Today's Rant

This comes from Lab Kat, who nails it but good.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Bumpersnicker

Seen in Seattle and reported by my brother:

When Guns Are Outlawed, Only Vice Presidents Will Have Guns.

Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Cheney Out in 2007?

Insight, the magazine of the Washington Times, is saying that Vice President Cheney will retire after the 2006 mid-term elections.

Vice President Dick Cheney is expected to retire within a year.

Senior GOP sources envision the retirement of Mr. Cheney in 2007, months after the congressional elections. The sources said Mr. Cheney would be persuaded to step down as he becomes an increasing political liability to President Bush.

The sources reported a growing rift between the president and vice president as well as their staffs. They cited Mr. Cheney's failure to immediately tell the president of the accidental shooting of the vice president's hunting colleague earlier this month. The White House didn't learn of the incident until 18 hours later.

Mr. Cheney's next crisis could take place by the end of the year, the sources said. They said the White House was expecting Mr. Cheney to defend himself against charges from his former chief of staff, Lewis Libby, that the vice president ordered him to relay classified information. Such a charge could lead to a congressional investigation and even impeachment proceedings.

"Nothing will happen until after the congressional elections," a GOP source said. "After that, there will be significant changes in the administration and Cheney will probably be part of that."

Color me skeptical. Although this is coming from the magazine of a paper that is owned by a religious lunatic and whose editorials make Rush Limbaugh sound like Abbie Hoffman, they have, according to Raw Story, a sketchy track record on investigative journalism.

I think it would be a political earthquake that would further destabilize the administration and confirm its lame duck status. Even if they are able to pull off replacing Cheney with someone that they envision could assume the presidency or be on the fast track to the White House in '08 -- Sen. George Allen or Condoleezza Rice -- the damage would already be done, and doing it fourteen months before the Iowa caucuses would be like trying to change the tire on a moving car.

I also think that Dick Cheney wouldn't willingly give up the most powerful position he's ever held, and if anyone -- including the president -- tries to force him out, he knows where the bodies are buried. Given his recent activities, I'm not sure I'm speaking figuratively, either.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Brat Pack

From CNN:

Reacting to a new book quoting Karl Rove as saying she will be the 2008 Democratic nominee for president, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that President Bush's chief political strategist "spends a lot of time obsessing about me."

The former first lady also said she believed Rove, national GOP Chairman Ken Mehlman and other Republicans are using her to divert attention from Republican problems as the 2006 congressional elections approach.

"Karl Rove is a brilliant strategist. So, if I were thinking about this," she told WROW-AM radio in Albany, "I'd say, why are they spending so much time talking about me?"

"What they're hoping is that all of their missteps, which are now numbering in the hundreds, are going to somehow be overlooked because people, instead of focusing on the '06 election, will jump ahead and think about the next one," said Clinton, D-New York.

In the new book out Monday from Regnery Publishing, "Strategery" by Bill Sammon, Rove is quoted as saying: "Anybody who thinks that she's not going to be the candidate is kidding themselves."

Rove is also quoted as says he thinks Clinton could have difficulty in the general election, in part, because there is a "brittleness about her."

Having been a junior high school teacher, I've seen this kind of thing before: the geeky nerd has a huge crush on the most popular girl in class; the one that no one of his caliber can get close to, the one who can't even get up the courage to talk to her in the hall without tripping over his shoelaces. His notebook is covered with dark permutations of her name, and the midnight fantasies -- well, let's not go there, okay?

With adolescents it's normal behavior; it's even cute in it's own acne-scarred coming-of-age way. But to turn the campaign of 2008 into a remake of every 1980's Brat Pack movie with Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald is a little odd and not exactly what the Founding Fathers envisioned, I don't think. It's one of the reasons I don't want to see Hillary run for president; I've already seen Sixteen Candles.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Blindsided

From the Washington Post:

The U.S. Coast Guard, in charge of reviewing security at ports operated by a Dubai maritime company, warned the Bush administration it could not rule out that the company's assets could be used for terrorist operations, according to a document released yesterday by a Senate committee.

[...]

"The breadth of the intelligence gaps also infer potential unknown threats against a large number of potential vulnerabilities," says the document, released by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

[...]

Lawmakers from both parties who loudly challenged the administration's acceptance of the deal last week were in no mood to take in those assurances. Republicans have grown particularly incensed that the administration has not kept them informed on issues of such political importance. Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) said he will introduce legislation today mandating that security reviews by the homeland security and intelligence committees run concurrently with administration security reviews of company purchases.

"We have tried our best to support this administration at every turn, but to be blindsided by an issue of this magnitude demonstrates we have a lot of work to do," he said.

This is what bothers me about the whole deal: not that Dubai Ports World is owned by a foreign government, not that they're Arabs, and not that DPW would only be in charge of terminals and not security. It's that the agency that is charged with overseeing the security of the ports in question -- the Coast Guard -- had serious doubts about the deal and that those concerns were either ignored or hushed up in the process of working out the deal.

The fact that this news flies in the face of the spin from the White House, who has been telling us for the last two weeks that nobody who mattered had any objection to the sale, is no surprise whatsoever. Nor am I surprised that they would hang people like Mark Foley out there to twist slowly in the wind. It would be an event if they didn't obfuscate to the press and screw over their allies.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Top Aide Number 2 Important Guy Coffee Dude to al-Zarqawi Caught

From the AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Interior Ministry forces captured a top aide to al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi during a raid in western Iraq, state television reported Monday.

Iraqiya TV identified the captive as Abu al-Farouq, a Syrian. It said he was captured with five other alleged al-Qaida operatives in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad. The raid was carried out by the ministry's counterinsurgency Wolf Brigade.

I think this makes the seventh or eighth time we've captured al-Zarqawi's top aide. Either he has a really top-heavy administration, or it's the same guy over and over.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Stupid Spammers...and Their Victims

I normally delete spam before even opening it, especially when it's an "official notification of Account Overview" from a bank I've never heard of. But sometimes I do check them out just to see how creative they've gotten in their attempt to rip me off. This one made me laugh.

Dear Sun National Bank Client,

This is your official notification from Sun National Bank that the service(s) listed below will be deactivated and deleted if not renewed immediately. Previous notifications have been sent to the Billing Contact assigned to this account. As the Primary Contact, you must renew the service(s) listed below or it will be deactivated and deleted.

Renew Now your Sun National Bank Bill Pay and Services.

If you are not enrolled in Online Banking, please enter your checking account number as Sign-in Username and Social Security Number as Password.

SERVICE: Sun National Bank Bill Payment.
EXPIRATION: February 29, 2006

Thank you, sincerely,

John Hartman
Customer Service [Emphasis added.]

On the other hand, anyone who falls for that one doesn't deserve to have money in the first place.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

But Seriously, Folks...

According to William Kristol on Fox News, we haven't really been fighting a serious war over there in Iraq.

KRISTOL: We've been trying, and our soldiers are doing terrifically, but we have not had a serious three-year effort to fight a war in Iraq as opposed to laying the preconditions for getting out.

CICI CONNELLY: I think that really begs the question then: what have we been doing over there for three-plus years? You say there hasn't been a serious effort to rid that region of the terrorists. I just wonder what secretary Rumsfeld would say in response to that or all the U.S. soldiers who have been over there all this time.

KRISTOL: Secretary Rumsfeld's plan was to draw town to 30,000 troops at the end of major activities. [Think Progress]

It makes you wonder that if the over two thousand deaths of American soldiers and the spending of billions of dollars wasn't a serious effort, what the hell in the fevered mind of William Kristol would constitute a real war? Total nuclear annihilation? Would that be good enough for you, Dr. Strangelove?

I have a suggestion. The next time we decide to launch a pre-emptive war against a sovereign country that didn't attack us in the first place, we put all the pro-war neocon pundits in the first wave. Let's just see how PFC's Kristol, Will, Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, Cheney, and Wolfowitz do on point. Let's let them find out just how "serious" war really is.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Dropping Your Guard

From the New York Times via Minneapolis Star Tribune:

WASHINGTON - Governors of both parties said Sunday that Bush administration policies were stripping the National Guard of equipment and personnel needed to respond to hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, forest fires and other emergencies.

