The Military is Not Behind John McCain

Don't believe him. He'll say it every day from now until Novemeber, but, really and truly...don't believe him.

Australian History Taking Place Today

I just got a call from my Aussie other half and she said the Australian parliament is just about to begin a session in which the new (dirty freaking hippie) PM Kevin Rudd will officially apologize to the Aboriginal people.



She'd gotten a call from her sis, in tears, and called me in tears just to let me know. Goddam, moments like these remind me why I'm on this side of the political sphere.

National Indigenous Times. AFP. (Wish I could find a video link. Anybody?)

Link to link for live video.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signalled a shift in mood in Canberra Tuesday when he invited Aboriginal elders to stage a welcome ceremony for his centre-left government, the first such event in the parliament's history.

He followed up by releasing the much-anticipated text of the formal apology to Aborigines he will deliver to parliament Wednesday, going much further than the highly qualified statement initially expected.

The apology is being viewed as a watershed in Australia, with major television networks airing it live and huge screens being erected in major cities to allow crowds to watch as it happens.

A great giant Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi! to Kevin Rudd and the good people of Australia today.

Update: Link to a DKos diary with the text of the apology [which I'll now put here, also]:

Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history. We reflect on their past mistreatment. We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations – this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country. For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation. For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians. A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again. A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity. A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed. A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility. A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia.




Bush: Rich People Cheat on Taxes - So We Shouldn't Bother Taxing Them

An unbelievable moment during Bush's recent interview on FOX:

BUSH: Because there’s two big issues. One is, who’s going to keep your taxes low? Most Americans feel overtaxed and I promise you the Democrat [sic] party is going to field a candidate who says I’m going to raise your tax.

If they’re going to say, oh, we’re only going to tax the rich people, but most people in America understand that the rich people hire good accountants and figure out how not to necessarily pay all the taxes and the middle class gets stuck.

That needs a couple reads to get the full impact of the meaning. He's doing the regular R thing about taxes (Rs = lower taxes; Ds = eat your children with taxes), but goes off script into an area I've never heard a Republican go before. He admits what has been known forever: that the very wealthy find ways to get out of paying some part of their taxes, and do it in a way that the less well off can't (they "hire good accountants" in Bushspeak).

Remember what this was in response to: "If they’re going to say, oh, we’re only going to tax the rich people." In Bush's thinking, apparently, wanting to tax the wealthy is a bad idea because they find ways to not pay taxes anyway. so the proper thing to do is...lower their taxes.

We're doomed. This is just one of so many obviously perverted and screwed up things about our country right now, things so obvious that any self respecting person should be pissed off enough to want to do something to stop them. But no. Not only are such things not condemned, they're defending by hordes of followers.

Depressing.

Dolchstosslegende

Dave Neiwert on Liberal traitors:

But this particular form of scapegoating is one with a history. In fact, it's commonly referred to as "Dolchstosslegende":

The stab-in-the-back legend ... refers to a social myth and persecution-propaganda theory popular in Germany in the period after World War I through World War II. It attributed Germany's defeat to a number of domestic factors instead of failed militarist geostrategy. Most notably, the theory proclaimed that the public had failed to respond to its "patriotic calling" at the most crucial of times and some had even intentionally "sabotaged the war effort."

A Reasonable Conservative on John McCain

Jon Swift:

Townhall columnist Lee Culpepper believes that McCain doesn't have the character to be President. "None of us know for sure what McCain experienced during his time as a POW," wrote Culpepper. "All we know is that he survived and came home while many other POWs did not. What was it about McCain that was different? Was it family heritage or was it his proclivity for compromising to get what he wants?" It's a good question.

They Say "Unhinged" a Lot

They think it makes them sound smarter. You've gotta understand the compulsion.

No More Mister Nice Blog is so unhinged.

Waterboarding: Not Just For the Khymer Rouge Anymore

The General reads the Warblogger' Handbook to find out when it's okay to torture:

1) Jack Bauer waterboards Wiley J. Coyote and learns of a plot Mr. Coyote hatched with the Clintons to murder a portion of the population of Mena, Arkansas by rigging at least 732 ACME anvils to fall on their heads.

Ruling: Not torture. The anvils could have killed a lot of people so waterboarding does not "shock the conscience."



