The Gamut

#56 Amfivolists of the World Unite!

2011-12-31T21:13:00.000-05:00

My dad taught me never to enter into somebody else's arguments unless you had a solution. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you, the Amfivolist solution to the etymology/common usage debate over "agnostic."

#55 Penn and Me Talk About Stuff

2011-12-23T03:10:00.000-05:00

Penn Gillette made a video for the Big Think. I try to help him work some stuff out.

#54 OWS: a Primer for the Right

2011-11-20T20:08:00.000-05:00

Before we can ever reach agreement on how to run the country, we have to come to agreement on what things we already agree on.

Like Ghost Stories?

2011-09-28T01:36:00.002-04:00

My girlfriend recently started a new blog called "Haunted Me Blog." She's had a full and interesting life which includes several events she can't explain. Being the skeptic I have always been (by nature,) I tend to chalk the stories off to lucid dreaming, creaking/settling foundations, shadows, over-active imaginings, the usual. But she has a knack for telling the stories in an entertaining and suspenseful way that a lot of people seem to enjoy.

So if you are a fan of the spooky and weird; if you enjoy those new ghost-hunting shows; or even if you like the challenge of trying to explain away what others just assume are the super-natural, give it a read. You just might enjoy it.

http://hauntedmeblog.com/

#52 How the Gamutman Got His Name

2011-09-13T17:31:00.002-04:00

A few people have asked my how I got the name. A few others have asked about the pronunciation.

#51 Well I Just Think

2011-08-31T15:16:00.002-04:00

I was initially going to make a separate video tackling each of these issues, and then I realized that they all present a common thread.

#50 Race and IQ

2011-07-30T16:47:00.001-04:00

These are my thoughts on why race is a concept that has no actual meaning and why any correlations to IQ are spurious.

#49: Bullies and Apologies

2011-07-19T22:42:00.000-04:00

Should you apologize to your bully for making him smack you?

#48 GOP Cognitive Dissonance

2011-07-11T17:11:00.000-04:00

So whose fault is unemployment? Is it the fault of the lazy unemployed? The incompetent president? Or the people who keep making the same stupid failed policy decisions?

#47 Review: Season of the Witch & Black Death

2011-06-29T14:59:00.000-04:00

Comparing and contrasting two recent movies about the plague, superstition, and the affect they had on the dark ages.

#46 Re: Are atheists just being jerks?

2011-06-18T11:45:00.000-04:00

Should we just let the Christians have their day? Or is that kind of enabling a bad idea?

#45 Souls, Man

2011-05-30T16:16:00.000-04:00

The previous video I mentioned can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4-dYXx9jkQ

Shayrah's video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us4R_4646z0

#44 Confirmation Bias

2011-03-28T01:39:00.001-04:00

Wanting to believe something can make things which when viewed more critically seem like undeniable proof.

It's called justice, stupid!

2011-03-02T18:17:00.006-05:00

The video embedded below is not available on my YouTube channel. It is currently suppressed because of a DMCA claim by the jackass featured in the video, Jesse Woodrow.

Fortunately, I was able to use the embed to download the video to my computer and then re-upload it to Viddler. enjoy the video Jesse Woodrow does not want you to see.

UPDATE: This video has been reinstated on YouTube. VICTORY is MINE!

#43 An Atheist's Last Will and Testament

2011-01-21T10:35:00.000-05:00

#42 Book Review: Blasphemy by Douglas Preston

2011-01-09T14:35:00.001-05:00

#41 A Message for the Aryan Brotherhood

2011-01-03T10:01:00.002-05:00

#40 Beat Poem: Religion, Plurality, Christianity; Feh!

2010-12-07T09:09:00.000-05:00

This was a response in a forum to a Christian who asked me if I thought Christianity could adapt to a pluralistic society. I've tweaked it a little and am presenting it as a beat-style free-verse poem.

#39 Travel Log: The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

2010-11-01T15:58:00.001-04:00

#38 School Prayer is Settled Law (Right?)

2010-10-05T16:44:00.001-04:00

#37 To Blazes

2010-09-14T22:03:00.001-04:00

#36 My De-Conversion Story

2010-07-25T16:06:00.001-04:00

#35 Forewarned is Forearmed (This One is Going to be Weird)

2010-07-09T17:48:00.001-04:00

#34 Opining on a Mosque (In Which I Tick Off Everyone)

2010-06-10T13:49:00.001-04:00

#33 God: Just the Wrong Concept

2010-06-02T15:43:00.000-04:00

#32 Everybody Draw Mohammad Day

2010-05-20T21:17:00.001-04:00

#31 Judging the Judge on Prayer Day

2010-05-06T08:36:00.000-04:00

That Prayer Decision Thingy

2010-04-24T18:28:00.001-04:00

I just sent the following letter to the editor of my local paper.

