Too little, too late
Thu Apr 06, 2006 at 10:09:02 AM PDT
Congresswoman Pelosi:
I guess I could start this diary by listing all the occasions on which your "leadership" of the house dems has let me down, not the least of which was your failure to support Russ Feingold on his censure resolutions and your failure to speak out about the intelligence failures leading up to the war until long after everyone else did. Unfortunately, I don't have the time or the energy right now.
You make me tired, Representative Pelosi.
John Kass Says Something Right!
Wed Sep 07, 2005 at 06:13:27 AM PDT
Is everyone sitting down? I hope so, because this is the title of John Kass's Column today in the
Chicago Tribune:
Mother's Remark Puts Silver Foot in Bush's Mouth
Yes, John Kass. I know, I couldn't believe it either. Actually criticizing someone on the right. But wait, it gets better:
I was all set to defend President Bush as a guy who really doesn't want poor black people in Louisiana and Mississippi to die of starvation and disease, no matter what the Democrats say.
But then Barbara Bush, the president's mom, went and dusted off the Bush family silver foot Monday. And she used it.
While touring the Houston Astrodome, where thousands of Hurricane Katrina refugees have been huddling, Barbara Bush said they didn't have it so bad because, heck, they were poor to begin with.
"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas," she was quoted as saying in an interview on National Public Radio.
More below the fold:
Condolences to the British Embassy
Thu Jul 07, 2005 at 06:57:23 AM PDT
I don't know if anyone has posted this yet, and, as a matter of fact, I'm a little too shell-shocked this morning to care. I sent my condolences to the UK Embassy in the US via
this link
I remember how much seeing all the makeshift memorials in other countries afer 9/11 meant to me. Please let the people of Great Britain know that our thoughts are with them today.
Noah's Ark and Dinosaurs: These are the Idiots We Are Up Against
Wed Jun 08, 2005 at 08:54:31 PM PDT
I almost can't believe I actually read this. THESE are the idiots that keep kicking our asses at the polls?
Saw this today on Americablog
I don't even know where to begin telling you all about this creationist explanation of paleontology, but let me throw these gems out there for your consideration(and it helps if you hear Troy McClure's voice doing the narration).
Before you dip below the fold, take a deep breath, and, if you have a drink handy, you might want to get that now. Ready? Okay--follow me into the wonderful world of dinosaurs!
Say it with me, Chicago: John Kass is an IDIOT!
Thu Jun 02, 2005 at 08:48:20 AM PDT
Did you know that Linda Tripp is as much a hero as Deep Throat? NO? Well, you obviously don't read the
Trib's John Kass !
With so much attention rightfully being paid to the unmasking of W. Mark Felt as "Deep Throat," the source of Watergate fame, it was time for a cultural experiment.
So I typed "W. Mark Felt" into the news bar in Google and pressed the "enter" key.
Up came stories about Felt, the former senior FBI official who leaked information to the Washington Post, and articles from that symbiotic relationship that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
But cultural experiments must be fair. Otherwise, angry Nixonians could accuse me of liberal elitism, or is that elite mainstream mediaism?
Follow me below the fold. . .
Christian Right Opposes Cervical Cancer Vaccine
Thu May 26, 2005 at 07:43:10 AM PDT
Most of us women probably know someone who has had, if not full-blown cervical cancer, at least "suspicious cells" that she had to have scraped out of her cervix. As a lawyer for domestic violence victims, I see young girls every week, many of them pregnant, who have had "bad" pap smears. Heck, in law school, I once had a pap smear misread and had to be re-tested. The week I had to wait for my test results was agony. Would I ever be able to have kids? Was I going to die of cancer? Had they caught the cancer in time? I didn't know. After all, 4,000 women in the U.S. die of cervical cancer every year.
Fear and Loathing in Alabama
Fri May 20, 2005 at 07:24:35 AM PDT
This article pretty much sums up why my husband and I no longer participate in the Catholic chuch we were raised in. I am stunned to know that this kind of thing is still going on in 2005. No wonder we didn't get any votes in the South. . .
