New Website

This is created by a number of members of the Liberal Coalition who want an outlet to write in beyond the obviously political nature of the regular Liberal Coalition. Lots of stuff at the Practical Press already. Go check it out!

Round the Horn - I just wasn't feeling well

Yesterday. Which is why I wasn't here. So you had to go for a day without my sparkling wit.

All Facts and Opinion has some thoughts on the war on drugs and Crystal Meth (The drug which may have inspired the Crystal Method).

Bark Bark Woof Woof has some comments on Sen. Frists plans for the Judiciary.

iddybud has a story on John Edwards visiting fair Harverd.

LEFT is RIGHT has a bit on receiving a letter from a Congressperson and continuing support for the War in Iraq.

Respectful of Otters has some fabulous news. So that's nice.

Scrutiny Hooligans has some good news for those of you who favor tight governmental control over the media.

The Invisible Liberary has the scoop on a new group of hand-shaking Jihadists. Sounds like a very interesting group.

Speedkill has a bit on Tom Delays recent comments and a retraction / clarification of some of those comments.

And that's it for now. Be back later.

The Dominionists Strike Back

For those who can't get enough on the Dominionists and their hatred of the American Judiciary, Max Blumenthal of The Nation also visited the "Confronting the Judicial War on Faith" conference. He related this charming little story.

Michael Schwartz must have thought I was just another attendee of the "Confronting the Judicial War on Faith" conference. I approached the chief of staff of Oklahoma's GOP Senator Tom Coburn outside the conference in downtown Washington last Thursday afternoon after he spoke there. Before I could introduce myself, he turned to me and another observer with a crooked smile and exclaimed, "I'm a radical! I'm a real extremist. I don't want to impeach judges. I want to impale them!"

Ha ha ha! Boy those Republicans have one wicked sense of humor.

Anyway the rest of the article doesn't quite reach that standard, and repeats some of what the other articles say, but it's worth checking out anyway.

Baffling

I'm not sure what to make of this passage in Thomas Friedman's latest article.

It still seems to me ridiculously easy to blow up a car in the heart of Chicago. And anyone who has flown on a private jet since 9/11 can tell you that security at these private terminals is still so lax that if you showed up in a Saudi headdress with a West Virginia driver's license under the name of "Billy Bob bin Laden" and asked for flight directions for your chartered Learjet to Lower Manhattan, there's a good chance no one would stop you.

So, how then do we explain the calm? To begin with, I'd give a tip o' the hat to the C.I.A., the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security.

If the C.I.A. et al are doing such a bang up job, why does airport security seem so lax? I guess his point would be that they are keeping terrorists from getting to the airports, where, presumably, they wouldn't have that tough a time of it.

He also brings back the fly-paper theory, which says that we are drawing the terrorists to Iraq so that they will leave us alone here. If that was ever a valid theory, it might not be for much longer. As Friedman notes, if they don't think they can win in Iraq, they will strike back at us here.

I fear that when and if the Jihadists conclude that they have been defeated in the heart of their world, they will be sorely tempted to throw a Hail Mary pass. That is, they may want to launch a spectacular, headline-grabbing act of terrorism in America that tries to mask, and compensate for, just how defeated they have become at home.

So that's comforting news. Maybe we should stop winning so much?

Of course some would say that maybe we aren't doing quite as well as Mr. Friedman thinks. Jonathan Steel, in the Guardian, suggests that Iraqis just might not like us all that much.

Your Weekly Rush: Fleeing the Country

Yeah, Rush is strongly considering leaving the country because he's tired of all the crap he has to put up with here.

I am angrier today, and I can't tell you why. I just want to tell you I'm mad. I had to deal with some things for four hours last night and I'm not going to whine about it.

I'm just going to tell you: I have been angrier than I was and still am last night in years. I cannot tell you how angry, and everything that's happened this morning is just irritating the absolute living daylights out of me and I'm just about ready to chuck all this and head to some island, get everybody's hands out of my back pocket as soon as I frigging can because I have had it. I've had it with the state of New York. I've had it with the federal government. I've had it with everybody with their hands in my back pocket wanting this and wanting that. Nothing is ever enough for anybody and it's not worth it. At some point you just decide it isn't worth it and let people fend for themselves.

I have just about had it dealing with these people, these little Nazis that run around and claim that I live someplace that I don't and want to extract multiple millions of dollars in taxes in a place I don't even live, and I've just had it! I've just literally had it with all of this stuff, and I'm not going to say anything more about it, but I just want you to know that I'm still fuming and anything that irritates me in the slightest bit reminds me how mad I was last night and still am today, and it just frosts me, and when I couple it with all of this rigmarole I hear from the liberals in this country about (sigh) taxes and who's not paying their fair share and stuff, it just makes me boiling mad with livid rage.

I added in additional paragraph spaces to make it easier to read. Anyway I have to admit my first thought was a phrase involving the words "ass" and "door," but I decided that was not charitable enough. Instead I would like to say how sorry I am that Rush is expected to pay his taxes like everybody else. I mean it is a shame that Rush's incredibly opulent lifestyle may be reined in just a little bit. Poor guy.

