Texas Press - We stay away from salacious rumors, honest

San Antonio Express-News: Despite the bloviations about liberal media bias from the Limbaughs, the O'Reillys, the Coulters and others of their ilk, the newspaper people I know take their responsibilities seriously. Otherwise, given those liberal inclinations, why wouldn't they (we) have seized the opportunity to sneer at the Perry family's alleged problems, take a whack at conservative hypocrisy? Why not gleefully help spread the damaging gossip, thereby buttressing its credibility?

The reason is, it's not news — news, that is, that a self-governing people can actually use.

We'll keep "dogging" the governor — that's our job — and if a divorce decree shows up in some court somewhere, we'll report it. If Perry, in hot pursuit of a terrified secretary of state, is spotted running nude down Congress Avenue — nude, that is, except for the knee-high Aggie boots he favors for special occasions — we'll report that too. And if former nurse Anita Perry decides to sharpen her surgical skills in ways philandering husbands would prefer not to imagine, well ... Oh, sorry, I was letting my imagination run away with me. I was being irresponsible.

Gary Permalink on 3/15/2004

Texas Governor Denies Rumors of Divorce, Affair with Another Man

Dallas Voice -- Stonewall Democrats of Dallas president Shannon Bailey said he rejects Perry’s claim that Democrats are responsible for the rumors. Opposing factions within the Republican Party are probably the source of the rumors, because they hope to oust Perry in 2006, he said.

“We Democrats have been working on other things That’s off our radar to attack him,” Bailey said.

Friends who grew up with the governor and his wife in Haskell County said rumors that Perry was bisexual or gay were untrue. in West Texas and spoke on the condition of anonymity said the rumors that suggested Perry — who is outspoken in his opposition to the GLBT rights struggle — is bisexual or involved in gay relationships are ludicrous.

“I know Rick pretty well, and that’s definitely not the Rick I know — at all,” said one friend who knew the governor as a teen and young adult.

Perry — who dated his wife for 16 years before marrying her — last year defended Texas’ sodomy law that targeted gays, calling the measure “appropriate.” The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the law last June. He also said recently that he supports President’s Bush’s endorsement of a Constitutional amendment saying marriage could only be entered into by a man and a woman.

Gary Permalink on 3/12/2004

Those nasty, nasty rumors about Perry
First print publication to break the story has more.

In a ... story by Ken Herman, the governor excoriated unnamed "political foes" for engaging in a "smear campaign" that Perry insisted must have been masterfully organized – and that had all but disappeared until the governor opened his mouth.

Having been subjected to versions of the Perry rumors for weeks on end, Naked City is compelled to report that "well-thought-out" and "organized" are not adjectives that leap instantly to mind in discussing them. But Perry said his decision to speak out is an attempt to "expose" the "vicious nature" of the rumors, because left unchecked they "could be devastating to public service, to people coming into this business or running for office." After declining, in Herman's words, to "point fingers at particular political foes," Perry singled out (apparently without using his digits) Texas Democratic Party Chairman Charles Soechting for coyly referring to the rumors at a John Edwards rally in Houston last week.

Soechting responded by denouncing the "utter hypocrisy of Rick Perry injecting his mean-spirited politics into everyone else's personal life while insisting his own personal life is off limits." Soechting didn't elaborate, but Democratic wounds are still healing from the 2002 gubernatorial campaign, when Republicans were happy to suggest that Perry's opponent Tony Sanchez might have mysterious ties to money launderers and drug smugglers.

Statesman Editor Rich Oppel sniffed mightily, "We don't report rumors. We report facts." (That would no doubt explain the paper's enthusiastic dissemination last year of White House "facts" concerning Iraqi weapons.) On Sunday, Oppel further speculated that Perry had spoken out because the scurrilous rumors had reached his conservative political base outside Austin. More likely is that Soechting's impromptu public mention of the rumors (in the wake of a satirical "Rick Come Out" rally at the mansion) foolishly gave Perry precisely the opening he needed; the governor could climb on his moral high horse in a friendly "mainstream" venue and blame the entire sordid episode on the Democrats (and a few defenseless bloggers).

The Republican loyalists who spent the last several weeks responding (tastefully, off the record) to the rumors most often pointed at Republican opponents of the governor as the likely culprits.

el - I have a backlog of posts and reader responses but new design template will only be ready late tomorrow at the earliest.

Gary Permalink on 3/11/2004

Do you realize the Bush administration has now produced more gay marriages than jobs?

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

Bill Gates - Make me richer, buy email stamps

Make email too expensive for SPAM.

el -- no posting for a day or two in the Digest while I finish up the new look and sponserships.

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

Coffee is very good for you

Dr Trombetti says she hates the stuff herself - but points to a welter of scientific evidence to back her case.

Coffee contains tannin and antioxidants, which are good for the heart and arteries, she says.

It can relieve headaches.

It is good for the liver - and can help prevent cirrhosis and gallstones.

And the caffeine in coffee can reduce the risk of asthma attacks - and help improve circulation within the heart.

el - Very strong quick boils ( with lower caffeine) best.

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

The non-recovery hits some demographics hard

Bob Herbert - A new study by Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, found historic lows in the reported labor force participation of 16- to 19-year-olds. According to the study, "The estimated 36.8 percent employment rate for the nation's teens was the lowest ever recorded since 1948."

A more ominous finding was that over the past three calendar years the number of people aged 16 to 24 who are both out of work and out of school increased from 4.8 million to 5.6 million, with males accounting for the bulk of the increase.

The Economic Policy Institute and the National Employment Law Project, in a joint analysis of newly released data, reported a disturbing increase in long-term joblessness. Unemployment lasting half a year or longer grew to 22.1 percent of all unemployment in 2003. That was an increase from 18.3 percent in 2002, and the highest rate since 1983.

Among those having a particularly hard time finding work, according to the report, are job seekers with college degrees and people 45 and older.

"The new data," said Sylvia Allegretto, one of the authors of the report, "show us an economy that is just not generating enough high-quality jobs to get highly educated and highly experienced workers back to work."

The nation is in an employment crisis and the end is not in sight. The Bush administration has no plan, other than a continued ludicrous reliance on additional tax cuts. The White House continued to say on Friday that making the president's tax cuts permanent would be an important step toward solving the employment problem.

What is happening in some sectors of the black community is catastrophic. The Community Service Society studied employment conditions among black men in New York City. Using the employment-population ratio, which is the proportion of the working-age population with a job, it found — incredibly — that nearly one of every two black men between the ages of 16 and 64 was not working last year.

In the current environment, even apparent good news can have its troubling aspects. An article in The Wall Street Journal a couple weeks ago indicated that Latino workers have been doing well, taking a "disproportionate share" of new jobs, especially in the construction and service sectors, since the economy began its recovery.

The article referred to a demand for young, male Latino workers.

It then went on to say: "Typical of them is Jorge Alberto, a 22-year-old Guatemalan, who doesn't speak English, didn't complete high school and had never held a job — until he slipped across the border into California from Mexico last year. In Los Angeles, `I found a job almost immediately,' he says, pushing a cart through the muddy lot where he and five other Hispanic men are laying the foundation for a house."

Workers are facing these bleak employment conditions in a so-called recovery. What happens if we slip into another recession?

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

Newsweek Quickly Tones Down Bush Criticism

It broke the fake fireman story but now has backed down and removed criticism of Bush using them in his TV ad campaign.

New wording: Another, less publicized aspect of the ad flap: Everyone but the firefighters were paid actors. The firefighters posing in a firehouse was "stock" film footage of volunteer firefighters -- shot and available for purchase to the general public.

Old wording: Another less-publicized aspect of the ad flap: the use of paid actors including two playing firefighters with fire hats and uniforms in what looks like a fire station. "Where the hell did they get those guys?" cracked Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, which has endorsed John Kerry, when he first saw the ads. (A union spokesman said the shots prompted jokes that the fire hats looked like the plastic hats "from a birthday party.") "There's many reasons not to use real firemen," retorted one Bush media adviser. "Mainly, its cheaper and quicker."

el - OK, who put the pressure on? We know in general who but I want names and the Newsweek excuses.

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

College for the Home-Schooled Is Shaping Leaders for the Right

Guest Blogger - Of the nearly 100 interns working in the White House this semester, 7 are from the roughly 240 students enrolled in the four-year-old Patrick Henry College, in Purcellville. An eighth intern works for the president's re-election campaign. A former Patrick Henry intern now works on the paid staff of the president's top political adviser, Karl Rove. Over the last four years, 22 conservative members of Congress have employed one or more Patrick Henry interns in their offices or on their campaigns, according to the school's records.

"I would definitely like to be active in the government of our country and stuff," Mr. Olmstead, 19, said as he sat in a Christian coffeehouse near the campus, looking up from a copy of Plato's "Republic." "I would love to be able to be a foreign ambassador, and I would really like to move into the Senate later in my career."

The college's knack for political job placement testifies to the increasing influence that Christian home-schooling families are building within the conservative movement. Only about half a million families around the country home-school their children and only about two-thirds identify themselves as evangelical Christians, home-schooling advocates say. But they have passionate political views, a close-knit grass-roots network and the financial support of a handful of wealthy patrons. For all those reasons, home-schoolers have captured the attention of a wide swath of conservative politicians, many of whom are eager to hire Patrick Henry students.

Patrick Henry College is the centerpiece of an effort to extend the home-schooling movement's influence beyond education to a broad range of conservative Christian issues like opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and obscenity in the media. The legal defense association, located on the Patrick Henry campus, established the college as a forward base camp in the culture war, with the stated goal of training home-schooled Christian men and women "who will lead our nation and shape our culture with timeless biblical values."

