Strayhorn (No Tax Exemption For Unitarians) vs. Perry for Texas Governor
Tue Jan 03, 2006 at 03:32:13 PM PDT
From the Houston Chronicle:
AUSTIN - Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, in either a bold stroke or a huge long shot, stepped away from the Republican primary Monday to challenge Gov. Rick Perry as an independent candidate.
No independent candidate has won the Governor's Mansion in the 147 years since it was taken by Sam Houston, a hero of the Texas war for independence and two-time president of the Republic of Texas.
http://www.chron.com/...
Instantly upon hearing her name, I remembered two things about Strayhorn. The first is that she is White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's mother.
The other was an abuse of power in her office as Texas' Comptroller to deny Unitarians a tax-exempt status. More below the fold...
Unfortunate Ad Placement?
Tue Aug 09, 2005 at 12:00:13 PM PDT
(Something weird going on with my webhost. The rest of my website comes up just fine, but these pictures seem to have been deleted on their end.)
The Tampa Tribune is running an article on Florida Representative Katherine Harris' accusation that some newspapers colorized her photos. Next to the article is a rotating ad. One ad from Cirque du Soleil adds a little extra humor to the story.
http://www.tampatrib.com/FloridaMetro/MGBY1483XBE.html
Click for full-size version of screen captures. Three more after the fold.
DSM: Break the BAT! Help DFA get the word out!
Fri Jun 17, 2005 at 05:44:49 PM PDT
Help DFA get the word out on the Downing Street Minutes!
Less than $1500 needed to bring the bat to $100,000
15 contributions of $100
30 contributions of $50
60 contributions of $25
150 contributions of $10
The Bush administration "fixed" the facts leading to Iraq and made virtually no plans for an exit strategy. The American public has been lied to, but you'll hear barely a peep about it on the news. So we asked the DFA community earlier this week to tell us how to make the Downing Street Memo and the Secret UK Eyes Only briefing paper--and their implications--more widely-known.
Thousands of ideas have been submitted so far, and Democracy for America will use the funds raised to spread the word about these two documents. If America's mainstream media isn't going to pick up the story, then we're going to take matters into our own hands. We have the power, right?
Click the link or the graphic above and give that ol' bat a swing!
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/contribute
Howard Dean visited DFA and blogged!
Tue Jun 14, 2005 at 05:43:04 PM PDT
From
http://www.blogforamerica.com
Democrats on the Way Back!
Guess who stopped by Democracy for America headquarters today for lunch?
From Howard Dean:
I just read Renee's blog post from yesterday. First of all, thank you! Second, it's great to see the DFA community still out there and vocal in defense of America and the ideal of American community. Third, thank you for defending me personally. I suppose it is a victory for us when the Vice-President disses your mother (it shows what the Republican leadership's values really are) but it is a disappointment nonetheless.
The real story is that the Democrats are on the way back. At the DNC we are raising money, putting people in the field, learning how to frame the debate, putting together a message as opposed to a list of issues, and setting up a communications apparatus (inspired by the Rapid Response Network) where we can be on the air everywhere with a united message. Most of all, we are fighting back!
more after the break!
Ban Gay Fairy Tales?
Sat May 28, 2005 at 01:23:10 PM PDT
From the man often credited with bringing us "freedom fries" comes this:
Dubbed the "Parental Empowerment Act," Representative Walter Jones (R) of North Carolina has introduced a bill to, according to Jones' website, "create local parental review boards that will have the authority to review library and classroom-based materials before they are purchased for elementary schools."
In a press release at Jones' website, it states:
Congressman Jones' interest in this legislation was sparked by a situation in Wilmington, NC where parents became concerned that their young children had access to books of adult content without their knowledge or consent. One book in particular, King and King, upset many parents because of its storyline detailing a homosexual marriage between two princes. The parents in Wilmington took their case to the school board where a vote was taken to restrict access to the book in local elementary schools.
More, including the complete text of the bill, after the break...
Senate: Galloway who?
Sun May 22, 2005 at 03:56:04 PM PDT
In true Orwellian fashion, it appears that the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations wants to just forget that the George Galloway appearance even took place.
From the Senate website:
Title: Oil For Influence: How Saddam Used Oil to Reward Politicians Under the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program
...
Panel 2
George Galloway , Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow , Great Britain
Mr Galloway did not submit a statement
From vnunet.com
Galloway Senate testimony PDF goes AWOL
Evidence 'missing' from Committee website
Iain Thomson, vnunet.com 20 May 2005
The website for the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs has removed testimony from UK MP George Galloway from its website.
All other witness testimonies for the hearings on the Oil for Food scandal are available on the Committee's website in PDF form. But Galloway's testimony is the only document not on the site.
Here's a link to the transcript still online at The Times:
From Times Online UK
Bushus Interruptus
Fri May 20, 2005 at 02:21:38 PM PDT
bushus in·ter·rup·tus
n.
1. Social intercourse deliberately interrupted by withdrawal of the pResident from his leisure time prior to completing evacuation.
2. Removal from office.
Laura Bush is again showing that independent side (yeah, right!)
Regarding the recent failure to interrupt George's bike ride while D.C. was under red alert, Laura had this to say:
"I think he should have been interrupted," Mrs. Bush declared, hastening to add, "but I'm not going to second-guess the Secret Service that were with him."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050520/ap_on_re_mi_ea/laura_bush
More deviation from the White House after the break...
The Pet Goat, The Sequel
Fri May 13, 2005 at 10:33:57 AM PDT
It's the protocol, Stupid!
