Saturday, April 26, 2003

Outrage

mmmmm.....ammonia tastes good....

CHICAGO (AP) - State documents show Illinois education officials failed to notify schools that some food shipped to them had been contaminated with ammonia, even though some cafeteria managers had complained for a year, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Dozens of children were sickened.

The food was contaminated when a ruptured pipe leaked 90 pounds of ammonia refrigerant at Gateway Cold Storage in St. Louis on Nov. 18, 2001.

State education officials have said they assumed a plan to treat the food had worked, but documents showed the state Board of Education knew in early 2002 that ammonia-laden food was still showing up in schools, the Tribune reports in Sunday editions.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector was present around the time of the leak but the agency did not notify schools or other agencies, and the department later allowed food to be shipped out of the Gateway warehouse despite a quarantine, the newspaper said.

Nearly a year after the leak, 42 children at Laraway Elementary School in Joliet were rushed to a hospital after eating chicken tenders from the warehouse that state health officials said contained up to 133 times the accepted level of ammonia.

The Constitution

I was perusing the Bill of Rights earlier and I came across #7:


In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

So, I was curious about a couple of things. Is this $20 limit still observed? And, either way, what would a strict constructionist say about this? A textualist? An originalist? Or, whatever. Is it the real or nominal $20? What's the real value of late 18th century $20? Did they think about inflation when they wrote this? If not, why not?

Oh Brad, I think this is one for you on the economic history side. And, maybe constitutional scholar Ann Coulter can help us with the law side.



Stupid Wingnuts

Ken Adelman blamed Toronto's SARS problem on Canada's health care system.

GOP Gag Order

White House says "don't say a thing about Santorum!"

National and statewide Republican officials willing to comment are supporting U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., as he defends comments equating gay relationships with bestiality and with priests molesting teens.

...

Santorum's defenders are under a gag order. Officials at the White House and Republican National Committee told GOP insiders yesterday, by conference call, voice mail and e-mail not to comment about Santorum's comments, letting him speak for himself.



The Slippery Slope Goes Both Ways

Mostly because people love saying "pedophilia, incest, polygamy, and beastiality" in the same sentence as "homosexuality" every time they get a chance, the slippery slope consequences of a right to privacy are often disingenuously cited as arguments against it. However, even more powerful are the slippery slope arguments of there NOT being a right to privacy. That is if, despite the language in the 4th, 5th, 9th, and 14th amendments, the states DO have the power to regulate private consensual sexual behavior then slippery slope reasoning - given credence by Santorum's views - should scare us all. As Steady Eddie says in comments below:

Atrios, both Democrats and anyone interested in expanding personal liberty against the anti-Enlightenment forces of theocracy should be appreciative of what Santorum has done.

Politically, you and commenters have been talking about the benefits for days; this post hints at our basis for appreciating his little rant legally.

The difference you cited between the Texas case (Lawrence) and Bowers is critical. Bowers was decided on a straight (no pun intended) rejection of applying the right of privacy to homosexual conduct. While the Court could change its mind given the changes in both Court membership and the states' political changes in sodomy laws, it's far likelier to look at this as a violation of equal protection for gays, precisely because Texas' anti-sodomy law does not apply to the same practices between heterosexuals.

For the Court to not reject Lawrence as a violation of equal protection, it would indeed have to take Santorum's view, that sodomy is inherently bad. The slippery slope that Santorum's list of behavior that government should actively proscribe has laid out for the Court is surely going to be repugnant to at least O'Connor and Kennedy, and maybe even Thomas (though he may choose dishonestly to deny and repress his past affinity for Long Dong Silver).

In other words, Atrios, Santorum's statement has clarified that (a) and (b) are indissoluably connected. If you do not find Lawrence to be a violation of equal protection under (a), Santorum is saying that indeed you will get some substantial (b). What his little rant has done is make it impossible for at least O'Connor and Kennedy to pretend that (b) is an improbable, theoretical possibility.

Knowing how intensely political those two Justices are, they'll see that upholding Texas' law will do far more damage to Republicans, via an active fight on the extension and enforcement of anti-sodomy laws, than striking it down would be. The great thing about this case, and how Santorum has clarified the stakes in it, is that the Republicans can't get out without substantial damage in the latter case either, because the Christian theocrats are going to be pissed at the Supreme Court and the Republican libertarians who will be celebrating the decision.

It's Okay If You Are a Republican

Imagine the outcry if this was a Clinton administration official. Wait, did I say outcry? I meant to say imagine the $30 millliion investigation.

Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) criminal agents are being diverted from their normal investigative work to provide security and drivers for agency chief Christie Whitman — and getting long lists of do's and don'ts to keep her happy.

EPA agents assigned to investigate environmental crimes have at times been ordered to perform more personal tasks, such as returning a rental car for Whitman's husband after a trip or sitting at a table until the administrator arrived for a restaurant reservation, according to interviews with several EPA senior managers.

The lists of do's and don'ts instruct agents who chauffeur the EPA administrator to ensure they rent only a Lincoln Town Car, tune the radio to smooth jazz or classical music and set the volume low, and keep an eye out for a Starbucks coffee shop or Barnes & Noble book store.
...
With agents already designated for homeland security tasks, the regional offices sometimes are left without investigators for days at a time when Whitman is in town.


I need a drink.

Media Self-Censorship

Bob Harris, who is subbing for Tom Tomorrow, tells us a little story about the kind of thing which goes on all the time in the media - reporters suppress the truth to retain their access. Every single journalist out there working today knows it, and it's time they stop pretending otherwise.

Story time: I had the opportunity to cover the 2000 GOP convention when I was the morning guy on Working Assets' RadioForChange.com. Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) was the first Out homosexual ever to address a GOP convention. He wasn't talking about gay rights or civil liberties, of course -- he was actually discussing Free Trade with China -- but right in front of him, just below the stage, were several GOP activists, including a nice chunk of the Texas delegation, visibly and demonstratively praying for his Eternal Soul to release its wickedness.

Somehow the networks didn't manage to include that in their coverage.

The next morning, I interviewed the guy in person, live on the air. And just before we started, one of the GOP's media handlers let me know that for the purposes of the following discussion, Jim was not gay.

Here's the self-censorship thing you don't see in the media, and it happens all the time: right then, I had a choice: either push the issue, watch the interview end abruptly, guarantee I wouldn't have another GOP guest for the duration, and face down an hour of empty air time to fill... or just go along.

I decided to play along, and then tell the audience about the entire handling process right after the interview was over, and why I made that choice, which I figured would probably tell the listener more than they'd ever hear otherwise. I'm still not sure it was the right call, but there it is.