As an American, an atheist, and someone who respects religious freedom, I applaud the recent decision by US District Judge Barbara Crabb to enjoin the President from endorsing a National Day of Prayer. As an atheist, I think prayer is a waste of time. However, as an American, I think people should be free to pray whenever and wherever they choose. While as one who respects religious freedom, I don’t think the government has any business endorsing any strictly religious activity, of which prayer is primary. As an atheist, I have no desire to attend prayer services, public or private. As an American, I recognize that people have the absolute right to gather and pray on any grounds public or private. As one who respects religious freedom, I worry for the rights of my religious brethren whenever the government encroaches into what should be private spiritual territory.

An atheist is one who believes many things, but does not believe there is a God. An atheist can believe in your right to assemble. An atheist can believe in your right to pray. An atheist can even believe in your right to choose a day to gather and pray in tandem as a nation of faithful religious individuals. And in fact, this atheist does. But as an American, I cannot believe any other American with a profound understanding of the Constitution and the lessons of our history could ever want any government (least of all our own) becoming involved in the business of legislating religious observances.

Yes, the majority of persons in this country are Christians. Yes, the majority believe prayer has some nondescript magical efficacy. But I fail to see how that translates to a need for our government to sanction a day set aside for what should be an everyday part of every good Christian’s daily routine anyway. Being the majority doesn’t change that. Were the majority to convert to Islam, would those of you who remain Christian be okay with the government endorsing Sharia law? Should most of your neighbors convert to Hinduism, would you Christians be okay with our government adopting a caste system? I dare say you would not. So why should I, an atheist, be okay with my government, as Judge Crabb referred to it, “endors[ing] a religious message?”

And staving off the critics who will erroneously declare that the founders would have supported the recent tradition, I leave you with these words from Thomas Jefferson; “I do not believe it is for the interest of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct its exercises, … nor of the religious societies that the general government should be invested with the power of effecting any uniformity of time or matter among them... Everyone must act according to the dictates of his own reason, and mine tells me that civil powers alone have been given to the President of the United States, and no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents.”

#28 Which Came First; The Toy Chick or the Bubble Gum Egg

2010-04-04T13:08:00.000-04:00

Lately, it seems the notion that there is some evolution refuting power in the old saw about the chicken and the egg has become popular with creationists. Well, on this Easter Sunday, before the idea rises fully from the dead, allow me to do my part to help put a bullet between its zombie eyes.

How to Make a Pgh Style Pastrami Burger

2010-03-21T11:37:00.000-04:00

Companion to my Meat and Morality video.

#27 Meat and Morality

2010-03-21T11:36:00.002-04:00

#26 St. Pat & the Trinity

2010-03-17T14:14:00.003-04:00

Happy Catholic Feast Day of a middle ages Roman Catholic missionary bent on converting a race and bringing new superstitous nonsense to an island nation that would later fraction the island and lead to years of bloodshed and strife. Drink up!

#25 5 Macabre Facts Tag

2010-03-17T14:14:00.001-04:00

#24 Finally Panentheists Get Pwn3d

2010-03-04T21:35:00.000-05:00

#23 Why Deism Fails

2010-02-27T18:59:00.000-05:00

brief dissertation on why the concept of Deism is no better than theism.

#22b Defining Terms

2010-02-11T19:01:00.003-05:00

UPDATE: This video has been removed, at least tempoarily, due to a DMCA claim filed by YouTube user gklr. I have filed a counter claim asserting fair use. Hopefully, the video will be reinstated. In the mean time, if you'd like to download and mirror the video or just view it, it can still be found in this cache: http://www.max3dmodels.com/vdo/-22B-Defining-Terms/rT3Y4C-Vhgs.html

#22 The Case for Strong Atheism

2010-02-05T17:20:00.001-05:00

A defense of the strong atheistic position.

#21 The Big Bang for Dummies

2010-01-31T17:01:00.001-05:00

Breakdown of the evidence for the big bang in simplified form. To see the hyperlinks to the origonal videos make sure to have annotations turned on. All links to source videos on Youtube presenting the evidence for the listed points in more detail.

#20 The Invention of Lying (A Review and Commentary)

2010-01-24T21:53:00.000-05:00

Commentary on the film "The Invention of Lying" starring Ricky Gervais. This commentary focuses on the conceit in the film that descriptions of an afterlife, a man in the sky and personal mansions for everyone who leads a good and moral life would be a convenient lie for someone to tell.

#19 Why Live? An Atheists Response.

2010-01-10T15:59:00.002-05:00

This video is a response to a request by ReligiousFiction. Original video here.