The press conference is almost amusing. The hands-on Commander-in-Chief was kept safely and blissfully unaware of an evacuation, one that included his wife, while he was allowed to finish his bike ride through the Maryland countryside.
More, and a transcript link, after the break...
Tired of gays whining about marriage?
Sun May 08, 2005 at 04:59:35 PM PDT
Want to do something for the Conservative Cause?
Are you one of those people who believes that being gay is a choice, a product of poor parenting?
CHRIS MATTHEWS: You don`t think it`s nature? You think it`s nurture.
JERRY FALWELL: I don`t think any--I don`t think anybody is born a bank robber or born a hostile left-winger or a hostile right-winger or gay or a promiscuous heterosexual. I think there comes a time in childhood where environment may be a part of it, whatever, teaching, instruction, one chooses, I will do this or that. And that`s why good, godly parenting...
Source: MSNBC Hardball - December 2, 2004
"GOOD, GODLY PARENTING"
Now, this is just the beginnings of a theory, and I'll be the first to admit that I don't have a lot of boring studies to back me up yet, but hear me out.
What is the biggest problem facing Conservatives today? Gay people, right? Now, where do all those gay men and lesbians come from?
My thesis, after the break...
Favorite Quote, Anyone?
Sat Apr 30, 2005 at 12:51:22 PM PDT
I've been paying a lot of attention to words lately. There is a lot of wisdom to be found out there, especially with the assistance of the world wide web.
I've found I can be moved to tears more easily these days when the right combination of keystrokes discovers a tender spot within me. I can be inspired to action by that meetup of like-minded syllables, and chuckle when a few choice words playfully bump against each other. I can be enraged by fighting words and soothed by loving ones. The "pen" really is mightier than the sword, even if it comes in the form of a keyboard.
So, I'm asking for your favorite quotes, with attribution when possible. What words have moved you recently? Feel free to tell us why, too.
I have a long list, but if I had to pick just one for now... I guess it would be the one I have in my signature these days, because it reminds me that I don't always have to follow the rules that were made to keep me powerless.
Well-behaved women rarely make history - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Vatican: No Gay Jokes Please
Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 11:11:52 PM PDT
No legal protection. No sex outside marriage. No marriage. We'll call you "objectively disordered" and "an intrinsic moral evil," but we won't be targeting you with jokes, insults or inhumane expressions.
Gee, thanks! Was this really said with a straight face?
The Cardinal went on to argue that the Church does not discriminate against gays, but said they needed help.
"The Church does not accept homosexuals being the target of jokes, insults and inhumane expressions. They are people who deserve all our love, our support and our aid."
Times Online UK
More of Ratzinger in his own words
Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 03:24:19 PM PDT
Adding to my previous
diary, I've found more by Pope Benedict XVI, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger covering similar topics, such as feminism, contraception, abortion and euthanasia.
On feminism:
"However, so-called feminism is frequently based on the same utilitarian presuppositions as machismo and, far from liberating woman, contributes rather to her enslavement."
"When, in line with the dualism just described, woman denies her own body, considering it simply as an object to be used for acquiring happiness through self-fulfillment, she also denies her own femininity, a properly feminine gift of self and her acceptance of another person, of which motherhood is the most typical sign and the most concrete realization."
"An individualistic type of anthropology, as we have seen, leads one to consider objective truth as inaccessible, freedom as arbitrary, conscience as a tribunal closed in on itself. Such an anthropology leads woman not only to hatred of men, but also to hatred of herself and of her own femininity, and above all, of her own motherhood."
More after the fold. Here's a link to the source.
Ratzinger - a neocon's dream Pope
Tue Apr 19, 2005 at 10:36:48 AM PDT
I'm reposting a lot of information from a previous
diary because the information is certainly even more relevant today, with today's naming of German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to be Pope Benedict XVI
Sounds like Ratzinger and Bush could be a match made in heaven ...
Below the fold -
Ratzinger, in his own words on women, abortion, euthanasia, war, the death penalty, and homosexuality.
So, Ratzinger wants to be the Pope
Sun Apr 17, 2005 at 10:55:52 AM PDT
First, what are the
odds?
"Online bookmaker Paddypower.com today made Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger 3-1 favourite to be elected Pope in the secret cardinals' conclave starting tomorrow."
Who is Joseph Ratzinger? More below the fold.
Elected Officials Bypassing Corporate Media Through Daily Kos
Fri Apr 15, 2005 at 08:19:41 AM PDT
Today is International Women's Day
Tue Mar 08, 2005 at 03:18:40 AM PDT
Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): Ain't I A Woman?
Delivered 1851
Women's Convention, Akron, Ohio
Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?
BANNED IN FARGO
Thu Feb 03, 2005 at 03:03:54 PM PDT
From the
Democracy for America website today:
It starts with a list...
"President Bush will be speaking at the Bison Sports Arena in North Dakota today to stump for his Social Security reforms; however, 42 Fargo-area residents won't be attending--even if they wanted to. Fargo City Commissioner Linda Coates and 41 others have been blacklisted from the event seemingly because of their ties to a Democracy for America Meetup group."
Continue Reading...
I've seen so many accounts of people being kept out of Bush events, being asked to sign loyalty oaths to attend Bush events, and members of the media being escorted by minders at Bush events.
What's wrong with this picture?
Condi Swears
Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 10:19:44 PM PDT
Given the dismal current events, I couldn't resist a little "Photoshopping" to lighten my mood. I thought this might be a more likely scenario when Condoleezza Rice took her oath of office.
Okay, maybe Condi didn't really have her fingers crossed, but I'm pretty sure she would have wanted to, given her previous reluctance to testify under oath.
