Romney and THE GAY
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Petey is all over it. He doesn’t think Mr. Anti-Gay Marriage is anti-gay enough.
Can George Soros give Petey some money. There could be nothing better for Democrats than giving this guy a higher profile.
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All Your Favorite Right Wing Religious Nuts in One Place
Hating on Obama’s participation in Rick Warren’s conference on how to reduce AIDS in Africa.
The problem with Obama’s participation in the conference. He’s a baby killer and so no one should work on a common area of interest.
Like saving lives.
It’s official, none of the signatories ever get to claim to be pro-life again.
Some of the favorites on the Illinois circuit of wingnuts are on the list including Schlafly, Petey, and Kevin McCulloch.
I wonder if we’ll be seeing such criticism of Sam Brownback since both Obama and Brownback have worked on ending the genocide in Darfur.
With Any Luck
Tonight I’ll have the new motherboard in my computer as UPS Tracking says it’s in St. Louis–I can then get back to more regular postings.
Duckworth to Veterans Affairs
When he asks you to hire friends. Don’t.
But seriously, it’s a good pick and she should do a good job assuming the Governor gives her the resources she needs.
I Understand Why Obama Is Calling for Phased Withdrawal
But in practice it’s pointless. Everything about strategy he is saying is correct and he certainly had better judgment about this war at the beginning than I did, but Atrios makes a point on what pushing for a gradual withdrawal does:
The basic content of what Obama is saying, divorced from the larger debate, is fine, but as to how it plays in the current debate it’s not fine. It allows us to wait around one more Friedman… and then something will happen. Except it won’t happen. Troops will not start coming home 4-6 months from now. And, most likely, 4-6 months from now Obama won’t be saying “bring them home now,” though I’ve put him on my little calendar and will make sure to check back then and let you know.
The thing is that “bring them home now” doesn’t really mean now. It doesn’t mean that thousands of troops start boarding transport planes for the trip home. It just means that the focus shifts from staying to leaving, and the latter slowly begins to happen. Every time someone punts that action for yet another Friedman, it helps to ensure that the end of the war will always be a Friedman away.
The reality is that the President is trying to run out the clock and he’s going to use Gates, The Baker group, and Democrats playing by the civil rules of discussion to draw out our involvement in Iraq.
Obama is stuck in the final trap that Bush has created where calling for an immediate withdrawal is seen as irresponsible, but he keeps everyone talking about changing things in 6 months. Six months later, repeat.
If Obama were President, the plan would be fine. If Chuck Hagel were President, it would be fine. If so and so were President it would be fine. They aren’t. George Bush is and he’s convinced that he’s Hal Jordan and he can will a win–all he needs is time. Time has to not be an option for him anymore and why I respect the thought the Senator has put into this, it only plays into the Administration getting another six months to talk about some new thing that’s not new.
One year ago Obama said the same thing, but with a little less urgency. That we would be here right now and seeing Iraq deteriorating is exactly what I expected-it’s one of the reasons I predicted a Democratic wave in the summer of 2005–even before Katrina. The way this administration works, we’ll have Obama saying with even more urgency in 2007 that we need to start a draw down of troops.
Alfonso Soriano to the Cubs
Sweet. Now, about that pitching staff.
And People Say Leo, Fritchey and I are Full of Hate
Kevin McCulloch comments on Rick Warren having Obama speak at his church:
Why would Warren marry the moral equivalency of his pulpit – a sacred place of honor in evangelical tradition – to the inhumane, sick, and sinister evil that Obama has worked for as a legislator?
It’s a hoot.
Generally, the unhinged right is having a field day. I’ll drop a few more in for fun (and no that doesn’t mean all conservatives–it means the unhinged who write this kind of tripe.
Rick Warren isn’t my kind of preacher, but he’s honest–he opens his books up for everyone and keeps only a very small portion of his income, he talks and acts on serious issues like Darfur and AIDS in Africa and he’s willing to dialogue with people who strongly disagee with him on issues. I may not go to his church, but I certainly can respect the man.
In Case You Haven’t Seen the UCLA Tape
The police tasered the student after he went limp.
Yeah. Non-lethal force is used when there is a threat. This is as stupid as when the police used pepper spray on non-violent protesters in Richard Pombo’s office. There is some indication the problem started when the random check of IDs was random to only the Iranian looking guy. That part needs to be figured out by an investigation.
However, that the police claim force was used when the student went limp is a major violation of police practices. In such cases you pick up the kid and put him in a cruiser–you don’t beat him, spray him with pepper spray, hit him with eletrical jolts.
Also, when other students came to his defense, they threatened to taser the objecting students.
“Stand up or you’ll get tased again” Then they tase him. They then scream at him to stand up again and tase him again. Finally the students move in to try and stop it and the police threaten to tase them after the intitial student has left and the students are attempting to gain information to report the incident.
UCLA is going to face the mother of all lawsuits on this one and the individual officers will almost certainly face criminal charges with significant prison time.
In college I saw more than a few incidents of students getting out of control—and none of them involved a student begging security to stop and going limp. I remember one particular jackass who beat his girlfriend and then after being sat on by 3 300 pound+ security guys screaming that he was going to kick their asses for 30 minutes while flailing.
I knew security so I walked up and chatted with the fourth guard standing up calling for the police for a minute and the entire attitude was completely different. It was one of annoyance, but indifference. They controlled the situation and didn’t particularly care for the kid on bottom–it wasn’t the first incident, though it was the last—but they weren’t wanting to beat him up. They were stopping him from violence against another. And even then they didn’t lose their temper and try and hurt the kid, they simply restrained him. It’s not terribly difficult to restrain someone going limp.
These guys weren’t police, they were security guards and they had pepper spray that they never even contemplated using under the circumstances because they were trained to deal with the situation, not make it worse.
Hey Trib, Another Failure in Bipartisanship
It’s all the Democrats fault that George Bush went out and found the biggest friggen wingnut doctor he could find and is appointing the doctor to oversee Title X programs dealing with family planning.
I’m sure whether the Democrats approve the nomination is a test of that bipartisanship they promised because, you know, all of those Republicans who are virgins when the get married and don’t use contraception.
Keroack has a crackpot theory about the oxytocin vicious cycle that leads to meaningless sex and stuff.
The President just nominated a whack job to be the head of a government agency. It’s not the first and it won’t be the last, but apparently it’s not a big deal.
To make it clear, this is like appointing Jack Chick head of The National Science Foundation.