Yes, I misspelled soundtrack and also misnamed the song in the credits. Sorry.

#18 The Bogus Christmas War

2009-12-14T00:30:00.001-05:00

There is no such animal as a war on Christmas. There is, however, a war on the separation of church and state.

#17 The Number is Beastial

2009-12-04T21:17:00.001-05:00

#16 Arguing from Common Ground

2009-07-30T14:38:00.000-04:00

Beginning with those areas where theists and atheists agree, we can show how the conclusions many theists come to are self-contradictory. Here's an example.

#15 Religion as Side Effect

2009-06-23T01:19:00.001-04:00

My theory about why humans seem to have evolved with a need for religion. Some call it the God Box. I call it a side effect of abstract thinking.

#14 5 Reasons God Exists Debunked

2009-06-11T11:17:00.002-04:00

I debunk a creationist apologists attempt to prove the existance of God.

Watch the origonal video without my Fisking here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNocC85MU6w

Watch an unparsed version of this video here:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=58807512

#13 Prop 8 Upheld

2009-06-11T11:14:00.001-04:00

I made this video the day of the decision, but forgot to embed it here.

#12 Does God Exist?

2009-05-25T02:20:00.001-04:00

All Good Liars Go To Heaven

2009-04-12T20:32:00.002-04:00

This idiotic ad is the latest assault on gay marriage.

There have been numerous replies to this idiocy. Some point out the lies and half truths in the ad itself, such as this reply:

Still others are noting that the people in the ad are not who they claim to be:

The thing is, these people are liars using lies to promote a religiously held idea. The obvious underlying inference is that the ideas themselves are unsupportable because the religious philosophies upon which they are based are bogus and are therefore themselves unsupportable.

The problem with religion is not just that it is unprovable. It's not just that it is delusion on a mass scale. Unsupportable delusions are fine if they only affect the person who chooses to adhere to them. The problem is that people who do choose to adhere to these delusional falsehoods feel that it is their right to impose the rules of their delusions on other people. And they will resort to lying to do so. They have to resort to lying. There is no other way to promote a false delusion onto others.

The sad part is that they actually think there's a God out there who will reward them in the afterlife for being such good liars.

An Open Letter to Gerard D. Pasquerell

2009-01-02T00:58:00.004-05:00

In yesterday's P.G. the following letter from Gerard D. Pasquerell, who I am fairly certain votes a straight GOP ticket, appeared on the letters page.

A dumber Senate

You have to be kidding me! Sen. Al Franken and Sen. Caroline Kennedy!

Who's next? Sen. Marmaduke, Sen. Ziggy, Sen. Elmo, Sen. Big Bird?

Henry Clay and Daniel Webster are probably turning over in their graves.

GERARD D. PASQUERELL
Pleasant Hills

Why "dumber," Mr. Pasquerell? Because they are well known and have not before held public office? Al Franken hosted a very intelligent liberal radio show and has authored several brilliant political books. He was a personal friend of Senator Wellstone, and he was elected fair-and-square. And as for Caroline Kennedy, she was raised in the white house. Her family has been entrenched in democratic politics for generations. She's educated, vetted, and a brillaint thinker and speaker. Yes, it's true that she also has the burden of celebrity - as does Mr. Franken, but since when has that ever bothered a Republican?

Governor and then President Ronald Reagan.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Congressman Fred "Gopher" Grandy.

Congressman Salvatore "Sonny" Bono.

Congressman and would-be Vice President Jack Kemp.

And in the Senate we find Fred Thompson, who also ran for the presidency.

And lest ye fancy yourself a libertarian or an independant...

Reform Party Governor Jesse "the body" Ventura.

Independant and frequent Republican stooge, Mayor Clint Eastwood.

So please, spare us the righteous indignation. It's a little empty, don't you think?

2008-12-29T11:16:00.002-05:00

Thank the gods we're almost through with this bunch of fukups. The first lady is even out shilling for the legacy tour trying to paint a rosey picture on the embarrassment that was the shoe incident.
First Lady: Shoe 'Assault' Shows Freedom in Iraq

First lady Laura Bush said she was offended by the recent "assault" on her husband, who had two shoes thrown at him during a recent visit to Iraq. At the same time, however, she said the assault shows that Iraqis feel a lot freer than they did before.

"I know that if Saddam Hussein had been there the man wouldn't have been released, and he probably would've been executed," she said of the Iraqi journalist, who was arrested following the Dec. 14 incident and has been in custody since.

So under Hussein, the man who hasn't been released would probably not have been released so this is better?

Also, didn't we go in to stop torture of political prisoners as part of our reasoning?

Shoe thrower 'beaten in custody'

The brother of the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush has said that the reporter has been beaten in custody.

