Tuesday, December 27, 2005

it's a hard call

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong...


"The president is allowed to break a few rules now and then."
John Harwood of the Wall Street Journal on Hardball, 12-27-05



"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Oath of Office of the Presidency, Constitution of the United States

throw me a frickin' bone, here

Can anybody please explain to me in a way that is consistent and not self-contradictory why it is that the very people who are the most determined to meld christian superstition with the government of the United States are the same people who are determined that Iraq needs to be a secular democracy rather than a fundamentalist theocracy?

Please?

keep the blog, eliminate the author

"Intelligent Design" proponent William Dembski is shutting down his blog. Don't worry, he will continue blathering his non-scientific nonsense elsewhere, he just needs more time to do serious work in his chosen field of pseudo-scientific christian evangelism through misinformation. Of course, he still insists it's all on the up and up, but his ads tell all the truth you need to know. Since it is his own personal blog, he is free to accept or refuse material that is inconsistent with his position, and he has clearly chosen to accept these ads.

The most prominent ad on his blog, for a shirt manufacturer, shows a photo of a galaxy with the caption "Intelligent Design - Mind Preceded Matter."


Yep, that's science, all right.

Monday, December 26, 2005

the gloves need to come off

It's time has long been tradition in the United States that former presidents keep their counsel and do not speak publicly of their opinions of the jobs their successors are doing. That is a good policy under normal circumstances.

We are no longer in normal circumstances. Today, the government of the United States, under the direction of our president, George W. Bush, is seeing fit to undermine the very principles of freedom and rule of law upon which this nation was founded.

The president has proudly and combatively defended his unprecedented violations of the Bill of Rights, the country is now involved in an illegal occupation of a sovereign nation, American citizens are being held without warrant and with no recourses to courts, people are being tortured and killed around the globe, all in the name of freedom. Few seem to grasp the irony, and those who do are marginalized as kooks and tin-foil hat wearers.

It is time for President Bill Clinton and President Jimmy Carter to step forward and publicly speak out on the atrocities of which their successor is guilty. They don't have to say much, and they only have to say it once, but it is time for them to go on record and do what they are STILL sworn to do, to defend the Constitution of the United States.

Please, sirs, speak up. We need you, and we need you now.

Friday, December 23, 2005

opposite day - er, uh, year

"This has been a year of strong progress toward a freer, more peaceful world and a prosperous America. It's been a good year for the American people."
- George W. Bush, 12-22-05



What fucking planet does this man live on?

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

dueling roundheads

After the last couple of days of bullshit from our government officials, I have finally decided that the two chief political parties in this country need to change their mascots in order to choose new, more accurate representations of who they are personally and politically.

The Democrats need to adopt Charlie Brown as their mascot and lose the donkey. Charlie Brown is well-meaning and good-hearted and always willing to try to kick that football, but he lacks the guts to do much, if anything, about the stupidity and mendacity he sees around him.

The Republicans need to adopt Eric Cartman as their mascot and get rid of the elephant. Cartman is vile and self-serving, has no integrity and no ideals, and he is willing to use any tactics to achieve his own goals. The concepts of honesty and fair play and the needs of others mean nothing to him if anything stands between him and his desires.


Cartoons to represent our political system. Unflattering, but appropriate.

Happy Solstice

Rejoice! From today on for the next six months, the days will once again be getting longer. We are heading back to the living!

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

here's what

What's the matter with Kansas?

Pat Roberts, for one thing. He has now accused Jay Rockefeller of releasing his letter notifying Dick Cheney of his grave concerns about spying on American citizens without authorization of the courts as being "politically" motivated, saying that Rockefeller has supported the program up until now. First of all, Roberts offers only his word as evidence that Rockefeller supported this illegal spying as recently as a few weeks ago, and his word has been demonstrated time after time to not be reliable. More importantly, Roberts' scenario would mean that Rockefeller wrote this incredibly explosive letter after somehow seeing that in the future it could be politically useful and also went to the trouble of keeping a sealed copy on file for over two years with the sole intent of using it as a political chip at a much later date.

Idiots like that run things in Kansas. That's what's the matter with Kansas.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

imagine

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Sunday, December 04, 2005

it's about time

It's been impossible to get away from the "Al-Quaeda #3 man killed" that has been the headline for the last couple of days. Apparently Al-Quaeda has finally run out of #2 men. They sure had a lot of them, didn't they? It will be interesting to see how many #3 men they have left now.