Not to diminish the use of steroids in baseball or the unscrupulousness of spying in football but, well, um...aren't there bigger fish to fry than an athlete who cheated?  Sure Bonds and Clemens have ruined their legacies...that is enough, isn't it?  Marion Jones ruined her livelihood, her reputation and is going to spend time in prison.  Why?

I want to know why the fuck you dumb assholes in Congress and the Justice Dept think lying about steroid use is worse than say lying about WMD's in Iraq.

more ranting below

Memo to Dumbass GOP pundits and television news anchors:  This govt broke the law.  They have rewritten laws to fit their policy.  They have lied.  These actions have cost the US some 23000 deaths and casualties and 150,000 lives and up to 500,000 Iraqi and Afghani casualties.  WHY THE FUCK WOULD WE NOT WANT TO INVESTIGATE WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?

Truth Matters!

12 years ago I was still young enough to not have to force myself to go out and cut loose, young enough to not have to worry about chronic back pain, young enough to think that a GOP Congress with a Dem Pres wouldn't be that bad.  It wasn't.  Clinton used and abused an opposition Legislature.  The bad thing about a Dem only govt or GOP only govt---no oversight.  Power corrupts and without the ethical forebearance to look oneself in the mirror and hold that face to the same standard as the face across the aisle; well, we've seen what happens, but will we, as a nation, learn the lesson?

Congrats to d'Kossacks after the shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttttttttttt (sorry I tripped over a ........)

Hmmm, this kid, Jake J. Brahm, is guilty of one thing...Living in a country where freedom of speech is no longer a right.  Bad judgment was involved but bad judgment shouldn't negate the right to freely express creativity.  Had this scene played itself out in a novel, ala a Tom Clancy terrorist attack, a problem wouldn't exist.  A writing "duel" between two people involved coming up with the scariest threat.  Apparently this man won as the other participant is not being charged nor does the story say whether the other participant actually posted his "threat".  

It's not my fault that after Newt Gingrich's Contract for America the Republican party, your party let you down starting with the fall of Gingrich himself, Bob Packwood, and others.

It's not my fault that the party of "christian values" has allowed you to be convinced that your grandfather or mother must suffer from Parkinson's or Alzheimers because a few in your party think that a single cell = human.  Christians are supposed to ease the suffering of the afflicted, no?

Much more below

FUCK YOU GEORGE JACOB COWARDHEIMERSCHMIDT!

Apparently President AWOL has decided that those who led us through the Great Depression and WW2 are the people he should be compared to: resolute in their decision making, uncompromising in their stance, and unafraid of outside influence.  Broken down George, you are resolute in being an intellectual walnut, you may me steadfast but They were steadfast on principals that were beneficial to the country, they were unafraid of being unpopular because they had both weathered unpopularity and learned from their mistake...you will never learn.  FDR was an isolationist, once we went into WW2 though he didn't half-ass it and he didn't put fuckups in the positions of power...no Condi's full of blame but without meritable action....no chickenshit-hawk Sec. Defs. who are interested only in the initial phase of armed conflict (shock and awe...like some little kid who waits all day for the fourth of July.)

more below

Would you have the strength?

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is shown wearing American tennis shoes and unable to operate his automatic rifle in video released Thursday by the U.S. military as part of a propaganda war aimed at undercutting the image of the terror leader.

SO FUCKING WHAT?

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, spokesman for the U.S. command, mocked al-Zarqawi as the previously unseen footage showed a smiling al-Qaida leader first firing single shots from a U.S.-made M-249 light machine gun. A frown creeps across al-Zarqawi's face as the weapon jams. He looks at it, confused, then summons another fighter.

"It's supposed to be automatic fire. He's shooting single shots," Lynch said. "Something is wrong with his machine gun. He looks down, can't figure out, calls his friend to come unblock the stoppage and get the weapon firing again."

Again, SO FUCKING WHAT!

4 shore there is more

But then I as I was looking up some info on tobacco addiction I came across this article from todays NY Times.