"We are not home-schooling our kids just so they can read," Mr. Farris said. "The most common thing I hear is parents telling me they want their kids to be on the Supreme Court. And if we put enough kids in the farm system, some may get to the major leagues."

"Mike Farris is trying to train young people to get on a very right-wing political agenda," said Nancy Keenan, the education policy director at People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group, and a former Montana state superintendent of public education. The number of Patrick Henry interns in the White House "scares me to death," she said. "It tells us a little bit more about the White House than it does about the kids."

About two-thirds of the students major in government. It is one of the few schools that offer a special program in intelligence and foreign affairs.

Now Mr. Farris is trying to enlist even younger students in Christian conservative politics. He estimates that there are more than two million home-schooling children in the country, or more than the number of children attending New Jersey public schools, and in February he sent a letter encouraging home-schooling families to enroll their children in Generation Joshua, a new hands-on civics program for home-schooled teenagers. Participants will learn about government by helping conservative churches get voters to the polls and by volunteering for the campaigns of like-minded conservative politicians, he said.

"Home-school teens could become one of the most powerful forces in American politics, rivaling the labor unions in effectiveness," Mr. Farris wrote, adding, "The best way to train the leaders of tomorrow is to have our young people help to elect the leaders of today."

From Amy - that is TRULY frightening. I am beginning to believe my parents were right when they said there would be a revolution in this country in my lifetime. Yikes & ick. I am going to start learning the Canadian anthem!

el - Here dare they sully the name of the great Deist Patrick Henry who was vilified by the conservative GOP forefathers as a 'godless atheist."

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

The lies that bind White House team to Iraq

The central sickness of human history is the notion that the ends justify the means, and it has disastrously gripped political movements from left to right and from the secular to the religious.

It is axiomatic that immoral means will inevitably corrupt the noblest of ends, as has been displayed from the fatal hubris of the Roman Empire down through the genocidal policies of the last century's nationalists, communists and colonialists and on through the suicide bombers of today.

Yet this profoundly immoral posture has been embraced by President George W. Bush in justifying his pre-emptive war against Iraq, even when the much-touted Iraqi threat proved at best to be based on inexcusable ignorance and at worst to be impeachable fraud.

The undemocratic means employed by Bush — misinforming the public, Congress and the United Nations — are now somehow to be justified by the ends of "building democracy" in Iraq. This is a daunting challenge that the American people never signed on for and which seems as elusive a goal today as a year ago.

Once again, we seem unwilling to fully grasp the lesson of Vietnam, our other major exercise in pre-emptive war based on the theories of ivory-tower intellectuals with dreams of a Pax Americana.

For those requiring a refresher course in that previous folly, which so fractured our country while devastating three others, check out filmmaker Errol Morris' new documentary, The Fog Of War, in which the Vietnam adventure's prime architect, Robert S. McNamara, tearfully concedes it was all a grand mistake.

Today, we again have been battered senseless by the argument that it is "irresponsible" to leave Iraq, even when it is clear we are no longer welcome. Those who dare suggest that our continued presence as an occupier is actually part of the problem — like Democratic presidential contender Dennis Kucinich — are pilloried as unrealistic.

But attempting to alter other people's history — while also serving our own economic and political needs — leads almost inevitably to quagmire, blowback and a nonsensical path of trying to make future truth of past lies: We didn't go to Iraq to save it, but now we have to save it to excuse the fact that we went.

This tangled web is no less onerous when spun by Republicans Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney than by Democrats Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

And now, as then, in the early stages of the war, we saw only the most tepid opposition from the political and media elites to the big-lie technique that so often accompanies war.

"We have a more important job to do in Iraq ... and that is to help the Iraqi people build a free and democratic country," Wolfowitz said last weekend.

If this was the goal all along, why didn't Wolfowitz and Bush tell the American people before they sacrificed their sons and daughters to the crusade?

What was all that about the imminent threat of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and Saddam's ties to 9/11? All lies, it turns out.

--- Robert Scheer

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

Who Knew?

So a vote for Republican Tom Dewey in '44 was a vote for Hitler? Who knew?

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

I Double Darwin You

A high school student jumped out a second-floor window to win a bet with a teacher, who has been disciplined, officials said. The teen was not injured.

Miami Beach High School science teacher Yrvan Tassy Jr. has been reassigned to a non-teaching job while police and school officials investigate the incident.

Tassy's class was discussing evolution last week when the student, who was not identified, talked about jumping out the window to prove his point, police said.

The teacher bet him $20 that he would be injured in the jump, according to police reports.

The student then jumped out the window, landing on his feet in a patch of dirt and grass, police said. He returned to the classroom and asked Tassy for his money. Tassy said he would bring it the following day, students told police.

The incident was reported to police Thursday.

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

Warren Buffett Warns Against Deficit, Is Loading Up On Foreign Currency

Warren Buffett, the American investment guru and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has issued a fresh warning over the way the US is deluging the world with dollars to fund its huge trade deficit.

Although Mr Buffett said the bulk of Berkshire's $120bn in net worth would continue to be held in US assets, such as its stakes in Coca-Cola and American Express, the company was spreading its risk by increasing its exposure to currencies including the euro. "Berkshire holds many billions of cash-equivalents denominated in dollars. So I feel more comfortable owning foreign exchange contracts that are at least a partial offset to that position," he tells shareholders. In 2002, the company took a deliberate decision to increase its holdings of junk bonds denominated in euros and now owns $1bn worth of these.

Elsewhere, in his famously folksy style, the Sage of Omaha, as he is known, criticises corporate America for boardroon greed, takes President Bush to task for his tax cuts, and attacks the "lapdog" behaviour of supposedly independent mutual fund directors who allowed the "market timing" scandal to take place under their noses.

On pay, Mr Buffett writes: "In judging whether corporate America is serious about reforming itself, CEO pay remains the acid test. To date, the results aren't encouraging."

But he reserves more of his ire for the mutual fund managers who allowed hedge funds to make millions of dollars at the expense of ordinary investors. "I am on my soapbox now only because the blatant wrongdoing that has occurred has betrayed the trust of so many millions of shareholders. Hundreds of industry insiders had to know what was going on, yet none publicly said a word."

As for President Bush's fiscal policies, Mr Buffett notes that in 1952 a third of all federal tax receipts came from the corporate sector whereas last year the figure was just 7.4 per cent, thanks to the tax breaks handed out to companies and their investors. "If class warfare is being waged in America, my class is clearly winning."

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

One of Every Eight Bird Species Facing Extinction

One out of every eight of the world's 10 000 different bird species are now threatened with extinction.

This is according to the latest expert report on bird conservation, State of the World's Birds 2004, which was to be launched at the BirdLife International world conservation congress in Durban on Monday.

Compiled by avian researchers around the globe, it brings together the most up-to-date knowledge about the status of bird populations worldwide.

"If you are concerned about birds, you have to worry more about people. Because birds, on their own, can look after themselves very well, thank you very much."

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

Only Huacos Eroticos Remain
Erotic museum pieces a tale of Peru's colonial sexual repression

For decades, the "huacos eroticos," or erotic ceramics, were locked away from the public, accessible only to an elite group of Peruvian social scientists.

"You couldn't talk about them because they were considered huacos pornograficos," said Terrazos. "They were known as huacos prohibidos because of the taboo imposed by the Christian religion that men have sex only for procreation and that women do not experience sexual pleasure."

Today, exhibitions of these ceramics, running the full gamut of sexual practices, are popular tourist attractions in some of Peru's finest museums.

In Spanish colonial Peru, huacos eroticos, like most indigenous icons, were smashed to pieces, Terrazos says.

In the 1570s, Viceroy Francisco de Toledo and his clerical advisers were obsessed with eliminating sodomy, masturbation and a common social practice that the Quechua-speaking populace referred to in terms that translate roughly as "trial marriage."

Toledo and the proselytizing priests were aghast to find that not only was homosexuality widely accepted in several regions of the country, but that the indigenous population also placed no particular importance on female chastity and made no prohibition against premarital sex.

One of Peru's most famous colonial-era churchmen, Jesuit Jose de Acosta, wrote in 1590 that "virginity, which is viewed with esteem and honor by all men, is deprecated by those barbarians as something vile," according to "Family Values in Seventeenth-Century Peru," an article by Duke University anthropologist Irene Silverblatt.

"Except for the virgins consecrated to the Sun or the Inca, all other women are considered of less value when they are virgin, and thus whenever possible they give themselves to the first man they find," de Acosta complained.

To put matters right, Toledo ordered that evangelized natives caught cohabiting outside church-sanctioned wedlock receive 100 lashes of the whip "to persuade these Indians to remove themselves from this custom so detrimental and pernicious."

Toledo also issued several decrees aimed at creating near total segregation of the sexes in public. Violations were punishable by 100 lashes and two years' service in pestilential state hospitals.

Under the Inquisition, brought to Peru in 1569, homosexuals could be burned at the stake.

Rafael Larco Herrera museum Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

How did they know?

G.A.R.Y.D.E.N.T.O.N.: General Android Responsible for Yelling and Destruction/Electronic Networked Technician Optimized for Nullification

You have to watch out for L.e.m.m.i.n.g.s and Sybians (nude picture).

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

Kerry Team's Politcal Judo

OK, Kerry is a politician but is nice to see his team help set up and reframe Bush. Just as the GOP is mobilizing their teams to hit the airwaves it is a surprise to see the other side co-ordinated and carry the attack back. Gonna be a long eight months.

