Well, if that's all you were looking for...
posted by Vynce at 3:27 PM

My vote for Quote of the Day (cribbed from the Guardian Unlimited):

Thanks for the chance to get out of Washington.

-- President Bush, in an address earlier in the day as Washington awaited the indictment, to members of the military in Norfolk, Va.

Well, heck, Georgie! If that's all it takes, I'm more than pleased to invite you to my house. I'll even let you have my bed, and I'll take the couch. Go ahead, take off your coat and stay for three years. Seriously. It's a great chance to get out of Washington.

Breaking a boycott
posted by Rick at 8:12 AM

What's the answer when the Christianist brownshirts of the Bush League boycott a business for supporting a nonprofit "dedicated to inspiring all girls to be strong, smart, and bold"? Make sure it backfires. Buy your daughter an American Girl doll or donate directly to Girls, Inc.

Bush on democracy: hypocrisy, thy name is George
posted by Rick at 12:59 AM

How George W. Bush dares lecture anyone on democracy is a mystery. That he manages to say the things he says without being struck dead by lightning on the spot is a potent argument against the existence of any just deity.

"After all, the purpose of a democracy is to make sure everybody is -- participates in the process," says the man who became president through vote fraud and suppression in Florida and remained president through vote suppression in Ohio.

"Democracies are peaceful countries," says the war criminal who initiated and continues to wage a war of aggression in Iraq.

"We believe, and the Iraqis believe, the best way forward is through the democratic process. Al Qaeda wants to use their violent ways to stop the march of democracy because democracy is the exact opposite of what they believe is right," says the leader of the party that is trying its damnedest to ensure one-party rule for the foreseeable future in America.

Truth be told, democracy is the opposite of what the Bush League wants for America and the world. Bush is doing all he can get away with to implement a nightmare blend of theocracy and fascism.

Quote Of the Day
posted by Rick at 12:38 AM

I was going to point out the "bush league" reference from the Bush League source, but I see Vynce beat me to it. Instead, I'll offer this as my Quote Of the Day:

Do I believe that Miller can't remember who told her "Valerie Flame's" name? A child wouldn't believe it. The more clever of my two basset hounds would be suspicious.

Gene Lyons
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Melange
posted by Vynce at 8:13 PM

Rice sums up the problem with Bush:

I don't think the president ever takes any of his options off the table concerning anything to do with military force

No, he doesn't, does he? She specifically doesn't rule out our occupation lasting another decade, or expanding our empire to include Iran and Syria. Of course, I don't think we will be in all three countries for the next ten years, but that's mostly because I expect the Democrats to do a little winning over the next 37 months.

---

Meanwhile, Bill O'Reilly is complaining that people don't like him.

I don't need the approval of the press, but I just wish they'd stop the viciousness. It's reached a level of almost comical proportions and it does affect people around me and they do get upset.

On the other hand, Bill, you are professionally hateful; perhaps turnabout is fair play.

---

This quote from a "well-placed source" basically needs no introduction:

Bush did not feel misled so much by Karl and others as believing that they handled it in a ham-handed and bush-league way

---

And in better news, did anyone notice that the US is leading the world again? Germany, Liberia, and New Zealand all took our lead in not making up their minds; Iraq seems to have followed Afghanistan into Election Fraud. (What else do these two nations have in common?)

Well, you know what they say about Immitation and Flattery. . .

But I believe flattering a bully is just called testimony under duress.

---

Finally, there's a warrant out for DeLay's arrest. So the news isn't all bad.

Manufacturing consent by reselling terror
posted by Rick at 8:01 AM

The Ostroy Report has a summary of a Keith Olbermann piece showing the alarming correlation between bad political news for the Bush administration and subsequent terror alerts.

As Olbermann points out, there is a danger here of a logical fallacy called post hoc, ergo propter hoc: just because one event follows another doesn't mean there's a causal relationship. However, we should also be mindful of Occam's Razor: given a sizable set of facts, the simplest theory that explains them all tends to be the most likely.

You don't suppose these people would manipulate the fear of terror for political gain, do you?

Yeah, me too.

The good news is that it appears not to be working so well anymore. In fact, Bush's approval rating has dipped to an all-time low. The bad news is that this is such bad news for Bush, they're likely to try to terrify us again. In fact, I'm declaring a terror alert alert right now. I'd say conditions are such that the terror alert risk level stands at Orange. It's highly likely that within the next few days, the administration will announce some new threat to our republicans - er, aherm, republic - to take our minds off of their incompetence and corruption.

And if that doesn't work, they may resort to more desperate measures.

Stop calling it the Patriot Act
posted by Rick at 8:11 AM

The word is that Harriet Miers was on the team that drafted the constitutional abomination that is commonly referred to as the Patriot Act. That fact alone should be sufficient to disqualify her from ever ruling on constitutional law, but that's not the reason I've climbed up on my soapbox this morning.

The official name of the law in question is "The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001," a mosntrosity that was invented for the sake of its acronym, USAPATRIOT. The corporate and independent media alike have acquiesced in using this term, although the latter sometimes puts "so-called" in front of it - as if that absolves them of complicity in the insertion of the "Patriot Act" meme in the American mindset.