Tens of thousands of National Guard members have been sent to Iraq, along with much of the equipment needed to deal with natural disasters and terrorist threats in the United States, the governors said at the winter meeting of the National Governors Association.

The National Guard has a dual federal-state role. Governors normally command the Guard in their states, but Guard members deployed overseas in support of a federal mission are under the control of the president.

The governors, who were guests for dinner at the White House Sunday night, said they would present their concerns to President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today. In a preview of their message, all 50 governors signed a letter to the president opposing any cuts in the size of the National Guard.

"Unfortunately," the letter said, "when our National Guard men and women return from being deployed in foreign theaters, much of their equipment remains behind."

The governors said the White House must immediately reequip Guard units "to carry out their homeland security and domestic disaster duties."

Well, it's not like they're needed at home or anything. After all, if we get hit with a flood or a tornado or a hurricane, there's always FEMA.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

The Challenges of Journalism

I feel sorry for the reporter that had to get this story ready for publication. I mean, just how do you come up with a way of writing a story about a woman nuking a dildo without acutally using the word?
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Does Fred Have Issues?

Leonard Pitts in the Miami Herald:

Allow me to share with you an epiphany. I think Fred Phelps is gay.

Not that I'd have any way to know for sure, and not that there's anything wrong with that. But it seems obvious to me that Freddie has spent a little time up on Brokeback Mountain, if you catch my drift. I'm thinking he's secretly into show tunes, interior decorating and man-sized love.

Granted, that's not the first thing that comes to mind when you talk about the Fredster, who is defined by an apparently pathological hatred of all things homosexual. Perhaps you remember how his followers desecrated the funeral of Matthew Shepard, the gay college student who was beaten and left to die on a prairie fence in Wyoming eight years ago. They showed up at the funeral bearing signs that said, "God Hates Fags."

Now Phelps has updated his act. His "thinking," if you want to use that word, is that the casualties of the Iraq war are divine retribution for this country's tolerance of homosexuality. So, he says, thank God for the IED's, improvised explosive devices, that have sent so many American soldiers home in dead and broken pieces.

Phelps' followers -- he pastors a church in Topeka, Kan., where most of the congregants are members of his family -- have been showing up at military funerals to express this view. Picture it: As your son, sister, wife, brother is being consigned to the soil, these idiots pop up with signs, loudly celebrating his or her death.

Small wonder the state of Wisconsin enacted a law last week banning protests at military funerals. Or that over a dozen other states are moving in the same direction.

Phelps has vowed to fight the restrictions on First Amendment grounds, and the unfortunate truth is that he has a point. His message is bizarre, grotesque and calculated to hurt, yes. But the Constitution carves out no exception for messages that are bizarre, grotesque and calculated to hurt. The right to freedom of speech is a precious thing that extends even here.

At this point, you're probably saying to yourself that next to this guy, Pat Robertson is a model of statesmanlike restraint. You probably think he's crazy. And not ordinary crazy, mind you, but 20 pages, typewritten, single-space, both sides of the page with scribbles in the margins crazy.

Well, I don't think he's as crazy he seems. Heck, nobody could be. No, he's not disturbed. He's just gay.

Hear me out. How often have we seen public moralists railing against that which they themselves secretly indulge in? Think Jimmy Swaggart with his prostitute. Think Dr. Laura's pose in the nude. And for goodness' sake, how many times have we seen homosexuality condemned by those who turned out to be closeted themselves? There was Pat Robertson biographer-turned-gay activist Mel Stewart, Spokane Mayor James West who spent his days opposing gay rights and his nights in gay chat rooms, and Gary Cooper and Michael Bussee, who founded a group that purported to cure people of homosexuality, but gave it up when they fell in love with each other.

Consider all that, and then consider the sick ferocity of Phelps' attack:

God hates "fags."

Gays are vomit-eating dogs.

Gays are "worthy of death."

Can you say "self hatred," boys and girls? Come on, isn't it obvious? The poor fellow is gayer than a Bette Midler AIDS benefit. In San Francisco.

He needs not our condemnation but our understanding. Maybe someday he'll find the strength to stop living this lie. He might just go on to be the greatest gay rights activist this country has ever known. Maybe then, in the arms of the right man, he'll stop hurting.

Kind of chokes me up to think about it.

Of course, the Fredster will deny all this. He might even call me unpleasant names. Hey, that's his right. We may not see eye to eye on much, but on one thing, we agree.

Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing.

I realize Mr. Pitts is being facetious, but the very idea that Fred Phelps could be one of us... Ew! Ish! Feh! Ack! Phooey! That's one toaster oven I would gladly return to the prize committee.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

After Further Review...

From the Washington Post:

The Bush administration said yesterday that it has accepted a proposal from a Dubai maritime company to conduct a 45-day review of the national security implications of the company's plans to take control of significant operations at six U.S. ports.

The announcement by Dubai Ports World, brokered by the White House and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), appears to satisfy the demands of many members of Congress, who had threatened to force a security review if the administration would not conduct one. The deal also offered pledges to reassure the United States that the ports deal would not pose any threats to American safety and security.

Basically it's the same deal they worked out before but now they're just going through the motions. The Bush administration will somehow take credit for making it sound like they had no objection to oversight, they'll continue to act as if this was how it was all along, and they'll be sure to accuse opponents of subtle racism.

Oh, and if you think this "further review" idea was the brainchild of Dubai Ports World, I have some really nice land here in Florida I'd like to sell you.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Sunday Reading

Ben Brantley looks at the upcoming spring season on and off Broadway; shows with a bit more edge -- and skin -- to them.

Alec Baldwin, left, Chris Carmack and Jan Maxwell in "Entertaining Mr. Sloane."

Sweet are the uses of perversity in the theater. Throw a kink, a curve, a warping twist into a time-honored dramatic formula and tried-and-true suddenly looks eye-poppingly new and unsettling. The spring season in New York is, happily and atypically, plump with demonstrations of such genre bending, with entrancingly wicked shows that extract the profane from the sacred and the rot from the pillars of society. If a majority of them turn out to be of British origin, that's because British artists have long used the perverse perspective as an essential corrective to their national class-conscious stolidity.

Want to buy a home in Miami? Be prepared for a shock.

To live in a mid-priced house, a family in the Miami area earning the midpoint income must now spend 44 percent of its dollars on mortgage payments. That's double what it cost as recently as 1998 -- and close to Los Angeles at 46 percent and New York City at 49 percent.

Even with the market slowing, South Florida still won't return to the affordable days of the late 1990s, economists say. Incomes are limited by a service and tourism economy that doesn't create enough high-paying jobs. Yet housing prices remain high because of money flowing in from foreign and investment buyers.

That adds up to an affordability crunch through 2015, Moody's Economy.com forecasts. But change has come so fast that attitudes have yet to adjust. And so the quest for a home is turning into a hard lesson in compromise.

"For people who can't afford to buy, rental properties might be the answer," says Celia Chen, director of housing economy for Economy.com. "There's probably going to be a glut of condos to rent soon. A lot of what's been built has been bought by investors who are going to have to rent them out."

The Episcopal bishop of Washington, DC speaks out against intolerance in his own church.

It's no secret that the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion are engaged in a bitter internal struggle over the role of gay and lesbian people within the church. But despite this struggle, the leaders of our global communion of 77 million members have consistently reiterated their pastoral concern for gays and lesbians. Meeting last February, the primates who lead our 38 member provinces issued a unanimous statement that said in part: "The victimization or diminishment of human beings whose affections happen to be ordered towards people of the same sex is anathema to us."

We now have reason to doubt those words.

Archbishop Peter J. Akinola, primate of the Church of Nigeria and leader of the conservative wing of the communion, recently threw his prestige and resources behind a new law that criminalizes same-sex marriage in his country and denies gay citizens the freedoms to assemble and petition their government. The law also infringes upon press and religious freedom by authorizing Nigeria's government to prosecute newspapers that publicize same-sex associations and religious organizations that permit same-sex unions.

Were Archbishop Akinola a solitary figure and Nigeria an isolated church, his support for institutionalized bigotry would be significant only within his own country. But the archbishop is perhaps the most powerful member of a global alliance of conservative bishops and theologians, generously supported by foundations and individual donors in the United States, who seek to dominate the Anglican Communion and expel those who oppose them, particularly the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. Failing that, the archbishop and his allies have talked of forming their own purified communion -- possibly with Archbishop Akinola at its head.