2) Jack Bauer waterboards J. Wellington Wimpy and learns that he never pays anyone on Tuesdays for the hamburgers he eats today.

Ruling: Not prosecutable because the Inquisitor General isn't sure what "shocks the conscience" means.

3) Jack Bauer waterboards Bugs Bunny and learns that he often dresses like a really hot female bunny and kisses men.

Ruling: Not prosecutable because the previous Inquisitor General was OK with it.











Harry Made a Bareback Rider

Dire Straits - the album, not the band - has moved into my car, set up its tent, and won't leave. I've even started rewriting songs for Mark Knopfler: "Hey Mark, donchu think it should have been 'Harry made a bareback rider / Mona Lisa - on a horse...'?" Arrogant, I know, but it just happened by accident the thirteen hunredth time I heard it.

But that's not why I'm here.

I learned a snappy little version of "Wild West End" the other day, and I learned it by watching a video on YouTube. Took me a while to figure out what the tuning was (DGDGBD), but I finally got it and even debuted it at a tiny gig on Monday night. I don't know this guy, but I like his style.

Higher Taxes?!? I'm Killing Myself!

Erudidity from NotAtrios:

Work ethic

Just for the record, I have never in my life met anyone who quit working because their taxes were too high, nor have I ever even heard of someone who suddenly wanted to work harder because of a tax break.

Note: "Erudidity" is not a word.

Minkes are Beautiful Whales

Especially when viewed by "scientists'.


Photo via the BBC

President Bush at CPAC

Ship of Tools:

“Over the past seven years, we engaged the opposition with a clear and consistent philosophy.”

And what was that philosophy wherewith we so engaged? "We're not only stupid - we're CRAZY stupid!"

Or: "Bush is TEH AWESOME. And so is Ron Paul! And Mitt Romney! And Huck! And, uh, John McCain!" (Consissssstent, baby.)

Perpetual Motion!

He's lost his marriage and kids, but damn if he doesn't have a dream.

A fluffernutter of an article about nothing, IMO.

Your Daughter's a Slut

The Modern Republican Party in all its glory:

COLORADO SPRINGS — “In my parents’ day and age, (unmarried teen parents) were sent away, they were shunned, they were called what they are,” Colorado Springs Republican Rep. Larry Liston said during a GOP legislative caucus meeting in Denver. “There was at least a sense of shame.

“There’s no sense of shame today," Liston continued, according to the The Gazette of Colorado Springs. "Society condones it. ... I think it’s wrong. They’re sluts. And I don’t mean just the women. I mean the men, too.”

"There was at least a sense of shame." Yup, we sure knew how to be ashamed and to vomit that shame into our children in the old days. It's really a shame that we lost that. It's a shame that we don't "send them away" and "shun" them anymore.

What the hell happened to us?

Hate the Earth Day

We're going to need one some day:

A "plastic soup" of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said.

The vast expanse of debris – in effect the world's largest rubbish dump – is held in place by swirling underwater currents. This drifting "soup" stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan.

Gitmo Squared

There's a secret prison inside Gitmo.

Support the troops (who may one day be taken prisoner).

"Military Donations Favor Antiwar Candidates"

Can someone tell the Modern Republicans to shut the hell up about supporting the troops? (Via)

Pet Food Scandal Indictments; Bush Connection

Let us speculate.



Indicted:

ChemNutra and company owners Sally Quing Miller, 31, a Chinese national, and her husband, Stephen S. Miller, 55, were charged with 13 counts of introduction of adulterated food into interstate commerce, 13 counts of introduction of misbranded food into interstate commerce and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Stephen S. Miller:

Why haven’t the Millers been called to testify at Senator Dick Durbin’s Subcommittee on Agriculture, World Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies in Washington, D.C.?

Stephen Miller includes E.F. Hutton & Company and Smith Barney as former employers on the ChemNutra website.

Once the respected second largest brokerage firm in the United States, E.F. Hutton & Co. went down in flames.

[...]

"It was not until the president of the brokerage firm, Scott Pierce (the brother of Barbara Bush, wife of then-vice-president of the U.S.) entered his corporation's guilty plea to 2000 criminal counts of federal mail and wire fraud in 1985, that the Hutton conglomerate fell apart."