MONTGOMERY, Alabama (AP) -- A pregnant student who was banned from graduation at her Roman Catholic high school announced her own name and walked across the stage anyway at the close of the program.
Alysha Cosby's decision prompted cheers and applause Tuesday from many of her fellow seniors at St. Jude Educational Institute.
But her mother and aunt were escorted out of the church by police after Cosby headed back to her seat.
Should Soldiers Ever Be Charged with Murder?
Tue Apr 26, 2005 at 07:07:51 AM PDT
Sixty percent of those responding to this MSNBC poll think not.
MSNBC Poll
I think that the responses to this poll speak volumes about the "USA, USA!" culture going on in our society right now. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000 Iraqi civilians are dead, and most of this country just shrugs and references the "horrors of war." Disgusting.
Please help by freeping the above poll.
HOORAY!!!! MSNBC.com gets something right!
Wed Apr 13, 2005 at 09:48:57 AM PDT
Check out this headline on msnbc.com:
"Delay wants GOP to blame Dems for his woes"
Hey! It doesn't get much better than that!
Once you click on the link you get this:
"Delay Asks Peers to Blame Dems"
Help Save Arrested Development!
Tue Feb 22, 2005 at 12:48:40 PM PDT
Sorry--I know this is a far lighter topic than usual around here, but this is the smartest, funniest show to come along in years. So of course, it's on the chopping block:
Bateman, who stars as Michael in the acerbic Fox comedy about the dysfunctional Bluth family, offers a solution: "You've got the Pax network if you want a good hug."
But he and the rest of the "Arrested Development" clan might be in need of comfort: Fox is halting production after 18 episodes, shy of the usual 22, bringing the season -- and maybe the series -- to a premature end April 17.
"American Dad" takes its 8:30 p.m. EST Sunday slot starting May 1. The animated comedy about a CIA agent and his family scored in a post-Super Bowl preview and Fox awarded it the premium real estate after "The Simpsons."
A Media Experiment, On Behalf Of the Iraqi People
Tue Feb 08, 2005 at 09:32:42 AM PDT
As you all know, the SCLM has not reported, leaked, whispered, written, or broadcast one word about the numbers of Iraqi civilians killed in the war. I, like may of you, was stunned when Johns Hopkins came out with it's estimate of 100,000 civilians killed last fall. God knows how much that number has gone up since then. We certainly don't, since no one ever tells us. I continue to be ashamed and mortified that my country has engaged in slaughtering tens of thousands of innocent civlians without so much as an acknowledgment of their deaths. And, as the American people aren't clamoring for accountability, it appears that this number will go undocumented, unreported, and ignored by the media, and thus, by the American people.
CIA Report Says U.S. Dominance on the Decline
Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 02:41:47 PM PDT
"Well Duh!" was my response when I first read that sentence. Still though, the only world I've ever known is the one where we are the biggest, strongest kid on the block. The thought of us not being a dominant global force is actually kind of scary, even though I realize that, as of late, we have been using our powers for evil rather than for good. A part of me still longs for the American that I felt we were when I was growing up: you know, the good guys. Sigh.
Here's what Slate's Fed Kaplan has to say about the Report:
Who will be the first politician brave enough to declare publicly that the United States is a declining power and that America's leaders must urgently discuss what to do about it? This prognosis of decline comes not (or not only) from leftist scribes rooting for imperialism's downfall, but from the National Intelligence Council--the "center of strategic thinking" inside the U.S. intelligence community.
Still MORE Payola: Third Pundit Outed
Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 12:09:45 PM PDT
If you can believe it. Anyone want to place bets on how many more are out there?
From Salon.com:
One day after President Bush ordered his Cabinet secretaries to stop hiring commentators to help promote administration initiatives, and one day after the second high-profile conservative pundit was found to be on the federal payroll, a third embarrassing hire has emerged. Salon has confirmed that Michael McManus, a marriage advocate whose syndicated column, "Ethics & Religion," appears in 50 newspapers, was hired as a subcontractor by the Department of Health and Human Services to foster a Bush-approved marriage initiative. McManus championed the plan in his columns without disclosing to readers he was being paid to help it succeed.