[...]

Surprisingly, few voices -- Anglican or otherwise -- have been raised in opposition to the archbishop. When I compare this silence with the cacophony that followed the Episcopal Church's decision to consecrate the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, a gay man who lives openly with his partner, as the bishop of New Hampshire, I am compelled to ask whether the global Christian community has lost not only its backbone but its moral bearings. Have we become so cowed by the periodic eruptions about the decadent West that Archbishop Akinola and his allies issue that we are no longer willing to name an injustice when we see one?

I also feel compelled to ask the archbishop's many high-profile supporters in this country why they have not publicly dissociated themselves from his attack on the human rights of a vulnerable population. Is it because they support this sort of legislation, or because the rights of gay men and women are not worth the risk of tangling with an important alliance?

As a matter of logic, it must be one or the other, and it is urgent that members of our church, and citizens of our country, know your mind.

So long to Don Knotts and Darren McGavin.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

British Car Show

Some pictures from the Gold Coast British Car Club show last week in Lake Worth.

1947 Rolls-Royce convertible

A row of "later" Austin Healeys -- up to 1967, when they stopped making them.

1954 Austin Healey 100S racer -- one of fifty in existence.

1967 MGB GT. Congratulations, Ira, for getting it running again.

Side view of Bob's 1967 Austin Healey 3000 Mk III. Understated elegance.

There were a lot of other great cars there; from a 1925 Alvis to the newest iteration of the classic Morgan sports cars and everything in between like Morris Mini (old and new), Jaguar, Triumph, Lotus, and a Delorean (the excuse being that it was built in Northern Ireland). There are tons more pictures at the Gold Coast website.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Limes vs. Nuts

From the Miami Herald:

TALLAHASSEE - The latest battle raging in the state Legislature has nothing to do with Republicans vs. Democrats, taxing vs. spending, left wing vs. right.

It's about limes vs. nuts.

A few South Florida lawmakers want to make key lime pie the official state pie.

Yeah, there is such a thing.

Northern Floridians are not pleased.

They want the title to go to pecan pie -- which already has such an honor elsewhere, being Georgia's official state pie since 1996.

"Key limes are a thing of the past," said Rep. Dwight Stansel, a Wellborn Democrat and vice chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.

Stansel, who raises pecans on his family farm, said he is ready to fight to keep this idea off the books: "Everybody would rather have pecan pie than key lime pie," he says, pronouncing pecan with the stress on the "can," like a true North Florida Southerner.

As with every good rivalry, the pie fight has a bit of history. It first broke out in 1988, when the Legislature couldn't agree on a bill to give the state's top honor to key lime pie. South Floridian lawmakers said key lime pies represented the entire state, while Panhandle lawmakers wanted something more sweet and less sour -- either pecan or sweet potato pie.

A few years later the House passed a resolution recognizing the key lime pie as "an important symbol" of Florida.

That's not good enough for state Rep. Mitch Needelman, a Melbourne Republican, who is introducing a bill in the House with fellow Republican Ken Sorensen of Key Largo. Needelman wants key lime pies elevated to a more elite status, joining other official Florida favorites such as the orange, horse conch shell and the sabal palm tree.

Sorensen reminds listeners that key lime pie was born of adversity and creativity. The story goes that during the early part of the 20th century, a Henry Flagler railroad train ran off the tracks in the Keys. One of the boxcars was loaded with condensed milk.

"...Not wanting to let anything go to waste, they looked at these thousands and thousands of cans of condensed milk and wondered what to do with them: Four tablespoons of key lime juice and condensed milk and we have the makings of a great pie," Sorensen said.

Needelman doesn't have as colorful a tale to tell, but he's not above rallying the troops with a bit of agit-prop. He sent a letter in September to South Florida businesses that sell key lime pies, with a call to arms.

"We are facing fierce opposition from the backers of the pecan pie," he wrote.

Bob Roth, owner of Bob Roth's New River Grove, a Davie citrus stand known for its key lime pies, is happy to take up the call. And he has no patience for the North Florida pecan contingent:

"They have no business sticking their nuts where they don't belong."

I wouldn't touch my next line for a free weekend in Key West...
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Protecting The Children

From Raw Story:

Ohio lawmaker proposes ban on Republican adoptions

If an Ohio lawmaker's proposal becomes state law, Republicans would be barred from being adoptive parents.

State Sen. Robert Hagan sent out e-mails to fellow lawmakers late Wednesday night, stating that he intends to "introduce legislation in the near future that would ban households with one or more Republican voters from adopting children or acting as foster parents." The e-mail ended with a request for co-sponsorship.

On Thursday, the Youngstown Democrat said he had not yet found a co-sponsor.

Hagan said his "tongue was planted firmly in cheek" when he drafted the proposed legislation. However, Hagan said that the point he is trying to make is nonetheless very serious.

Hagan said his legislation was written in response to a bill introduced in the Ohio House this month by state Rep. Ron Hood, R-Ashville, that is aimed at prohibiting gay adoption.

"We need to see what we are doing," said Hagan, who called Hood's proposed bill blatantly discriminatory and extremely divisive. Hagan called Hood and the eight other conservative House Republicans who backed the anti-gay adoption bill "homophobic."

I like it. Who knows what filth those innocent children could be exposed to by being around people like that?
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Simple Respect

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

On her way into the church where the funeral was to be held for her 23-year-old son Thursday morning, Deirdre Ostlund approached six men and women waving signs against gays and America and told them in a cold fury: "I'm Andrew's mother, and I want you to know you are truly hateful people."

As Ostlund turned away, Shirley Phelps-Roper taunted her: "Adulterer! You can't admit you sent your own child to hell! If she does not heed this warning, she will look up from hell with him."

Her small group continued to sing "God hates America."

But across barricades, crime-scene tape and police officers, 20 flag-waving men and women countered with the original, "God bless America, land that I love ... "

This ritual, unfolding across the nation outside military funerals, arrived in Anoka on Thursday an hour before the funeral for Cpl. Andrew Kemple, who died in Iraq Feb. 12.

The six are members of a church in Topeka, Kan., that espouses the belief that God is killing American soldiers because they fought for a country that tolerates homosexuality. The 20 on the other side are affiliated with the Patriot Guard Riders, a rapidly growing nationwide movement organized to counter that very message.

"We're just trying to show honor and respect for families," said John Lutsch, a St. Cloud resident who heads the Minnesota branch of the Patriot Guard. "I was appalled when I read about these protests, that they'd use a solemn occasion like this as a forum for their views."

This is the first I've heard of the Patriot Guard Riders, but judging by their website and their mission statement --

The Patriot Guard Riders is a diverse amalgamation of riders from across the nation. We have one thing in common besides motorcycles. We have an unwavering respect for those who risk their very lives for America’s freedom and security. If you share this respect, please join us.

We don’t care what you ride, what your political views are, or whether you’re a "hawk" or a "dove". It is not a requirement that you be a veteran. It doesn't matter where you’re from or what your income is. You don’t even have to ride. The only prerequisite is Respect.

Our main mission is to attend the funeral services of fallen American heroes as invited guests of the family. Each mission we undertake has two basic objectives.

1. Show our sincere respect for our fallen heroes, their families, and their communities.

2. Shield the mourning family and friends from interruptions created by any protestor or group of protestors.

We accomplish the latter through strictly legal and non-violent means.

-- they sound like a good bunch of people who don't care about the politics of the war but demand respect for the soldiers who serve and their families and stand with them. As they note rather vehemently, "If you’re looking for a group that protests, counter-protests or confronts any organization, you’re in the wrong place. The PGR is not a protest group."

I think this kind of demonstration does more to marginalize Fred Phelps and his band of harpies than the proposed legislation. Sometimes moral outrage and simple respect can rise above the cold black letter of the law.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Shalala Says Something About the Janitors

Following up on this story, it looks like the University of Miami is seeing that they have a little mess on their hands with the janitors' pay issue. From the Miami Herald:

Just days before its janitors vote whether to strike, the University of Miami said it would conduct a thorough review of compensation and benefits for all contract employees working on its campuses.

The university had previously maintained that it was a neutral party in the fight between Unicco Service Co., the Boston-based contractor it uses for the school's janitorial staff, and the Service Employees' International Union, the labor group that has been trying to organize the workers.

