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From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
The Miami Herald's Leonard Pitts:
"Agree with them or disagree--I've done both--there is a certain pragmatism to traditional conservatives. You know where they're coming from: small government; personal responsibility; fiscal restraint. And their arguments are usually grounded in something recognizable as logic.
But social conservatism is another thing entirely, a mutant strain unhindered by critical thought. These are the nominal Christians whose Bibles are so long on judgment yet so short on compassion, the soldiers of the new American theocracy who want to force creation `science' on the schools and deportation on the Muslims.
They are the super-patriots who regard criticism as treason, the pious moralizers who believe single mothers should be barred from teaching in public schools. They are blind guides who see tens of thousands dying in Iraq and think the defining issue of the election is what gay men do in bed. They give God a bad name."
Amen.
Cheers and Jeers starts in the Extended Copy Section... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, November 9, 2004
By the Numbers:
Days `til Thanksgiving: 16
Vermonters who accepted gay civil unions in 2000: 49%
Vermonters who accept either gay marriage or civil unions today: 77%
(Source: AP)
Time it takes for Arlington National Cemetery honor guard to polish shoes: 4 Hours
(Source: U.S. News & World Report)
Percent of Americans who believe the sun orbits the Earth: 20%
(Source: Northern Ill. University)
CHEERS to chasing the bad guys. Thousands of U.S. troops storm Fallujah, and we say "Go get `em!" But we're turning blue from holding our breath, so if you boys could rout the goons a little faster, we'd appreciate it. P.S.---Didn't Pastor Bush say major combat operations in Iraq were over?
JEERS to Christianity in Action. Bush promises to bring back the Federal Marriage Amendment to keep those dirty gays from practicing their sick "values" of love, fidelity, and shared responsibility through legal matrimony. Will a Federal Straights-Can't-Get-Divorced amendment be next? Um...no.
CHEERS to recognizing reality. Americans may not agree with gay marriage, but they sure do know when the economy sucks: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041108/480/nyet25511081447. Somebody's not praying hard enough. Slacker.
CHEERS to the Masterdebator. John Kerry's got 4 more years of his Senate term left and, despite his loss Tuesday, will likely be a strong voice for Democrats and a thorn in the Bush's side. But please keep studying those one-syllable-word flashcards, Senator.
CHEERS to revenge of the nerds. The FBI's pencil-pushing analysts beat the bureau's pistol-packing agents 21-7 in post-training-mission football game last week. Score one...I mean, three...for the little guy. Heh.
JEERS to public indecency. What could be worse than Janet Jackson's boob? How `bout Andrew Sullivan making love to his own butt on Bill Maher's show last Friday: http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/001676.html#001676. "Oh shit, Chairman Powell's on line three..."
JEERS to getting the sniffles. A Minnesota health clinic, with no flu vaccine on hand, is instead giving patients a can of chicken soup and a box of Kleenex. If you die, your relatives can use the tissues to dab their eyes. How thoughtful.
CHEERS to movin' on up. DailyKos is now listed as one of the political news sources you can add to your MyYahoo home page (click and scroll down): http://e.my.yahoo.com/config/cstore?.opt=topic&.node=927&.page=p1. My fee's gonna go through the roof now. Retroactive, of course.
CHEERS to Republican-based morality. Rush Limbaugh: Divorced drug addict. Bill Bennett: Chronic gambling addict. Ralph Reed: Paid casino consultant. Bill O'Reilly: Loofah-toting Perv. Bob Novak: CIA agent-outer = Traitor. I'm sensing a pattern here.
JEERS to The Odd Couple. Ahmed Chalabi--who sat next to Laura Bush at this year's State of the Union address---and Shiite madman Muqtada al-Sadr are teaming up to be Iraq's first duly-elected leaders: http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/re.aspx?re=34EAE71C-954B-4177-8130-F28E4B399F0F. Throw some popcorn in the microwave, kids...and let's watch this train wreck together.
JEERS to being MIA at the NYT. From today's editorial page: "Paul Krugman is on book leave until January." Reality bites.
CHEERS to Bob Graham. Diary entry #2,347,421---11/9/04---7:15am: Happy Birthday to Me. Happy Birthday to Me. Happy 68th Birthday Dear Bob. Happy Birthday to Me. 7:16: Moved bowels---feeling fresh!
CHEERS to the new blog on the block. Liberal Street Fighter--led by Kossacks theoria, Meteor Blades and others---debuts with a formula for success: smarts + passion / experience > snark = http://liberalstreetfighter.com/ee/index.php. Nothing fuzzy about that math.
JEERS to cold, dark days. No, not Bush's second term, silly. Northern Maine got its first snowfall Friday: http://www.wmtw.com/Global/story.asp?S=2525758&nav=7k6rSoKt. Soon we'll stop eating clam chowder and start soaking in it (the potatoes are an excellent exfoliant).
CHEERS to European visitors. The Euro keeps getting stronger vs. the not-so-almighty dollar, making vacations to the US of A more affordable than ever. Kinda makes me wish we hadn't scared `em off last Tuesday.
JEERS to America's old allies. On this date in 1980, Saddam Hussein declared war against Iran. And we couldn't start sending weapons of mass destruction to him fast enough. Yay for us!
CHEERS to departing Kos alumni. Trapper John, DemfromCT, and C&J's most notorious supporter, Meteor Blades, are moving on from their guest-blogging duties here. May you have fair winds and following seas. (But C&J is staying put. Please curb your enthusiasm.)
Cheers and Jeers Flashback: June 9, 2004...
CHEERS to the U.N. Unanimously passes resolution endorsing transfer of 'soverinity' to Iraq. But as for financial or military assistance? Our translators are still trying to decipher "Nein," "Nyet," and "Non."
JEERS to Saddam's demise. Prosecutors are having trouble building their case against him, in part because no witnesses are willing to come forward...and they're lacking a little thing called evidence. Are golf outings with O.J. in his future?
And just one more...
JEERS to dead psychics. A friend sent us this apt H.L. Mencken quote yesterday: "As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." Watch yer back, Nostradamus...this guy's goood.
Floor's open. What are you cheering and jeering
about today?
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