Could it be that former Hutton vice president, ChemNutra's Stephen S. Miller has FDA protection that originates from the highest office of the land?

E.F. Hutton from Political Friendster.

Cat-sized Shrew Found in Tanzania

An "Elephant shrew"...but it's not actually a shrew. It's more closely related to elephants and aardvarks.

They even have video of it.

Here's video of a realted species taken at the national Zoo in Washignton D.C.

"Man Dies in Crocodile Orgy"

Actual headline.

"Defunct Spy Satellite Falling From Orbit"

Power lost, out of control, and possibly containing hazardous substances

Whooppee.

God Appoints Lucifer Head of Religious Studies

No wait...that's not it, it's "The State Department will name [disgraced, lying, cheating, incompetent, war-pornographer and] former World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz to head a high-level advisory panel on arms control and disarmament.

Just when you think your brain has been completely turned to mush, the sledgehammer comes down again and finds one tiny piece that can still feel the pulverizing.

The gross incompetence aside, and it's a voluminous aside, some really smart and informed people have serious questions about his girlfriend regarding national security.

Hey, You - Get Offa My Everything!

click this

Just Get Him Off the Air [Updated]

John Gibson has a radio show and a TV show on FOXNews. That that is true says much about other people than it does John Gibson.

May he finally get the boot he has so long deserved.

GLAAD has numbers we can call.






Go Doddy!

The FISA filibuster begins.

A bunch more info here.

Whole Foods to Kill Millions...

...of old bags.

He tried to tell you they were fascists. (At least he did for a while. It wasn't the first time he changed his mind.)

Now will you listen?

Talking Points Memo: Veracifier

The TPM crew is asking people who appreciate their work to subscribe to their Youtube videos. Done.

Jose Padilla and American Justice

The Big Bad Wolf, or at least one of his high guards, one of the people that Bush and Company decided were evil and powerful enough that we and the world need pay the costs of all out war, and also a guy who was detained without any charges being brought against him and sat in Guantanamo for nearly four years, much of it in solitary confinement, was just sentenced to 17 years and 4 months in prison in an American court.

MIAMI (AP) — Convicted terrorism conspirator Jose Padilla, once accused of plotting with al-Qaida to blow up a radioactive "dirty bomb" in a major city, was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years and four months in prison on charges that don't mention those initial allegations.

[...]

Padilla's arrest was initially portrayed by the Bush administration as an important victory in the months immediately after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and later was seen as a symbol of the administration's zeal to prevent homegrown terrorism. Prosecutors repeatedly invoked al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden in the criminal case

We could have been through with this guy in 2003. With our dignity intact.

More here, and and here.

And here, concerning Padilla's case against torture guru John Yoo.






Breaking: Jose Padilla Gets 17 Years

More in a sec.

"I saw a croc pop up with Brett in his jaws"

Australia's Northern Territory and another of its real life nightmare stories.


Saltwater crocodile, Yellow Waters, NT, 2006

Clinton, King, Johnson - Moyers

Bill Moyers shares some insights on a misused Clinton quote, and the historic teamwork of Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Lyndon Johnson.

Religious Test for President?, II

Late Update: Thanks, AC. And - Jose Padilla sentenced to 17 years. [End update...link fixed]

Updating the last post, I took the risk and clicked on the ad. This ad:



It goes to a Web site promoting a film called Article VI: The Movie:

Article VI was created by directors Bryan Hall and Jack Donaldson of Living Biography Media. The film documents Hall’s experience as he travels around the country engaging people in a lively discussion about faith in politics. Hall encounters unique viewpoints from political pundits, religious leaders, historians, and everyday citizens.

The film was produced by - wait for it - Hugh Hewitt. In support of Mitt Romney.

I smell instant classic.






Should There Be a Religious Test For President?

I realize it's just an ad, but that, posed as a poll question, was the banner ad at the Drudge Report a few seconds ago. I just had to make a note of it, and grab it.



I just wish they'd included a box for "Kill me now."

Sadie's Got Her New Dress On

Heard this tonight on KRRM, The Cream of Country Music, the best country music station that I've ever listened to. (They have a Cowboy Poetry hour, if that gives you an idea of what they're like.) It goes out to Sage Meadows, and Sexy Dave Hampton of the New Autonomous Folksingers, and their Sadie.