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, President Donna Shalala said the university could no longer remain "quiet or idle while our integrity is called into question by the people we hold dearest."

"The university is fully aware of its role in continuing to provide a good work environment not only for its own employees but also for employees of outside contractors working on its campuses," she said. A UM spokeswoman declined further comment on the issue, saying Shalala's statement should stand on its own.

In its organizing campaign that began months ago, the SEIU has said the workers face unsafe working conditions, are poorly paid and have no health benefits. The university has said the workers are paid on average $7.43 an hour.

SEIU spokeswoman Renee Asher said Shalala's statement was welcomed, but that the vote to authorize the strike was still planned for Sunday.

Now that they have their attention...
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Friday Blogaround

As Auntie Mame noted, "Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death." Well, here's a buffet of opinions, thoughts, and comments from The Liberal Coalition that should fill you up for a while.

Natalie cheers the Irish.

archy compares notes on Bill O'Reilly's consistency.

Bark Bark Woof Woof on how the port deal is an icon of Bush's management style.

blogAmY has vacation pictures.

bloggg on what the port story isn't about.

Collective Sigh on tax cuts.

Dodecahedron doesn't understand how you can judge ski-jumping.

Dohiyi Mir on a governor who needs to get out more.

Echidne would like just one coherent myth from the Bushies.

the farmer has a funny story.

firedoglake wonders when they will ban in-vitro fertilization.

First Draft on a South Florida political reporter's revelation.

The Fulcrum on the perils of speaking out at the CIA.

Happy Furry Puppy cleans house, sorta.

iddybud on a neocon seeing the light.

Left Is Right on the complicity of the Bush administration in smear campaigns.

Lefty answers your questions.

Liberty Street on South Dakota's attempt to ban all abortions.

Make Me a Commentator finds out the truth about liberals.

MercuryX23 has a short quote.

Musing's musings on the bombing of the al-Askariya mosque and how you can help with the healing.

Pen-Elayne is feeling better -- good health, dear!

Rook's Rant on reclassifying old news.

rubber hose says "the only region in the world that the u.s. news media covers worse than central asia is subsahara africa...."

Coturnix on a piece of childrens' fiction.

Scrutiny Hooligans on the plan to build some concentration camps here.

Sooner Thought on the closing of a GM plant in Oklahoma City.

Speedkill on the courage to print the infamous cartoons.

Steve Gilliard on the rise of the neo-Nazis.

T. Rex on gay genetics.

The Countess on a "study" that links IQ to, uh, physical attributes.

The Invisible Library has outsourcing issues of his own.

Wanda contemplates what a law in South Dakota has to do with her.

WTF Is It Now on the troubles of Mr. Santorum of Pennsylvania.

Steve contemplates the meaning of President's Day and certain royalty.

...You Are a Tree on the future of MS Word.

Are the Olympics over yet?
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Friday Catblogging

Snowball gets crabby with a hand-carved souvenir from Jamaica.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

The Hits Just Keep On Coming

I noticed that my site hits went through the roof yesterday. I couldn't figure out why until I did a little research and found out I was linked by the "Related Blogs" on the New York Times editorial page for this post.

Cool. Let me know when my fifteen minutes is up.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Short-Term Memory Loss

Ezra Klein in TAPPED:

I've been reading the White House report on government failures during Katrina and policy recommendations for fixing them. The worrying part? If you replaced the word "Katrina" with "9-11,” you'd get a near-carbon copy of the 9-11 Commission's Report. Katrina, as was noted at the time, didn't demand a very different response than a major terrorist attack. That we were unprepared just further proves that the same President who claims to wake up every morning thinking "9-11, 9-11, 9-11" forgets about it by the time he finishes his oatmeal.

Well, hurricane season starts in 97 days, so he'll have that many more days to remember and forget.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Cheney's Coup

That's what Sidney Blumenthal calls Executive Order 13292.

On March 25, 2003, President Bush signed Executive Order 13292, a hitherto little known document that grants the greatest expansion of the power of the vice president in American history. The order gives the vice president the same ability to classify intelligence as the president. By controlling classification, the vice president can in effect control intelligence and, through that, foreign policy.

Bush operates on the radical notion of the "unitary executive," that the president has inherent and limitless powers in his role as commander in chief, above the system of checks and balances. By his extraordinary order, he elevated Cheney to his level, an acknowledgment that the vice president was already the de facto executive in national security. Never before has any president diminished and divided his power in this manner. Now the unitary executive inherently includes the unitary vice president.

[...]

When Dick Cheney was secretary of defense under the first President Bush, he reprimanded Vice President Dan Quayle for asserting power he did not possess by calling a meeting of the National Security Council when the elder Bush was abroad. Cheney well knew the vice president had no authority in the chain of command.

Since the coup d'état of Executive Order 13292, however, the vice presidency has been transformed.

I'm trying to imagine what the Republicans would have said if Bill Clinton had done that for Al Gore...
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

The Set-Up

No surprise here.

South Dakota lawmakers yesterday approved the nation's most far-reaching ban on abortion, setting the stage for new legal challenges that its supporters say they hope lead to an overturning of Roe v. Wade.

The measure, which passed the state Senate 23 to 12, makes it a felony for doctors to perform any abortion, except to save the life of a pregnant woman. The proposal still must be signed by Gov. Mike Rounds (R), who opposes abortion.

[...]

"The momentum for a change in the national policy on abortion is going to come in the not-too-distant future," said Rep. Roger W. Hunt, a Republican who sponsored the bill. To his delight, abortion opponents succeeded in defeating all amendments designed to mitigate the ban, including exceptions in the case of rape or incest or the health of the woman. Hunt said that such "special circumstances" would have diluted the bill and its impact on the national scene.

These people don't really care about the women or even the babies involved. They have passed this law only so that it will be challenged in court and therefore become a test case so the newly-configured Supreme Court can overturn settled law.

In other words, they're counting on those damned "activist" judges to do the very thing they scream about.

For an insight to this issue that I cannot provide, harken to Shakespeare's Sister.

This issue is not just about women who may, at some point, want or need abortions. It's about all women—and our standing in society, our autonomy. Control over my own body, of which legalized abortion is a significant part, is part of how I define and understand myself and my role in our culture. Taking that away from me is taking away a part of myself, and make no mistake, that's what this fight is really about.

Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Icon See Clearly Now

David Brooks gets hysterical about what he calls the hysteria over the story, and he's predictably latching on to the worst xenophobia from the wingnuts and ascribing the same motives to those who have legitimate concerns about port security regardless of who is running them.

The oil-rich nations of the Middle East have plenty of places to invest their money and don't need to do favors for nations that kick them in the teeth. Moreover, this is a region in the midst of traumatic democratic change. The strongest argument the fundamentalists have is that they are engaged in a holy war against the racist West, which imposes one set of harsh rules on Arabs and another set of rules on everybody else. Now comes a group of politicians to prove them gloriously right.

God must love Hamas and Moktada al-Sadr. He has given them the America First brigades of Capitol Hill. God must love the folks at Al Jazeera. They won't have to work to stoke resentments this week. All the garbage they need will be spewing forth from press conferences and photo ops on C-Span and CNN.

So he is basically ignoring the fact that the Bush administration has basically ignored port security since 9/11, that the sweetheart deal with DP World was worked out in secret and without consulting Congress -- or even the president, for that matter -- and that in doing so the deal may be in violation of federal law. Those are the issues that have people worked up, and for Mr. Brooks to brush it off as racism only confirms the fact that he's either not paying attention or he's doing the bidding of the White House. You make the call.

As this article in the Miami Herald points out, it's not only a question of who operates the ports but how secure they are and what's being done to make sure that there are enough resources to protect them against attack.

The sale would give DP World half of the Port of Miami Terminal Operating Co., the largest of the port's three terminal operators.

But foreign ownership of U.S. terminal operations is common -- Danish firm A.P. Moller-Maersk operates one terminal at the Port of Miami-Dade -- and the security problems ports face stem more from a lack of resources.

(Given the recent crisis over the Danish cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad, it should be interesting to see how things go between DP World and A.P. Moller-Maersk.)

Responsibility for port security lies with Customs as well as the U.S. Coast Guard and local law enforcement.