Santorum Again

You know, I really am a bit confused about some of Santorum's defenders. Leaving aside some associated issues, such as his view that priests raping 7 year olds can be accurately described as consensual homosexual relationships, which are actually even more disturbing than his feelings about homosexuality, here is a summary of the legal/political opinions Santorum made.

a) Sodomy isn't constitutionally protected, and therefore the Supreme Court cannot strike down state laws outlawing it. It is true that this was the gist of the Bowers v. Hardwick decision, and as such is the current state of affairs. (However, one reason the Supreme Court is revisiting this general issue is that the law in question in Texas does not outlaw sodomy outright, but same-sex sodomy).

b) Santorum has expressed his opinion that he would vote for and otherwise support efforts by states to criminalize behavior such as sodomy, adultery, etc.

Now, even if one wants to stake out a supposedly principled view of constitutional law and say that he has a point in a), I have little or no understanding why so many people aren't incensed about b). Sure, the Jeebofascists among us live to do nothing but control sex and women, but I have a hard time believing that there are that many Republicans who have never had sex outside of marriage and/or engaged in sodomy (yes, that includes oral sex boys and girls!) within marriage.

If you want to claim that Santorum is simply a theocrat and not a bigot - as if a religious belief cannot be bigoted regardless of what it is - feel free to nurse that little fantasy. But, Jeebus, I didn't know so many people were happy about politicians who want to tell them what they can and can't do with their bodies.

Weird.

CalPundit and Virginia Postrel have similar thoughts. As Virginia says:

The policy question is also the one to which Andrew Sullivan has primarily addressed his remarks. It's far more interesting--and, in my view, much easier--than the constitutional question. But it's the question conservative pundits mostly want to dodge.

Put a Fork In Him

Resolved: John Lott is a liar and a fraud, and anyone who promotes him as an honest objective researcher is a liar or a fool. This of course includes his current employer, the American Enterprise Institute, home to such other luminaries as Charles Murray and Dinesh D'Souza. This also includes our media who often provide "balance" by presenting research provided by this organization and are complicit in the promotion of their crap.

Hatch vs. Santorum

Orrin Hatch:
.
"I'm not here to justify polygamy," he said. "All I can say is, I know people in Hildale who are polygamists who are very fine people. You come and show me evidence of children being abused there and I'll get involved. Bring the evidence to me."
Hatch said he could not take unsubstantiated claims and enforce law, and he would not "sit here and judge anybody just because they live differently than me. There will be laws on the books, but these are very complicated issues," Hatch said.

Santorum:

You say, well, it's my individual freedom. Yes, but it destroys the basic unit of our society because it condones behavior that's antithetical to strong, healthy families. Whether it's polygamy, whether it's adultery, where it's sodomy, all of those things, are antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family.


And, here's an editorial in the Salt Lake Tribune:

I suppose the Republican party is a "big tent" after all.


Shame on Congressman Kolbe for having 'no comment' on Santorum. I don't think that a gay congressman is obligated to take a vocal stand on every gay issue, but Santorum has said that he should be in jail.



Football or Bush

Football wins!

Pfc. Patrick Miller is relaxing this weekend in seclusion with his wife and two children at their home in Park City.

Tired from travel and media attention, the former prisoner of war who grew up in Valley Center has only one scheduled appearance this weekend: today in Manhattan.

He will present the game ball to team captains at Kansas State University's annual spring football scrimmage. At halftime, Miller will be honored along with other military personnel and their families.

They include James and Cynthia Butler, parents of Sgt. Jacob Lee Butler, who was stationed at Fort Riley and killed during the conflict.

Miller chose the game over an invitation to meet President Bush today in Washington, D.C.

"It was the president or the game," said Mary Pickering, Miller's mother, "and the game won out."

Shorter John Derbyshire

Over at BusyBusyBusy.

Teach Me Enlighten Me

Wampum and Bean have posts up about the tendency to put the onus of educating "the rest of us" about feminism or racism on the victims of bigotry. Anyway, I know exactly what they're talking about and I think there's more to be written on this subject though I think I'll let the women and the people of color take care of that.*

*poor attempt at humor

Nice Going, Fred

The plot thickens on Leung and the GOP:

WASHINGTON, April 25 (UPI) -- Sens. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., called Friday for a Senate inquiry into the latest FBI espionage scandal as the implications of the penetration of the bureau by an alleged Chinese spy spread to the 1996 presidential election campaign finance investigation, United Press International has learned.

According to congressional sources, the two prominent senators have written to Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, asking for hearings on the growing crisis of espionage failures at the FBI.

...

-- Senate investigators in 1996 suspected Leung as being a conduit for secret Chinese government payments to the Republicans, but the committee, headed by former Tennessee Republican Sen. Fred Thompson, dropped the inquiry before a report could be written. "The money came out of Macao," said one former congressional investigator, and "was funneled through Taiwan."

...

Some Senate investigators suspect that Leung was the Republican opposite number to Chung. She is a major contributor to GOP candidates, including, indirectly through political action groups, the 2000 campaign of President George W. Bush.

I Love Libertarians

Especially Clayton Cramer and his enabler IP Ultrahack.

For more on the bigot cramer see Usenet post #1, Usenet Post #2, Usenet Post #3, Usenet Post #4.

methinks the lady doth protest too much.

Scary

Hard to believe that even Joan Walsh is writing a reasonable article about gay rights.

Friday, April 25, 2003

Newt Gingrich Bitch Slap

It's all been a bit weird. I'm shocked at just how many people have kicked him back into whatever hole he crawled out of.

James Baker.

Former Secretary of State James Baker, who has close ties to President Bush, blasted former House Speaker Newt Gingrich yesterday for trashing Secretary of State Powell's efforts before the Iraq war. Gingrich's comments "were totally inappropriate," Baker told the Daily News. "They came from someone with no foreign policy or national security experience, and who was in effect forced to resign."


Richard Armitage and Karl Rove.

Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage opined: "It's clear that Mr. Gingrich is off his meds and out of therapy."

Word is that the White House, in the person of counselor Karl Rove, also had a little chat with the former speaker after the Tuesday foray.


One wonders if he had been getting uppity in recent weeks so they decided to hand him a rope.

Secretary White Resigns

Hmm...

It Hurts Him to Say It

and it hurts me to do it, but Andy's still being mostly sensible about Santorum so I'll link to him.