We have to do better. We have allowed the right to define the language of the discourse for too long. They foisted "partial birth abortion," "war on terror," and "death tax" on us, to name a ferw. The point is, it's not enough to put "so-called" in front of their term and then continue to use it. We need to use other language that is more expressive of the reality.

For example, the aforementioned giveaway of power to the executive branch would be better referred to buy its true purpose, which was Protecting Authoritarian Rulers Against Needed Oversight by Intelligent Americans - so call it the PARANOIA Act.

And the estate tax is, as has been pointed out, not a tax on death, but a tax on the passing of (extreme) wealth. It is a check on the total passing of riches - including untaxed capital gains - from generation to gentrified generation as the royalty of Old Europe did for centuries before our country was founded. So call it what it is, a ROYALTY (Riches and Opulence Your Ancestors Left To You) tax. When they speak of the "Clear Skies Initiative," we have to correct the inherent lie. Call it the Pollution Permission Project. The "Healthy Forest Act" is really the Wealthy Foresters Act. And so on.

You can't win the argument by adopting the other side's distorted terminology.

Unacceptable
posted by Vynce at 9:34 PM

Inidiana republicans want more control over who gets help having babies. Under the law they're drafting, you must have a certificate; the scariest qualification is that you must be married. It's not quite the monstrosity it could be, but this law is overstepping the bounds of government's role in private lives and bedrooms. I understand what they're trying to do; however, this road is paved with good intentions. It's not far from here to deciding who gets to have babies at all. And the questions of what exactly constitutes Unauthorized reproduction seem to me full of loopholes.

To my mind, it's unacceptable.

Note: This post was rewritten when I read enough of the law to realize it was not exactly the scary monster I thought it was.

A Crisis of Faith
posted by Vynce at 6:29 PM

A graphic from CNN gives a little context to the rising number of american dead in the Iraqi war. The total (1941 to date according to Anti War, 1942 elsewhere on CNN) hopped up by another 5 so far this week. It is nearing the raw numbers for the Spanish-American War and the War of 1812. Admittedly, there were fewer Americans total then -- but I'd argue there are no more to spare now. America has work to do. Is this war as necessary, as important to who we are as those were?

Based on past trends, it will likely be over 2,000 by the end of the year. The cost of the war in dollars (displayed conveniently on this page) will also pass such a landmark soon -- $200,000,000,000. But of course, the sum cost is impossible to calculate. The damage to the environment, the trauma and heartache for the survivors, the cost of having our emergency services and home guard spread out over the globe during national emergencies are only a portion of the unseen. What about the reputation of our nation in the rest of the world? Tourist dollars, favorable trading, general love and respect? What about the opinions and attitudes of those we are trying to convince? Iraq has become, as Bush always claimed it was, the central battleground for the war between the terrors. But could it not be that by fighting fire with fire we are only going to burn down the house? We are costing ourselves the minds of the next generation. The resolve of those opposed to the Great Satan only grows stronger as we demonstrate our monstrosity; simultaneously, the resolve of many fine young americans to be fine young Americans, dedicated to freedom and liberty and justice for all, under god or not, is wavering. Yes, sales of Flag Decals are up. That doesn't matter.

That is the real cost. America becomes less American with every extension of police powers, every executive order granting a temporary relief from the liberties we fight to uphold. With every crony placed in a position of power for no reason other than to secure safety for those who sell off our rights to the highest bidder, or give them away in no-bid contracts, we become the Great Satan. When we force children to swear to a G-d they do not believe, or impose religious ideas of marriage, family, sexual mores, and health practices, we become the oppressive sort of society we claim to oppose — a society lacking in freedom and human rights because those in power choose not to exercise those rights and think they should be taken away from any who would. We support, officially, a model of democracy abroad that does not meet with international standards. We implement, at home, a model of democracy that discriminates against those to whom democracy is supposed to be the biggest boon. We were supposed to be America, the leader of the free world. But it has become a case of the blind leading the visually impaired.

Australia's democracy is more fair than ours. Britain's is more representative. The Netherlands' grants more rights to more people. Who are we? Who have we become? And who do we want to be?

We must overcome this crisis of faith, not by blind conviction, but by soul-searching meditation. Turn your eyes inward, young America, and decide what you want to be for the next century. I hope you find that you are still dedicated to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, in equal portions and for all. A policy of non-interference in matters of opinion and aesthetics, and a policy of taking the high road to battle real evil and win. A decision to re-examine your idea of democracy without throwing out the firm foundations of our system, which though not perfect is a solid start. A position of having a government which represents the people who by choice or by chance fall under its umbrella, so that it can govern with the clear consent and full support of the governed. A belief that people should be accountable for what they do in the guise of mobs, corporations, or governments. I hope you realize you must make a stand to prevent our current government from walking backwards through history into tyranny and empire; that like Alice we must work as hard as we can just to keep from falling behind. Decide how to be America.

Then do that.

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PS, sorry for the general lack of links. This one just comes from me for now. I might add some more links later.

Quote of the day
posted by Rick at 11:07 AM

"I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could, if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down."

William Bennett, author of The Book Of Virtues and former Education Secretary under Ronald Reagan