Also heard a song that had the line "I wrote a Dear John letter to my John Deere tractor..." - which is now my favorite song.

Michael Ledeen Reviews Liberal Fascism

Ouch.

More here.

* Post edited in January 2010. One link was dead and the Daily show video didn't work. Dang these internets.

John McCain Experiments on Unborn Children

Someone called and told me so.

Porn Star Fired After "N-word" Slur

Oh lordy, I love the Onion. (Adult content.)

Bad Astronomy On the Photo of Mercury

Cool stuff from an astronomy freak.

Do you see that circular feature to the upper right, slightly lighter in color than the surrounding plains? That’s Caloris Basin, the Basin of Heat. It’s called that because when Mercury reaches perihelion, that spot is close to being aimed right at the Sun. It’s one of the worsts spot on Mercury to live, if you’re considering a winter home there. Caloris Basin (formed in some ancient and very large impact) is over 1300 kilometers across — roughly as big as Texas. The mountains ringing it are 2 km high.

Here's a closeup.

Any Major Dude Will Tell You

Steely Dan, 1996. They couldn't (or wouldn't) capture that sweet acoustic opening, but it's a great version nonetheless. (I don't know if there are other version floating around of this, but this has been on Youtube only since November of 2007, and it's only been viewed just over a thousand times.)



Lyrics:

I never seen you looking so bad my funky one
You tell me that your superfine mind has come undone

CHORUS:
Any major dude with half a heart surely will tell you my friend
Any minor world that breaks apart falls together again
When the demon is at your door
In the morning it won't be there no more
Any major dude will tell you

Have you ever seen a squonk's tears? Well, look at mine
The people on the street have all seen better times

CHORUS

I can tell you all I know, the where to go, the what to do
You can try to run but you can't hide from what's inside of you

CHORUS

Squonk.

Jonah Goldberg Got a Book Deal

This guy tells us how.

Marion Jones is in Jail, Scooter

For a much smaller crime than yours:

But she suffered a spectacular fall from glory last October, admitting lying to a federal investigator in November 2003 when she denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

She admitted using a steroid between September 2000 and July 2001.

Tearful apology

Jones, now 32, also pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators in 2003 about a separate cheque fraud case involving her former boyfriend, sprinter Tim Montgomery, the father of her son, Monty.

Libby:

In United States v. Libby, the jury convicted Libby on four of the five counts in the indictment: one count of obstruction of justice; two counts of perjury; and one count of making false statements to federal investigators.[6] Libby is "the highest-ranking White House official convicted in a government scandal since National Security Adviser John Poindexter in the Iran-Contra affair two decades ago.




Mike Huckabee is Satan

My God, what an asshole:

Mr Huckabee has faced grave doubts about his foreign policy experience, his greatest vulnerability, but got one of the biggest cheers of the night when asked about the incident last week when Iranian boats swarmed US navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Asked whether the American commanders on the scene were right in not attacking the Iranian boats, Mr Huckabee said he backed their decisions, before warning Iran: "Be prepared, first, to put your sights on the American vessel. And then be prepared that the next thing you see will be the gates of Hell, because that is exactly what you will see after that."

I have grave doubts about his experience as a friend, brother, husband, father, and decent human being, period. And a Christian. Jesus.






Not Safe For Work...Baseball

Really: Not Safe For Work (or children of anybody I know).

This is possibly the best baseball video in the history of the sport. Or at least the funniest.

You Need a Podshow

Here's one: Mamzilla & the Mighty Nips.

Thanks, Nips.

Go on over. Subscribe on iTunes or whatever's your fancy. It only takes a second and the "random music, laughter, stories and gossip by two wacky young ladies" (from British Columbia) is time well spent.

Folksinger News: Brian Cutean

One of the special ones. One of the special Texas ones.

Find QTN here, and here (CDBaby), and on his MySpace page. Listen. Enjoy.

Soldier/Blogger Killed in Iraq

Army Major Andrew Olmsted wrote a post earlier this year, in case he was killed. Sounds like a truly wonderful guy.

Last dispatch, and a photo, here at the Rocky Mountain News, where he also blogged.