One thing he brings up is Santorum's criticisms of JFK for separating his faith from his politics. This kind of thing drives me batty. It really wasn't that long ago when American catholics were indeed a second class minority, both due to their religion and the fact that they were part of more recent waves of immigration to the U.S. Catholic politicans were accused of being more loyal to the pope than to the constitution. Historically, catholics were some of the staunchest defenders of the wall between state and religion, and the harshest critics of things like religious involvement in public education, precisely because they did have minority status and weren't too thrilled with the prospect of being told how to worship by a bunch of Protestants.

Of course, Rick Santorum probably is one of those catholics who doesn't think too much of the Pope, so maybe he isn't too worried about the loyalty charge. Santorum supports the death penalty, supported the war in Iraq, belongs to a church which has ignored the Vatican II reforms, has praised Opus Dei, an order which forbids giving alms to the poor, and has criticized Catholic Charities for not being Catholic enough.

MSGOP Doing Just Fine

Love those ratings:

OLBERMANN - 0.5
SCARBOROUGH - 0.5
MSNBC 9 PM - 0.5


Actually, I like Olbermann most of the time, but I seem to remember Donahue pulling a 1.5

Oops.


Dems Debating in Confederate Landmark

As if you can spit in the South without hitting one. But, as Wyeth reminds us, Reagan, Bush, Baker, and Connally debated there in 1980.


OOPS, drudge got it wrong apparently. Never mind.

The People Need to Know

Given Santorum's views on privacy, it seems utterly consistent that the American people, especially his constituents, are entitled to know every detail about his sex life. The Rubber Nun has called to enquire about his oral sex habits.

General J.C. Christian Patriot Defends Santorum

Maybe he's right.

Torture Wolf

Wolf wants to know whether we should launch a pre-emptive strike on North Korea - something which would inevitably lead to war on the peninsula and the destruction of Seoul.

Banfield Admits Media is Crap

I guess she'll be looking for a new job soon.

Sex Advice From Santorum

Go give Santorum's office a call like this person did and ask them exactly which kinds of sexual behaviors are and aren't appropriate. Apparently oral sex between husband and wife isn't actually sodomy.

I honestly think Santorum has made these kinds of questions fair game. Reporters should be asking them. He's taken the personal and made it into a legal and political issue, and it's fair to ask him about it.

Who Wrote This?

"It is enough for a legislature to reasonably believe that commerce in the pursuit of orgasms by artificial means for their own sake is detrimental to the health and morality of the State."

click the link for the answer.

Signorile

Is having a great show today. One of the hilarious things is that since it's a satellite radio show, a disproportionate number of the listeners/callers are truckers - gay and straight. It provides a bit of a different perspective than you'd expect to hear on a show that would be expected to be more urbanite-oriented.

It's definitely one of the interesting things about satellite radio.

CNN Gets Pentagon Approval for War Pundits

This is absolutely incredible.

"I went to the Pentagon myself several times before the war started and met with important people there and said, for instance, at CNN, 'Here are the generals we're thinking of retaining to advise us on the air and offabout the war.' And we got a big thumbs-up on all of them. That was important."

-CNN's Eason Jordan on Howie's Suckfest.

Capozzola for Senate!

Check out Arlen Specter's comments on Trent Lott:

Asked if this episode might cause problems for Mr. Santorum in future elections, Mr. Specter responded with obvious concern. "It depends on how it plays out," he said. "Washington is a town filled with cannibals. The cannibals devoured Trent Lott without cause. If the cannibals are after you, you are in deep trouble. It depends on whether the cannibals are hungry. My guess is that it will blow over."




Thought Crimes

Rick Santorum has claimed that he sure loves those homos, as long as they aren't actually doing the nasty. This is a standard "defense" of this kind of bigotry, which allows said bigots to pretend that it's a religious/moral issue.

Late last night, Texas House Rep. Talton proposed a Bill which would "prevent the placement of a child in a foster home with any homosexual or bisexual individuals." This is clearly directed at what people are, and not what people do. So much for the "lifestyle" nonsense.


(via tbogg)

Bush on Santorum

"The president believes the senator is an inclusive man. And that's what he believes."

Indeed. Heh.

White House Admits Exaggerating Threat

You know, lying. War was just about proving to the world we had the biggest dick, as if they didn't know that already.

Reason for War?
White House Officials Say Privately the Sept. 11 Attacks Changed Everything

By John Cochran

W A S H I N G T O N, April 25
— To build its case for war with Iraq, the Bush administration argued that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, but some officials now privately acknowledge the White House had another reason for war — a global show of American power and democracy.


Officials inside government and advisers outside told ABCNEWS the administration emphasized the danger of Saddam's weapons to gain the legal justification for war from the United Nations and to stress the danger at home to Americans. "We were not lying," said one official. "But it was just a matter of emphasis."

Officials now say they may not find hundreds of tons of mustard and nerve agents and maybe not thousands of liters of anthrax and other toxins. But U.S. forces will find some, they say. On Thursday, President Bush raised the possibility for the first time that any such Iraqi weapons were destroyed before or during the war.

Hey, they didn't lie about blowjobs or anything REALLY important.

Well, it was nice to be right about this all along. I'm so thrilled that 150+ soldiers had to die before I was validated.


Inefficient

Stupidly forgot the laptop power cord so I'm on the emergency backup computer here.

Old Arguments Become New

From the Nashville Banner, 1930, provided by the farmer:

"If the city council can rightly repeal our Sunday gas law to accomodate tourists, why should they not repeal our laws against stealing, murder, lewdness, bank robbery, arson and kidnaping? If we are going to let tourists, good and bad, violate the Sabbath here, why not let them also steal, break our banks, kidnap our children, violate our girls, murder our wives, or do any other wickedness that might suit their fancy? According to God and Anglo-Saxon civilization, Sabbath-breaking is just as wicked, and just as great a menace to our safety, as stealing, murder, rape, or perjury.

Thursday, April 24, 2003

Gratitude

Thanks to all who contributed following my little car accident. It's back and good as new.

But, damn you Ben Affleck! I'm still waiting for my $100,000 donation.

Sully

While I appreciate that Andy's sticking to his guns on this issue, I'm a bit confused about the fact that he's shocked, no SHOCKED, about all of this. In his latest post he seems surprised that his cowboy hero Bush hasn't taken a stand on this. Those of us who actually follow politics on planet Earth, as opposed to politics in AndyLand, know what Bush's view of homosexuality is. When asked about Texas's sodomy law, which is limited to same-sex sodomy, Bush said "I think it's a symbolic gesture of traditional values."

As governor, "Bush supported a measure that banned gay couples from becoming foster parents or from adopting foster children."

Andy has to know this stuff, so why is he pretending otherwise?