Muntadar al-Zaidi has allegedly suffered a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding, his older brother, Dargham, told the BBC.

Laura Bush is either stupid, a liar, is uninformed or a little of all three.

Rick Warren: Wrong Choice For Our Times

2008-12-18T15:58:00.003-05:00

I just sent the following letter to the editor of my local newsrag:

To the Editor;

When the 2008 election cycle began, I was a strong proponent of John Edwards, my first choice of all of the candidates on both sides of the race. When he dropped out, I immediately and whole heartedly shifted my support to my second choice, Barak Obama. I campaigned for him, wore buttons for him, wrote extensively on Internet message boards, and created videos for online distribution; all because I believed that he was the best choice for the country. I and others like me were frustrated by several unfounded memes from the right; that he was a secret Muslim (whatever that means,) that he was not a US born citizen, that he was a socialist, and that he was an associate of domestic terrorists; all of which were easily disprovable, yet which refused to die a natural death as the stories circulated. In fact, as I campaigned door-to-door, I even confronted one voter who believed that he may in fact be the anti-Christ. To say the least, it shook my confidence to confront such stupidity.

Yet, I and millions of others persevered, and our efforts were rewarded with an historic victory that was both a landslide in the Electoral College and a mandate in the popular vote. The only sour note for me on election eve was that I went to bed believing that while we had won every victory I had personally wanted, we had unfortunately lost the county. However, even that bitter pill turned sweet a few days later at the conclusion of the paper ballot count, when it was determined that Obama had in fact won both Jefferson County as well as my own hometown of Toronto.

Since the election, my support has been validated (for me at least) as Obama’s transition team has made one excellent choice after the other in naming the planned next administration; even to the point of those from the current Bush administration who Obama has asked to remain on board. In fact, the only disappointment I had during the entire campaign was when in the Vice Presidential debate, Joe Biden gave voice to his and Obama’s ill-conceived refusal to advocate for equal marriage rights to homosexuals. On this position and this position alone, I feel that Barack Obama is on the wrong side of history. Marriage as a social institution (not a religious one which the government, I agree, has no business being involved in) is not about procreation, nor is it about tradition. It is about a legal contract between two individuals wishing to commit to a partnership for the sake of establishing a household together. It is about taxes, and property distribution, and next-of-kin status, and nothing else. The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution mandates that all citizens must be granted equal access to all rights afforded to any citizen. It’s a no-brainer, what was allowed to me and both of my ex-wives should be allowed to my gay friends and relatives.

Yet, this week we learned that the Obama camp has selected for the invocation at the inauguration, a pastor, Rick Warren, who openly advocates for the denial of that right to his fellow citizens on biblical grounds. Citing tradition, he insists that marriage means one man and one woman. Well, that’s fine for his church, but others in the past have cited tradition to attempt to deny inter-racial marriage, to advocate for polygamy, and to sell off their children as chattel. He argues that marriage is about procreation, yet there is no rule that says one-man-one-woman marriage must result in progeny, there is no law denying marriage to person’s past child bearing age, and many gay couples willingly adopt otherwise unwanted children into loving homes. He notes that the bible (which, as I have already noted, has no place in this argument) calls homosexuality an abomination; but does he deny marriage to couples who plan to offer lobster at their receptions? After all, the same book of the bible which declares homosexuality an abomination (Lev. 18:22) similarly declares the eating of shellfish as one as well (Lev. 11:10,) and pork chops are off the menu too (Lev. 11:7.) Additionally, Rick Warren lied as he advocated from the pulpit that his parishioners vote against Proposition 8 which by decree of the vote denied same-sex marriage rights in California, when he said, “any pastor could be considered doing hate speech . . . if he shared his views that homosexuality wasn't the most natural way for relationships.” In fact, the ACLU advocates for the right of Neo-Nazis to proselytize their hate speech, in these post suffrage times rappers still openly sing misogynistic lyrics, and churches will always be free in a free society to distort the bible to mean any idiotic thing they want it to mean, including that homosexuality (which has been observed in almost every mammalian species as well as reptiles and avian) is unnatural.

Please, whether you are heterosexual, homosexual or somewhere in between, if you agree with me and recognize that future generations are going to look back on our time and wonder why so many of us allowed our modern-day Simon Legrees to vote for homophobic laws like Ohio’s own 2004 gay intolerance legislation, and gave the bully pulpit to sanctimonious fops to spew their empty rhetoric in the name of “tradition” and “procreation,” then be heard. Find a way. This is not change we can believe in.

UPDATE: I had to edit down to 500 words, but it was published here.

