Blogressive February 2, 2006
Happy Groundhog Day!
The President sees his shadow -- we can expect three more years of preaching to the choir.
The Washington Post's description of the State of the Union address sums it up:
"Many of the ideas sprinkled through the 51-minute speech delivered from the House chamber to a national television audience were repackaged versions of proposals he has supported before."
The speech was watched by a lopsided Republican audience. According to Gallup 43% of the audience consisted of Republicans while 23% were Democrats and 33% were independents. Not surprisingly, exactly 23% of the audience had a negative opinion. One speech is unlikely to change anything. In this case, the same can be said of the speechmaker.
This is beginning to feel an awful lot like the 1993 film "Groundhog Day" in which a man is forced to relive the same day over and over until he becomes a better person.
Human-Animal Hybrids?
From Bush's State of the Union speech:
"Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research: human cloning in all its forms, creating or implanting embryos for experiments, creating human-animal hybrids, and buying, selling, or patenting human embryos."
Who is his science advisor? Dr. Moreau?
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Cindy's Shirt
"Did you know that in 1971, the Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional to arrest a man who wore a 'F--- the Draft' T-shirt into the courthouse? (Cohen v. California, you can look it up.) So now Alito's on the court for 45 minutes and your civil liberties are already going down the toilet. You were warned."
Quotable
"Some of the proposals that have been thrown out there are childish. A ban on all private travel … I just don't agree with it. We shouldn't treat members [of Congress] like children."
Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), who just won Tom DeLay's leadership post in the House, proves he can pick up where DeLay left off. He doesn't like the reforms offered by his colleagues.
Exxon "Toasts the Earth." Exxon is raking in record profits. ($10.7 billion last quarter and $36 billion for the year.) While the lapdog pundits at townhall.com and nro.com are tripping over themselves to stick up for the profiteers, the clever folks at exxposeexxon.com have produced a catchy flash animation, "Toast the Earth." Exxon "Toasts the Earth." Exxon is raking in record profits. ($10.7 billion last quarter and $36 billion for the year.) While the lapdog pundits at townhall.com and nro.com are tripping over themselves to stick up for the profiteers, the clever folks at exxposeexxon.com have produced a catchy flash animation, "Toast the Earth." Source: exxposeexxon.com
Minnesota Vampire/Candidate for Governor Jailed. (Thinks his enemies are just out for blood.) "A fringe candidate for Governor who played up his satanic side -- and pledged public impalement for terrorists -- wound up behind bars Tuesday thanks to a sharp-eyed sheriff's dispatcher. Jonathon Sharkey, 41, of Princeton, Minn. was arrested Monday night on two felony counts from Indiana, said Mike Smith, the Mille Lacs County jail administrator. One warrant was for escape, another for stalking against a former girlfriend... In a phone interview from jail, Sharkey said he did nothing wrong because he never signed his probation papers." Minnesota Vampire/Candidate for Governor Jailed. (Thinks his enemies are just out for blood.) "A fringe candidate for Governor who played up his satanic side -- and pledged public impalement for terrorists -- wound up behind bars Tuesday thanks to a sharp-eyed sheriff's dispatcher. Jonathon Sharkey, 41, of Princeton, Minn. was arrested Monday night on two felony counts from Indiana, said Mike Smith, the Mille Lacs County jail administrator. One warrant was for escape, another for stalking against a former girlfriend... In a phone interview from jail, Sharkey said he did nothing wrong because he never signed his probation papers." Source: wcco.com
Bush giving AIDS money to church groups. "Award recipients so far include a Christian relief organization famous for its televised appeals to feed hungry children, a well-known Roman Catholic charity and a group run by the son of evangelist Billy Graham, according to the State Department. The outreach to nontraditional AIDS players comes in the midst of a debate over how best to prevent the spread of HIV. The debate has activated groups on both ends of the political spectrum and created a vast competition for money. Conservative Christian allies of the president are pressing the U.S. foreign aid agency to give fewer dollars to groups that distribute condoms or work with prostitutes." Bush giving AIDS money to church groups. "Award recipients so far include a Christian relief organization famous for its televised appeals to feed hungry children, a well-known Roman Catholic charity and a group run by the son of evangelist Billy Graham, according to the State Department. The outreach to nontraditional AIDS players comes in the midst of a debate over how best to prevent the spread of HIV. The debate has activated groups on both ends of the political spectrum and created a vast competition for money. Conservative Christian allies of the president are pressing the U.S. foreign aid agency to give fewer dollars to groups that distribute condoms or work with prostitutes." Source: dallasnews.com
Did Gonzales lie to Congress? "In a letter to the attorney general yesterday, [Sen. Russ] Feingold demanded to know why [Attorney General Alberto] Gonzales dismissed the senator's question about warrantless eavesdropping as a 'hypothetical situation' during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in January 2005. At the hearing, Feingold asked Gonzales where the president's authority ends and whether Gonzales believed the president could, for example, act in contravention of existing criminal laws and spy on U.S. citizens without a warrant. Gonzales said that it was impossible to answer such a hypothetical question but that it was 'not the policy or the agenda of this president' to authorize actions that conflict with existing law. He added that he would hope to alert Congress if the president ever chose to authorize warrantless surveillance, according to a transcript of the hearing...Gonzales was White House counsel at the time the program began and has since acknowledged his role in affirming the president's authority to launch the surveillance effort." Did Gonzales lie to Congress? "In a letter to the attorney general yesterday, [Sen. Russ] Feingold demanded to know why [Attorney General Alberto] Gonzales dismissed the senator's question about warrantless eavesdropping as a 'hypothetical situation' during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in January 2005. At the hearing, Feingold asked Gonzales where the president's authority ends and whether Gonzales believed the president could, for example, act in contravention of existing criminal laws and spy on U.S. citizens without a warrant. Gonzales said that it was impossible to answer such a hypothetical question but that it was 'not the policy or the agenda of this president' to authorize actions that conflict with existing law. He added that he would hope to alert Congress if the president ever chose to authorize warrantless surveillance, according to a transcript of the hearing...Gonzales was White House counsel at the time the program began and has since acknowledged his role in affirming the president's authority to launch the surveillance effort." Source: washingtonpost.com
This isn't the first time the nation's top law enforcement off has been accused of perjury. See Matt Rothschild's July 2005 article "Stripping Rumsfeld and Bush of Impunity."
Today's Video: Today's Video: Countdown's Keith Olbermann spanks Bill O'Reilly
(Sorry Bill, not literally.) Olbermann also does a nifty Ted Baxter imitation. Video
Today's Site Pick: War News Radio
Today's Site Pick: War News Radio
Want to know what is really happening in Iraq? Students at Swarthmore use the phonebook and a phone (or Skype) to get the facts directly from Iraqi citizens. warnewsradio.com