Kill Bill

Collins and Snowe would support a filibuster of the energy bill. Aside from some farmers and energy executives there isn't a single person in this country who cares of this piece of crap passes. Stand up for something. Be an opposition party.


...And, Senator Ethanol Subsidy - if you're smart you can make it win for you. There are plenty of Big Square State Republican senators who would be happy to co-sponsor a Nice Giant Juicy ethanol subsidy bill, separate from the energy monstrosity, which you can then use to beat back criticisms on those grounds.

Dear Media,

Hey, how you guys doing? Yah, I know, I'm a bit hard on you sometimes. But, you know what? You have some pretty special constitutional protections which, at least in my opinion, imply some equally special obligations. Besides, this whole Democracy nonsense kinda depends on you, at least a little bit. And, you have to admit, you have been slipping somewhat lately. I mean, what's up with equating the head of state with the country? Whose idea was that? Not even those silly Old European countries with their Silly Hereditary Monarchies do that kind of thing. Bush is not America. America is not Bush. But, I digress.

Anyway, here's why I'm writing you. Apparently there's an arrest warrant for Michael Jackson, at least according to someone on the Larry King Live show. Yeah, that Michael, always good for a bit of fun, and Lord knows you guys love the 24 hour story. Condit, Lacey, OJ... it's just so easy. Point the camera and babble. Point the camera at other people and let them babble.

But, hey, you know what? We've got a couple soldiers dying every day in Iraq. I almost never even see their names or faces flash across the screen. Italy had a full day of national mourning over some of their guys - don't ours merit at least a bit of a tribute? And, hey, where are all those reporters you sent to Iraq? You didn't really fall for that "end of major operations" nonsense did you? Hey, even if you did - it's not too late to send them back! Who knows? Maybe they'll find Michael Jackson there!

In any case, there are a hell of a lot more important things going on right now than a possible Michael Jackson molestation trial. You all got solemn and promised after 9/11 to focus on the important things. Haven't seen too much of that lately, I have to say. I'm glad life goes on - I'm not one who thinks "everything changed," or that everything should have changed, after 9/11. But, let's face it - you pretty much blew it before 9/11 and then you pretty much blew it for the prelude to the Iraq war and you're pretty much blowing it now.

I'm sure covering M.J. 24/7 will be loads of fun - what could be more fun than a freak of a celebrity molesting a 12 year old boy?!? But, I don't think Sgt. Timothy L. Hayslett would appreciate it receiving more coverage than what he's doing in Iraq. What he was doing, that is, before he died. What, you didn't hear his name before? Yah, me neither. Maybe Lou Dobbs slipped it in there after ranting about the horrible evil of the new "Bad Santa" movie. Maybe I just missed it.


Cheers!

Atrios


P.S. Could you please tell Lou Dobbs that Billy Bob Thornton isn't playing the actual Santa in the movie - he's playing a con-artist who becomes a department store Santa. I'm not quite sure he understood the difference. Maybe his mommy forgot to tell him something.

P.P.S. Could you please tell Lou Dobbs that there isn't, actually, an actual Santa. Again, he wasn't too clear on this point.

Notable Quotables

Jowett: The Modern university exists by consent of the world outside. We must send out men fitted for that world. What better example can we show them than classical antiquity? Nowhere was the ideal of morality, art, and social order realized more harmoniously than in Greece in the age of the great philosophers.

Ruskin: Buggery apart.

Jowett: Buggery apart.

Pater: Actually, Italy in the late-fifteenth century... Nowhere was the ideal of art, morality, and social order realized more harmoniously, morality and social order apart.
-Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

I always think of the lovable Derbyshire when I think of that exchange.

Money Laundering Limbo?

From ABCNEWS:

Nov. 18 — Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh may have violated state money-laundering laws in the way he handled the money he used to buy the prescription drugs to which he was addicted, law enforcement officials in Florida and New York told ABCNEWS.

A conviction on such charges in Florida would be a first-degree felony, punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Limbaugh returned to the airwaves this week after five weeks of rehabilitation for his admitted addiction to prescription painkillers.

His lawyer denied today there was any foundation for a money-laundering prosecution.

"There's no basis for these charges. He has not committed any acts of money laundering and he absolutely denies it," lawyer Roy Black told ABCNEWS. "I can assure you — and Rush assures the listeners to his radio station — when we can, we will tell the story, and he will tell it himself. Everybody will see what has really gone on here."

