ugh.

Well, count me as one of the people now unemployed in this non-recession recession.

My boss just came in with the HR person and gave me the news. They're taking the budget back to 2005 and well, that is before my job existed here, so I'm gone.

Decent severance 2 weeks pay, and full support for collecting unemployment.

To the jump.

I've often argued (but then again I'm no lawyer) that one of the more solid arguments against the current "one man one woman" marriage paradigm, is that it's gender discrimination.

Really. It seems pretty straightforward to me.

Let's say I want to marry this guy, call him Abe. If I'm a woman I can marry Abe. If I'm a guy, I can't. That to me sounds pretty cut-and-dry discrimination based on my gender.

To the jump.

Yup! There's ice up there. And as a political junkie I'm psyched!

Why? Why should this news make a political junkie happy? Why is this news for a political blog? Because science best describes reality, and as our esteemed colleague Mr. Colbert said, "Reality has a liberal bias."

And when reality has a problem, we liberals have a problem. A triumph for science is a triumph for liberals.

Let's get on the Reality Express and go for a jump!

I never really watched Beavis and Butthead back in the day. Probably had/has something to do with the fact that I don't have a TeeVee.

But I do remember watching it on occasion over at friends' houses, so that I have a vague idea of who was who.

Anyway, Beavis was the blond guy (I googled it just to make sure). And he liked violence. He liked killing things. He liked fire. And while I don't KNOW this, I think he said "kick ass" a lot.

Well, now we have retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, who used to command the troops in Iraq, informing us that, yup, for the last 7 years, we've had Beavis in the White House.

To the kick ass jump.

Oh my god. Just finished having to hear NPR provide the Bush Administration with a custom made propaganda piece.

Noah Adams was the server of this tripe.

ugh. to the jump

I gotta say that I've been thinking about this. With how this primary has been going, I've thought that there must be some people who voted for Hillary, who wish they could change their vote.

Turns out it's true.

I'm sure there are those out there who would switch the other way, but this poll shows that there is a net gain and if the CA primary was a do-over, there'd be a victory for Obama.

Jump!

3/1

3 to 1

By a margin of THREE TO ONE.

Yup. It'll be burned into your brain by the end of the day if it isn't by now. It's the new HRC mantra.

And like some guy named Kos said here, "But that's not a bad thing."

Because you know folks? He outspent her because he OUTRAISED her. And that money came from you.

To the jump!

This is a new angle for me. I've never diaried something that was initially written without publication in mind. It is an email I wrote to my brother-in-law.

Anyway, at the end of the day, I've re-read this thing, and wonder of wonders, I don't hate it.

More after the jump.

Hat tip to MB at Blacknell.net found via leftyblogs.

Hey all you rabble rousers! Don't you get it! Being manly is it, and the way to be IT, is to obey the "lawful authority!"

Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character.

- (Confederate) General Robert E. Lee

Yup, and now you should know that that quote now graces the new Arlington County automobile decal.

But it gets better! Apparently they hired George Orwell Design LLC (actually it was a student competition).

Because the quote is superimposed over the American flag, along with an image of the pentagon!

JINGO was his NAME-O!!

More righteous indignation after the jump!

Warning! This diary contains spoilers for the movie No Country for Old Men. If you haven't seen it, and don't want to know what happens, don't read past the jump.

I just read dday's diary and it reminded me of a diary idea that I had shortly after I walked out of seeing the new Coen brothers' movie No Country for Old Men

dday mentions, among other things, the damage that Bush has done, and will do, through his numerous judicial appoinments.

He walks off and leaves us with quite a mess. We may revel in the victory that we seem assured of this coming November. But lest we forget, like the spoiled man-child he is, Bush leaves us with his mess; bodies piled high, enemies reinvigorated, allies now alienated.

To the jump.

Last warning. There are spoilers on the other side.

Just watched a video of Jerry Sanders, the mayor of San Diego, announcing that he will support a resolution that was recently approved by city council. It's no small moment for a man who opposed gay marriage.