Protesting a Bigot

Watching protest outside of Santorum's office on local news. Not far from me, woulda gone had I known.

MSNBC becomes MSGOP

Greg Beato thinks it might be his fault. I'm not so sure - they seem to have pretty much followed the advice that 'the farmer' gave them a few months back.

Ok, I'm no network program exec, but......
Listen up MSNBC,
Please keep up the good work.
I really enjoy the weekend "news" stories. Especially the exposes on fat people who aren't fat anymore.
Please make more dieting documentaries. For instance; I'd like to see Al Rocher's arms and legs surgically removed on television. Is that feasible?

Also..... I would like to see more stories about cats. Any kind of cats will do. (Enough with the pretentious inbred dog shows.) And more car chases ....with car chases, you can't go wrong.

Here are some more subjects/ideas I think MSNBC should consider.
Especially on weekends, when there is no actual news because everyone goes home and stops making up news.

1- More shows about designer penis enlargement medications like the old ones starring Bob Dole. I know, prostate surgery is in this season. But I miss the hearty old time bounders.

2- More shows about prostitutes and strippers. Especially child prostitutes. America loves child prostitutes!
Doesn't really matter about the kinds of strippers or prostitutes actually, America likes them all. Housewife prostitutes?
Strippers for God? Obese lesbian prostitutes on diets! You know what I mean? Fancy Lady stories. More Fancy Lady stories.

3- More celebrities gone bad shows. Like those former child-star exposes about once popular and beloved personalities who grow up into rogue adult miscreants and prostitutes. America likes celebrity prostitutes too. People are sick of Michael Jackson. People are beginning to think that you are paying Michael Jackson to act weird just so you can report that Michael Jackson is acting weird. Its getting old. What's Gary Condit up to? Can't you go bother Gary Condit some more. Does Gary Condit know any prostitutes?

4- Any story that can possibly involve the name 'Kennedy' and the word 'criminal' or 'drunk' in the same sentence. I think you know what I mean here. Big market for this in the hookworm and Bible belt.

5- Spring Break coverage. Doesn't matter if Spring Break is long over with or not. Watching moronic teenagers drinking draft beer from plastic cups and showing their titties is always a weekend crowd pleaser. Even during Thanksgiving!

6- Shark attack stories! Where are the shark attack stories?! Especially if the sharks are eating moronic drunken teenage prostitutes!

7- Serial killer stories. (Yes, the old reliable serial killer yarns). Unfortunately we need some new serial killers. At least one with a new flashy gimmick or new tantalizing modus operandi. America is bored with the same old serial killer with the hacked up prostitutes in the barrel in the garage and the sneaky satanic cults and the frustrated cop who has been working on the case for 16 years and so on.... know what I mean? Maybe work the name 'Kennedy' into a few more of these serial murderer stories. Eh?

8- More tawdry and salacious British royalty stories and bios. (self explanatory) Perhaps focus on Spanish royalty? (is there any Spanish royalty these days?) ... or some Monte Carlo sex-capade gambling stories!... some French fiddle faddle might be just the ticket! Or some steamy avant garde Iraqi playboy auto theft sex ring of virgin prostitutes for Allah investigation story! Very chic.... very current. Very MSNBC.

9- Jack Welch "Regular Guy" stories and interviews! What happened to the Jack Welch regular guy stories and interviews? Ya know.. maybe some interviews with Jack and his regular guy buddy/neighbor pals telling us all about what a regular buddy neighbor guy Jack is. Like his neighbor Bud, the auto-body paint shop guy, who hangs out on weekends and plays horseshoes with regular guy Jack. Or Marsha, the cashier at WalMart who greets Jack each morning when hes out on the sidewalk with his GE leaf-blower, or out tending the marigolds planted around the base of his ceramic virgin Mary lawn ornament.
How 'bout an afternoon with regular guys Jack Welch and Brain Williams as they reseal the a driveway or go shopping for a new neckties? Well?

10- How about an honest serious investigative news report about the collapse of Argentina's economy or Dick "Pink Puffer" Cheney's locked box of energy task force secrets curries and favors. Especially the "secrets" concerning Iraq's oil boodle. (Heh, you ain't fooling just anybody ya know.) Ha - Just kidding!..... scared ya didn't I?

11- Asteroid scare stories.... what happened to the asteroid hitting the earth stories.... or did I miss something? And how bout all those live helicopter car chase feeds MSNBC runs. (weekdays only) Why not on the weekends?
Don't they have freeway car chases in LA on weekends? We never do get to find out what exactly those were all about or why they were being chased.... But who really cares...they sure are fun to watch and that Lester Holt guy and that Rick Sanchez guy sure know how to anchor an afternoon LA freeway chase!

(how come only LA has all the cool car chases? Now there's an "investigation" for you.)

12- Stories about rich guys in air-balloons being shot out of the sky by the North Korean Air Force. Boy, that would be something.... especially considering all the edge of the chair white knuckle news video that usually accompanies rich guys in hot air balloon stories!

13- Here's an idea.... how about assigning a film crew to follow around the Bush twins and their cousins while they get drunk and try to buy expensive reefer during this years Spring Break. So they aren't in college anymore. Who cares, this is a time for sacrifice! I'd like to see some nice wet T-shirt Bush twin booby closeups with that too. And draft beer. Don't forget the draft beer.

14- How about a little help with a segment that includes Lynn Cheney hurling dodge-balls at lazy senior citizen layabouts in Sarasota! Can someone please run over Dennis Miller in a car? I'll buy the gas and cigarettes. Whatever, anything you want MSNBC.

I have more ideas.... but until I get my own corner office with a window and an employee handgun you're gonna have to settle for shitty ratings and whatever neo-Nazi you can pry away from the Free Congress Foundation.

call me MSNBC.... you need me.

Spring is Here

Time to start doing some exercise.

Oh god I'm in pain.

Remix Challenge

Awhile back Dan Savage suggested that someone get ahold of the audio of Bill O'Reilly repeatedly saying "I want to go to a gay bathhouse!" and make a nice techno song out of it. If only we could get the audio of the AP interview with Santorum. I think "man on dog" would provide a nice little sample for a rap song. Whaddya say, Snoop?

Bush Likes Gays

At least, he likes former gay porn stars.

More on Republican Child Pornographer

From Joe Conason.

hahaha.

New Blitzer Poll

Go tell him what you think.

Incest Laws

For all the talk about how worried we have to be about incest laws being overturned if the Supreme Court were to declare that it generally isn't really anyone's business where I put my penis, people seem blissfully unaware that in many states criminal incest between parent and child carries a much lighter sentence than does "standard" child rape or molestation. In other words, the law is much gentler when you rape your own kid as opposed to when you rape someone else's.