...

Authorities say they became aware two years ago, during an investigation of New York bank US Trust, that Limbaugh had taken between 30 and 40 cash withdrawals from his account in amounts just under $10,000.

Banks must file a report to the government if someone withdraws more than $10,000 at once.

Limbaugh's lawyers confirm that as part of US Trust's service, a bank employee personally delivered cash to Limbaugh at his New York studio in amounts of $9,900 or so.

"That in itself is a suspicious activity: They are structuring their transaction to avoid reporting to the government, and the bank is required to file with the federal government something called a suspicious activity report," said Jack Blum, an expert on financial crimes.

...

"Now the problem will be: Did he then assist his drug supplier in hiding the proceeds from the government?" said Blum.

Limbaugh's lawyers say he did not do that and that he is being falsely accused by those who want to force him off the air.

Officials say a decision on whether to prosecute on money-laundering charges will be made in the next few weeks.

Torture Lou!

GO!

GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY

Man they're obsessed over at the Corner. I wonder what it would be like to be a closeted gay man and work at NRO. I'm not saying there is someone like that, but, you know, the odds of it aren't that low.

More Free Trade

Or not.

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration, in a further escalation of trade tensions between the United States and China, announced Tuesday it had decided to impose quotas on three types of textile products in an effort to give the U.S. textile industry temporary breathing room from a flood of Chinese imports.

The decision will affect Chinese imports of knit fabric, dressing gowns and robes and bras.

Advertisement


U.S. textile makers hailed the announcement as a major victory to protect their beleaguered industry while critics warned that the decision would hurt American consumers by raising prices.

Cass Johnson, interim president of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute, praised the administration for granting import relief for all three products categories the industry had asked to be covered.

This is likely to be much less damaging to the economy than the steel tariffs, but what a crock. Even if you're anti-trade, the hypocrisy of this administration and its supporters is astounding.

Don't Tell Sully

Oh, what the hell, go ahead and tell him.

November 18, 2003

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

Marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman. Today's decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court violates this important principle. I will work with congressional leaders and others to do what is legally necessary to defend the sanctity of marriage.

Medicare Bill Rally

For you DC residents - especially, but not limited to - those who are at or are nearing retirement age, attend a rally tomorrow:

Alliance to Hold November 19 Rally Against "Lemon" Medicare Bill—Join the Alliance, Senator Edward Kennedy, Senator Tom Daschle, Representative Nancy Pelosi and hundreds of activists in a rally against the "lemon" Medicare bill on Wednesday, November 19 at 12:00 p.m. in the Russell Caucus Room, Russell Senate Bldg-3rd floor after gathering at Upper Senate Park, located at Delaware and Constitution Avenues. For more information, contact Ed Braman at (202) 974-8235 or Keith Wallington at (202) 974-8233.

Here's a flyer.

So Much for Senior Prom

Colorado is considering ending 12th grade and replacing it with a year of preschool. To be honest, in purely educational/cost terms this makes some degree of sense. However, our society just isn't set up that way. That final year of socialization and maturation, particularly given the lack of basic freedom (due to lack of cars, if nothing else) that many adolescents have prior to that, is pretty crucial for a group which is about to go from almost complete parental dependence to complete independence - for those who go away to college, anyway.

AARP and Big Insurance

From the Center for American Progress:

"Critics say AARP, which formally unveiled its new headquarters building in downtown Washington last month, has softened its earlier militancy because it is preoccupied with its profit-making enterprises, including $100 million in earnings from the sale of insurance, mostly Medicare supplemental policies."
- Newsday, 10/21/2000

"AARP's receives more than $100 million in revenue from health insurers."
- Denver Post, 5/21/96


"Critics suggest that AARP's substantial profits from the sales of Medigap and other insurance policies, drug company advertising in its magazines, and investment schemes conflict with its interests on behalf of seniors...AARP President William Novelli acknowledged complaints from members that AARP has been too timid in the political battles to defend Medicare and Social Security. He conceded that AARP has pulled its punches since right-wing groups and members of Congress criticized it as too liberal."
- Newsday, 2/19/02

"AARP's pharmacy service is part of its insurance sales operation which generated $ 101 million in revenue last year - 17 percent of the organization's total budget."
- Capitol News Service, 8/15/02


"AARP receives millions of dollars from UnitedHealthcare, a national health insurance firm based in Minnesota."
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2/24/01

Anti-Semite Tuesday

I guess it's theme day. Check out the letter Eric Alterman got (scroll to bottom of today's post).