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

Kerry Draws Large Crowds In Mississippi

Kerry's strategy to take the election right into the heart of Bush country likely will cause the GOP to have a lot of concern especially after seeing the large crowds that Kerry has been attracting in states such as Louisiana and Mississippi.

"People are not going to look at Sen. Kerry and see Gov. Dukakis," says Mike Feldman, a Democratic consultant and member of Al Gore's campaign in 2000. "That playbook may have worked in 1988, but it's not going to work in 2004."

The GOP campaign tactics of trying to smear Kerry on gay issues did not work in Mississippi. The crowd cheered when Kerry responded to a hostile question on gay rights

"Let me tell you something, when Matthew Shepard gets crucified on a fence in Wyoming only because he was gay," he said, "when Mr. King gets dragged behind of a truck down in Texas by chains and his body is mutilated only because he's gay ? I think that's a matter of rights in the United States of America." (el - Kerry misspoke on King. I can't find what he is referring to but suspect he is blurring Rodney King and John William King (one of the murderers of James Byrd dragged behind King's pickup in chains supposedly for being black) and gay beatings in the south.)

Kerry's early campaign stops in the South differ substantially from the Gore campaign of 2000 which essentially wrote off all of the South.

But simply ceding the South to Mr. Bush gives him a huge leg up in the Electoral College, analysts said. Southern and border states ? Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia ? total 172 electoral votes. That's only 98 short of the number needed to win the presidency. Kerry aides pointed out that one of his nine wins last week came in Georgia. He also won Southern primaries in Virginia and Tennessee. The Massachusetts senator does have a few things going for him in the South, analysts said. One is his experience as a Vietnam veteran. "That goes against that elitist, chardonnay-drinking image," said Mr. Teixeira. Mr. Kerry is also making a populist appeal to Southerners, saying they are being held down on jobs, education and health care while Mr. Bush takes care of his rich friends.

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

Knock Nelson off that VP choice list

In Florida: "A Kerry-Graham ticket leads Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney 49 to 44 percent, the same margin as a Kerry-Edwards team. A ticket that includes Florida's junior senator, Bill Nelson, leads Bush-Cheney by only 2 percentage points."

el - Graham and Edwards look strong now.

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

President's panel skewed facts, 2 scientists say

Two scientists from President Bush's top advisory board on cutting-edge medical research yesterday published a detailed criticism of the board's own reports, and said the board skewed scientific facts in service of a political and ideological cause.

The authors of the critique published yesterday were two of only three full-time scientists on the council. They said the council's last report, "Monitoring Stem Cell Research," did not make clear that a wave of recent scientific research has cast doubt on the potential of adult stem cells -- a type of cell that Bush held up as a promising alternative when he announced his restrictions on the use of embryonic cells.

Although the council is supposed to provide impartial advice to Bush, one of the scientists said yesterday that its reports seemed to be driven by a preexisting agenda and did not accurately portray the scientific underpinnings of the ethical issues the council was grappling with.

Their critique was published online yesterday by the journal PLoS Biology. It adds to growing criticism from scientists that the Bush administration is manipulating the scientific advice it receives on politically charged issues, ranging from climate change to mercury contamination. Last month, the Union of Concerned Scientists issued a statement, signed by more that 60 Nobel laureates, that alleged the administration has manipulated scientific findings to a degree unprecedented in recent White House history.

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

If you discriminate against atheists and gays can you get a government contract?

Ashcroft says yes and intervenes in Boy Scout case.

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

Bush team still on defensive over TV ads

Makes all five Sunday political talk shows.

The Hamster picks: Comedy Monday.

"The election is in full-swing. Republicans have taken out round-the-clock ads promoting George Bush. Don't we already have that? It's called Fox News." Craig Kilborn

"After all the voting on Tuesday, President Bush called John Kerry to congratulate him. I'm not sure what they talked about, but I think we can rule out swapping war stories." Jay Leno

"The Bush campaign for re-election has officially begun. They're actually running television commercials. Have you seen any of the television commercials? In one of the commercials, you see George Bush for thirty seconds. In another commercial, you get to see George Bush for sixty seconds — kind of like his stint in the National Guard." David Letterman

"President Bush recently watched a private screening of "The Passion of the Christ”. He was so inspired that he said he will include subtitles in his next speech." Craig Kilborn

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

Some Haitian Rebel Guns Smuggled From South Florida

The political unrest in Haiti, with its graphic daily images of gunfire and street violence, is focusing attention once again on the island's South Florida gun connection.

Behind drugs, gun cases now occupy most of the attention of federal prosecutors in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, statistics show.

"The movement of guns from South Florida to Haiti has been going on for a long time, and these cases are almost always linked to unrest in Haiti," said Daniel McBride, who heads technical services for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. McBride was in charge of the Miami office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms office during the 1990s, when dozens of Haitian gunrunners were prosecuted.

Agents across the country have noted a trend: Wherever Haitian immigrants gather within the United States, ATF sees a boom in gun-smuggling cases. In Atlanta, for example, ATF is seeing a rise in guns flowing to Haiti in correlation with that city's growing Haitian population.

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

UK Scientist 'gagged' by No 10 after warning of global warming threat

Downing Street tried to muzzle the Government's top scientific adviser after he warned that global warming was a more serious threat than international terrorism.

Ivan Rogers, Mr Blair's principal private secretary, told Sir David King, the Prime Minister's chief scientist, to limit his contact with the media after he made outspoken comments about President George Bush's policy on climate change.

In January, Sir David wrote a scathing article in the American journal Science attacking Washington for failing to take climate change seriously. "In my view, climate change is the most severe problem we are facing today, more serious even than the threat of terrorism," he wrote.

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

U.S. Military Spending Not Sustainable

A sharp jump in military spending under President Bush has lifted defense budgets to levels not seen since the height of the Reagan buildup of the early 1980s, prompting warnings by lawmakers and defense analysts that the http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38812-2004Mar7.html">surge may no longer be sustainable in a time of deepening deficits.

In a sign of mounting pressure to constrain the Pentagon's purse, the Senate Budget Committee voted last week to trim $7 billion from Bush's defense request. Defense hawks vowed to restore the money and to block a similar cost-cutting move expected in the House.

The looming political battle bore a striking parallel with conditions 19 years ago when congressional alarm over a soaring federal deficit led to the end of President Ronald Reagan's defense buildup.

"This feels to me the way it did back in 1985," said John Hamre, a former deputy defense secretary and comptroller under President Bill Clinton and now president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "I believe the tide has begun to turn. These deficit and defense budget numbers are so shockingly big now that, politically, they're untenable."

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

Human Rights Watch Attacks American Policy In Afghanistan

US troops in Afghanistan are operating outside the rule of law, using excessive force to make arrests, mistreating detainees and holding them indefinitely in a "legal black hole" without any legal safeguards, a report published today says.

Having gone to war to combat terrorism and remove the oppressive Taliban regime, the United States is now undermining efforts to restore the rule of law and endangering the lives of civilians, Human Rights Watch says.

The report cites complaints collected by a UN official of "cowboy-like" tactics against people "who generally turn out to be law-abiding citizens". They include blowing doors open with grenades rather than knocking.

Afghans blame many raids on malicious tip-offs by other Afghans using the US as an unwitting proxy in local quarrels or as a means of extorting money, the report says.

Human Rights Watch is also concerned about the treatment of those arrested.

"The United States is setting a terrible example in Afghanistan on detention practices," said Brad Adams, executive director of the organisation's Asia division.

"Civilians are being held in a legal black hole with no tribunals, no legal counsel, no family visits and no basic legal protections."

The US holds detainees at its Bagram, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Asadabad bases, where there have been complaints of their being severely beaten, doused with cold water, forced to stay awake or made to stand or kneel in painful positions for long periods.

"There is compelling evidence suggesting that US personnel have committed acts against detainees amounting to torture or cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment," Mr Adams said.

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

Bush sets off campaign with tough and dirty edge

Nashville City Paper - Anyone who thought that the 2004 presidential campaign wouldn’t be an ugly, bare-knuckle struggle had those hopes dashed forever March 4 when the Bush re-election campaign’s first ads hit the national cable airwaves. The three spots included footage from the Sept. 11 attacks, making a clear link between voting Republican, fighting terrorism and being a patriot.

Their mantra remains the same as it’s been for the last year-and-a-half. Any disagreement with Bush actions overseas is tantamount to treason, and any opposition to dubious constitutional measures such as the Patriot Act is tacit support for terrorism. Kerry will have to speak out regularly and forcefully against such notions, and even his sterling war record will eventually be called into question.

Unfortunately, Kerry has more problems with his base than the president. The right wing is solidly behind Bush, even those who are troubled by ballooning deficits, record job losses and a foreign policy that often seems crafted on the fly. In contrast, hosts of folk on the left are less than happy Kerry’s the Democratic nominee. Many African Americans preferred Edwards or Clark, and union supporters don’t like what they view his penchant for shifting positions on trade. Kerry was repeatedly hammered in the real liberal press during the campaign, with publications such as The Nation, Mother Jones, In These Times and The Village Voice urging him take real alternative positions rather than emerging as merely a mild reformer.

Gary Permalink on 3/08/2004

Red Cross chasing younger volunteers

Nonprofits chase the younger set in the search for new blood

Government budget cutbacks for nonprofits and the sluggish economy have hammered many traditional funding sources for even the most established charities. For example, the Houston-area chapter of the Red Cross had a deficit of $1.6 million last year, despite staff furloughs, wage freezes and other cost- cutting measures.

