A progressive political blog that highlights the infringement of religion upon today’s government.

Its finally Friday and whats even better its Mothers Day Weekend!!! I hope you all have made plans to thank the many mothers in your lives. Well lets get right into the news from the past 24 hours or so. I flagged a lot of stories but from skimming it looks like today is going to be a pretty fast one. As always this is an open thread to talk about whatever.

How does John McCain, the Republican Nominee only get 74% of the vote with no one else campaigning?

Somehow I missed this yesterday. Crooks and Liars has published their top 10 list of McCain’s Out of Touch Moments. My favorite is still the “I’m not running on the Bush presidency.” joke. That one makes me laugh every time.

Here is something that shouldn’t surprise anyone. McCain’s “maverick” image is entirely made up by the media.

John McCain is refusing to release his wife’s tax records. So much to say on this topic that I’ll let you draw your own conclusions as to what he may be hiding. I will say that this is so offensive that even some right wing magazines are attacking them over it.

A Michigan State Supreme Court ruled that “Michigan’s 2004 ban against gay marriage also blocks domestic-partner policies affecting gay employees at the University of Michigan and other public-sector employers.”

The over stretching of our military caused by the needless war in Iraq has been reported many times. Yesterday we learned via Newshoggers that over 43,000 injured troops listed as medically unfit for duty have been sent anyhow. If I had voted for Bush it would be time to put another “Support The Troops” sticker on my car so I could feel better about myself.

This was under CBS’ Strange News but its really not strange at all, in fact for those in law enforcement its so common that it made me wonder why it’s even news. Suspect Surrenders After Cop Yells ‘Taser, Taser, Taser!’. In many situations the presence of a taser will be enough and this story is about just one of the hundreds of examples that happen across the country every single day.

Bloggers Unite for Human Rights on May 15th. I’ll have more information on our sidebar (today) and you can read more here. (h/t Alas, a blog)

And finally one more …

12 nuns in Indiana were unable to vote because of the states restrictive voter suppression registration laws. Whats worse is that these horrible laws are being pushed throughout the nation by conservatives under the lie of “voter fraud”. Anyone want to guess which party the poor, disabled, and elderly who are disenfranchised by these laws vote for?

This may sound like a good idea at first,” stated Sister Sandy Schwartz of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary regarding voter ID requirements, “but once you stop to think about who would really be affected, this is going to keep a lot of our loved ones from being able to vote.

Thats enough for today, its Friday and I have a lot to do. Have a wonderful weekend and make sure and thank all the moms you know. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY SUMMER!

p.s. I didn’t forget about Clinton’s comments. I have a story in draft about it that I will try to get out today. If not I’ll cover it on Monday’s RSS Roundup.

William ~ WWJV4.com

Well, the Sun came up this morning so as we have grown accustomed to in these situations John McCain is back on the attack against his rival John McCain. The fierce fight between the maverick John McCain of the sometimes not so distant past and conservative lapdog and Bush’s boy toy of 2008 has been a virtual bloodbath to this point.

The current battle over immigration and border security started back in 2006 and as always John McCain found himself on the opposite side of the issue as that of John McCain. John McCain, in accordance with his unabated man love for George W. Bush, had adopted Bush’s position that comprehensive immigration reform was needed.

“Our nation’s immigration system is broken. And without comprehensive immigration reform, our nation’s security will remain vulnerable. That is why we must act.”

John McCain in 2006

His rival John McCain however ran on a harder anti-immigrant position last year. While many people will argue that John McCain was simply pandering to the racists and bigots that make up a large part of the Republican base this is just a wild guess.

[I] have pledged that it would be among my highest priorities to secure our borders first, and only after we achieved widespread consensus that our borders are secure, would we address other aspects of the problem in a way that defends the rule of law and does not encourage another wave of illegal immigration.

John McCain in 2007 refuting the words of John McCain in 2006

Recently John McCain has responded to his rival, John McCains, attack on his lenient immigration and border security policy by saying …

“We get in this kind of a circular firing squad on immigration reform in the Congress of the United States, and the lesson I learned from it is we’ve got to have comprehensive immigration reform.”

John McCain in 2008 Defends himself against John McCain’s Smear Tactics

This furious debate back and forth over the past 2 years between john McCain and John McCain is growing even more heated and the media has finally caught on. Watch this short video about the brutal back and forth between the two men. It’s hard to tell John McCain from John McCain but if you listen to the context I think you can distinguish between them.