Media Watch 1-26-05
Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 09:07:11 AM PDT
Back when I was in The Ernie Pyle School of Journalism at Indiana University (Go Hoosiers!), we used to start every session in my Media 101 class by looking at the headlines in the major newspapers (1991--too early for websites), and discussing what the media was reporting, how they were "framing" the story with the headlines, and why. Aaron Brown does something similar at the end of his program every night.
The reason for doing this is simple, something like 50% of those with newspaper subscriptions only read the headlines. I'm assuming the same is true of websites, especially thinking back on all the times I click on a news site, skim the headlines and go on to something else.
Keith Olbermann Getting Pummeled by Dobson's Minions
Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 08:23:04 AM PDT
Of course, all of this relating to his amusement over the Spongebob Squarepants saga.
Keith, blogging from vacation:
The video itself-- which we showed on Countdown-- contains not a single reference to sexuality (and only about four clips of SpongeBob-- heck, the Count from Sesame Street stole the damn picture). And the advice to the teachers seemed pretty logical (as opposed to telling a seven-year old that his best friend and his two Mommies were all going to Hell).
The spam e-mails began coming in Tuesday night. They were pretty routine, damning me to eternal fires and reminding me what they "did" to Dan Rather and how I'd be next. But they were generated from Dobson's own website, which of course negates their impact, and as a result a lot of them were downright hilarious.
John Kass is such an ass
Thu Jan 20, 2005 at 09:41:20 AM PDT
For once, he wrote a quasi well-reasoned and sensible column, chastising Bush for the extravagant inaugural while the country is at war. Then the real John Kass showed up.
Here's how it started out:
Donald Trump's latest piece of eye candy, a brunet this time, is busy showing off her fancy wedding dress.
Meanwhile, President Bush's inauguration festivities will offer lavish entertainments, and balls, parties, fetes, suppers, mountains of beef tenderloin and so on. There were no reports of medieval egg dancers in curly-toed boots, but there will be jesters aplenty.
So what is the difference between the parties costing a record $40 million and that wedding dress Trump purchased for his new true love?
Not much. Both are overdone and self-indulgent, reported on with red-carpet celebrity breathlessness. The word I'm looking for is "vulgar," since Americans with family and friends in the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are worried.
They're worried a government sedan might pull up to their homes, an officer telling them their son or husband or daughter will be coming home sooner than planned.
Soldier facing court martial for refusing 2nd tour in Iraq
Thu Jan 13, 2005 at 12:58:04 PM PDT
I wish more soldiers were as brave as this guy:
From CNN.com:
A mechanic with nine years in the Army, including a role in the assault on Baghdad, has refused to return to Iraq, claiming "you just don't know how bad it is."
Sgt. Kevin Benderman, 40, said he became morally opposed to war after seeing it firsthand during his first Iraq tour. Now he faces a possible court-martial after failing to deploy Friday with his unit.
"I told them that I refused deployment because I just couldn't go back over there," Benderman said Wednesday. "If I'm going to sit up there and tell everyone that I do not believe in war, why would I go back to a war zone?"
In Defense of Frivolous Law Suits
Mon Jan 10, 2005 at 11:56:40 AM PDT
Tort "reform" is all the rage these days. Everywhere I turn, I see editorials, commentators, newscasters (unfortunately), and politicians towing the same line: the legal system in this country has run amok, juries are out of control! Jury damages have to be capped, limited, brought back to earth! Of course, this is all the work of greedy trial lawyers and their co-horts in the Democratic Party. Of course they don't want tort reform--that's how they all got rich!!!!
Well, I'm a trial lawyer, too, and I'm not rich. I'm a public interest lawyer, and people would be shocked at how little I make. Of course, the posterchild for the tort reform movement is (all together now) the McDonald's coffee case. While almost everyone knows about the case, too few people know the actual facts of the case. So, by way of example, here's my case against tort reform.
The Real Story of the McDonald's Coffee Case (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Litigation) below the fold.