I guess incest isn't such a big deal after all.

Iraqi Information Minister Backs Reynolds

This is good.

(from Wyeth)

Haha - as is this. Who knew the PDN had it in them?


Go vote in their poll!

Republican Unity Coalition Speaks Up

They aren't entirely useless.

WASHINGTON, April 23 — A Republican group whose officials include former President Gerald R. Ford and Mary Cheney, the daughter of the vice president, demanded today that Senator Rick Santorum apologize to gays for his remarks equating homosexuality with bigamy and incest.


Good News in Florida

It's so rare I thought I should share:

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A Florida court struck down a law Wednesday that required mothers who want to give a child up for adoption to publicize their sexual histories in newspaper ads.

The 4th District Court of Appeals said the law, passed two years ago, violates privacy rights and substantially interferes with a woman's independence in choosing adoption.

Poor Wolf

I bet he needed a drink yesterday.

BLITZER: Here's how you're weighing in on our "Web Question of the Day." We've been asking you this question.

Were the anti-war critics right or wrong? Look at this, 65 percent of you said they were right, 35 percent said they were wrong. You can continue to vote and get more result on the website, cnn.com/wolf. This is of course not a scientific poll.

Polygamists Condemn Santorum

Poor guy can't catch a break.

Santorum has been under fire for comparing homosexuality to bigamy, polygamy, incest and adultery.

Owen Allred, 89, head of the United Apostolic Brethen, based in the Salt Lake City suburb of Bluffdale, agreed with Santorum in part.

"He is absolutely right. The people of the United States are doing whatever they can to do away with the sacred rights of marriage," Allred told The Salt Lake Tribune.

But Allred said Santorum's inclusion of polygamy in his list tarnishes a religious tradition whose roots are traced to biblical figures such as Abraham, Jacob and Moses — defiling them as "immoral and dirty."

Thursday is New Jobless Claims Day

And they're soaring.

Last week's revised upwards, as usual.

Lottsapundit Continues

Tim Lambert has the update.

He links to this piece by ArchPundit which really seems to get to the heart of the matter - Instapundit is a hack, therefore he thinks all people are hacks. Glenn has gone all postmodern on us - there is no truth, just competing ideologies.

Howard Dean Says the Obvious

"We Don't Know' If Iraqi People Are Better Off Without Saddam."

Well, duh.

Another Evildoer Down

One by one:

A prominent Republican fund-raiser who once said former President Bill Clinton was "a lawbreaker and a terrible example to our nation's young people" pleaded guilty yesterday in Baltimore Circuit Court to production of child pornography.
Richard Anthony Delgaudio, who was sentenced to two years' probation before judgment, admitted to taking lewd photographs of a 16-year-old girl he met in East Baltimore's Patterson Park in 2001. In some of the photos, he was engaged in sex with her, court records show.

Delgaudio, 50, of Burke, Va., is a frequent talk-radio guest and national figure in conservative politics. He is president of the Legal Affairs Council, a group that helped pay the legal bills of former Reagan administration officials Oliver L. North and Caspar W. Weinberger after they were charged in connection with the Iran-contra affair.

In his pornography case, there was additional evidence that Delgaudio took erotic images of at least one other, younger teen-ager, but that evidence was not admissible in court because police improperly stopped and searched Delgaudio, a judge ruled.

Wednesday, April 23, 2003

William Saletan Can Bite Me

David E. explains.


And, as far as I can tell, he has yet to justify his heterosexuality to me. So, I must say that while I think that heterosexuality is okay, Saletan hasn't been able to explain why.

Theocracy Rising

Rick Santorum blasts JFK's embrace of the separation of church and state, and claims that George W. Bush is the first Catholic president.

You can buy their CD here.

Buy These Books

Joe Conason's forthcoming book:
cover
which isn't being released any earlier than September, is currently #944 on Amazon's bestseller list.

But, Sid's new book:



is coming out soon!


Dan Rather Better than Fox News!

Says the conservative Media Research Center.

The veteran CBS anchorman has been a frequent target of the Washington-based Media Research Center, which keeps an eye out for any signs of liberal bias on television. But the group gave Rather a B-plus for his war work, while Fox News got a B.

Eschaton Assignment Desk

Some perfectly valid questions for Mr. Santorum:

1) Were you a virgin on your wedding night?

2) Have you ever committed adultery?

3) Have you ever committed an act of sodomy?

4) If it were up to you, would Mary Cheney be in jail now? Would you give that answer personally to her father?

5) If it were up to you, would Congressman Kolbe (R-AZ) be in jail right now?

6) What is your honest opinion of Ass Clowns 3?

Thug Watch

In lovely Orange County

An 18-year-old Lebanese-American teenager filed a civil rights lawsuit Wednesday against a group of Orange County teens who allegedly assaulted him with bats and golf clubs while shouting racial slurs.

Rashid Alam and his lawyers filed the lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court. The suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, as well as legal fees from four named defendants and 29 unnamed defendants and their parents.

"I am a human being. Just because I am Arabian or Muslim does not mean that I am bad or evil," Alam said

Alam suffered multiple head injuries, a broken jaw and stab wounds as a result of the Feb. 22 attack. Metal plates were inserted in his face during reconstructive surgery and his jaw until last week was wired shut.

A Basic Homosexual Relationship

This is what Santorum thinks of the victims of John Geoghan:

SANTORUM: In this case, what we're talking about, basically, is priests who were having sexual relations with post-pubescent men. We're not talking about priests with 3-year-olds, or 5-year-olds. We're talking about a basic homosexual relationship. Which, again, according to the world view sense is a a perfectly fine relationship as long as it's consensual between people. If you view the world that way, and you say that's fine, you would assume that you would see more of it.


Let's remind ourselves about Geoghan:

Since the mid-1990s, more than 130 people have come forward with horrific childhood tales about how former priest John J. Geoghan allegedly fondled or raped them during a three-decade spree through a half-dozen Greater Boston parishes.

Almost always, his victims were grammar school boys. One was just 4 years old.

Hey, Rick Santorum's son is old enough for just such a basic homosexual relationship.

I felt a little funny about it," McSorley recalled in an interview. "I was 12 years old and he was an old man."

Riding home after getting ice cream, McSorley says, Geoghan consoled him. But then he patted his upper leg and slid his hand up toward his crotch. "I froze up," McSorley said. "I didn't know what to think. Then he put his hand on my genitals and started masturbating me. I was petrified." McSorely added that Geoghan then began masturbating himself.

....