#11 The Universal Golden Rule

2008-12-08T23:43:00.001-05:00

#10 Anthropomorphism Metaphorically Speaking

2008-11-30T04:00:00.001-05:00

Strange Dichotomy

2008-11-22T12:13:00.004-05:00

Here's an observation. As we watch this financial fiasco unfold, I am struck by two opposed ideas which I am not hearing anyone address. Some of the failing smaller banks are being swallowed up in buyouts by larger banks and institutions. Meanwhile, the largest failing institutions are being given bailouts because they are too large to allow them to fail without damaging the economy. However, if the only way to prevent failure at a catostrophic level is to infuse money into larger institutions, is it not countr-intuitive to allow them to become even larger still? Shouldn't we ( as part of the bailout) be blocking buyouts and takeovers and maybe even breaking up some of the pseudo-monopolies which already exist?

If, eventually, all of the banks wind up being three or four mega-banks, that will be one de facto national bank which we can never afford to allow it to go down. The US car industry is a perfect analog. Years ago, they stifled all competition until there were only three of them left, and those three are now acting as one body to plead with congress to bail them out so the entire industry doesn't go under.

The bailouts may be needed, not because we feel sorry for the corporations, but rather for the overwhelming magnitude of damage their failure will mean to their employees - the common man. But the very reason they have so many common men in their employ at all is that they said screw the common man as they built their empires.

Make breaking up their monopolies a central part of any bailout, and maybe I can accept it. Otherwise, it's just feeding the fatted pig for its own sake.

#9 Six Virtues... and Faith

2008-11-19T07:58:00.000-05:00

#8 The False Trilemma Dilemma

2008-11-12T04:32:00.001-05:00

#7 All Bets Are Off

2008-11-09T13:29:00.000-05:00

#6 Don't Question My Morality

2008-11-08T02:31:00.000-05:00

#5 So Much for Intelligent Design

2008-10-25T00:27:00.000-04:00

Bwahahahaha!

2008-10-19T11:27:00.003-04:00

Long time readers of this blog - if there were any such animal - would recall that I used to occassionally use a photoshop of Colin Powell with a knife in his back as a graphic to represent how the Bush administration had treated him. Well, today, Powell removed that knife and shoved it in Bush's face.

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama

#4 Anselm's Ontology Debunked

2008-10-15T18:26:00.001-04:00

Bigots For Palin

2008-10-13T16:39:00.004-04:00

I hope that at least some of the Republicans and most of the democrats who are considering voting for McCain across this valley are embarrassed by this today. This story ran in this morning's Wheeling Intelligencer:

Voters Acting Like Fans

ST. CLAIRSVILLE - Registered Democrat Kay Chaney of Barnesville supports the Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin for president and vice president because Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden do not appeal to her.

Chaney and other Ohio Valley voters flocked to Brush Run Park on Sunday to hear Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speak on the stage where country music legends like Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash once played during Jamboree In The Hills.

...

And while many national polls show the race trending in Obama's favor, Chaney made it clear she will not support the first-term U.S. senator from Illinois.

"I wouldn't vote for Obama for anything. ... I don't like anything he has to say," she said during the rally.

Chaney said one of her largest concerns with the Obama-Biden ticket involves cultural issues.

"His (Obama's) name makes him sound like he is a Muslim from the Middle East. ... That is not what we need," she said.

Oh, yes. What could possibly be worse for America than a president with a name that nobody else in the world except for a bigoted redneck would have a problem with?

Well, I can think of one thing...

#3 Female Perfection

2008-10-13T00:04:00.001-04:00

In this entry I describe the perfect woman. By the way, she's also between the ages of 35 and 50 and she likes the blues and classic rock.

#2 First Cause Made Easy

2008-10-10T21:30:00.001-04:00

Motivational Poster!

2008-10-09T01:34:00.004-04:00

#1 Thoughts on God, creation, all that bull.

2008-10-07T01:58:00.002-04:00

Predatory Lender Bastards

2008-10-04T02:12:00.001-04:00

This is my first ever video blog. Enjoy the crazy rant.

The Origins of Life

2008-09-09T14:06:00.003-04:00

Fundies like to argue that life is too complex to have begun without divine intervention. Ben Stein has been going around to numerous interviews touting his creationist movie saying that scientists argue that life began as "a spec of dust hit by lightening" which is a lie and a ridiculous oversimplification, but whatever.

Years ago, in the 1950s scientists showed that given the right set of conditions, simple proteins will form from acids and other chemicals. But amazingly, a new team of researchers is on the brink of having actual proto-cells form in what amounts to a huge test tube.

And they are also going to force these proto-cells to evolve into different forms of proto-life. This will once and for all prove that evolution theory is plausible. In fact, it will demonstrate beyond any doubt that God's hand was not necessary at all in the earliest events leading to life on our planet.

Now, does this prove that there is no God? No. It proves that God is unnecessary, which is good enough.