There isn't too much to say other than the fact that watching this man announce such a change of heart is to watch the embodiment of hope. To see that there is change to be had.

We don't have to wait for people to die to get the change we need. Hearts expand.

To the jump.

Heard a snippet this morning on NPR about Mitt Romney's "pro-life" renovation. It included something along the lines of opposing abortion except in cases of rape, incest and when the woman's life is in danger.

Hmm, I thought, there they go again with that really convenient exception that just blows holes in their entire arguement.

I looked it up just to be sure.

According to his site.

Governor Romney: "I am pro-life. I believe that abortion is the wrong choice except in cases of incest, rape, and to save the life of the mother. I wish the people of America agreed, and that the laws of our nation could reflect that view. But while the nation remains so divided over abortion, I believe that the states, through the democratic process, should determine their own abortion laws and not have them dictated by judicial mandate."
(Boston Globe, Op-Ed, July 26, 2005)

We oughta be making hay with this backdoor escape plan.

To the jump!

Work has been crazy lately so I didn't have time to comment on a statement made in a diary yesterday. The sentiment contained in this statement represents both a challenge to progressives and of course, as with most challenges, there is opportunity within.

In attempting to summarize the strong opposition to amnesty that is behind a great deal of the GOP base melt-down, the diarist took a dangerous leap in caricature.

And what is it that is pissing the base off so much that they're no longer willing to contribute to the Republican Party?  Why, it's the scary brown people!!

Folks, by projecting our own stereotypes AT people, we drown out the diversity of their opinions, and WE are the ones who will lose in the long run.

To the break!

Not 202 per week, not per month, but in a whole freakin year! That's it. 202.

Just heard the following quote on the radio from Secretary of State Rice.

I think it is an issue we must really get on top of.

Really? How very forward thinking of you Ms. Rice.

To the jump!

It would probably come as a surprise to many conservatives that NPR is NOT the darling of everyone on the left.

I myself have serious issues with NPR's MSM approach and will never forgive them for helping to sell the Iraq war. But tonight, they impressed me with just a small sign of intelligent life and maybe even some constructive infighting.

They read no less than 4 letters from listeners, all HIGHLY critical of Juan Williams' absolutely vapid "interview" with George Bush.

To the jump.

As most of you have probably heard and read, the pentagon has unveiled and budgeted for a ray gun.

According to EETimes;

Procurement of the nonlethal weapon has been incorporated into the Pentagon's budget planning cycle. Called the Active Denial System, the gyrotron energy beam is DoD's first nonlethal, anti-personnel, directed-energy weapon. The millimeter-wave energy beam works by heating the skin's surface, invoking an involuntary "flee" response. The beam is less powerful than a microwave beam.

Most criticism aimed (pun intended) at this weapon, known as the ADS, focuses on the risks associated with it. Does it really work as the pentagon says? What are the long term effects? What about ocular (eyes) damage? What about pregnant women?

These concerns are, of course, legitimate and should be addressed and understood. But these concerns are not what worry me.

To me, the implications of a properly functioning ADS are far more frightening than an ADS that malfunctions, or one that does not function as promised.

To the jump!

First off, the background on this story is that Charles Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, speaking in an interview on Federal News Radio suggested that large corporations boycott lawfirms that defend Guantanamo detainees.

Part of what he said includes,

And I think, quite honestly, when corporate CEOs see that those firms are representing the very terrorists who hit their bottom line back in 2001, those CEOs are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms.

Just amazing skills that he has there, knowing who's guilty even before a trial! Trials, how quaint.

Yahoo has some of it here.

Well now he's apologizing . . . sort of.

And we jump!

This is sure to one of hundreds of diaries over the next few days taking Bush to task over his dramatically underwhelming speech to the nation on Wednesday eve.

As one of the commenters said on NPR after the speech, "this is 'stay the course' with 20,000 more troops."

But what stuck out to me, among many things, was how Bush avoided responsibility (of course) while trying to make it seem that he was standing up like a big man. But that wasn't all of course.

And we do the jump.