At the Miami-Dade port, county police officers staff the main gate and conduct background checks of port workers, which includes fingerprinting. The port's security budget is $15 million, up from $4.1 million four years ago.

Customs scrutinizes passengers and cargo, but private terminal operators handle security inside property they lease. Operators must present security plans to the U.S. Coast Guard for approval.

"The problem is the Coast Guard is undermanned, and they basically rubber-stamped all the plans," said Ed Hall, director of operations for consulting firm Maritime Protective Services. "Plans have to audited. But I think this crisis [with DP World] has created a public awareness that will be outstanding in the long run."

[...]

One big problem with port security overall: money. The American Association of Port Authorities estimates ports need $5.4 billion over 10 years to upgrade security, but the Bush administration has budgeted $708 million.

The DP World port management story has become another icon of the Bush administration's management style: a secret deal worked out between an ally with dubious ties to corporate connections within the Bush administration, a failure to communicate with people (Congress) who have a right and duty to know what's going on, a lot of bloviation about protecting America without the money to back it up, and a tone-deaf attitude about how to handle the inevitable reaction when the deal becomes public. Put this up there with the other symbols of incompetence that they've collected: WMD's, the cold trail of Osama bin Laden, hurricane recovery, Harriet Miers, the Plame leak, the warrantless wiretapping, Dick Cheney-with-a-gun, et cetera, et cetera. Granted, there's a certain comfort in consistency, but this is ridiculous.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Who's In Charge Here?

From Yahoo! News:

President Bush was unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates until the deal already had been approved by his administration, the White House said Wednesday.

Defending the deal anew, the administration also said that it should have briefed Congress sooner about the transaction, which has triggered a major political backlash among both Republicans and Democrats.

Bush on Tuesday brushed aside objections by leaders in the Senate and House that the $6.8 billion sale could raise risks of terrorism at American ports. In a forceful defense of his administration's earlier approval of the deal, he pledged to veto any bill Congress might approve to block the agreement.

Bush faces a rebellion from leaders of his own party, as well as from Democrats, about the deal that would put Dubai Ports in charge of major shipping operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.

While Bush has adamantly defended the deal, the White House acknowledged that he did not know about it until recently.

"He became aware of it over the last several days," McClellan said. Asked if Bush did not know about it until it was a done deal, McClellan said, "That's correct."

Okay, now I'm thoroughly confused. We've been told ad nauseum that the reason George W. Bush is a strong leader is because he spends every waking moment thinking about the war on terra and the safety of this country. Now the White House is using the president's ignorance of the Dubai deal as a defense...

How does that not reinforce the impression that he's just a clueless twit?
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Trouble in Toledo

From the Toledo Blade:

In a simple West Toledo ranch house and during target practice at a local shooting range, three area men plotted to build bombs and help assist the insurgent attacks in Iraq, federal authorities alleged yesterday.

The men, including a University of Toledo computer and engineering student, planned to wage “holy war” using skills learned via the Internet, officials said, and they intended to enter Iraq under the guise of doing business related to a Reynolds Road used-car lot that one of them owned.

Two of the men were arrested in Toledo over the weekend and pleaded not guilty during a hearing yesterday. The third was arrested in Jordan and flown back to Cleveland, where he pleaded not guilty yesterday.

All were ordered detained on the charges.

“I think America is safer today,” U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said during a Washington press conference.

According to the government, the men became versed in terror attacks through videos and “jihadist” Web sites and sought to acquire powerful explosives. One of them talked about financing the operation by creating a dummy nonprofit organization, authorities said.

Whether they were close to implementing the alleged plan was unclear. But authorities took it seriously.

“Clearly these folks had the motivation and they demonstrated they had the means,” Mr. Gonzales said.

Mohammad Zaki Amawi, 26, of 4 Chelmsley Ct., Marwan Othman El-Hindi, 42, of 3524 Mayo St., and Wassim I. Mazloum, 24, of 5526 Grey Drive, Sylvania, were charged with conspiring to kill or injure people in the Middle East and with providing the “support and resources” to do so.

There is a sizable Muslim community in Toledo, and there has been for a very long time. Naturally they are worried that these arrests will cause a backlash against them.

There are about 6,000 Muslims in the Toledo community and some have roots going back 100 years, said Dr. S. Zaheer Hasan, a spokesman for the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo. Many area Muslims have served in the U.S. military, he added, and the Muslim community has been vigilantly working with law-enforcement officials to keep an eye out for possible terrorists.

"First, we want justice to prevail and we believe in the justice system of our country," Dr. Hasan said in an interview with The Blade. "But we are concerned that it is putting Toledo Muslims on the map of the world and there is nothing good about it."

He emphasized that the three men charged yesterday had no ties to the Perrysburg Township mosque, one of the largest between New York and Chicago.

Ziad Hummos, president of the Masjid Saad, a West Toledo mosque, said the three indicted Toledoans had been seen occasionally at that mosque but were not members or frequent attendees.

"Hopefully, if they're guilty, they will pay the price. And if they're innocent, they will not be punished. If I knew they were going to harm this country, I'd be the first one to turn them in," Mr. Hummos said. "I would not hesitate. This is my country and the country of my children. We want all the people of the United States to be living in peace and harmony."

During the the times of the "troubles" in Northern Ireland in the 1980's, several men of Irish heritage were arrested in Boston for gun-running and working with the IRA. They were dealt with fairly in our judicial system, and I don't recall there being a backlash against citizens of Irish descent in Boston. I'm just pointing that out in case some of us forget that not everyone who comes from one community harbors the same ideas and plots of a few.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Man Overboard

It looks like President Bush has sailed into some heavy weather in the port-management issue. Now he has Republican leaders from the House and Senate objecting to the deal and threatening legislation to block it. The president's response has been his own threat -- to veto any legislation to that effect. Neener neener.

I think this brouhaha could be the point where another wheel comes off the wagon. It's got something for everyone. The objections are coming from all sides -- from the left because of the backroom way the deal was put together, and from the right who just don't trust the A-rabs. In between you have the real concerns about outsourcing, labor, and, as this New York Times editorial points out, the double standard that the administration applies to individual rights as compared to those of corporations. On top of all of this is the simple fact that the administration did something without consulting members of Congress and presented it as a done deal with the president insulted that they would have the temerity not to trust him to do what's right.

Having been bitten several times before by this -- warrantless wiretapping and the Miers nomination leap to mind -- you would think that Congress would have learned by now that the Bush administration views them as an annoyance rather than a co-equal partner in governing, and that any behavior by the legislative branch other than complete sycophancy is considered to be treasonous. In quashing the congressional inquiry into the warrantless wiretapping, Karl Rove put out the word that any Republican who goes against the White House will be cut off at the knees in their run for re-election, and who says he was speaking only metaphorically?

But this may be one battle that the White House could lose. Congress is already gearing up for the midterm elections and they are seeing the president as a liability and the whiff of the lame duck is becoming a stench. They are out to save their own skins now, and if that means they have to throw the president overboard to win, they will.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Literary Update

Chapter 29 of Small Town Boys is up at Bobby Cramer and mirrored at The Practical Press.

By the way, voting is still open for The Practical Press Awards. Small Town Boys has been nominated for Best Serialized Story - Complete or nearly complete. Just sayin....
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Timing is Everything

Donna Shalala, who served as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Clinton Administration, is now the president of the University of Miami. Not a bad gig; she gets a nice big house here in Coral Gables, she gets a nice office, and a lot of people send money to the university -- they just topped $1 billion in their annual giving drive. However, the university is also having a bit of a problem with their hired help; they don't offer health benefits to their janitors, and they are, as is the case of most low-paid workers, the least able to afford health care. President Shalala has, so far, refused to concede this benefit, and the janitors, according to Anders Schneiderman of the Service Employees International Union, are contemplating a job action.

Just as University of Miami President Donna Shalala is fighting off attempts by low-wage janitors at her campus to win a living wage, the Sunday NYT mag goes and prints a two-page spread about her luxury home in Coral Gables.

[...]

One of the many ironies here is that Shalala – who as a proper Clintonista held her ground on keeping the health care crisis front and center at HHS – is now catching flack on campus for denying health insurance to low-paid janitors who clean the university. In a campaign that echoes that of the well-publicized Harvard janitors a few years ago, the students at the famously apathetic school are side-by-side with the janitors in protesting Shalala’s stance.