"We were stressed about how we were going to meet our goals," says Diana Espita Collymore, the agency's director of financial development. "We were in a much-needed search of energy."

She cites the problems of attracting people in their twenties and thirties. "We need young, vibrant people for leverage. We don't want a bunch of stuffed shirts sitting at the meetings," she says. "We want people who can bring artistic talent to the table as well."

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

Blog marketing?

Blogs about celebrities with nude or naked in their title. Well, even rocket scientists dream of being porn stars. "Back in Houston, he communicated with astronauts orbiting the moon. Today, he's jerking off on tape in Tarzana. With his master's degree in physics, Styles could, if asked, plot the trajectory of the journey from point A to point B. There would be a spike around the time he stopped doing what he thought he was supposed to do and started doing what he wanted to do. The jump would be dramatic, like a shuttle blasting off to an undiscovered planet."

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

Stop or I'll Stun

Taser pistols reduce police shootings.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

Where was Bush during 9/11?

One picture, Over a thousand words, one Quicktime movie.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

Where Is My Gay Apocalypse?

Over 3,500 gay marriages and, what, no hellfire? I was promised hellfire. And riots. What gives?

I have been staring with great anticipation out the window of my flat here in the heart of San Francisco, sighing heavily, waiting for the riots and the plagues and the screaming monkeys and the blistering rain of inescapable hellfire. I have my camera all ready and everything.

There has been nothing. I see only some lovely trees and a stunning blue sky and my neighbor walking by with her pair of matching chow chows as a pained-looking woman struggles to parallel park her SUV. Same old, same old.

Are there actual verses decrying gay marriage? Are they anything like those other Biblical verses, about the rules and regulations surrounding marriage that are making the rounds on the Net right now? Real verses. Actual verses. Verses o' sanctimonious fun. Have you seen them?

Like this: "Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take multiple concubines in addition to his wife or wives." (II Sam 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron 11:21).

Or maybe: "A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be stoned to death." (Deut 22:13-21) Isn't that cute? Isn't quoting Bible verse fun? Ask your local pastor about that one.

Or how about: "If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to marry his brother's widow or deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe and be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by law." (Gen. 38:6-10; Deut 25:5-10). Hey, it's right there, in the Bible. So it must be true.

"Horrors bled into the streets, terrorists were spawned by the thousand, presidents openly lied so as to lead a nation into bloody violent unwinnable wars, thousands of Catholic priests sexually molested tens of thousands of children over a 50-year period without the slightest punishment, the environment teetered on the brink due to heartless government rollbacks as air quality and water quality and food sources were ravaged in the name of corporate profiteering, the economy crumbled like Jenna Bush after her 10th beer bong as hate and fear and bogus Orange Alerts ruled the land."

Oh wait. That was all before the gay-marriage thing.

A Bible-based Constitutional amendment on marriage.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

Flash -- Kerry Leads Bush In Florida 49 to 43

Bush Sucking Wind in Florida

Most alarming to the White House is likely to be the president's eroding approval ratings on the very issues that he plans to make hallmarks of his reelection and that typically favor Republicans.

More than half of Florida voters disapprove of his handling of the economy, while only 46 percent approve of his leadership on Iraq.

Despite the GOP's attempt to woo seniors by pushing legislation to curb the rising cost of prescription drugs, voters overwhelmingly trust Kerry more than Bush to protect Social Security and Medicare benefits.

The Florida results reflect national polls that have shown Kerry leading Bush by as many as 10 percentage points, a striking contrast to Bush's rising numbers after the United States captured former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in December.

One worry - Among Hispanics, Bush leads Kerry 56 to 40 percent. The Bush number includes not only the typically GOP-voting Cuban Americans, but also traditionally Democratic non-Cubans who backed Al Gore in 2000.

Gore tied FL last time because of not going after the Latino vote.

Fifty-seven percent of independents back Kerry, compared with a little more than one in three for Bush.

Thanks to Drudge Retort.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

John Glenn blasts Bush's space exploration plan

U.S. space pioneer John Glenn said today that President Bush's space exploration plan "pulls the rug out from under our scientists" and might waste too much money to ever put astronauts on Mars.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

A Kerry In Houston Report

First of all, a news flash: Kerry has a sense of humor. A real one. Of course, the jokes opening his speech were canned, and they were carefully tailored to a Houston crowd, but he delivered them with warmth and excellent timing. One of them may appeal to New Englanders among my readers: Kerry said (approximately) that he was glad to be in Houston, where it was already clear to everyone that a New England patriot could win it all. I'll forgive him the obligatory sports reference; he brought it off quite capably. And his other Texas references proved that he had done his homework well. (By contrast, how much do you think the Shrub knows about Massachusetts? Right. He probably can't even spell it, let alone talk about its economic issues.)

Then Kerry opened the floor for questions.

Let me say that again: Kerry opened the floor for questions.

I can imagine a Howard Dean or a John Edwards doing such a thing. But can you imagine Bush going off-script, fielding honest questions with no-nonsense, to-the point, well-reasoned answers, even in a room full of supporters, with the TV cameras live and tape rolling? No? Neither can I.

Here's the short version: there are many, many reasons to vote for this man... and by no means do all those reasons lead back to Georgie Boy. I plan to campaign for John Kerry, and to donate money to his campaign. As of today, I shall do both with enthusiasm. - Steve Bates, the Yellow Doggeral Democrat.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

DUSTY UNDERWEAR

The other morning I took a pair of underwear out of the drawer.

"What the hell?" I said to myself as a little "dust" cloud appeared when I shook them out.

"Babe," I hollered into the bathroom, "why did you put talcum powder in my underwear?"

She shot back: "It's not talcum powder. It's 'Miracle Grow'."

- contributed by Amy.

See also thought that Bush and his supporters could benefit from reading this: An Integral Spirituality
The silken thread that unites the world's great wisdom traditions.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

I am obviously a soft-core libertarian

My score 22 - 16-30 points: You are a soft-core libertarian. With effort, you may harden and become pure. Sorry, I am becoming less libertarian as time goes by.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

Questions Raised About Ashcroft's Fundraising

Did John Ashcoft lie to the Federal Election Commission?

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

The Bush Family Heritage Diagrammed

At Uggabugga.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

The Apex DVD Player

I love bargains but at what price are we supporting $29.99 DVD players? A shadow company that outsources and subcontracts all work.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

Roger L Simon Can't Be Serious

Repeating the disinfo about Haiti and a swipe at Kerry.

Some truth - Nick Coleman: Haiti's brutal history largely of our making.

Christian Science Monitor - There are several tragedies in this surrealistic episode. The first is the apparent incapacity of the US to speak honestly about such matters as toppling governments. Instead, it brushes aside crucial questions: Did the US summarily deny military protection to Aristide? Did the US supply weapons to the rebels, who showed up in Haiti last month with sophisticated equipment that last year reportedly had been taken by the US military to the Dominican Republic, next door to Haiti? Why did the US abandon the call of European and Caribbean leaders for a political compromise, a compromise that Aristide had already accepted? Most important, did the US bankroll a coup in Haiti, a scenario that, based on the evidence, seems likely?

Only someone ignorant of American history and of the administrations of the elder and younger George Bushes would dismiss these questions. The US has repeatedly sponsored coups and uprisings in Haiti and in neighboring Caribbean countries. The most recent previous episode in Haiti came in 1991, during the first Bush administration, when thugs on the CIA payroll were among the leaders of paramilitary groups that toppled Aristide after his 1990 election.

Some of the players in the current round are familiar from the previous Bush administration. Also key is US Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega - a longtime Aristide-basher - widely thought to have been central to the departure of Aristide. He'll find it much harder to engineer the departure of gun-toting rebels.

In 1991, when Congressional Black Caucus members demanded an investigation into the US role in Aristide's overthrow, the first Bush administration laughed them off, just as the administration is doing today in facing new queries from caucus members.

Indeed, those questioning the administration about Haiti are being smeared as naive and unpatriotic

Is Venezuela Next?

The Caribbean Community, or CARICOM, an organization of mostly English-speaking nations, is calling for Aristide's departure to be investigated. More than a dozen Caribbean nations have refused to join any peacekeeping force there.

Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans marched on Saturday to protest the denial of a presidential recall vote. The demonstration was more peaceful than last week's rioting when Chávez critics burned tires and blockaded streets.

Protester Anais Viloria, an attorney, says he favors US involvement in Venezuela. "The United States is a guarantor of democracy," he says.

But across town at the National Electoral Council's headquarters, pro-Chávez demonstrators waved banners saying "CIA out of Venezuela." Security guard Otilio Bencomo charges the US with plotting to remove Chavez by any means in order to cheaply obtain Venezuela's oil.

The US has earned Chávez's ire by sending hundreds of thousands of dollars to anti-Chávez organizations here and by issuing a steady stream of criticisms of Chávez policies. On Saturday, President Bush expressed support for the referendum process.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

Getting Young People Engaged in Politics

The aim is to get more young voters, particularly those 18 to 24, to the polls this November in states where the project will be focussed: Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wisconsin. Organizers hope to show politicians how to do it — with peer-centered, face-to-face drives in precincts that have large numbers of youth.

They have their work cut out for them.

Since 1972, when the voting age was dropped to 18, young people have been increasingly disinterested in casting a ballot for president. Turnout hit an all-time low in 2000, when an estimated 42 percent of voters 18- to 24-year olds went to the polls. That compares with 70 percent of adults 25 and older who voted that year, according to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement, based at the University of Maryland.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

Arrogance cooked Martha's goose

One of the world's richest women let pride, arrogance and a lie bring her down. The word is hubris.

