Supporting the Separation of Church and State
Posts Tagged ‘National Security’
Cuban Missle Crisis Not ‘Serious Threat’
RSS Review 5-14-08
Categorized: Politics
Tagged: Atheism, FISA, Fundamentalism, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, National Security, Racism, Religious Freedom, Reproductive Rights, Torture
Sorry this one is getting out late but I am sick today. However I didn’t feel right not publishing anything so here I am. Don’t be mad at me if its shorter and crappier than normal. Thats just about how I feel today. Well, maybe not shorter. crappier though for sure. At least I’m not suffering alone (get feeling better Jessica). Hope your all have a great day and I will try to post more later.
Hillary Clinton Wins BIG in West Virginia
Even though I have decided to support Obama I am still very happy to see that Clinton is not only competitive in blue collar states, but overwhelmingly preferred 67% to 26%. I know that it wont happen but showings like this make my dreams of a unity ticket seem almost possible sometimes.
Hagee Flip Flops on Religious Views
Taking a line from the McCain campaign John Hagee has flip flopped on his outspoken attacks on the Catholic Church. Every time McCain flip flops on a position his supporters can chalk it up to pandering for votes (or Alzheimer’s). What is it called when religious leaders flip flop on their beliefs?
The Rest of The News
- A bar owner in Marietta is selling racist Obama – Curious George T-Shirts. Just more proof that we have a lot of work to do still.
- Republican Congressional candidate Mike Erickson is being accused by an Oregon woman of having paid for her abortion. If true this will mark the one millionth Republican hypocrite outed this year. I think he wins a toaster.
- Conservatives are still trying to get amnesty for their big business telecom buddies. Over at DailyKOS mcjoan has listed the names and numbers for the conservative Democrats the Republicans are targeting. If they are yours give them a call.
- Was Einstein an atheist? Personally I could care less what Einsteins religious beliefs are but some people are making a big deal about it.
- In Ohio a father was jailed after his daughter failed to pass the math portion of her GED. As always there is more to the story, but it doesn’t get better. Read about it here at Newshoggers.
- Charges have been dropped against the “20th hijacker” Mohammed al-Qahtani. During his interrogation Mohammed was subjected to what people in a civilized society would refer to as torture.
In the log, U.S. interrogators describe how they ratcheted up techniques on their captive during 50 days starting in November 2002 to extract a confession – by using sleep deprivation, leaving him strapped to an intravenous drip without bathroom breaks and having him strip naked….A special Guantanamo investigator, Air Force Lt. Gen. Randall Schmidt, subsequently told Congress that al-Qahtani was also forced to wear a woman’s bra, dance with a male guard, “perform dog tricks” and was smeared with fake menstrual blood to lower his self-esteem – techniques the general described as “degrading and abusive” but not inhumane.
Cageprisoners.com
Daily Video
Todays video is John Stewarts interview with the unapologetic neocon Douglas Feith. If there is one think to admire about neocons like Feith, they never get caught up in the little things like reality or facts. Crooks and Liars has a good write up on the interview.
Part 1
Part 2
Thats all for this morning. I’m going to take some more medicine and go lie down for a while. I know that some of the news is actually from this morning but yesterday was a pretty slow news day. Besides I normally start these the night before and then just check for new stuff in the morning. Of course this is an open thread and I’ll make sure and moderate comments through the day.
William ~ WWJV4.com
RSS Roundup 5-9-08
Categorized: Politics
Tagged: John McCain, LGBTQ Rights, National Security, Support The Troops, Voter Suppression
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
RSS Roundup 5-8-08
Categorized: Politics
Tagged: Feminism, Fundamentalism, John McCain, LGBTQ Rights, National Security, Terrorism, Violence Against Women
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
The Surge is Working Flowchart
Categorized: Republicans
Tagged: Iraq, National Security, Republicans, Terrorism
By now everyone should be sick to death of hearing how we are winning in Iraq. After 5 years, 3 trillion dollars,and around a million casualties we are no closer to achieving anything resembling lasting peace in Iraq and the Republicans know it. We should have never taken our aim off of chasing terrorists through the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan to embark on a pointless campaign for oil and they know that too.
Now I have talked with enough blind and dumb as shit war supporters to never want to do so again. However on the plus side this exposure has led to me deciphering the “Republican Surge is Working Argument Flowchart” which I am sharing with you today. I have included the surge and two common arguments so you can see how it works, but its the same regardless of specifics. In fact I would say it applies to every argument you will ever have with a conservative.
Enjoy and feel free to use or modify this.
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