One Big Post

Blogger has been acting up and they changed the javascript for my "Blog This!" I am cutting and pasting interesting things in a different way and seeing how it works.

MSNBC fired Donahue despite improving ratings for being too liberal when we are going to war. He has been a frequent target of the usual crowd. He was clearly hamstrung by bad and confused producers and rarely hit his potential. They have replaced him with expanded war coverage and a new show by a radio host who believes anti-war protestors should be locked up to protect America's freedom. The right has a new MSNBC target - Chris Matthew's Hardball. Tonight one of his wacky guests accused him of sounding like a Democrat. He was a favorite of the right, until Bush got elected and he had a new target, for his disgust and disdain for Clinton. He and Buchanan are the only clear anti-war headliners on MSNBC.

During the the virtual protest Wednesday, there were a lot of democratic reps speaking on the floor of the House. getting their chance on CSPAN, but very few spoke on Iraq. Nearly all spoke on what a disaster Bush's budget and tax plan are. I suppose we should feel lucky they still aren't kissing up to him on everything.

Kucinich goes pro-choice, proves he is serious about running and has hired an advisor. I agree with the position but am worried he may be going against his personal convictions. Florida Senator Bob Graham also steps up for a swing.

Bush interrupted Wheel of Fortune to give his grand vision of the future of the Middle East if we occupy Iraq with 200,000+ troops under a military dictatorship - democracy. What, you don't think that is what he said? In the last week the post-war plans have come out and it doesn't involve any of those squabbling tribes of Iraqi opposition leaders - it is US "governing" all the way - military and civilian. Yes, this time the military ruler is our own General Frank instead of some third-world indigenous geek. A military general running the country is what a military dictatorship is and is also what Republicans love. They especially like this one where they don't have to deal with some foreigner and all the lucrative contracts are going to go to American companies because we run the country. Hurray for Democracy and Peace! Don't look at what we are doing, watch the parade and listen to the pretty soundbites.

Another economic advisor leaves and Bush is furious at Greenspan. Robert Novak, a conservative writer regarded as close to the Bush administration, wrote in The Washington Post this week: "It's difficult to exaggerate the irritation at the White House over Alan Greenspan's gratuitous shot at President Bush's tax cuts."

As expected, we screw the Kurds again. They had managed to establish a little democratic state but Turkish troops will be coming down to assist in democracy.

More USA Today, did the media screw up by listening to Bush about a coalition?

New York Times - U.S. Diplomat Resigns, Protesting 'Our Fervent Pursuit of War'

Asked if his views were widely shared among his diplomatic colleagues, Mr. Kiesling said: "No one of my colleagues is comfortable with our policy. Everyone is moving ahead with it as good and loyal. The State Department is loaded with people who want to play the team game — we have a very strong premium on loyalty."

"We have over the past two years done too much to assert to our world partners that narrow and mercenary U.S. interests override the cherished values of our partners."

Christian Science Monitor -- Bush lays out costly new global role. They also have another about the striking differences between real democracy in London and the pseudo-democracy in Washington.

In Your Bedroom

You're making love. Suddenly the police burst into your apartment, arrest you for engaging in "deviate sexual intercourse" and haul you off to jail in your underpants. Are you in: a) Afghanistan; b) Saudi Arabia; c) Cuba; or d) Texas? This time - Texas

It is likely to be overturned because "the Court said in its 1996 Romer v. Evans decision, a state may not "single out" lesbians and gay men in a way that makes them "unequal to everyone else." Which is precisely what Texas's sodomy law does, banning only lesbians and gay men from oral and anal sex."

Canada will not send troops to Iraq. Troops in Afghanistan has strained its resources. Like most nations with the Cold War over, Canada has been disarming, cutting taxes, taking a peace dividend - when did the Republican Party slip into the control of those who don't think that is a good thing?

Read to end - William Saletan nails Tom DeLay. By his own words he is unfit for national politics.

A photo chronology of Bush saying one thing then doing another. The Bush Credibility Gap: Real Life Examples. This was produced by the Democratic minority staff of the House Appropriations Committee

USA Today's "how to" guide on building a nuke Your library or the internet can tell you about chemical and biological weapons. I recommend binary systems - safer all around.

There are several science fiction stories and a couple of fact articles that large squabbling civilizations don't have long lifetimes, science and technology starts giving too much knowledge and power to disgruntled, reckless, or insane individuals. As Lexx stated, we are on a type 13 planet, but they were more concerned about us experimenting with Higgs Boson particle reactions.

Bush is showing us one vision for the future with America triumphant and imposing it's vision of a Republican planet, what is yours?