Please follow along,

At least five justices -- Stephen G. Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony M. Kennedy, David H. Souter and John Paul Stevens -- appeared ready to reject the administration's argument that the Detainee Treatment Act, passed and signed into law after the court accepted the case in November, had stripped the court of jurisdiction.

Investigations into the Red Cross' donation vs. payout are nothing new.  After 9-11 the Red Cross faced inquires as to their fundraising and accounting practices.  The Bay area quake in 1989 sparked this story.  While it cannot be stressed enough how much good work the Red Cross does be very careful when donating to them as your money may go to buying a Red Cross lt. a new laptop and not to the people you think you are aiding.  If you must donate make sure you designate whether your donation is to go to a specific fund or into the general relief fund.  In cases like Katrina I would suggest bypassing the Red Cross in favor of a local charity who has less bureaucracy and money funneling going on within its organization.

Now onto the Doctor owned and mother approved Chuck Grassley.

The interviewee's on Dobb's didn't seem to be too keen on the idea.  How much farther down the road towards no privacy are we willing to go?  Lets see tax returns include tax payer id numbers (soc. sec numbers or EIN's), home address, mailing address, how much you make, how much you donate, what you write off.  Is this really something that should be auctioned off to marketing companies?  Once its out in the open, the GOP/Dem will know how much you make and how much you donate to the GOP/Dem.  Would they then try to strongarm their constituency for a larger donation if the person is wealthy?  

Cheesybear did a diary about this topic as well.

During the run up to election 2004 all of us here at the Daily Kos were very happy to hear that Crawford, Texas' local paper endorsed Crawford citizen Dubya Bush's opponent, John Kerry.  We were amazed as we later found that the Iconoclast was being 'run out of Dodge' by right wing Iconoclast advertisers who were pulling their advertising dollars and trying to bankrupt the small paper.  Well we helped rally some contributions and subscriptions and kept the presses rolling.

The blast to the past lies in the diaries of yesteryear listed here:  AllorNothing's diary, tlh lib's diary, This one cuz it makes me laugh is by demchick, and MSOC's is here.

More below

From the NY Times---

Mr. Cheney was challenged on "Face the Nation" about his statement three years ago that "we will be greeted as liberators" and his assertion 10 months ago that the insurgency was in its "last throes."

He insisted that in both cases his facts were right, but that the news media had created a different perception with vivid imagery of killing.

Yep, the Conservative media is responsible for the "vivid imagery of killing."  Not the fact that torture photos and videos show up from time to time.  Not the fact the fact that Allawi thinks Iraq is in civil war.  Not the fact that everyday of the week people are being killed in suicide bombings, roadside bombings, execution style murders, and by militant religious gangs who instigate or retaliate to violence depending on the day.

Phillips, it seems, has been shown the light and apparently deconstructs the GOP agenda for all to see.  Be afraid.  We might have suspected how far the far right wanted to go, but this book just might prove our suspicions were well founded.

the neat stuff lies below

I'm of the opinion that the death penalty is an abuse of power  and is cruel and unusual punishment.  But, since I have a split personality, I also believe that serial killers or serial rapists and molestors, should face the death penalty as the crimes they commit are life altering (ending in the case of murder).  I cannot possibly imagine what it would be like to live with the scars of having been raped or molested.  I do know that I would want the attacker punished to the full extent of the law, be it life in prison or the death penalty.

So two questions? 1.  Do you support the death penalty and why.  2.  Do you think that murder should be the only capital offense?

never would have guessed

States which have Signed but not yet Ratified the Convention Against Torture
Belgium
Bolivia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Gabon
Gambia
Iceland
Indonesia
Morocco
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Sierra Leone
Sudan
United States of America<-----right below the Sudan where genocide is in progress.  Hmm, makes me proud to be an American, knowing my govt, despite all the rhetoric, doesn't give a shit about basic human rights. (this is an older treaty, possible we ended up signing it, but couldn't find anything that said we did.)