Stewart and her stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, apparently thought they could get away with their little crime. As her lawyer Robert Morvillo pointed out during the trial, Stewart couldn't have been motivated by money alone to do something that a jury has now said was illegal. The $45,600 she saved by dumping her ImClone stock was a pittance compared to her total fortune of more than $1 billion.

But Stewart had built an empire by doing things just so, and was accustomed to having things her way. She must have thought she could have it in this instance too.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

Jimmy Breslin - Bush molesting the dead

New York columnist gets mad.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

Gay Marriage Inevitable
The Road to Gay Marriage

The controversy over same-sex weddings has obscured the remarkable transformation in opinion over civil unions. Less than 20 years ago, the United States Supreme Court enthusiastically upheld a Georgia law making gay sex a crime. Last year, the court reversed itself, and a national consensus seems to be forming that gay couples have a right to, at the least, enter into civil unions that carry the same rights as marriage. Even President Bush, who has endorsed a constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriage, has suggested he had no problem with states' recognizing civil unions.

Civil unions, with rights similar to marriage, are a major step, but ultimately only an interim one. As both sides in the debate agree, marriage is something more than a mere bundle of legal rights. Whatever else the state is handing out when it issues a marriage license, whatever approval or endorsement it is providing, will ultimately have to be made available to all Americans equally.

To the Virginia judge who ruled that Mildred Jeter, a black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man, could not marry, the reason was self-evident. "Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents," he wrote. "And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages." Calling marriage one of the "basic civil rights of man," the Supreme Court ruled in 1967 that Virginia had to let interracial couples marry. Thirty-seven years from now, the reasons for opposing gay marriage will no doubt feel just as archaic, and the right to enter into it will be just as widely accepted.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

GOP Tells TV Stations Not To Run Anti-Bush Ads

I am sorry, but the GOP doesn't get to issue cease-and-desist orders based on their own interpretation of the law.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

Swing Voters in Swing States Are Voters That Count Most

The next president of the United States could be determined by a few million people living in the suburbs of Albuquerque, or Pittsburgh, or maybe St. Louis.

There are at least 15 states up for grabs in the fall: Minnesota, Arkansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Oregon, Iowa, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Missouri, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Ohio, Tennessee and (naturally) Florida, birthplace of the chad. (List is based on an average of how those states voted in the past three presidential elections.)

The good news for Bush is that swing voters, by 2 to 1, agree with his handling of terrorism and the war in Iraq. But there's also good news for Kerry: 68 percent of the undecideds aren't happy with the economy and say Bush could be doing more to improve economic conditions.

Gay marriage? Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of swing voters are opposed to it, which falls almost in the middle between the attitudes of Bush supporters (82 percent opposed) and those of Kerry supporters (43 percent against). They don't call them swing voters for nothing.

More news from the swing-factor front: Ralph Nader -- the other candidate Democrats have to worry about -- is looking pretty perky in a new poll.

The poll, conducted for the Associated Press by Ipsos Public Affairs, showed Bush with 46 percent and Kerry with 45 percent. No surprises there. But Nader, the consumer advocate-turned-politician, pulled in support from 6 percent of those surveyed. That's potentially a race-altering figure. Kerry has been running ahead of the president in polls that do not include Nader.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

California Housing Market Ready to Fall?

Southern California's long-booming housing market is showing signs of strain, with low affordability and riskier loans raising concerns about the sector's ability to be a primary driver of the region's economic comeback.

Consumers' ability to buy homes, which has been weakening for some time as prices have shot up much faster than incomes, recently hit record lows in some Southland counties. Such low levels could signal peaks in home prices and sales, economists say.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

Fake Firefighters in Controversial Bush Ads
Bush's Cheaper, Quicker, Fake Exploitive Ads

The controversy over President George W. Bush's new TV ads featuring fake firefighters and fleeting images of the 9/11 attacks threw campaign officials on the defensive—and raised questions about the Bush team's ability to effectively spend its massive $150 million war chest, some GOP insiders say. The president's ad team, led by Austin, Texas-based media maven Mark McKinnon, had carefully road-tested the spots in focus groups, and Bush himself signed off. But the rollout of the ads, which argue that Bush has made the country "safer, stronger," was quickly marred by charges from some 9/11 families that the Bush team was seeking to exploit the attacks for political gain. One scene shows footage of a flag-draped coffin of a terror victim; another has an American flag waving in front of World Trade Center wreckage.

Publicly, Bush aides were dismissive and insisted the flap had only strengthened their plan to make 9/11 "a central topic of the campaign." "There's no way you can talk about George W. Bush without talking about September 11," said one campaign adviser. "It's like talking about Franklin Roosevelt without mentioning World War II." But privately, some GOP strategists were disturbed by the backlash and suggested the ad team had misjudged how the imagery would play. "It's quite shocking to a number of Republicans to watch them stumble out of the block like this," said one veteran GOP consultant, who added that the big question in GOP circles is "Do they [the Bush-Cheney campaign] know how to spend" their huge budget?

Another less-publicized aspect of the ad flap: the use of paid actors—including two playing firefighters with fire hats and uniforms in what looks like a fire station. "Where the hell did they get those guys?" cracked Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, which has endorsed John Kerry, when he first saw the ads. (A union spokesman said the shots prompted jokes that the fire hats looked like the plastic hats "from a birthday party.") "There's many reasons not to use real firemen," retorted one Bush media adviser. "Mainly, its cheaper and quicker."

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

Central African Republic Refusing Aristide Visitors

ARISTIDE A PRISONER - "The world has been told that President Aristide is free to come and go, and that he has simply chosen not to leave," said Sara Flounders of the International Action Center. "The fact that our delegation has been denied all forms of contact with President Aristide confirms, in fact, that he is being kept under lock and key, at this point not even able to communicate by phone."

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

Kerry: Bush Shortchanges Troops on Gear

John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee-in-waiting, challenged the Bush administration Saturday to reimburse the families of U.S. troops "who had to buy the body armor" needed for protection in Iraq.

"If I am president, I will be prepared to use military force to protect our security, our people and our vital interests," the Massachusetts senator said in the Democrats' weekly radio address.

"But I will never send our troops into harm's way without enough firepower and support."

Kerry said tens of thousands of troops arrived in Iraq "to find that - with danger around every corner - there wasn't enough body armor to protect them." Many families purchased the equipment and had it sent overseas, he added.

"Families should be sending pictures and care packages to Iraq - and the Department of Defense should be sending the body armor," Kerry said.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

Washington One-Liners

The Gridiron Menu: A Buffet of Guffaws (washingtonpost.com)

"In the Clinton administration, we used to say in eight years, we've added more than 22 million new jobs," [Sen. Hillary Clinton] said, offering Bush a lesson in campaign spin. "You guys could say: 'Since 1993, our country has created 19 million new jobs.' " The Clinton administration also used to say it had "moved millions from welfare to work," to which Bush could add, she quipped, "We've made that journey round trip."

Clinton acknowledged Cheney, who was sitting in for the president at the head table. "I actually saw the vice president as we were walking in," she said. "I was getting out of my car . . . he was getting out of Justice Scalia's."

There was more. "The truth is, I know Vice President Cheney, and I know that he believes in the separation of the three powers: Kellogg . . . Brown . . . and Root."

After the petit fours, Cheney fired back. "I always feel a genuine bond whenever I see Senator Clinton," he countered. "She's the only person who's the center of more conspiracy theories than I am."

Instead of grinning through the four-hour, white-tie roast, Bush hunkered down at the Crawford ranch with Mexican President Vicente Fox. That gave Gridiron president Al Hunt, columnist for the Wall Street Journal and a television commentator, his opening: "That pretty much sums up the White House philosophy: Why waste time with newspaper reporters when you can spend quality time with Fox?"

Howard Dean had been the subject of a prominent skit. After his disastrous primary season, the writers reduced the former Democratic front-runner to a minor scream. But Dean had the courage to accept an invitation. And he agreed to belt out a solo (to the tune of "On Wisconsin"): "In Wisconsin, in Wisconsin, I had my last chance. Edwards, Kerry played too dare-y. And they beat the pants right off me. I'm a dreamer, I'm a screamer. But I got what I want. I kicked Kerry's butt in the Republic of Vermont."

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she enjoyed them all, but only had instant recall of Clinton's best line: "I'm Hillary Clinton, and the State of the Union is strong."

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who was introduced as the man who handed Bush the "Social Security tar baby," accepted birthday wishes -- he turned 78 -- and offered thanks to the club for staging such a great party for him. Then he asked to be off the record. Someone surmised that Clinton's voice had been done in "because Rudy gave her the cigar to smoke."

According to Hunt, the president never officially declined the Gridiron's invitation. Nor did Ralph Nader. Perhaps the perpetual presidential candidate knew he would be portrayed on stage as a skunk. He needn't feel dissed. The Dennis Kucinich character, who appeared in a giant carrot costume, was reduced to rabbit food.

Gary Permalink on 3/07/2004

Kerry and Kinky For Texas

Kerry on Bush: 'Houston, We've Got a Problem'

Democratic White House candidate John Kerry blasted President Bush's economic stewardship on Saturday and declared in the Texan's own backyard, "Houston, we've got a problem."

"Didn't he (Bush) promise 4 million jobs would be created with those tax cuts?" a raspy-voiced Kerry asked during a town hall meeting at Houston Community College.