Now, it appears that the Miami janitors are about to vote to strike. Making this NYT mag "profile" truly poor form.

So just as Shalala confesses in an almost satirical interview by Edward Lewine she can’t do without the help making her bed every morning, U of Miami janitor Maritza Paz can’t even clear seven bucks an hour and is staggering under the burden of trying to pay off her $33,000 medical bills for two life-saving operations.

Well, at least she didn't say "Let them eat cake." Perhaps if they took some of the money they raise for the football team and put it toward paying the service workers a living wage with benefits, Dr. Shalala might make her own bed in the morning. Oh, and if they have any left over, they could give it to the Theatre Department...
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Long-Term Relationship

The Conventional Wisdom is that progressives lack long-term plans for winning voters back to their issues or defeating some of the more odious plans of the righties. However, E.J. Graff reports in the American Prospect on one group of progressives that has their act together.

This November, anti–gay-marriage bills will be back on ballots with a vengeance. But this time around, the gay and lesbian activist network is ready to play hardball.

[...]

A 15-year strategy has been agreed to by all the major organizational players. Funding is in place, and new tactics are being developed and tested in this year’s biggest clashes with anti-gay groups. As a result, says Rodger McFarlane, executive director of the LGBT-focused Gill Foundation, “for marriage, there is a strategy, movement coherence, and funding at scale.” Along the way, LGBT groups are planning to change the political climate in ways that will force politicians to support gay rights.

And the best news? As part of those tactics, LGBT groups are helping to build a new progressive coalition from the ground up.

History has shown that a small group of people with determination can be a powerful force for change. After all, Phyllis Schlafly got her start by working off her dining room table, and if she can do it, we certainly can.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Olympics Update

I've made it through the first week without watching any of the events.

The scuttlebutt via the few, the proud and the TiVo'd is that the best stuff has been happening off the ice and snow, like the diva dish going on between on between some of the figure skaters and the poor performance of Bode Miller, who's made more of an impact as a crestfallen coverboy for Newsweek than a medalist.

I guess I'm nostalgic for the old days when the Olympics were a real event and there was something exotic about getting pictures via satellite from Innsbruck and Grenoble; it was up there with the moon shots in terms of public attention. Jim McKay of ABC -- the Walter Cronkite of sportcasters -- made it worth watching. But now, as a friend who lived in Salt Lake City in 2002 said, it's just a sixteen-day clusterfuck with commercials.

Now, if they could merge speedskating with men's gymnastics, I'd watch.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Radio Daze

At the office I normally listen to CBC Radio Two via streaming audio, but it's having issues -- popping in and out for no apparent reason. My fall-backs are Colorado Public Radio, but they're doing fund-raising, and Interlochen Public Radio, but it times out after two hours. I have nothing against fund-raising, but that means they're going to be talking a lot, and I need music to keep the day going, and with my luck IPR will time out in the middle of a piece I'm enjoying as I work.

Maybe I'll just pop in my Beach Boys CD and entertain the entire office with surf music all day... heh.

Update: CBC put this on their website:

Streaming Alert:
We are currently experiencing technical difficulties with our live streaming. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to fix it as quickly as possible.

Thanks for letting me know.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Ironic Post of the Day

Via AMERICAblog comes this little bit of news:

The US and Britain are pressuring Iraq's dominant Shia community to relinquish two key ministries in negotiations for a new government, as the country was hit by a wave of bombings that killed at least 24 people.

The US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, warned yesterday that Washington might cut aid to the Iraqis if the new government included sectarian politicians, pointing out that the US had spent "billions" in building up the police and the army.

"American taxpayers expect their money to be spent properly. We are not going to invest the resources of the American people into forces run by people who are sectarian," he said. He singled out the defence and interior ministries, saying they should be in the hands of people "who are non-sectarian, broadly acceptable and who are not tied to militias".

In other words, we bought it, we paid for it, and we'll be darned if we're gonna let there be any mingling of religion and state in our brand-new government in Iraq.

This is from an administration that owes its life and its fortune to the Chrisitian Coalition, that pushes the bounds of church and state to the limits and beyond the First Amendment, and whose party is actively recruiting new voters from the directories of churches. Oy.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Dining With Sam

Well, for once the Florida legislature is considering a bill that I actually think would be a good thing.

Dogs could soon get the chance to legally go out for a bite at your favorite restaurant.

Although the state outlaws patrons dining with their dogs, even on outdoor patios, that could change. Legislators are ready to consider letting individual cities ignore the statewide ban as part of a three-year pilot program.

[...]

The debate began two years ago after a downtown Orlando restaurant not only allowed dogs on its patio, but offered doggie menu items as well. The state Department of Business & Professional Regulation, citing the law, told the restaurant to stop or face a fine up to $1,000 a day.

It stopped, but the incident forced all restaurants in the area to quit allowing dogs. That led thousands of pet owners to sniff out friendly legislators.

"I was shocked at the amount of lobbying for it," said state Rep. Susan Goldstein, R-Weston, who was on the House Business Regulation Committee that heard arguments on the measure last month. The state Legislature will debate the issue at the 60-day session that begins on March 7.

Although doggie dining is common in Europe, the demand for it hasn't been great in South Florida. However, not all cities actively enforce the state restriction.

[...]

Alma Medellin, 36, of Weston, would rather not dine with dogs.

"I like dogs but I don't like them to be close and begging for food and licking me when I'm eating," said the mother of three as she ate on a sidewalk patio at Weston Town Center.

But Stuart Blum, an accountant from Parkland who has two Labrador retrievers, says, "Restaurants are probably cleaner with dogs than without them because the dogs get food that's dropped before rats can get to it."

From the time he was a puppy, Sam was trained not to beg from the table, and in his life he was never given table scraps. Once in a while he was allowed to go with us to an outdoor restaurant near our place in Michigan and he would sit quietly, ever hopeful that we would accidentally drop something. (Dogs are by nature optimists about things like that.) Given the choice of sitting in a restaurant next to a table with a screaming baby or parents who blithely let their children run loose, pound their silverware on the table, and generally act like they've been raised by banshees, or a leashed dog lying quietly at the feet of his master, I'll take a dog any time. At least dogs listen when you tell them to sit and stay.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Any Port in a Storm?

From the New York Times:

The Republican governors of New York and Maryland on Monday joined the growing chorus of criticism of an Arab company's takeover of operations at six major American ports. Both raised the threat of legal action to void contracts at ports in New York City and Baltimore.

"I have directed the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to explore all legal options that may be available to them in regards to this transaction," Gov. George E. Pataki of New York said in a statement.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. of Maryland told reporters that he had "a lot of discretion" and was considering his options, including voiding the contract.

A lot of the backlash at the idea of having an Arab company run major ports in the US has been, frankly, based in the xenophobic idea that we shouldn't put the security of major trading outlets in the hands of Arabs because, well, they're Arabs. That is a rather simplistic, not to mention bigoted, way of looking at it. Backing off a notch, some have said that they don't like the idea of "foreign" companies -- Arab or otherwise -- doing it. That's less odious than the idea of a blanket distrust of any Arabic company, but in reality we do business in sensitive areas -- namely banking -- with lots of foreign countries like China, which can hardly be called the bulwark of capitalism, and there are very few corporations in America that do not have some component of foreign ownership.

It comes down to the basic fact that there are just some things in this country that shouldn't be privatized or outsourced, and defense and national security is one of them. One of the reasons we have a federal government is to provide protection at the borders and ports, and for those of us who live and work close to the ports covered in the contracts -- my office is within walking distance of the Port of Miami -- it would be comforting to know that my tax dollars are going to pay for that protection by our armed forces, and not from the lowest bidder.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Oh, Mr. Santorum...

...Your hypocrisy is showing. The American Prospect has an in-depth look at the finances of the senator from Pennsylvania.

“In far too many families with young children, both parents are working, when, if they really took an honest look at the budget, they might find they don’t both need to.”

-- U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, in his 2005 book, It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good

[...]

