contain more fat than its hamburgers, according to the company's

2004-03-07T19:06:00.000-06:00

Oh my god. The least responsible contribution to any kind of political debate in this country in a long time: Leaders of 85 percent of the nation's mosques are involved in terrorist activities, and some have made irresponsible statements about the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, said Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican. Even I don't believe he represents the views of his party.

2004-03-05T13:59:00.000-06:00

Who do these people think they are? For 18 months, at least two Republican Senate staff aides engaged in unauthorized and possibly illegal spying by reading Democratic strategy memorandums on a Senate computer system, according to a report released on Thursday by the Senate sergeant-at-arms. ... [One of the dudes who did the stealing] said that it was fundamentally wrong to consider the

2004-03-04T10:57:00.000-06:00

Why would we ask for such an exception? Because we are jerks! The United States is seeking to make more American farmers and industries exempt from an international ban on methyl bromide, a popular pesticide that damages Earth's protective ozone layer, Bush administration officials said yesterday. Apparently we need this chemical to protect our valuable golf-course maintenance industry!

2004-03-03T15:29:00.000-06:00

Yeah. I will now put up quotes occasionally. This is definitely an idea copied from Richard Li: Dickee Li (to Willie Jackson): "If you don't come [to dinner tonight], I won't suck the cream cheese out of your brownie." Also, the GSB message boards have obscenity filters, and they change "Dick Li" to "Thingy Li." You should all make the same change when interacting with Mr. Li henceforth.

2004-03-03T10:52:00.000-06:00

E-fucking-xactly: Long before President Bush's call for a "constitutional amendment protecting marriage," Representative Seaborn Roddenberry of Georgia proposed an amendment that he said would uphold the sanctity of marriage. Mr. Roddenberry's proposed amendment, in December 1912, stated, "Intermarriage between Negroes or persons of color and Caucasians . . . is forever prohibited." He took

2004-03-01T18:21:00.000-06:00

I'm really glad this happened: The number 666, which many Christians recognize as the "mark of the beast," is appearing on movie tickets for Gibson's film at a Georgia theater, drawing complaints from some moviegoers. Because it should be ample evidence to all who believe in miracles that god thinks that movie sucks. And in case you're not convinced by only one miracle: Actor Jim Caviezel,

2004-02-29T17:35:00.000-06:00

Don't let those science-distorting idiots derail important research: Harvard University will soon launch a multimillion-dollar center to grow and study human embryonic stem cells, in what could be the largest American effort yet to circumvent the Bush administration's tight restrictions on the controversial research. And more on the abuse of science (or perhaps the non-use of science) in the

2004-02-27T14:55:00.000-06:00

And that bastion of liberalism, the Economist, has this to say about GW: SO AT last it is official: George Bush is in favour of unequal rights, big-government intrusiveness and federal power rather than devolution to the states. That is the implication of his announcement this week that he will support efforts to pass a constitutional amendment in America banning gay marriage. Some have sought

2004-02-26T20:45:00.000-06:00

Yes, this is certainly the best way to create well educated human beings. Thank you, George W. How do all your plans end up being stupid? Here are some of the things kids at Garfield/Franklin elementary in Muscatine, Iowa, no longer do: eagle watch on the Mississippi River, go on field trips to the University of Iowa's Museum of Natural History and have two daily recesses. A sensible bargain

2004-02-26T18:05:00.000-06:00

Some hope for 30 - 40 million of us: Scientists have discovered that monkey cells have innate protection against infection with the human AIDS virus, a clue that may help explain why some people are susceptible to certain viral infections while others are not. "Stock in John Kerry (NYSE: JFK2) fell more than 75% today, to $3.50 a share, when the candidate made the following unfortunatey

2004-02-24T17:03:00.000-06:00

So previously, I said the Onion had anticipated real news when the pope went ahead and blessed some breakdancers, but now, they're just reporting something which actually did happen: Onion Story (Feb 24 2004): Thai Premier Eats Entire Bucket Of Chicken To Calm Bird-Flu Fears BANGKOK—To allay concerns about the safety of Thai poultry following an outbreak of the H5N1 bird virus, Thai Prime

2004-02-24T10:49:00.000-06:00

"It reminds me of the heady days of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin when the world trembled at the sound of our rockets. Now they will tremble again..." -Hunt for Red October Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed his government in a live television broadcast. The surprise move comes weeks before a presidential election which Mr Putin is expected to win by a landslide. It reminds me of the

2004-02-23T19:46:00.000-06:00

Yeah, exactly: [Nader] has lectured and hectored for years in the subject of corporate accountability—how those big auto manufacturers needed to protect consumers from their deathtraps, for example. This is the guy who has made his career demanding that everyone else be accountable. But like most politicians based in Washington, D.C., he’s succumbed to the disease he went there to fight. He

2004-02-23T18:36:00.000-06:00

Maybe you think this sounds silly, but it makes a perfectly good point: Years later, Roy and Silo [two male penguins] are still going strong. And so are all their heterosexual penguin pals who share the tank with them. So that dispels one myth about gay marriage: Roy and Silo's commitment to each other has not destroyed the sanctity of the other penguin marriages. [duh!] Gramzay said the penguin

2004-02-23T13:39:00.000-06:00

Really, I do like third parties and I think we need one, but this guy is just deluded: A day after he agitated the Democratic Party by announcing his independent candidacy for the presidency, Ralph Nader had this message today for liberals: "Relax and rejoice." How about you start your third-party alternative small, maybe with some victories for the House and Senate first, and THEN try for the

2004-02-22T10:20:00.000-06:00

DAMN YOU RALPH NADER!! What the hell are you thinking? Sure the Democrats and Republicans are similar IN SOME RESPECTS, but they are really importantly fucking different in most others! Consumer advocate Ralph Nader announced Sunday he will run again for the presidency, declaring that Washington has become "corporate occupied territory" and arguing there is too little difference between the