"We lost 3 million ... 2.8 million Americans have lost their health care, he promised he was going to reduce the debt of our country by $1 trillion and he's added $1 trillion to the debt of our country," Kerry said.

Unleash your inner Texan and vote Kinky

Kinky Friedman, best-selling author, country music singer, humorist, friend of stray dogs and salsa merchant, is running for governor of Texas in 2006 as an independent. Friedman is the man behind the song "Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed" and author of the book "Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned."

For all of those wondering why the front man for the country music group 'The Texas Jewboys' wants to run the Lone Star State, Kinky will put down his cigar and say from under his 10-gallon hat: "Why the hell not?"

"I want to fight the wussification of the state of Texas. I want to rise and shine and bring back the glory of Texas," Friedman said. "I am a writer of fiction who tells the truth."

Kinky, 59, is serious about the governor's race. He hopes to campaign as a populist who will use his colorful image while borrowing a page or two from the campaign of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to build a voter base.

"We are taking a page from Howard Dean and a page from Arnold. And now the thing doesn't seem so crazy anymore to a lot of people," he said in an interview.

Gary Permalink on 3/06/2004

Leading VP Candidates

Edwards, not for a state but because he adds more conservative voters across the country. Democrats who have been paying attention to this race like Edwards and so do Independents. A Kerry/Edwards ticket swamps Bush/Cheney nationally. Of course, presidential races aren't won nationally.
Gephardt, For the Midwest
Graham or Nelson - For Florida
Clark or Cleland - further pounding Bush with military experience.
Richardson - for the Southwest and Latino vote.
Landrieu, for Louisiana and ticket balance, you can't get more balanced than a conservative, Southern female.
If there was a strong, prominent Ohio Democrat Kerry would grab him in a minute. Kucinich doesn't count.

Gary Permalink on 3/06/2004

What's wrong with Cal Thomas is what is wrong with America

First, we can see how deeply weird Thomas is on matters of ethics and morals. Imagine! Imagine a man who says he wouldn’t know that murder was wrong unless he could look it up in the Bible! Thomas seems to have no experience of moral judgment aside from what he reads in the Book.

Second, we can see how weakly Thomas reasons. Somehow, Thomas believes that accepting Scripture creates a “standard for objective truth, law, wisdom, justice”—creates a world in which judgments are made, not on the basis of “your feelings on the subject,” but on the basis of an “unchanging,” “objective” standard. But the decision to accept some particular Scripture is, of course, a subjective human judgment. So too the decision Thomas must make about how to interpret various parts of that Scripture. Somehow, Thomas thinks he describes a world from which human judgment has been removed. But it was human judgment by which Cal Thomas accepted the Bible’s authority in the first place. Earthly life always involves human judgment, though Thomas doesn’t seem to have heard.

Finally, we see from Thomas’ oddball column the growing shape of our national discourse. Increasingly, our discourse lies in the hands of the Thomases—people who want your public life run by what they find in their Bible. -- Daily Howler

Gary Permalink on 3/06/2004

Why Tax Cuts For The Rich Are Slowing The Economy

Adding a huge chunk of money to one millionaire's pocket does not increase spending nearly as much as adding smaller chunks to a million middle class pockets. There are only so many goods and services that one millionaire family can buy. Once he's bought six cars and three houses, he's going to want to put the rest of his money away in the bank (so to speak). He'll essentially "park" the vast majority of it. But as we noticed earlier, the bank isn't going to be doing much with that money because businesses aren't all that interested in borrowing it right now. So it'll cool its heels, sittin' on the dock of the bay, wastin' time.

As we discovered in the Roaring Twenties before the Great Depression, permitting money to concentrate too heavily in too few very rich hands means that the less affluent part of the population will not be able to buy the goods necessary to sustain a cycle of prosperity. Because of the lopsided structure of wealth in that era, rich people could buy the hot new consumer goods like motorcars and radios, but the vast majority of folk couldn't, so the higher income consumer market quickly became saturated. Inventories built up as factories continued to put out stuff nobody could buy, and then, inevitably, came the day of reckoning. THAT is why the problem of overcapacity is something of a potential nightmare.

But if that same huge chunk of money the Bushies want to give to a few millionaires was -- dare I say it?-- redistributed to millions of less rich and less satisfied consumers, they'd spend it, immediately, on pillows and pens and groceries and gasoline and button-down shirts. Precious little of it would end up in banks (although a lot of it would probably go to paying off credit cards and cars, freeing up more spending).

Starving government operations in order to reduce taxes on the rich ends up merely robbing Peter to pay Paul...and Paul doesn't need the money!

He'll end up suffering in the long run, though, because if all the little people aren't spending money, the businesses he's invested in won't make nice profits and and won't be able to pay him his dividends. And they'll have to lay people off, and then fewer people will be able to afford to consume at optimum levels, and so on. What goes around comes around, you might say. Of such things are downward economic spirals made.


Much more at Why Your Wife Won't Have Sex With You's Economic Rant.

el - Really interesting presentation with charts. I'll just have to add that tax cuts for the rich have to be made up with higher fees and cutbacks of government services that takes more money from the less well-off leaving them with less to spend on consumer goods. This adds yet another element to the downward spiral.

Gary Permalink on 3/06/2004

Steal This Speech

Edwards's strengths were said to lie in his smile, his warmth and his trial lawyer's gifts of persuasion. But these do not define his most important contribution. What Edwards leaves behind is an argument -- an analysis of what ails our country and an approach to putting things right that will survive his campaign.

Edwards talked everywhere about "two Americas," one for the privileged, one for the rest of us. Most political types said it was one of the best stump speeches they'd ever heard. It will galvanize Democrats much as Ronald Reagan's great speech on behalf of Barry Goldwater 40 years ago galvanized conservative Republicans.

The Gipper called his address on behalf of the 1964 Republican nominee "A Time for Choosing." Many liberals mistakenly dismissed it as representing the ravings of the radical right, much as Edwards's critics write off his speech as run-of-the-mill populism. But like Reagan, Edwards had a larger goal than winning applause. He sought to reframe the choices of American politics. Edwards was a pioneer in explaining what President Bush's tax policies mean: a transfer of the burden of taxation from "wealth" to "work."

Republicans claim to be against big government, but that is not true. They want government to provide all sorts of benefits to investors, the energy industry, HMOs, drug companies and agribusiness. They throw money at the Pentagon and defense contractors at a more furious pace than liberals ever threw money at the poor. Edwards's way of looking at this issue is truer to the way politics actually works.

Edwards, like Reagan, managed to offer a searing critique of the status quo while still conveying an unapologetic optimism about his country as a place "where all things are possible." Edwards's message will be heard again, because his fellow Democrats would be fools not to steal it.

Gary Permalink on 3/06/2004

US faces mounting international fury over Aristide's 'forced' exit

South Africa added its voice last night to a growing international chorus questioning the circumstances surrounding Jean-Bertrand Aristide's departure from Haiti and demanded an investigation into allegations that the US forcibly removed a democratically elected president from office.

In a thinly veiled attack on the Bush administration, South Africa's Foreign Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said that if Mr Aristide had been prised from power against his will, it would have "serious consequences and ramifications for the respect of the rule of law and democracy the world over".

Gary Permalink on 3/06/2004

What Wal-Mart Has Wrought

The unions in California lost and tax-payers could be paying new employee health bills.

For decades, the industry and its union -- the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) -- signed contracts that gave supermarket workers employer-paid health insurance and decent wages. Five months ago, however, three major chains put forth a new contract that would turn supermarket employment into low-wage work with few benefits.

Sixty thousand workers across Southern California either struck or were locked out. So many shoppers refused to cross the picket lines that the three chains lost more than $1.5 billion in sales. But late last week, the union threw in the towel. The contract that the unhappy but increasingly desperate workers ratified created a lower pay scale for all new hires. It virtually ended the markets' responsibility for new workers' health coverage: Employers agreed to contribute $4.60 hourly for current workers' health plans but just $1.35 hourly for those of future employees. In the words of one union (but not UFCW) leader, the contract is "the beginning of the road to the Wal-Martization of the industry."

For months the union treated the strike not as a national battle but as a regional one. The union did not organize community and consumer support groups that could have rallied against the chains; it was very slow to leverage union pension funds to go after the corporations' finances. In short, the union really had no plan to win the strike if the companies held out -- and since their outlets outside Southern California were unaffected, the companies could hold out better than workers subsisting on meager strike benefits.

In fact, this was anything but a regional strike. The union's contracts will expire in other parts of the country later this year, but now its strike fund is depleted and the companies can point to the new contract as setting the pattern for the industry. Close to 1 million unionized supermarket jobs may now be downward-bound. And while Americans have focused, understandably, on the ongoing evisceration of manufacturing jobs, the downscaling of service-sector jobs in the age of Wal-Mart poses no less a threat to the existence and idea of a working-class career.

Gary Permalink on 3/06/2004

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - Posterboy For Bush Politics

The Daily Outrage - We didn't attack or kill or otherwise deal with Zarqawi's "death, no antidote, no cure, fatal" poisons camp because ... we needed it. For Colin Powell's UN speech. For the war in Iraq -- because this war, about which neocons (and sons of the first George Bush) have obsessed for years was far more important than all that post- 9/11 terrorism-fighting blather.

We declined to deal with known terrorists -- leaving them free to kill and kill again -- so that we could point to them and cry, "terrorist, terrorist!", and in the ensuing panic, invade an oil-and-tragedy soaked, yet unrelated, nation.

That's the Bush Administration in a nutshell. If Zarqawi is behind all the attacks the US government attributes to him, NBC News notes, he's killed upwards of 700 people -- not quite a September 11th death toll, but give him time, he's just getting started.