The Prospect decided to heed Santorum’s advice by taking “an honest look at the family budget” -- his family budget. What we found is that Santorum’s exurban lifestyle is financed in ways that aren’t available to the average voter back home in Pennsylvania -- namely a political action committee that lists payments for such unorthodox items as dozens of trips to the Starbucks in Leesburg, a number of stops at fast-food joints, and purchases at Target, Wal-Mart, and a Giant supermarket in northern Virginia. Although a Santorum aide defends those charges as legitimate political costs, good-government experts say the expenditures are at best unconventional, and at worst a possible violation of Senate rules, and the purchases appear to be unorthodox when compared with other senators’ filings. Santorum’s PAC -- a “leadership PAC,” whose purpose is to dispense money to other Republican candidates -- used just 18.1 percent of its money to that end over a recent five-year period, a lower number than other leadership PACs of top senators from both parties.

These facts may well raise questions in Pennsylvanians’ minds about how the senator is conducting their business in Washington.

[...]

The details of Santorum’s private life have clashed with his public record on several occasions. The senator has voted for a medical malpractice bill that capped non-economic damages at $250,000, even though in 1999 Karen Santorum had sought $500,000 from a Virginia chiropractor for back pain and was awarded $350,000 by a jury. (A judge reportedly later halved the award to $175,000.)

[...]

And so the political chameleon has changed colors yet again, casting himself as the Senate’s leading reformer. But with the November election fast approaching, Santorum is trailing [Robert] Casey, his most likely Democratic opponent, by double digits in the polls. Florida pollster David Beattie has written that the 2006 election may turn on fiscally conservative, socially moderate voters with weaker partisan ties. Beattie calls them “Starbucks Republicans.” At least Santorum will know where to find them.

Very few things in the 2006 election would make me happier than to see this pompous, hypocritical, sanctimonious, and homophobic scold get thrown out on his ass.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Blogroll Addition

Welcome The Daily Pulp to the Florida Blogs. Bob Norman, a columnist for the New Times Broward*Palm Beach, casts a critical look at the South Florida journalism scene. That could prove interesting, especially following the adventures of Buddy Nevins, the Sun-Sentinel's political reporter who makes no secret of which side of the fence he is on. (Hint -- not all political reporters are Democrats.)
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Evil Queen

photos via The Huffington Post

All I did was go to a car show in Lake Worth yesterday, and I missed Mary Matalin turn in a performance on Meet The Press that seems to have gotten rave reviews for her personification of the arrogance of the Bush administration and contempt that they have for the press, the public, and anyone else who would dare raise a question about numerous gaps and gaffes in the Cheney shooting, not to mention a performance worthy of a classic from the genius of Walt Disney. Arianna Huffington has the low-down, and you can watch the entire exchange at Crooks and Liars.

Before the PC police jump my case for making a snarky comparison between Ms. Matalin and the evil queen from Sleeping Beauty, let me point out that the resemblance is startling regardless of gender (and trust me, I know evil queens when I see them), I would have found a similar cartoon reference for a male counterpart (I'll find a picture from The Wind in the Willows when Karl Rove shows up again in TV), and admittedly I am not the first person to draw the comparison (note the source of the pictures).

One of the things that I find fascinating is that this gang that couldn't shoot straight (yeah, I know, you've heard that one before) and who did such an admittedly good job of bamboozling the public through two elections has such a tin ear when it comes to dealing with embarrassing news. It's like they don't know how to deal with the unexpected and anything that distracts them from the Great and Powerful Oz turns to crap in the hands of the handlers. Sending out Mary Matalin does nothing to enhance the image of the administration; she's like a charm-free version of Ann Coulter.

On the other hand, it could be a very elaborate plot on the part of the Democrats. Ms. Matalin is married to James Carville, the "ragin' cajun" who masterminded the Clinton war room in 1992 and is possessed of some very sharp political instincts. Maybe he encouraged his wife to go on MTP knowing she'd do complete crater job and therefore make it easier for the Democrats to come across as competent and amiable. Nah. They're not that clever. Mary Matalin does a fine job as Maleficent all on her own.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

It Happened Here

Leonard Pitts in the Miami Herald:

The enemies of freedom will be defeated.

-- President George W. Bush, 2005

We have met the enemy and he is us.

-- Pogo, 1971

The following happened in the United States of America on Feb. 9 of this year.

The scene is the Little Falls branch of the Montgomery County Public Library in Bethesda, Md. Business is going on as usual when two men in uniform stride into the main reading room and call for attention. Then they make an announcement: It is forbidden to use the library's computers to view Internet pornography.

As people are absorbing this, one of the men challenges a patron about a website he is visiting and asks the man to step outside. At this point, a librarian intervenes and calls the uniformed men aside. A police officer is summoned. The men leave. It turns out they are employees of the county's department of Homeland Security and were operating way outside their authority.

We are indebted to reporter Cameron W. Barr of The Washington Post for the account of this incident, which, I feel constrained to repeat, did not happen in China, Cuba or North Korea. Rather, it happened a few days ago in this country. Right here in freedom's land.

There are those of us who'd say the country has become less deserving of that sobriquet in recent years. They would point as evidence to the detention of U.S. citizens without charges, counsel or recourse, to laws empowering the government to check up on what you've been reading, to revelations of illegal eavesdropping.

And there are others who'd say, "So what?" They're in the 51 percent, according to a recent Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, who say we should be ready give up our freedoms in exchange for security.

Apparently, they are ignorant of what Benjamin Franklin said: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Apparently, they're also unversed in something candidate Bush said in 1999: "There ought to be limits to freedom." Mind you, this nugget of wisdom wasn't dropped in a discussion of national security. Rather, it was the future president's reaction to a website that made fun of him.

Seven years later, he's clearly getting his wish. It chills me to know that doesn't chill more of us.

Indeed, of all the many things I cannot fathom about certain of my countrymen and women, their ability to be sanguine at the threatened abrogation of their rights is very near the top.

The only way I can explain it is that freedom -- the right to do, say, think, go, live as you please -- is so ingrained in our psyche, has been such a part of us for so long, that some are literally unable to imagine life without it. They seem fundamentally unable to visualize how drastically things would change without these freedoms they treat so cavalierly, what it would be like to need government approval to use the Internet, buy a firearm, take a trip, watch a movie or read these very words.

If that sounds alarmist, consider again the experience at Little Falls, where an agent of the government literally read over a man's shoulder, Big Brother-like, and tried to prevent him from seeing what he had chosen to see.

I'm sorry, but the fact that we are at war doesn't make that OK. The fact that we are panicked doesn't make it OK. The allegation that the material is unsavory doesn't make it OK.

Look, freedom is a messy business. It is also a risky business. But it means nothing if we surrender it at every hint of messiness and risk. That's cowardly and it's un-American.

You'd think we'd have learned that lesson after the Sedition Act of 1918, the excesses of Joseph McCarthy, the surveillance of Martin Luther King. But apparently the lesson requires constant re-learning. And vigilance.

So thank you to the Little Falls library for having the guts to say, hell no.

Some things should never happen in freedom's land.

I have heard too many people who proudly label themselves as "patriots" complete with their little flag lapel pins and magnetic ribbons on the back of their car, read too many letters to the editor from people saying that they have nothing to hide, and from too many people -- especially here in Miami -- who risked life and limb to escape from Cuba say with no apparent awareness of irony that they have no objection to giving up a little freedom to feel that they're safe. They say we're at war, that 9/11 changed everything, and that we should trust our president to do what's right because he's the president and we should trust him. It all sounds very patriotic and somehow right.

In reality, these people are more dangerous than terrorists because they are, as Pogo noted, us. These are the people who believe in freedom for everyone...except those queers who are just [shudder] icky. These are the people who rail against the ACLU defending a flagburner... but guess who they run to for legal advice when their nativity scene on public land is challenged. These are the people who insist there's nothing wrong with the FBI searching someone's garage for chemicals to make a dirty bomb... but send in the ATF to seize a militia's machine guns and they carry on like white trash in a hurricane about the Second Amendment.

It would be easy to dismiss this as just a partisan issue and that these folks are only doing it because the guy they voted for is in the White House. But I'm afraid that it goes deeper than that. There are some people who just don't like the idea of other people having so much freedom; as Mr. Pitts noted, it's messy, and most people like things orderly and are prone to panic when someone moves the food dish. (If you've ever had a dog you get that analogy.) Oh, sure, the idea of freedom and equal rights is fine in theory, but when it actually happens and you get results you don't like (say, an election in Palestine), all bets are off. "You mean they're gonna let the coloreds into our high school?" "The queers can marry in Massachusetts?" "I can't force the kids in my classroom to be washed in the blood of the Heavenly Lamb, Jesus Christ?" These are the people we should be on the look-out for, not just some loser in flammable Adidas who can't work a child-proof Bic lighter.