Clearly the reporter is also confused about which John McCain was which and she even seems to make the common mistake that they are both the same person. I fully understand this and will admit to making the same mistake when I was younger. What finally clued me in was the realization that the paradox created by so many opposing views within one person would be fatal.

It would be simpler for the Democrats to win in November if they were only facing one opponent. However by their deception the Republicans have found a way to field two candidates, both named John McCain, who together represent both sides of nearly every position. If John McCain ever stops fighting against John McCain the results could be devastating for the Democrats.

(h/t to The Carpetbagger Report and Think Progress)

William ~ WWJV4.com

I can’t believe how many news stories I had flagged to follow up on from yesterday. I’ll try to keep it down to the best ones though. The rest I’ll push through Twitter. Which reminds me to remind you that Summer and I are on Twitter now. You ca find our recent posts and links to our profile in our sidebar. Also if your a progressive blogger and we have exchanged blogroll links we would like to add you to our Twitter sidebar. Just let us know.

A large group of evangelicals are urging a pullback from involvement in politics because they fear that they would become “useful idiots” exploited for partisan gain. I wonder why after happily playing the part of “useful idiots” to the Republican party for the past 15 years they have decided now is the time to back away? Better late than never. The story does say that ultra conservative fundamentalist groups have no intention of breaking away from politics. No surprise.

Since yesterday was a Wednesday there were lots of calls for Clinton to drop out. I still agree with everything I said back in February. According to my (probably wrong) math the popular vote has been split 50.2% Obama 49.8% Clinton. This is too close to call at this point and is the best argument for letting everyone vote.

Lawrence Webb has become the first openly gay African-American elected to public office in Virginia. This is kind of a big deal.

Remember 10 months ago when those scary middle easterners were acting all terroristy on the Seattle ferry? Well the FBI has called off their global manhunt after the two turned themselves in. As it turns out they were just tourists taking pictures. Kind of makes this look pretty damn silly don’t you think?

Kathy (from Birmingham Blues ) has posted a guest post at Shakesville that seriously pisses me off. Its about three brave young women who rescued a 17 year old girl who was being gang raped by a bunch of college guys last year. Since that time the girls have been threatened and insulted for standing up for the victim and the DA won’t prosecute. Its just the same ol’ boys will be boys and if you get drunk and they gang rape you its your own fault BULLSHIT. Drinking and driving is a serious crime but apparently drinking and raping is just fine. Now I’m all pissed off again.

Moving on before this turns into a rant.

I wrote the other day about McCains’ pledge to continue the Bush presidency by electing more Bush judges. Well Crooks and Liars has a wonderful post about one of those judges that McCain supported back when I was 12, Robert Bork. If you don’t have time to read it the summery is that Robert Bork is a right wing nutjob and McCain made a loving tribute to him in a speech while fighting for his nomination. I guess George W. Bush isn’t McCain’s first mancrush.

Speaking of Bush, he is proving that even a lame duck still has veto power by threatening to veto both farm aid and housing relief bills on the basis that they don’t kill enough kittens or something. He sure didn’t have any problems when it was rich people in trouble though did he.

Oh and since I’m from KS here is an extra FU for Pat Roberts (R-KS) who also does not support helping out working class families. Just another reason to support Jim Slattery.

CNN showed video of 15 police officers repeatedly beating three suspects in Philly. I’ll try to write more on this as information becomes available. Until then watch the video and let me know what you think.

Have a great day everyone and don’t hesitate to post comments on anything currently going on in the news or across the blogosphere. I probably won’t have time to do any posting the rest of the day but I’ll be around do approve comments. Thanks.

William ~ WWJV4.com

Unicorns, It’s In The Bible

If the creation museum isn’t fantastic enough to sate your Bible based entertainment needs perhaps you would be more interested in the Unicorn Museum. “Based on the idea of ‘if it’s in the Bible, it must be true’, The Unicorn Museum promotes belief in the Biblical Truth of unicorns, a creature mentioned nine times in the KJV Bible.” (h/t Trailer Park Feminist)

Jesus’ & Chompers Fight Crime

No word on the website if we will get to see an exhibit with Jesus’ dinosaur. Thats always been my favorite Bible story.

p.s. this is satire just like the creation museum. You didn’t seriously believe that a “museum” that features man and dinosaur living together was serious. Suckers! You all just fell for a classic example of Poe’s Law.

p.p.s Here is John Scalzi’s old but timeless review of the creation museum.

The Google Election Map below is just super cool and fun to play with. Even better you just might learn something while your at it.