Unless, of course, he's been dead for months. But that's another story.

Gary Permalink on 3/06/2004

Sept. 11 victims' kin urge Bush to pull ads

A group representing 120 families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks called on President Bush's reelection campaign yesterday to withdraw political advertising using images of the attack's aftermath.

The commercials to promote Bush's reelection include video of firefighters carrying a flag-draped stretcher through the rubble of the World Trade Center and footage of a fireman's funeral.

Gary Permalink on 3/06/2004

UK Attorney General concedes doubts over legality of war

Independent: The Attorney General's secret legal advice on Iraq conceded that a key United Nations resolution on the issue did not automatically authorise war, a government memo has suggested.

Gary Permalink on 3/06/2004

Disconnected

Guest Blogger: JD from LV:

I read James Lileks column today on his weblog.

I realized he probable represents a majority of Middle American’s view on the war on terror and the coming election. He closed his column with "your either with us or with the terrorist. Imagine a bomb just went off in your local mall, now make a choice."

With that he reduces a complex international problem to a first grade playground issue. He totally ignores the complexity of the issue and makes it seem as if any action we take is justified and the war we are fighting in Iraq today will insure our safety today and tomorrow.

I just don't see it happening. Call me a liberal, call me misguided, and call me wrong if you must but answer a few questions for me first.

If the terrorist were Saudi Arabian and they were, and if their funding came from Saudi Arabia and it did, then why are we so close with the Saudi regime?

If Osama Bin Laden is a member of the Saudi extended royal family and he used his personal fortune to fund years of terror against the United States why haven't we put more pressure on the Saudi regime to deal with this matter?

Osama Bin Laden stated his profound dislike and desire to see Saddam Hussein removed from power, have we helped him achieve one of his aims?

There is no connection between Iraq and the 9/11 terrorist despite repeated and extensive efforts to prove one. There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq today, there were none yesterday and none 2 years ago. Where was the imminent threat to America?

We manufactured a war that alienated the world and are oldest and staunchest allies with only a few exceptions. We negated the effectiveness of the UN and international coalitions are not likely with us as a partner anytime soon. How did this make America securer?

We have given al-Quida a great recruiting event with our war, how did that make us safer?

We have followed the Russian model in Afghanistan and now have our troops and puppet government in control (mostly) of the capital but the warlords grow stronger daily in the rest of the country and the Taliban and al Quida grow stronger with each passing day. How did this becoming a victory for our side?

Pakistan is harboring a nuclear physicist who is teaching rogue states the art of nuclear bomb making yet we support this regime that is as vile and deadly as Saddam's regime ever was, how is this insuring our safety?

We were working on a terrorist task force at the end of the last administration that exclusively focused on Osama Bin Laden but this was dismantled as soon as Bush took office. This followed with the worst terrorist attack in American history but our current president is running on a record of "making America safer"?

We had with our UN allies successfully dismantled Saddam's weapons program and dismantled most of his military. We had reduced his ability to wage war in the region to almost nothing yet some still saw this country as an imminent threat. We threw all that we had built with our allies away - for what? Was it so Halliburton could get a multimillion-dollar contract and make the taxpayers of this country pay through the nose for something that has made us less safe than we were on 9/12?

Our shining democratic regime in the desert has thousands of its citizens in prison, its infrastructure is destroyed and being rebuilt with our tax dollars.

An American soldier a day or more is dying - let alone the wounded and maimed.

Our government contractors are raping our pocketbooks, our former allies and the people of the world don't trust us, and the real enemy runs free in a country we support.

Al Quida recruitment is up and all the good will the world had for us on 9/12 has been pissed away so that we could empire build in the Middle East.

Are you safer today than you were in 2000? How’s the job market? Think your IRA will do well this year? Is your company CEO flying to India a lot, or Mexico, or China? How is your company’s headquarters doing in the Bahamas? Sure hope your HMO will support that expensive treatment you need. Is this the America you want to live in?

I'm against the terrorist but I'm sure as hell not supporting the "solutions" we are using to eliminate the problem. I guess I just see the world and the problems in it as more complex than that other guy from Texas. I guess I want a community of nations to deal with the problems of the world. Sure it’s messy and slow and doesn't always work perfectly but it’s better than Bush’s “us against the world” because if the bet is on us against the world, the world outnumbers us 20 - 1 and has a hell of a lot better odds.

el - I will get JD and AMY a password and set up soon, about the time that new template gets up.

Gary Permalink on 3/06/2004

DESPITE BAN, BUSH EXPLOITS PHOTO OF DEAD BODIES

As the nation headed for war last year, President Bush "clamped down" on the media, extending and expanding a controversial policy that banned reporters from photographing flag-draped caskets of soldiers killed in combat. The White House said the policy was enforced to "spare the feelings of military families." Yet, in the very first television advertisement of his 2004 campaign, the president has blanketed the nation's airwaves with an image of "firefighters carrying a flag-draped body" from the 9/11 wreckage at Ground Zero.

The president's actions have also raised new credibility questions because he previously promised not to exploit the 9/11 attacks. Speaking of 9/11 in January 2003, President Bush told the Associated Press that he had "no ambition whatsoever to use this as a political issue."

Visit Misleader.org for more about Bush Administration distortion.

Gary Permalink on 3/06/2004

A Vote Against Bush Is A Vote For Osama

GOP congressman sticks with that remark but trys to deny his statement that a vote for Kerry is like a vote for Hitler.

"What do you think Hitler would have thought if Roosevelt would've lost the election in 1944? He would have thought American resolve was" (weakening), Cole said, according to a spokeswoman.

After local news reports paraphrased Cole as claiming a vote against Bush is a vote for Hitler, some Democrats demanded he apologize.

"What I am saying is that in a time of war, if our commander in chief is defeated in an election, our adversary will regard that as a triumph," Cole told CNN in an interview Thursday.

Oklahoma Republican Rep. Tom Cole said Thursday he did not intend to equate a vote against President Bush to a vote for Adolf Hitler, but stuck by recent comments that a Bush loss would be a win for Osama bin Laden.

California Rep. Robert Matsui, chairman of the Democrats' House campaign committee, compared Cole's comments to Bush's new campaign commercials that use images from the terrorist attacks.

"The Republican Party's continuing attempt to politicize the 9/11 tragedy is an insult to the victims' families and our entire nation," Matsui said in a statement.

Gary Permalink on 3/06/2004

Republican Aides Spied on Democrats

For 18 months, at least two Republican Senate staff aides engaged in unauthorized and possibly illegal spying by reading Democratic strategy memorandums on a Senate computer system, according to a report released on Thursday by the Senate sergeant-at-arms.

The 65-page report concluded that the two Republican staff aides, both of whom have since departed, improperly read, downloaded and printed as many as 4,670 files concerning the Democrats' tactics in opposing many of President Bush's judicial nominees. The report, the result of an investigation undertaken at the request of the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested that many other Republican staff aides may have been involved in trafficking in the stolen documents.

Gary Permalink on 3/06/2004

Ted Rall Dropped From NYTimes Online

Ted's Blog with the story.

Interestingly, the print edition of the Times doesn't seem to have a problem with my work.

That said, if the Times prefers the "demure" language suitable for ten-year-old readers, it's nice of them to say so.

Gary Permalink on 3/06/2004

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Play Polo

From Beliefnet's Religious News Blog.

Beliefnet's favorite supermarket tabloid, the Weekly World News, continues to astonish us with the variety and depth of its religion coverage. The March 2 issue reports that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are stirring things up--this time at a "posh polo club in Texas."

Readers will remember the Four from Revelation Chapter 6, in which the scourges of humanity ride white, red, black, and pale green horses, respectively.

How did Famine, War, Pestilence and Death do on the polo field, you wonder? According to WWN, they "won every chukker" and were praised by a British onlooker as "a splendid bunch of chaps." However, one player complained that the horsemen had an unfair advantage: "Death on a Pale Horse riding against Joe Blow on a pony? I'm sorry--for me, that just doesn't compute."

Other hot religion stories in this week's WWN include articles about the Hindu goddess Kali ("Found! Six-Armed Mummy of Indian Love Goddess") and about miracle cures associated with a recently-exposed part of Janet Jackson's anatomy.

Gary Permalink on 3/06/2004

Texas Gov. Perry Denies Gay Rumors

Advocate.com -- Texas governor Rick Perry is denying widespread rumors that he and his wife plan to divorce and that he will resign from office over his alleged infidelity with a man, according to a published report Friday.

The governor's press staff has said it has fielded calls about the rumors for about two months. At the governor's mansion on Thursday, Perry's 54th birthday, he said he had decided to speak out on what he sees as a dangerous new political trend. "I don't think a rumor can just get to critical mass by itself," Perry said. "I think you have to have a well thought-out, organized effort to disseminate that kind of information and keep it going day after day after day after day." The governor's wife, Anita Perry, declined to comment after her husband's interview.

The governor declined to blame a specific source for initiating the rumors but had harsh criticism for Texas Democratic Party chairman Charles Soechting, who referred to them at a February 24 political rally in Houston. Soechting was one of several speakers before the arrival of then-presidential candidate John Edwards. Soechting referred to an event earlier that day in which a dozen people carrying signs such as "It's OK to be gay, guv" stood outside the governor's mansion and encouraged Perry to address rumors about his sexuality. "Ladies and gentlemen," Soechting said. "I ask you to stay tuned. There's a lot of things happening in Texas. For those of you that know, there's a lot of stuff happening at the state capitol. And you're going to be excited when you learn more and more about it. So I wish I could tell you more, but I think if you've got someone sitting next to you [who] knows what's going on, just get them to whisper it to you. How many of you all know? Raise your hands up. That's right. They had a rally up there in support of the governor today. Some of his friends said, 'Come out, Rick, and we'll support you.' Anyway, it's a good time for us."