Sarah Palin's RNC speech

2008-09-04T18:57:00.003-04:00

The following is the text of a letter I just sent off to my local paper.

September 4, 2008

To the Editor;

As I write this letter, it is the day after Sarah Palin delivered her carefully crafted acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention (RNC). As a lifelong democrat, I have to admit the speech was well written, well delivered and impressive for its use of rhetoric. It was like watching a female version of Orson Wells in “Citizen Kane.” What the speech lacked in substance it made up for in flash. Where it was deficient in honesty, it excelled in divisiveness. Where another unknown candidate might have used the opportunity to introduce America to who she is, Sarah Palin made the bold decision to use the opportunity to let the RNC choose her words for her; even though some of those words - such as her claim to have opposed the bridge-to-nowhere program - were bald-faced lies.

So, since we didn’t get the opportunity to truly learn who Sarah Palin is, I thought I’d write to fill in those gaps. Sarah Palin began her governance career as the mayor of an Alaska town with fewer than half the residents of Steubenville. She then became governor of the 47th most populated state in the union two years ago where she serves as commander-in-chief of Alaska’s 4000 National Guardsman and has had zero interaction with them the entire time.

Palin also didn’t get the opportunity to tell us what she would do if the 72 year old McCain should become incapacitated and she had to step in as president. Some of Palin’s personal political objectives center on our education system and include teaching creationism in school, shifting to abstinence only education (which worked so well in her own family she wants the rest of us to have the same opportunities,) and banning books she personally finds objectionable. She would also do her best to stack the Supreme Court with justices who share her vision of overturning Roe v. Wade even in instances of rape and incest.

As for her promises for change, Palin called the war in Iraq “God’s task,” and she is on the record as having said, "I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq." Moreover, she doesn’t believe that humans contribute to global warming, and her inauguration as governor was sponsored by British Petroleum.

So now you know the real Sarah Palin. Having recently asked, “What is it exactly that the VP does every day,” Sarah Palin wants us to elect her to that very job. Maybe we should. After all, she reads a mean teleprompter. What could be more important than that?

Sincerely,

What do you think? Too subtle?

UPDATE: The letter ran on Sunday. Somehow it got edited and my term "bald-faced" was changed to "bold-faced." Bold-face is a type style or font characteristic. I used the right term in my version.

So many Americans owe their very lives to president Bush's abstinence only policy.

2008-07-12T12:14:00.000-04:00

And all of them are age 7 and younger.

Vetoing Beer

2008-06-10T11:54:00.002-04:00

If, by some travesty, McCain wins the election, he will not veto every bill that comes before him with earmarks. Promises like this one are stupid to make. But luckily for us, he made a stupid lip-slip while making this obviously false statement, so it will be fun to revive this clip every single time McCain fails to veto a ~~beer~~ er - bill with earmarks.

Minimum Wage - Scapegoating

2008-05-18T13:43:00.003-04:00

I'm going to go out on a limb here and make a prediction. Sometime in the future, when the issue of raising the federal minimum wage is again on the table, someone somewhere - probably on the right side of the fence - is going to show a graph demonstrating how raising the minimum wage is always accompanied by an increase in inflation.That graph will undoubtedly include a notation of last year's increase in the wage and this year's increase in the cost-of-living. There will be no mention on that graph of the spiraling cost of gasoline, or the affect it had on the price of such commodities as wheat, and dairy. No, all we will be told is that the minimum wage went up, and grocery stores were forced to raise the price of a loaf of bread.

Maybe I should have written this post in the form of a quatrain.

McCain and the 100 Year Comment

2008-05-02T19:51:00.004-04:00

John McCain is upset over an ad MoveOn.org is running which is critical of McCain for a comment he made in a town hall meeting. In the meeting, a questioner asked him how he felt about the idea that Bush was saying we might have to remain in Iraq for 50 years. McCain replied, "Maybe a hundred." He then goes on to say that we've been in Japan for 60 years and we've been in Korea for over 50. He then says it's okay with him so long as our soldiers are not being hurt or killed.

The ad makes light of McCain's remark removing the full context and concentrating on only the "Maybe 100" part. The question is - is this fair?

I'm of two opinions.

First, I remember the 2004 Kerry campaign and the swiftboaters who declared that Kerry was "before funding the war before he was against it" to play up their flip-flopper meme. Of course, a nuanced examination of what Kerry had said in context showed clearly that he had one position the whole time. He favored funding the war, but not adding the cost to the deficit and his votes had been consistent with this position.

McCain's remarks have a similar nuance when read in context. He favors maintaining a presence in Iraq similar to the support roles we play in Japan and Korea. He even suggests that this opinion is subject to the caveat that our men are not being hurt or killed. If what happened to Kerry was wrong, how is this different?