That Liberal Media

This was probably just a booboo, but what a booboo:

Democrats piled on with criticism of the administration for failing to make Iraq's reconstruction more of an international collaboration. "I think it's fair to say that the situation continues to worsen," Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said on "Fox News Sunday."

The voice in the recording resembled Saddam's, but was huskier and the speaker seemed tired. "The evil ones now find themselves in crisis, and this is God's will for them," said Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat.

They did run the correction at the top:

CORRECTION: Because of an editing error, this story misattributed a quote from the speaker on an audiotape purportedly of Saddam Hussein as coming from Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota. It was the speaker on the tape, not Daschle, who said, "The evil ones now find themselves in crisis, and this is God's will for them." The only solution for Iraq was for "the zealous Iraqi sons, who ran its affairs and brought it out of backwardness . . . to return . . . to run its affairs anew," the speaker on the tape said, referring to the Baath leadership. END

Never fear, I'm sure this quote will pop up on every wingnut site from now until the end of time.

(thanks to johnqdoe)

Anti-Semites

Check out this stuff from GOPUSA's website.

The fiction which is interdependency has a prolocutor in the congregation of Moloch. His name is George Soros. No other single person represents the symbol and the substance of Globalism more than this Hungarian-born descendant of Shylock. He is the embodiment of the Merchant from Venice. His public reputation as an astute currency speculator is generous, while his skills as a manipulator and procurer of pain and suffering is shrouded in the footnotes of the financial journals. Claiming to be a philanthropist, his record is literally one of being a patron for indentured enslavement.

Fuckheads.

Here is the list of people who spoke at their conference:

* Gary Aldrich, Former FBI Agent and Author of "Unlimited Access" and "Thunder on the Left"
* The Honorable Bob Barr, Former U.S. Congressman
* James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Defense and Homeland Security, Davis Institute, The Heritage Foundation
* Kellyanne Conway, President, The Polling Company
* Horace Cooper, Senior Fellow, Centre for New Black Leadership
* The Honorable John Cornyn*, U.S. Senate, TX
* Chuck DeFeo, eCampaign Manager, Bush-Cheney '04, Inc.
* Rick Erickson, Director, Americans for Military Readiness
* Tim Goeglein, Deputy Director, White House Office of Public Liaison
* Kerri Houston, Vice President of Policy, Frontiers of Freedom
* Pete Jeffries, Communications Director, House Speaker Dennis Hastert
* The Honorable Steve King, U.S. Congress, IA-5
* Chuck Muth, President, Citizen Outreach
* Mark Montini, President and CEO, CampaignSecrets.com
* Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform
* Peter Roff, National Political Analyst, UPI
* Jack Spencer, Senior Policy Analyst, Defense and National Security, Davis Institute, The Heritage Foundation
* The Honorable Tom Tancredo*, U.S. Congress, CO-6
* Paul Teller, Ph.D., Legislative Director, House Republican Study Committee
* Genevieve Wood, Vice President of Communications, Family Research Council
* Michael Zak, Author, "Back to Basics for the Republican Party"

9/10th Victory

First, Trish Wilson has commentary. She was at the hearings.

Slybog has more.

Here's the key paragraph:

The question before us is whether, consistent with the Massachusetts Constitution, the Commonwealth may deny the protections, benefits, and obligations conferred by civil marriage to two individuals of the same sex who wish to marry. We conclude that it may not. The Massachusetts Constitution affirms the dignity and equality of all individuals. It forbids the creation of second-class citizens. In reaching our conclusion we have given full deference to the arguments made by the Commonwealth. But it has failed to identify any constitutionally adequate reason for denying civil marriage to same-sex couples.

It appears to me there's a slight bit of weasel wording here. One sentence refers to the "benefits, and obligations conferred by civil marriage" while one refers to civil marriage itself.

It isn't clear how important this distinction is. Perhaps the lawyers can chime in. But, aside from Massachusetts, the issue is whether other states would be constitutionally required to honor marriage - and whether having it be marriage by another name provides a legal 'out' for this.

But, anyway, the legislature has 180 days to do something about it. Lord knows if they'll even have the guts to touch it, or whether they'll punt it back up to the courts.