During his assignment in Hingham, Geoghan found victims far afield, befriending Joanne Mueller, a single mother of four boys who lived in Melrose. There too, according to depositions, the priest became a regular visitor, a spiritual counselor to Mueller and a helpmate to her boys, who were between 5 and 12.

One night, she testified, her second youngest son came to her, insisting that she keep Geoghan away from him. "I don't want him doing that to my wee-wee, touching my wee-wee . . ." Mueller recalled the boy saying.


No Comment

Bush 01/15/03

THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. The Supreme Court will soon hear arguments in a case about admission policies and student diversity in public universities. I strongly support diversity of all kinds, including racial diversity in higher education. But the method used by the University of Michigan to achieve this important goal is fundamentally flawed.

At their core, the Michigan policies amount to a quota system that unfairly rewards or penalizes perspective students, based solely on their race. So, tomorrow my administration will file a brief with the court arguing that the University of Michigan's admissions policies, which award students a significant number of extra points based solely on their race, and establishes numerical targets for incoming minority students, are unconstitutional.

Ari Fleischer, Today:

Q Just one other thing, if I can. Does the President know more about what Senator Santorum said? Does he have any feelings about his comments? Do they think they were inappropriate or appropriate?

MR. FLEISCHER: I haven't personally talked to the President about it, so I don't have anything direct from the President to share.

Q So you all are just making a conscious decision to just keep clear of this one?

MR. FLEISCHER: Let me put it to you this way. The President typically never does comment on anything involving a Supreme Court case, a Supreme Court ruling or a Supreme Court finding -- typically. And in this case, we also have no comment on anything that involves any one person's interpretation of the legalities of an issue that may be considered before the Court.


Next?

Torture Wolf!

Go!

On a related note, Howard Dean calls on Santorum to resign his leadership position. He'll also be on with Wolfie today.

Boots and Coots

Major Barbara catches Slate and the New York Times in a bit of an, um, error.

Canadian Safety Boss, Inc.'s president and CEO Mike Miller doesn't mince words about the hellfighting business.

He doesn't have to.

Safety Boss put out more oil well fires than any other company in Kuwait in 1991 -- more than Red Adair, more than Boots & Coots, more than any American company. They're
Canadian, and they're proud to have secured more oil wells in the wake of Operation Desert Storm than anyone else.

"We were the top team," Mr. Miller typed in an e-mail to this writer. True to his word, he backed that statement up with the facts.

But they're not the facts -- make that the alleged facts -- that the New York Times reported on March 30 -- and they certainly don't jibe with what was tossed around in Christopher Hitchens' recent piece for Slate.

The New York Times said that "Boots & Coots International Well Control... put out about a third of the fires set in Kuwait in 1991 and earned perhaps as much as $100 million in the process."

That's simply not accurate -- and Mike Miller knows it.

As proof, here are some statistics from the 1994 book Advanced Blowout and Well Control, from industry-leader Gulf Publishing (from Table 3, p. 390). (The stats might have helped the
Times' fact-checker, too.) Here's how many wells were "secured" by the top teams, out of author Bob Grace's total of 727:

Safety Boss - 176
Boots & Coots - 126
Wild Well Control - 120
Red Adair - 111
Kuwait Oil Company - 41
Cudd Pressure Control - 23

Click the link for more.

Selective Outrage

Santorum's comments can be broken down as follows:

a) He believes there is no constitutional prohibition on states' regulating the entire range of sexual behavior.

b) He would support and vote for such prohibitions on a wide range of behavior - including, but not necessarily limited to, homosexual sexual relations.

c) He believes that the post-pubescent male victims of sexual abuse and statutory rape by catholic priests were simply engaging in normal consensual homosexual relationships.


Why has point c) not gotten any attention by the media? Points a) and b) are pretty standard stuff from the theocratic sex-obsessed crowd, if disturbing, while c) is quite horrifying. I mean, if Johnny and Daniel Santorum became the victims of sexual abuse by priests would he decide that they were simply participating in normal consensual homosexual relationships?

Signorile is talking about this now. Go listen!

(Update: Just wanted to add that I'm actually being rather charitable to Ricky. What he actually said was that the priest abuse cases were simply post-pubescent males having relationships with priests. There were of course pre-pubescent victims as well. )

Reporters Loot Iraq

This guy should be fired. (links broken, scroll down)

UPDATE: More looting from the Fair and Balanced gang:


Fox News Engineer Charged With Smuggling

WASHINGTON -A television news engineer faces smuggling charges after attempting to bring into the United States 12 stolen Iraqi paintings, monetary bonds and other items, federal officials said Wednesday.

A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., charges that Benjamin James Johnson, 27, tried to bring the paintings into this country last Thursday. They were contained in a large cardboard box that was examined by Customs agents at Dulles International Airport outside Washington.

An affidavit filed with the criminal complaint says that Johnson, who accompanied U.S. troops in Baghdad, gathered up the paintings at a palace that belonged to Uday Hussein, one of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's sons. The paintings depict Saddam and Uday.

Johnson, who initially told Customs officials he was given the paintings by Iraqi citizens, said he had planned to keep them "for decoration" and to PROVIDE ONE TO HIS EMPLOYER, the affidavit says. It is U.S. policy that all such items belong to the Iraqi people.



Link to Sully

Oh I'm so ashamed, but he has a few decent posts on the Santorum issue here.

Specter to the Rescue!

Specter says:

I have known Rick Santorum for the better part of two decades and I can say with certainty he is not a bigot.

Oh, give me a break Arlen. Santorum just consigned an entire group of people to a lifetime of celibacy because he thinks what they do is icky. He's a bigot, and so are you.

Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Santorum Calls Priest Abuse Cases "Consensual"

Pretty incredible.

SANTORUM: You have the problem within the church. Again, it goes back to this moral relativism, which is very accepting of a variety of different lifestyles. And if you make the case that if you can do whatever you want to do, as long as it's in the privacy of your own home, this "right to privacy," then why be surprised that people are doing things that are deviant within their own home? If you say, there is no deviant as long as it's private, as long as it's consensual, then don't be surprised what you get. You're going to get a lot of things that you're sending signals that as long as you do it privately and consensually, we don't really care what you do. And that leads to a culture that is not one that is nurturing and necessarily healthy. I would make the argument in areas where you have that as an accepted lifestyle, don't be surprised that you get more of it.

AP: The right to privacy lifestyle?

SANTORUM: The right to privacy lifestyle.

AP: What's the alternative?

