"I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ" --Gandhi
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." -Theodore Roosevelt
"A little revolution, now and then, is a good thing." -Thomas Jefferson-
"In my lifetime, we've gone from Eisenhower to George W. Bush. We've gone from John F. Kennedy to Al Gore. If this is evolution, I believe that in 12 years, we'll be voting for plants." -Lewis Black-
"When you're born in the world you're given a ticket to the freakshow; when you're born in America you're given a front-row seat. And some of us in the front row have notebooks and pencils." -George Carlin
Jury awards father $11M in funeral case - Yahoo! News
Topic: Society
7:50 pm EDT, Oct 31, 2007
A grieving father won a nearly $11 million verdict Wednesday against a fundamentalist Kansas church that pickets military funerals out of a belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.
Albert Snyder of York, Pa., sued the Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified damages after members demonstrated at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.
I'm all for free speech, which is why I will exercise my right to say, "I hope the members of the Westboro Baptist Church (read as the Phelps family) get sodomized by farm animals. Right after they pay the $11 million."
For about three years, the school has offered nearly full-ride scholarships to the winners and top finishers in the Miss and Miss Teen statewide pageants in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. Lindenwood is looking to add another state or two, said Joseph Parisi, who had the brainstorm for the program.
You know, I just don't know what to say about this one other than, "You mean the school across town is Hottie U?"
U.S. Guns Behind Cartel Killings in Mexico - washingtonpost.com
Topic: Current Events
1:26 pm EDT, Oct 29, 2007
The arms traffickers have left Mexico awash in AK-47s, pistols, telescope sighting devices, grenades, grenade launchers and high-powered ammunition, such as the so-called cop-killer bullets believed to be able to penetrate bulletproof vests.
"You're looking at the same firepower here on the border that our soldiers are facing in Iraq and Afghanistan," Thomas Mangan, a spokesman in Phoenix for the ATF, said in an interview.
So, we get their tired, their poor, their huddled masses yearning to breathe free, and they get our automatic weapons (and factories, but that's a different point). What happens when we start getting their tired and poor armed with what used to be our guns?
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is pushing $25 million in earmarked federal funds for a British defense contractor that is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and suspected by American diplomats of a "longstanding, widespread pattern of bribery allegations."
...
McConnell has taken at least $53,000 in campaign donations from BAE's political action committees and employees since his 2002 re-election.
At least that bribes is legal. Give them a contract so they can turn around and give part of it to the reelection fund. Sounds like a kickback to me.
CNN.com - CNN Political Ticker FEMA under fire for ‘faking’ news conference «
Topic: Politics and Law
6:40 pm EDT, Oct 26, 2007
FEMA gave real reporters only 15 minutes notice about Tuesday's news conference . But because there was so little advance notice, the agency made available an 800 number so reporters could call in.
And many did, although it was a listen-only arrangement.
On Thursday, FEMA employees had played the part of reporters. Johnson issued a statement Friday, saying that FEMA's goal was "to get information out as soon as possible, and in trying to do so we made an error in judgment."
Wow. Just wow. Set things up for a news conference that the newsies can't get to, then stock the crowd with fake reporters? Didn't we already have that happen with Jeff Gannon?
Dept. Of It's Good To Be King: Beloved DC Think Tank Calls For Bush To Nuke Iraq and Become World Dictator
Topic: Politics and Law
2:12 pm EDT, Oct 26, 2007
The wisest course would have been for President Bush to use his nuclear weapons to slaughter Iraqis until they complied with his demands, or until they were all dead. Then there would be little risk or expense and no American army would be left exposed. But if he did this, his cowardly electorate would have instantly ended his term of office, if not his freedom or his life.
And this is the sort of thing that passes for Serious Thought over on the right, I mean lunatic fringe. If this came to pass, of course the "cowardly electorate" would have tossed him on front of a speeding train! The course of action described here would have shown him to be a monster on a par with Hitler as opposed to a monstrous bumbler on a par with Mussolini.
US slaps broad new sanctions on Iran - Yahoo! News
Topic: International Relations
5:10 pm EDT, Oct 25, 2007
"Why worsen the situation by threatening sanctions and bring it to a dead end?" Putin said in a veiled reference to the U.S. push for harsher international sanctions. "It's not the best way to resolve the situation by running around like a madman with a razor blade in his hand."
That would be the US that Putin is describing as a madman with a razor. Whee! We're a rogue state!
Bin Laden may have just escaped U.S. forces - Nightly News with Brian Williams - MSNBC.com
Topic: War on Terrorism
5:07 pm EDT, Oct 25, 2007
What happened this time? Military officials admit there were unidentified "planning and coordination problems" even before it got to execution, “primarily between the operators and the generals who give the go-orders” added an intelligence official. A company of the 82nd Airborne was brought in since a Ranger team trained in special operations was not available. But the combination of the “dark side” — the SEALs — and the conventional — the 82nd Airborne — didn't work. "They didn't gel," said the military official. There was "a lack of responsiveness to the intelligence and a lack of aggressiveness."
To quote Demolition Man...
Lenina Huxley: Let's go blow this guy. John Spartan: Away! Blow this guy *away*! Lenina Huxley: Whatever.