Short answer - it's not. It's the same thing. It was wrong then and it's wrong now.

In 2004, I don't know that McCain ever stood up against the ads noting Kerry's out of context for/before/against comment. I do know that McCain asked Bush to repudiate another out of context ad where the Swiftboaters called Kerry a traitor. Ironically, I haven't heard him renounce ads calling Obama an elitist and I have seen McCain defend his own Hagee endorsement right after hypocritically challenging Obama to repudiate his Wright relationship. (Obama has - by the way. McCain still is happy to have Hagee's endorsement.)

So do I feel bad that McCain's remarks are being taken slightly out of context? Not really. Here's why.

His actual position is stupid. Japan and Korea are not possible models for a sustained presence in Iraq. In both of those situations we are there as a result of a peace accord and a truce respectively. Japan is at peace with the US and in fact requires our presence for their own defense. It's a symbiosis. Korea is partitioned and we have lost fewer than 100 men in isolated border flare ups in our 50+ years there. There will be no partitioning in Iraq, no sense of national reconciliation, no support role for the US ever. There can be no truce because the enemy is not a political entity. The idea is stupid on its face. Explaining this in a 30 second tv spot, however, is not doable.

McCain made the comment, and failed to make it attack proof. When the questioner said that Bush was talking about our remaining in Iraq for 50 years, McCain could have said, "In a support role, not as an occupying force. If and when we get to that stage, I also support the idea. It's worked in Japan and it's worked in Korea and to some degree in Germany. That's what we have to work for, and when we get there, I'll support our remaining in a support role for as long as it takes." He could have said that. He didn't. Now he's paying the price. Boo hoo.

Here's a video I made on the subject.

ADDING: McCain actually has made this and similar statements before, and sometimes the nuance is not there. Sometimes, he just says he's okay being there for a long long time.

Modern Conspiracy or Ancient Plan?

2008-04-24T09:26:00.004-04:00

As you may or may not know, I began working on a mystery novel series some years ago. One of my planned novels has the working title of Divine Lila and is concerned with the idea of a secret underground society manipulating world events for centuries with the ultimate objective of openly controling the world. Then, before I could publish anything, Dan Brown stole my thunder. Luckily the Disney Company then came along and stole some of his with the crappy "National Treasure" starring the crappy Nicholas Cage, but I digress.

The point is that I developed some unique conspiracy theory stuff as material for my novel, and some of it turned up in Dan Brown's book. Not saying he plagiarized me - hell he never even heard of me, but I didn't want to be accused of stealing from him either. Or anyone else for that matter.

With that in mind, I produced the following three part video and published it on YouTube. I don't think that anyone else has ever linked the world's great observation towers to the Homestead Act and the independence of Papua, New Guinea before, but just in case someone does...

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Preachin' to the Choir

2008-04-17T20:44:00.007-04:00

Headline on Yahoo front page. Pope: Catholic colleges should be in line with church

Okay, I agree with that. Absolutely, Catholic colleges should be in line with Catholic teaching. For that matter, Mormon colleges should be in line with Mormon teaching. Jewish colleges should be in line with Jewish teachings. Etc. However, that's exactly why people should not send their kids to religious colleges for scientific based education. That means no doctors, no physicists, no engineers and no researchers.

Slow News Day?

2008-04-13T02:52:00.002-04:00

Drivers flood station for 35 cent gas

WILMINGTON, N.C. - Traffic was backed up and police were called to control the crowd after a Wilmington gas station accidentally set the pump price at 35 cents a gallon.

The Wilmington Star-News reported Friday that hundreds of drivers flooded a BP station for the cheap gas after the price dropped around 9 a.m. Thursday.

Station employee Shane Weller said the price for premium gasoline was supposed to be $3.35 a gallon. He complained that customers paid the cheaper price all day without saying a word.

This kind of thing happens all the time. Why the fuck is this being reported as national news?

Our media sucks.

I Feel Like a Damned Dirty Ape

2008-04-06T06:16:00.003-04:00

Film legend Charlton Heston dead at 84

In June 1998, Heston was elected president of the National Rifle Association, for which he had posed for ads holding a rifle. He delivered a jab at then-President Clinton, saying, "America doesn't trust you with our 21-year-old daughters, and we sure, Lord, don't trust you with our guns."

Should I feel guilty because I want to go to the NRA website and post this?

Can we pry the gun from his hand now?

The Whorer!

2008-04-03T11:59:00.002-04:00

This week the righties are all a twitter over this story. Apparently, democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow's husband has admitted to having paid a hooker $150 for sex. Ho hum!