SANTORUM: In this case, what we're talking about, basically, is priests who were having sexual relations with post-pubescent men. We're not talking about priests with 3-year-olds, or 5-year-olds. We're talking about a basic homosexual relationship. Which, again, according to the world view sense is a a perfectly fine relationship as long as it's consensual between people. If you view the world that way, and you say that's fine, you would assume that you would see more of it.


p.s. If anyone knows a decent boston globe reporter or columnist to send this to, please do.

p.p.s. kos is on this too.

Newt vs. Daschle

Over at Wyethwire.

I'm saddened, saddened that this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war. Saddened that we have to give up one life because this president couldn't create the kind of diplomatic effort that was so critical for our country."
Tom Daschle, 3/18/2003


"The last seven months have involved six months of diplomatic failure and one month of military success. The first days after military victory indicate the pattern of diplomatic failure is beginning once again and threatens to undo the effects of military victory."
Newt Gingrich, 4/22/2003


You should contact Tom DeLay and ask him to condemn the treasonous comments of Newt Gingrich.

The Rule of Law

I don't understand why the Republicans in Alabama want to give George Bush "special rights."

Unless Alabama's election law is changed, President Bush could be left off the state's presidential election ballot in 2004.

The problem is that the Republican National Convention is being held later than usual to avoid conflict with the Olympics and the GOP won't choose a candidate until Sept. 2 - two days after Alabama's Aug. 31 deadline to certify presidential candidates.

Republicans are asking the Democrat-controlled Legislature to change the law and extend the deadline until Sept. 5. That bill is on the work agenda in the House for Thursday, but some Republicans say they are concerned the bill has been placed behind several controversial issues and may not come up for consideration.

Andrew Sullivan Makes an Interesting Point

I just had to see if I could actually manage to type that without bursting into flames. But, in all seriousness, I think he's right. It seems that little Ricky Santorum has been misrepresented by the press. The original reports of Santorum's AP interview had him saying:

If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consentual (gay) sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything.


As Sully notes,

First off a simple question: What did Santorum actually say? The reason I ask this is that I don't know anyone who speaks in parentheses. Did the AP reporter add the "(gay)" part to provide context for the quote? But such context could easily be provided by a simple sentence beforehand, while leaving the actual quote intact. From the story, it seems as if reporter Lara Jakes Jordan added the "(gay)" in order to get around her poor sentence construction. If so, she ruined a huge and damaging Freudian slip. Because it's clear from the quote that simply consensual sex -- gay or straight -- is precisely what Santorum wants to police.


I'm not entirely sure why he calls it Freudian, but nonetheless if one goes to the original transcript it's pretty clear that Santorum wasn't limiting himself to gay sex, but all consensual sex. One should give him credit for this, actually. If one thinks the state has the power to outlaw 'gay sex,' then the state should be free to outlaw all kinds of things. Santorum doesn't believe there is any constitutional prohibition of this. In addition, little Ricky would clearly vote to outlaw all these nasty horrible things, but he does think it should be left to the states to decide.

Over to you, Larry Flynt...

So Many Good Books On the Way

If you really want to make an advance order...

cover

Four Kings

GIs nabbed trying to liberate Iraqi cash.

Oops.

Hitchens Forcibly Removed from Trailer Park

Wow.

Beat the Press

Over at the Daily Billboard.

Dean Condemns Santorum's Remarks



Here:

In an interview published yesterday with the Associated Press, Rick Santorum, the third highest ranking Republican in the Senate, compared homosexuality to bigamy, polygamy, incest and adultery. I am outraged by Senator Santorum’s remarks.

That a leader of the Republican Party would make such insensitive and divisive comments—comments that are derogatory and meant to harm an entire group of Americans, their friends and their families—is not only outrageous, but deeply offensive.

The silence with which President Bush and the Republican Party leadership have greeted Sen. Santorum’s remarks is deafening. It is the same silence that greeted Senator Lott’s offensive remarks in December. It is a silence that implicitly condones a policy of domestic divisiveness, a policy that seeks to divide Americans again and again on the basis of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation.

Good Lineup on Signorile's Show Today

He'll have Barry Lynn from American's United for the Separation of Church and State and former LA Dodger Billy Bean. So, go listen!

Justice in America

Love this one:

Three men beaten as they left a gay pride party last year are angry after their attacker was sentenced to two years of house arrest followed by four-years probation.

Devin Scott Angus, 21, had faced up to 30 years in prison. He pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges of aggravated battery and battery with evidence of prejudice, a hate crime.

Prosecutor John Terry asked the judge to give Angus a four-year prison sentence. Angus's attorney, Tim Taylor, asked the judge to give Angus two years in prison.

Instead, Hillsborough Circuit Judge Chet Tharpe sentenced Angus to house arrest, probation and 500 hours of community service.

Tharpe told Angus that he worried sending him to prison may make him worse.

AA CEO

So, I'm watching this report on CNN. Apparently, in his apology, the American Airlines CEO said he thought that the employees would like the plan to give obscene amounts of money to the executives because the employees would be thrilled that those wonderful guys would be still around. Of course, documents demonstrate that he deliberately hid the information because he knew it'd piss them off.

MSNBC Discovers Moonies

In the gossip column, no less. Fascinating:

FOR HIS NEW Deputy of U. S. Trade, Bush has selected Josette Shiner, a longtime member of the Unification Church, whose members are sometimes derisively called “The Moonies.” Shiner was also the managing editor for Moon’s Washington Times newspaper. In December, Bush gave another longtime Moon follower a plum appointment. He named David Caprara to head AmeriCorps at VISTA, leading some to question whether Bush is paying back the reverend for his generosity to the Bush family.

Shiner joined the Unification Church in 1975, and although she has said that she became a practicing Episcopalian in 1996, she has never publicly repudiated Moon, whose followers believe that he is the true Messiah. If appointed, Shiner will have tremendous influence over trade in Africa and Asia, including, of course, Moon’s homeland of Korea, where he has extensive business interests.

Where Did They Go?

Just check out this opening paragraph:

CAMP DOHA, Kuwait -- With little to show after 30 days, the Bush administration is losing confidence in its prewar belief that it had strong clues pointing to the whereabouts of weapons of mass destruction concealed in Iraq, according to planners and participants in the hunt.

After testing some -- though by no means all -- of their best leads, analysts here and in Washington are increasingly doubtful that they will find what they are looking for in the places described on a five-tiered target list drawn up before fighting began. Their strategy is shifting from the rapid "exploitation" of known suspect sites to a vast survey that will rely on unexpected discoveries and leads.

Philly 4 Dean

I'll withhold the all-important much sought after Eschaton presidential endorsement until a much later date, but I do think Dean should at least have the bucks to be competitive in this thing.