Perry criticized Soechting for talking publicly about "uncorroborated filth.... Yes, I think he crosses the line of everything decent. I think he crosses the line of good behavior." Soechting, told of Perry's accusation, said, "What crosses the line of everything decent is the utter hypocrisy of Rick Perry injecting his mean-spirited politics into everyone else's personal life while insisting his own personal life is off limits. What is truly indecent is the state of children's health care, public schools, and insurance rates under Perry's regime." Soechting's statement was issued by the Texas Democratic Party.

Ft.Worth Star-Telegram

On Friday, with his approval rating hitting an all-time low, Perry finally broke his silence about the rumors and went on the offensive. He issued an unspecific, blanket denial in a newspaper interview and blamed the head of the Texas Democratic Party for helping to spread the lies.

Houston Chronicle - Only the AP story

Austin American-Statesman: Governor Speaks Out

Throughout, the governor's staff has branded the rumors as false. Perry himself denied them on camera when asked about them Feb. 17 by a San Antonio television station, which didn't air the question or Perry's response.

Perry declined to point fingers at a particular political foe ? and he has some in both parties ? but had harsh criticism for Texas Democratic Party Chairman Charles Soechting, who referred to the rumors at a recent political rally.

Until Thursday, Perry's only public response to the rumors came Feb. 17 after a political event at Bexar County GOP headquarters. After Perry fielded a few questions at a lectern, a reporter for KSAT-TV approached Perry, camera rolling, and asked about the presidential election.

The reporter followed up: "I also understand that there are rumors about your wife and whether there is talk of separation, talk of divorce. Do you have any comment on that?"

Perry responded: "What rumors are you making reference to?"

The reporter said, "I'm making reference to rumors that have been coming out about your wife leaving you, and I wanted to know whether you had a statement on that."

Perry: "Totally and absolutely false."

Reporter: "And do you have any plans to leave the political phase for the private sector?"

Perry: "Totally and absolutely false."

Perry then left the room as Walt, his press secretary, ripped into the reporter for asking "totally irresponsible" questions about a rumor.

The TV station did not air the Perry responses, and newspapers that had reporters on hand, including the American-Statesman, opted not to publish Perry's responses to unsubstantiated rumors.

The American-Statesman, like other major news organizations, had looked into the rumors, found no evidence to substantiate them and, until Perry requested to be interviewed about them, had published no mention of them.

el - it follows with an intelligent acount of the internet reports of the rumours but doesn't mention my site.

First lady issues statement

In a short, written statement, Perry said, "It's very sad that some people believe that spreading false, vicious and hurtful rumors is acceptable behavior. Rick and I are both outraged that people would drag our family into such ugly, politically motivated nonsense."

Burnt Orange Report got the most attention from the governor but the college kids aren't backing down.

Keep Up with more from Burnt Orange here.

Washington Times manages to leave out gay entirely.

Perry's job rating declines to 40%, according to poll

"He Ain't Kinky, He's My Governor."

Gary Permalink on 3/05/2004

Stern Blasts Bush and Clear Channel

Yesterday (3/2), he was pondering the idea of a Million Moron March on Washington with a legion of his faithful fans. "Can you imagine CNN having to cover this and putting the Million Moron March up on the screen?" he joked when the idea was hatched.

Stern has also started to question ties between Clear Channel and the Bush Administration and now suggests his change in heart about his support for President Bush is the real reason for him being suspended by Clear Channel. "If you don' t think me going after Bush got me thrown off those stations, you got another thing coming," said Stern. "This has nothing to do with anything I said."

"My days here are numbered because I dared to speak out against the Bush administration and say that the religious agenda of George W. Bush concerning stem cell research and gay marriage is wrong," Stern continued. "And that what he is doing with the FCC is pushing this religious agenda. And also the fact that the guy takes more vacation than any President ever. It's time for him to leave. Having said that pushed me off the air in six markets."

Stern says the end game of him being thrown off the air is already set, predicting "the FCC in a matter of weeks will come out with a trumped up list of things I said that they find offensive that Infinity will have to fire me." Later in the show Stern said he was "tempted to shut my mouth about all of it, because it will go away." He then added "I don't think we can stop it, short of me calling up President Bush and saying 'Look man, I'm going to support you, so don't do this.'"

For two days now he has been questioning why he was suspended over a caller using the N-word, and asking why the new zero tolerance policy wasn't used on Ryan Seacrest. "How come the F-word and the S-word are going out on other shows? Don't they own KIIS-FM in Los Angeles? Didn't Ryan Seacrest's first day have the F-word and the S-word? Why was the guy not fired?"

Stern also brought up the hiring of Michael Savage at CC's KPRC/Houston. Savage was fired from MSNBC for saying a caller was a sodomite who should "get AIDS and die." "Clear Channel had no problem hiring him after comments like that, because he's pro-Bush," Stern alleged.

Fan Report - He spent a couple of minutes talking about how the Religious Right is taking over this country and people are losing their freedoms. He said he believes that we will be a religious state within 20 years because of this. He said he's been pulled from 6 stations and when he comes back he will tell us more about this stuff. He said that we've lost the fight already. He said he knows he won't be on the air for the upcoming election and all he asks of his fans is to vote against Bush. He said he's going to support Kerry himself. The biggest mistake these people could make is to kick him off the air. He said that he has the power to swing a vote and that's what he did with Governor Patacki when he ran. Howard said that it's the last minute votes that he got for Patacki. He said that if he can get his fans to rally, in a Million Moron March, we could swing this thing.

Howard said he's been really depressed about the way the country is going. He was watching a video by the band KoRn yesterday because they sent it over to him because they can't get it played on the air. He said that he believes that young people between 16 and 20 are freaking out now and they're angry about the stuff that's going on. He said that this KoRn video is the best video he's seen. He said that it's the band and their fans ripping apart a music store. He said they ask if it's okay that there all five of the big video channels are owned by the music industry. There were a bunch of things that they show in the video that show the band's frustrations. Howard said he knows how they feel because he feels the same way. Howard said that the video is great but it may not be seen anywhere but on the web. He said the song is good as well.

Howard said that you can't get anything done anymore in this country. He said that the President is talking about changing the Constitution because of the gay marriage thing and it's crazy. He also talked about Janet Jackson and how they're making a big deal about her being on Saturday Night Live. He said she's not going to do anything outrageous after what she did on the Super Bowl half time show. He said that TV has become very bland and people like Jay Leno are the ones who are dragging it there.

Howard said he got a call from someone who tells him about what's going on inside the FCC. He said that he heard that the FCC is going to fine him and make it impossible for his company to keep him on. He said he has to get this message out before he's kicked off the air. He said he kept thinking of the KoRn video and Clear Channel. He said that Clear Channel set him up and threw him to the wolves. He wasn't under any investigation by the government when they kicked him off. There's a congressman out there saying that if Clear Channel got rid of him then Infinity has to do the same to level the playing field. Howard said that no one has gone to court and none of this has been declared indecent yet.

Howard said the guy who told him this stuff told him that he was 99 percent sure that the fines would be filed. Howard read an article about it and said that he is one of the targets that the FCC is going after. They're also going to fine Emmis and Clear Channel. Howard said that they're going to reverse their fine over the Bono using the F-word thing. Howard said that the Government is going to do weird, odd tricks to pressure his company to get rid of him. There's nothing that we can do about it either. Howard said that we've already lost and all he's asking is to remember him when you go in the voting booth. He asked that we vote Bush out of office.

Howard said that people may never hear from him again and he had to get this stuff out now. He said it's outrageous and scary what these people are doing. He said he thought that 10 years ago he thought it was over too but this is really serious. He said he really does see the end now though. He said that if it was his company he would fight to the end but it's not under his control now. He said it has nothing to do with him.

Robin asked him if he's going to get on a ship and do a broadcast from outside the country. Howard said he doesn't want to do something like that. He likes where he is... he said he didn't say that he wouldn't go to satellite radio though.

Howard said that the FCC will probably issue the fines over the weekend. He went on to say that this Senator from Kansas by the name of Brownback, wrote a letter to Mel Karmazin and asked him why he hasn't taken Howard off the air yet. This is a guy who Howard claims, lives with some other politicians in a million dollar townhouse that's paid for by a religious organization. Howard said that this is disturbing to him and anyone living in a place like that has to bow to the pressure of the group. Howard said that the name of the group is The Fellowship. He read an article and said that these guys are out of control. They are in congress and in the senate. He said that the house is valued at $1.1 million and the people living there pay just $600 a month for rent. Howard said that the religious organization is actually the C Street Center which is part of The Fellowship.

Howard said that he has inside information from the FCC that says they're going to fine him for something that's 3 years old. He said he will never be given his day in court. He wants people to wake up and see what's going on. He said you can't believe that this isn't true and his days really are over. He said that there has to be a payback and he's running out of time. He said that when you go into the voting booth, just remember him when he's not on the air.

Scott DePace, a huge Bush supporter, came in and said that if this is all true, he's not going to vote for Bush. Howard said that the Republican party as they knew it no longer exists. They are changing things right before our eyes and the country is turning into a religious country just like the countries we despise in the Middle East.

Gary Permalink on 3/05/2004