The scary part is that we can always come up with an excuse for limiting our rights and freedoms. It requires true patriotism not to give in to excuses.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Keeping the Lid On

From the Washington Post:

At two key moments in recent days, White House officials contacted congressional leaders just ahead of intelligence committee meetings that could have stirred demands for a deeper review of the administration's warrantless-surveillance program, according to House and Senate sources.

In both cases, the administration was spared the outcome it most feared, and it won praise in some circles for showing more openness to congressional oversight.

But the actions have angered some lawmakers who think the administration's purported concessions mean little. Some Republicans said that the White House came closer to suffering a big setback than is widely known, and that President Bush must be more forthcoming about the eavesdropping program to retain Congress's good will.

This isn't news, but it interesting to see that the White House went after two members of the Senate -- Hagel and Snowe -- who are regarded by some as "mavericks;" they have been known at times to go against the marching orders of the White House.

It also strikes me as a bit odd that if the president is so convinced that what he did was both legal and proper, he would have no objection whatsoever to Congress doing their duty. Besides, after Karl Rove put the muscle on the Republicans -- stick with us or we'll find someone else to run against you in the primaries -- the White House should expect a ringing endorsement from Congress and a Harry Whittington-style apology for having questioned the righteousness of our Dear Leader.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Sunday Reading

When I went off to college in 1971 and moved from Ohio to Florida, I used to scan the student parking lots for other Ohio license plates among the mix of out-of-state cars. It was a way of staying connected with home, in a way; of not feeling alone among all the orange-and-white Florida plates. Nowadays it isn't license plates so much -- it's area codes.

Jay works in communications for a Washington think tank, but if you want to give him a ring, try Boston. Samantha studies international relations in Dupont Circle, but you'll have to call San Francisco to find her. Michele has been a congressional aide on Capitol Hill for nearly four years, but ask for her number, and you'll be calling Starkville, Miss.

In a city known for its revolving door of young professionals, graduate students and eager-eyed Hill staffers, many a mobile phone number proves that home is where the cell is.

Like a rear-windshield decal or an old college T-shirt, a cellphone number has become as much a part of an identity as a Social Security number. It represents a hometown, a college or a first job, and such memories are not casually thrown aside for a few good years with a 202 romance. For these area-code clingers, those 10 little digits provide a constant in the face of changing locations and uncertain futures.

And, hey, it's great small talk.

When I was in college, it was, "Hey, what's your sign?" (as in astrology. Virgo, by the way.) Today it's "What's your area code?" (305 here.)

The recent flap over Paul Hackett in Ohio puts the focus on veterans running for Congress this fall.

For Democrats struggling to win back Congress, it seemed like the most obvious of election strategies: erase the Republican advantage on national security by running real-life combat veterans as candidates.

In theory, at least, a candidate with a uniform, rank and military résumé should be redoubtable: a symbol of strength, patriotism and resolve, and at least somewhat inoculated from the debilitating personal attacks that have come to represent American politics.

So it is in the 2006 Congressional elections, soldier-candidates are marching across the campaign field in numbers not seen in a half-century, many veterans of the Iraq, Afghan, Vietnam, Balkan and first gulf wars — nearly 100 candidates in all, not including a single incumbent.

Most are Democrats, but Republicans have come up with their own veterans as well. Many were recruited by their parties, but others decided to run on their own or were encouraged by left-leaning bloggers who think these candidates can help Democrats win back Congress. Some candidates are motivated by opposition to the Iraq war, but others are talking about health care, job creation or energy.

Many Democratic candidates present themselves as the saviors of the party, saying they had been united both by opposition to Republican policies and by attacks on them or other veteran candidates.

As the Hackett incident pointed out, the Democrats can't assume that just recruiting veterans will provide them with the body armor they need to win in the fall. Sometimes, as the following story points out, they're victims of friendly fire.

Dana Milbank in the Washington Post handicaps the Democrats for the fall election...not who will win but who will get the blame if they don't.

The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll found that, approaching the midterm elections, Democrats enjoy their biggest advantage over Republicans in 14 years. Issue after issue -- Hurricane Katrina, Iraq, Jack Abramoff and now Harry Whittington -- gives the opposition party a potential advantage. And then there's the historical advantage enjoyed by the opposition in the elections midway through an incumbent president's second term. To some, this might be cause for celebration. But not to Democrats. Beaten in the last three election cycles, the party has a serious insecurity complex. Convinced they will face another disappointment in November, Democrats are already busy figuring out who among them should be blamed for the inevitable defeat. Here's a guide for handicapping the Democratic precriminations.

Hillary Clinton

Bill Clinton

Joe Lieberman

Harry Reid

John Kerry

Al Gore

Howard Dean

William Jefferson

Jack Murtha

Nancy Pelosi

Joe Biden

Karl Rove.

Well, at least they haven't blamed the bloggers. Yet.

Today is the annual Gold Coast British Car Show in Lake Worth. I'm off early this morning with Bob and his Austin Healey to participate. I'll bring back some pictures. Tally ho!
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Oh, No -- I'm Trendy

From the Sun-Sentinel:

A revolution is afoot, and the soldiers on the front lines may not realize how serious the fight has become: Mustaches are taking over New York City.

The rebels themselves don't know how it started.

"It just happened," said the mustachioed NYU sophomore Armen Danilian, 19, as if a mustache fluttered down from the sky and landed on his upper lip. "I'm on that lazy-man note, you know?"

That note is becoming a five-act opera. Mustaches that sprouted last year out of laziness, or as jokes, or on dares, are clinging to skin and refusing to let go. Two years ago, mustaches on young men drew stares. These days, few men ride the L train without one.

While the mustache-wearing demographic is evolving, the mustache's reputation is not. Many mustache-wearers admit the look evokes 1970s porn stars, cheesy action heroes and sketchy uncles. Some even say they adopted the style as a sort of gag. But as mustaches become widespread, they also become less outrageous. Irony is giving way to sincerity, raising the possibility that mustaches are here to stay.

Mine never left. I've had a mustache since the summer of 1974 when I went on a six-week backpacking trip in the Uintah Mountains and grew a beard. It came in patchy (think mange on a Labrador retriever) and I got rid of it when I got back to civilization, but the mustache remained.

I never really cared about fashion trends -- I missed that part of the queer-training seminars -- but I've always liked my 'stache. But to find out that I'm hip may make me reconsider.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!

Pew, That Stinks

From the Washington Post:

The North Carolina Republican Party asked its members this week to send their church directories to the party, drawing furious protests from local and national religious leaders.

"Such a request is completely beyond the pale of what is acceptable," said the Rev. Richard Land, head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

During the 2004 presidential race, the Bush-Cheney campaign sent a similar request to Republican activists across the country. It asked churchgoers not only to furnish church directories to the campaign, but also to use their churches as a base for political organizing.

The tactic was roundly condemned by religious leaders across the political spectrum, including conservative evangelical Christians. Ten professors of ethics at major seminaries and universities wrote a letter to President Bush in August 2004 asking him to "repudiate the actions of your re-election campaign," and calling on both parties to "respect the integrity of all houses of worship."

[...]

Chris Mears, the state party's political director, made the request in a Feb. 15 memo titled "The pew and the ballot box" that was sent by e-mail to "Registered Republicans in North Carolina."

Mears said the "Republican National Committee has completed a study on grass-roots activity that reveals that people who regularly attend church usually vote Republican when they vote."

"In light of this study's findings, it is imperative that we register, educate and get these potential voters from the pew to the ballot box. To do this we must know who these people are," the memo continued.

"I am requesting that you collect as many church directories as you can and send them to me in an effort to fully register, educate and energize North Carolina's congregations to vote in the 2006 elections," it said.

I marvel at the outright chutzpah and arrogance of the GOP to assume that North Carolina church-goers are Republicans and that they blithely put the churches' tax-exempt status in jeopardy if the churches willingly comply with the request. I'm not surprised, though.
Fetch more...

Stop That Noise!