So, if you're in the Philly area you can go meet and greet the Gov for the low low price of $50 at Mixto on Sunday, May 4. Tapas included! Mixto's a fun restaurant and the food is good.

AOL/TW Selling Comedy Central

to Viacom. Let's hope we still have Jon Stewart to kick around.

Kids Held in Gitmo

Oh God I'm so ashamed.

Monday, April 21, 2003

Radio Host Goes After Teens

Why does he hate Americans so much? Hesiod has all the details. Send him some email.

Happy Santorum Day!

What a piece of work this guy is:

"If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual (gay) sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything," Santorum, R-Pa., said in the interview, published Monday.

Why doesn't Santorum go ask Newt about the right to adultery?

So, any right wing bloggers condemned this idiot yet? I'm waiting...

Arthur Silber steps up to the plate, though he is no right-winger as such...

Southwest Profits Soar

I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere.

Net profit rose to 24 million dollars or three cents a share in the quarter from 21 million dollars or three cents a share a year earlier.

It was the airline's 48th consecutive quarterly profit.

Revenue climbed 7.5 percent to 1.35 billion dollars.

Steno Sue

Post Ombudsman continues to cover for her crap:

Schmidt and Loeb are experienced reporters, and there is no reason to doubt they were told what they reported, and by a source in whom they hadconfidence. They say it is certain that the descriptions they used are included in sensitive internal intelligence reporting about the rescue. The official silence about Lynch, they suggest, may be due to intelligence classification, possible war crime investigations or other issues.

Heywood Returns

The reporter who got suckered into printing the name "Heywood Jablome" writes a pretty classy response to the whole event.

Alterman on Signorile Today

Go listen. Alterman's on from 2-3 apparently.

Gimme a Break

The Minute Man thinks he's caught me in a contradiction. Jesse answers it pretty well, but let me just add one thing. I never claimed that all Republicans shared the views of the Savage Weiner. And, when he's simply on his radio show I don't even think he provides a public face (so to speak) for Republicans. But, when he's on a "respectable" (hah) news channel like MSNBC, representing the "Right," then he does.

I wasn't arguing that people like the Minute Man had a greater moral obligation than me to protest Savage's show - I just think they have a greater practical one. If Paul Begala or James Carville started ranting about the Zionist Banker Conspiracy, I'd be screaming at CNN to take them off the air NOW because like it or not they represent "me."

On the other hand, if bigotry sells as well as it seems, maybe I'm wrong about the practical concerns...

Spinning Leung

You have to go to the Daily Billboard to read it.


....Talk Left has more. One of her correspondents raises more directly the questions that need to be asked about this.

I (roughly) Agree With Jeff Jacoby

I figure it's a calendar marking moment, so I should share it with you.

His column is about the CNN-not-reporting-about-Iraq issue which was hideously overblown. Jacoby has a rather slanted view of this issue, but his general point is valid - CNN ain't the only one to do this type of thing and it's silly to pretend otherwise. It doesn't necessarily make it right, but the mock outrage about this has been silly.

Springtime for Hitler

Let's make this a musical Easter. Grab a copy of "The Big Men Came" by my good friend John Voorhees.

Then, catch "Springtime for Hitler."
And, the perennial favorite "I'm a Nazi" as sung by Rusty Limbaugh.

Criticize Bush, Have #1 Album!

Reader cm writes in:

I don't know if anyone cares about this anymore, but they're still at #1 on the country album sales chart , and #30 in overall sales , even though they don't have a single track in the top 100. They did "plunge" to the #2 spot last week, beaten by someone named Chris Cagle, whom I've never heard of but whose album was new and is now at #5.


So here we are, over a month after the right began braying about how horrible these women are, and they're still at #1. How long until this is shown to have been much ado about nothing? It looks ordinary consumers still haven't reacted to the "controversy", despite all the manufactured outrage.


Another thing - in the analysis of this I've seen, people keep talking about how much "damage" has been done to them since the incident. What's conspicuously absent from these discussions is a mention that they're still #1, even though their album has been out 33 weeks - most artists would kill to be at the top of the charts for that long. I guess that's the SCLM (so-called liberal media, borrowed from Alterman) at work again - mention the "consequences" of criticizing GWB, but ignore the fact that those "consequences" seem to involve having your album sales skyrocket.


I criticize Bush, but I only have the #3 blog.


(just in case there hasn't been enough anti-Bush bile here lately, here's Idiot Son of An Asshole!)

Sunday, April 20, 2003

Ewwwwwww

My Senator:

Santorum is every bit the family man at home that he is in the Senate.

He and his wife, Karen, have seven children - including, as Santorum puts it, "the one in Heaven." Their fourth baby, Gabriel Michael, died in 1996, two hours after an emergency delivery in Karen Santorum's 20th week of pregnancy. The couple took Gabriel's body home to let their three other young children see and hold the baby before burying him, according to Karen Santorum's book of the ordeal, "Letters to Gabriel."

Cuba Again

I inadvertently prodded Emma over at Late Night Thoughts to tell us a little bit more about contemporary Cuba. She has far more personal experience with the place than I do, but, given my limited experience everything she says fits what I've seen.

Go there for the specifics, but my general take on Cuba is this: It basically sucks and life is really hard. The "bare minimum" that is provided to the population is charitably "barely minimum." The reasons the Right gives for Cuba's suckyness are usually not quite correct, but nor are some of the mitigating factors, such as supposed quality universal health care, offered by some on the Left quite correct either.

Moonie World Is No More

Sadly Moonie World has left us, though I'm not sure why. Someone should pick up the ball and run with it.

Rumsfeld Speaks

He doesn't like the press too much, but he knows how to handle them.


Q: Mr. Secretary, my name is Ricardo Springs. I'm a Nav Air employee, but on rotation here at OPNAV. First I want to congratulate you and thank you for the successful prosecution of the war. You did a fine job. My question is, despite having embedded journalists and all the positive and some negative things that they brought to coverage of the war, what more can be done to turn around the media's overwhelming negative coverage of the war? Do you have any thoughts about that?

(skipping a bit of his answer)

Rumsfeld: But I think there's not anything you can do -- with our Constitution, which is a good one that allows for free speech and free press -- about it, except to, you know, penalize the papers and the television and the newspapers that don't give good advice, and reward those people that do give good advice. That's about all we can do, and that's probably enough.


Fascinating. Indeed. Heh.




Friedman

Is completely insane.

Oy



What's Mahir doing in Iraq? And why is he kissing every single soldier there?

UPDATE: Wow, this guy shows up everywhere!

Happy Easter All!