Two Scandals

Two scandals, both alike in corpulence,
In America, where we find our scene,
Ancient pattern breaks to new betrayal,
Illegal acts make civil hands unclean.
Discovering the horrid acts of men
A pair of star-cross'd writers take their pens;
In a futile attempt to overthrow
The mendacity of corporations

At this point I'd like to make two points. One, I know it doesn't rhyme. That would take extra work. Two, there's a pretty good chance I'm taking poetry month too seriously.

On to the scandals. Terrence Jeffrey writes about the fact that companies are paying the social security wages to workers who do not have social security numbers (and are, apparently, illegal aliens). He paints a picture that these illegal aliens coming from Mexico might very well be terrorists based on the theory that Al-Qaeda might want to come into the country illegally.

I don't doubt there might be some advantage to coming into the country illegally, but I question why they would pick Mexico as the appropriate location to enter. Consider the Canadian border. About the same distance from the Middle East. And much less guarded. At any rate, he eventually returns to his point, which is that the Government needs to clamp down on corporations hiring illegal aliens. Which I agree with. I also have some concern for the people that these corporations are exploiting, but don't think that Mr. Jeffry shares that concern.

On the other hand Molly Ivins writes about another scandal involving our banking industry.

Which brings us back to the howling over the plan to give government access to possibly hundreds of millions of international banking records in order to track and deter terrorism. As a good civil libertarian, I'm concerned about the privacy issues here myself. But money laundering, whether for terrorist purposes or tax evasion, is a crime.

I'm curious about the mental calculus that goes on in the Bush Administration to make this call. "Well it would stop terrorists but it would make it harder for the very wealthy to avoid paying taxes. What to do, what to do."

I also think its stunning that in two obvious areas, international financing of terrorists and making our borders more secure, the Bush administration shows little to no interest in solving the problems. I mean think what they might accomplish if they put in the type of effort they have put into passing tax cuts.

Discover the Network

I try not to link to Salon that much, although I love the site and read it constantly, because if you are not a member you have to watch an ad to see the content. That said they are having quite a good week, and today's story (by John Gorenfeld) involves David Horowitz and the "Discover the Network" Website. In it, Gorenfeld explores the absurdity of a database linking Film Critic Roger Ebert and terrorist Mohammed Atta.

One man who won't be removed from the database is Ebert, No. 298. "I was surprised to find myself linked to a terrorist I have never heard of," Ebert said, facetiously. "I was not curious enough about him to Google him, but perhaps he will Google me and, having discovered my wonderful reviews, will renounce terrorism and spend more time at the movies." (What earned Ebert his spot, the site says, was his criticizing "runaway corporations," accusing the U.S. death penalty system of inequity, and making an unflattering reference to former Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris.)

"The one link Discover the Network seems to be missing is 'David Horowitz and Sen. Joseph McCarthy,'" Ebert says. "David was a respected journalist. He could be a respected conservative commentator. Why does he lower himself to rabble-rousing?"

Good question, but it sort of misses the point. Horowitz believes in ideology over the truth and has for years. He believed in ideology when he was on the far right and he believes in it now that he is on the far left. And his ideology trumps any sense of perspective a real reporter needs to have.

Another look at the Dominionist Movement

Just read, thanks to a helpful reader, about an event held back in February that seems to parallel yesterdays Scorched Earth post to a certain extent. Consider the following passage.

In their view, the Founding Fathers never intended to erect a barrier between politics and religion. "The First Amendment does not say there should be a separation of church and state," declares Alan Sears, president and CEO of the Alliance Defense Fund, a team of 750 attorneys trained by the Dominionists to fight abortion and gay marriage. Sears argues that the constitutional guarantee against state-sponsored religion is actually designed to "shield" the church from federal interference -- allowing Christians to take their rightful place at the head of the government. "We have a right, indeed an obligation, to govern," says David Limbaugh, brother of Rush and author of Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity. Nothing gets the Dominionists to their feet faster than ringing condemnations of judicial tyranny. "Activist judges have systematically deconstructed the Constitution," roars Rick Scarborough, author of Mixing Church and State. "A God-free society is their goal!"

Activist judges, of course, are precisely what the Dominionists want. Their model is Roy Moore, the former Alabama chief justice who installed a 5,300-pound granite memorial to the Ten Commandments, complete with an open Bible carved in its top, in the state judicial building.

Doesn't the word "Dominionists" send a chill up your spine?

Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Nicholas D. Kristoff, writing in the New York Times, takes on the current media climate and trends. Not surprisingly he notes that the people are less trusting of the news media than ever before. He also notes the potential pitfall this might be to reporters.

The safety net for American journalism throughout history has been not so much the First Amendment - rather, it's been public approval of the role of the free press. Public approval is our life-support system, and it is now at risk.

It is a tricky time for reporters, on has to admit. Mr. Kristoff lays too much of the blame for current conditions at the feet of his colleagues I believe. He argues that his colleagues need "More openness, more willingness to run corrections, more ombudsmen, more acknowledgement of our failings."