...now's an appropriate moment to remember the words of gay civil rights advocate, Dick Cheney:

The fact of the matter is we live in a free society, and freedom means freedom for everybody. We don’t get to choose, and shouldn’t be able to choose and say, 'You get to live free, but you don’t.' And I think that means that people should be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to enter into. It’s really no one else’s business in terms of trying to regulate or prohibit behavior in that regard.

The next step, then, of course, is the question you ask of whether or not there ought to be some kind of official sanction, if you will, of the relationship, or if these relationships should be treated the same way a conventional marriage is. That’s a tougher problem. That’s not a slam dunk.

I think the fact of the matter, of course, is that matter is regulated by the states. I think different states are likely to come to different conclusions, and that’s appropriate. I don’t think there should necessarily be a federal policy in this area.

I try to be open-minded about it as much as I can, and tolerant of those relationships... I also wrestle with the extent to which there ought to be legal sanction of those relationships. I think we ought to do everything we can to tolerate and accommodate whatever kind of relationships people want to enter into.

Vote in the Cnn.com poll.

Nuclear Bomb in the Culture War

Mass. Supreme Court 'gay marriage' ruling may come this morning...

Rush and Stuart

It's inevitable for anyone coming out of a 12-step program, but it's sort of amusing that Rush has morphed into Stuart Smalley.

Mo Money Mo Money

Slacktivist helps explain why giving to the Equal Justice Initiative is a good thing to do. He points us to this interview with EJI founder and executive director Bryan Stephenson. Some facts:

Stevenson's outstanding legal work has garnered him countless honors--among them the American Bar Association's Wisdom Award for public service, the ACLU's National Medal of Liberty, and the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Award. Bryan has kept none of the more than $300,000 in prize money. Instead he pours it back into EJI's work, while continuing to live in a rented apartment on an annual salary of $25,000.
For the men on Alabama's death row, Stevenson is not only attorney and advocate, but pastor, friend, and brother. He's always anxious to tell stories of how he has found hope amid the ugliness and pain of prison: "When you see redemption in a place where people only want revenge, healing where people only want hate, mercy and forgiveness where people only want retribution and destruction, you encounter God's love in a way that's very energizing and heartening."
Some may wonder why a Harvard-educated lawyer would spend his days on death row. "I feel blessed-- to spend each day engaged in something that gives my life meaning, that keeps me spiritually alive and aware, and that is soaked with the grace of God." Whether he's arguing a case before the Supreme Court, counseling a prisoner facing execution, or speaking with me about how race and class shape the death penalty in the United States, that same grace flows freely through Bryan, touching many lives.

You can add to a bundled donation by clicking on this link, or you can send directly to this address (probably a wise idea if you're concerned about deducting it):
Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama
122 Commerce Street
Montgomery, AL 36104


If you contribute directly, please send me an email so I can add it to the tally.

TREASON!

Just kidding. I for one don't think that the leaking of most classified information is that big of a deal. Too much is classified by default, with little oversight. But, the CIA is wondering who leaked the latest classified document.

As the sage of the blogosphere, Glenn Harlan Reynolds, said recently when a non-classified memo was leaked:

As with the Plame affair, the reporter should be subpoenaed, and the leaker should be canned, or jailed. This sort of thing shouldn't be leaking.

We should forgive Glenn for being dazzled by the continuing employment of the Chewbacca defense. But, the outing of a deep CIA op is different than releasing noncritical information with a big "classified" stamp on it, which is itself different from leaking non-classified material.

Anyone Feel Like We're Doing Something Wrong?

Link:

ROME, Nov. 17 — The sight was extraordinary, but less so than the sound, or rather the lack of it. Although thousands upon thousands of people filled one of this city's most chaotic squares during the evening rush hour on Monday, the decibel level seldom rose above a whisper's.

Silence was just one way in which those people sought to show their respect for 19 Italians killed in a suicide bombing in Iraq last week. Another was to wait two to three hours, in the drizzle and dark, for a chance to walk past the victims' coffins, arrayed inside a palace that towers over the square, Piazza Venezia.

The line went on and on, just like Italy's mourning.

This country's reaction to the casualties it suffered in the attack has been more than a modest, fleeting sob.

For days on end, Italy's leaders have delivered public statements as sweeping as soliloquies. Newspapers have been jammed with essays about slain heroes, and television reports have been filled with crying.