That's only partially true. While those steps help, it will not stop the right wing from claiming massive liberal bias all the time. The right wing sees no value to real journalism. They only see value in that journalism that is subservient to the values and ideals of conservatism. So they are unlikely to ever shut up about liberal bias.

An Interesting Idea

T. Rex's Guide to Life has an interesting idea that I think is well worth checking out.

Movie Quotes

"Such a lot of guns around town and so few brains! You know, you're the second guy I've met today that seems to think a gat in the hand means the world by the tail." - Phillip Marlowe

"Now that there is the Tec-9, a crappy spray gun from South Miami. This gun is advertised as the most popular gun in American crime. Do you believe that shit? It actually says that in the little book that comes with it: the most popular gun in American crime. Like they're actually proud of that shit." - Ordell Robbie

Joe Monday: Last I heard you were gonna have a talk with some fellas. Next thing I hear one of them's dead.
John Smith: The conversation kind of went downhill...

"You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig." - The Man with no Name

"Let me tell you something else. It's a minor crime, to kill your wife. The major crime is that he stole my money. Your friend stole my money, and the penalty for that is capital punishment." - Marty Augustine

Anybody want to take a shot at getting the movies these quotes came from?

Scorched Earth

What sort of America do you want to live in? Well the people who attended the Confronting the Judicial War on Faith conference have a vision for the sort of America they'd like to see. Michelle Goldberg of Salon visited this conference and reported on it.

One version of this future was expressed by former Nixon staffer Howard Phillips.

Christian Reconstructionism calls for a system that is both radically decentralized, with most government functions devolved to the county level, and socially totalitarian. It calls for the death penalty for homosexuals, abortion doctors and women guilty of "unchastity before marriage," among other moral crimes. To be fair, Phillips told me that "just because a crime is capital doesn't mean you must impose the death penalty. It means it's an option." Public humiliation, he said, could sometimes be used instead.

One has to wonder how non-Christians and Atheists would fit into such a scenario. One might also wonder how Christians who do not fight into this hard right belief system might fare. Christians like, say, Judge Greer who ruled against the Schindlers in the recent Schiavo case. Well, the closing prayer of the event might give a hint.

"Father, we echo the words of the apostle Paul, because we know Judge Greer claims to be a Christian. So as the Apostle Paul said in First Corinthians 5, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus."

As Goldberg notes, "It sounded like a prayer for death."

I just have to say, I'm not sure I want these guys in charge. But as the article points out, given his recent troubles, Tom Delay needs their support and will have to pay the piper to get it. And I don't the impression they are going to be shy about asking for President Bush's support either.

Poor Mike S. Adams

This poor guy. Every article he writes he reminds you of how hard it is to be a conservative in academia. I really feel for him. Or did. Until he foolishly wrote this weeks article on a suggested reading list for Anti-Communists. He prefaces it by reminding us all that the Commies are still around.

Today things are different. We know who the communists are and where they come from. Most of them teach at American universities. We work hard every day to pay the taxes which, in turn, pay their salaries. Meanwhile, they work hard to subvert everything we do, everything we value, and everything we love.

Of course, since Mr. Adams also teaches at a University (UNC - Wilmington), some of your money goes to pay him. And, looking over his suggested reading list, I'd say he'd be comfortable destroying the things I do and the things I value.

For starters, he puts Ann Coulter's Treason on the list.

I'll pause here so you can digest that. Whiny Conservative professor recommends Ann Coulter are a valuable source for understanding Communism. You might see why I have lost my sympathy and respect for this guy.

He suggests 10 books. Four of them are by Ayn Rand (We the Living, Anthem, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged), two by George Orwell (Animal Farm and 1984). For the record I like both Animal Farm and 1984. I've read Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead. Both of them reminded me that selfish people who have life pretty good enjoy reading books which tell them that they deserve a pretty good life and everybody who has a crappy life deserves to have a crappy life.

The other ones are The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayak, Witness by Whittaker Chambers, and The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn. Nothing too objectionable here, although I can recommend ten better more balanced books on the Red Scare than Witness. But, I suppose if you are going to recommend Ann Coulter, you aren't interested in a balanced look at the Red Scare.

Pentex Lives!!

In the roleplaying game Werewolf the apocalypse, one of the big villains is the cartoonish super evil company Pentex, which has its fingers in every aspect of the financial world. Their goal? To make everything suck. Yeah, it's pretty much that simple. They are big on the whole corrupt the innocent shtick as well.

I mention this because I just saw a commercial for a product called Kellogg's Smorz Cereal. It contrasts two kids--a happy kid eating the product and a poor kid out in the woods trying to make actual S'Mores. The kid in the woods just had an awful experience and the kid eating in his happy suburban home has a great time. What's the lesson? Nature is scary; staying out of nature is fun. A lesson every kid should learn. It does make for a funny joke (well not all that funny) but couldn't you get the same lesson showing a kid loving the woods, and loving smores and wanting that same delicious taste at home?

For a review of the cereal itself, check this out.

New Quotes Page

Updated the
Quotes Page. Finally. Enjoy.

New Quote New Format

And so it goes - still haven't updated the quotes page, but maybe later on. Enjoy.