Here's the thing the GOoPers tend to miss when lambasting democrats for their picadillos. We dems are the party who says these things don't matter. Remember, it was the Republicans who crucified Clinton for getting a whitehouse hummer. We dems defended him, not because the hummer was the right thing to do, but because IT DOESN'T MATTER. Kennedy is one of our great heros, and he got laid all the time. Martin Luther King had sex with women to whom he was not married. We don't care. Our only issue is, are they doing their job?

On the other hand, the GOP is constantly blathering about family values and decency and how homo-sexuality should be criminalized and shunned and how our sinful ways are destroying our country. Meanwhile, they are having sex with men in restrooms. Meanwhile, they are corrupting white-house pages. Meanwhile, they are being found dead having suffocated themselves in wetsuits while trying to felate themselves (actually happened).

But just doing these things alone - as shameful and disgusting as they are - wouldn't be an indictment on the party except that rather than acknowledge the hypocricy, they feebly try to point the finger at the dems who have NEVER publicly called for a boycott on "abhorent" sex, and say it's all somehow our fault for being lax on morality.

It's idiotic.

My "Yes, We Can!" Remix

2008-03-30T04:18:00.000-04:00

Happy Dinghus Day

2008-03-24T14:07:00.002-04:00

I always get a lot of extra hits on the day after Easter for some reason. Probably because I'm one of the few sites that has ever published a post about Dinghus Day (or Dingus or however it is spelled.) Anyways, enjoy your eggs and sausage.

From the Sage of Montecello to the Rage of a Churchie-fellow

2008-03-24T13:18:00.003-04:00

Here's an observation I've been nursing. This is what Pastor Wright said in his infamous sermon. These seem to be the hot-button words.

The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes three-strike laws and wants them to sing God Bless America. No! No No! God damn America … for killing innocent people. God damn America for threatening citizens as less than humans. God damn America as long as she tries to act like she is God and supreme.

Now, here's a quote from Thomas Jefferson:

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.

If you read through the rhetoric to the subtext, it seems to me that Jefferson and Wright were saying basically the same thing here, and for the same reasons.

SPUIO

2008-02-17T22:55:00.000-05:00

Spuio. That’s my new name for God. It’s a mnemonic I created to catalog the characteristics that define what a god supposedly must be in order to have relevance. SPUIO; Supreme, Perfect, Unique, Infinite and Omniscient.

Spuio is supreme amongst all beings. He (for lack of a better pronoun) holds himself up as the reason that everything else is allowed to exist, and therefore we too are expected to hold him in the same esteem. Moreover, we are to recognize that there is nothing he is incapable of. Can he build a rock that he himself cannot move? Of course he can, for he is supreme; but he’d move it all the same, for he is supreme.

Spuio is perfection incarnate, except that he has no carnal properties; which in itself is also perfection. Except that sometimes, he has to become carnal in order to accomplish certain necessary things. But that doesn’t make him any less perfect.

Spuio is Unique amongst all of the gods/heavenly host in that there is no other god/angel/demon who is also supreme, perfect, infinite and omniscient. Though some are also infinite, and apparently some are also omniscient, and (depending on the religion in question) some share the attributes of supremacy and perfection, but no other deity shares all four characteristics, and this is what makes Spuio SPUIO.

Spuio is infinite in that he existed before everything else, and he will always exist, and he couldn’t stop existing even if he wanted to (not that he would, and that doesn’t stop him from being perfect, so shut up.) Spuio, simply put, existed before he created anything or anyplace to exist in. Before there was anything, there was Spuio. When there was nothing, there was Spuio – so there wasn’t nothing after all. So, okay, there was always something. Apparently, the one thing that Spuio couldn’t create is nothingness because then there would be no Spuio. Spuio is also infinite in that he is everywhere at all times. So before there was anything anywhere Spuio was always everywhere. In other words, for an immeasurable span of time before the initial moment of creation; Spuio existed alone in a universe which consisted of nothing except him everywhere--simply existing forever, all alone; being supreme amid nothing, perfect amid nothing, unique amid nothing, and omniscient about nothing–and everything–though there was nothing.

Spuio’s final defining characteristic is that he is omniscient. Every thought, every word, every action of every creature on Earth, Spuio knows. Every jostle of wind happens because he wills it. Every rotation of the planets happens by his design. Every collision of galaxies, every super-nova, every death, birth and exchange of atoms between chemicals is within his purview and happens only at his say so. If you curse him, he knows; even as he micro-manages the molecules and macro-manages the stars. And he doesn't like to be cursed. Trust me, you won't like the consequences of cursing Spuio. So to be on the safe side, praise him regularly or suffer Spuio’s supreme, perfect, unique and infinite wrath.

And he loves you.

GOP Addams Family

2008-01-17T16:39:00.000-05:00

This is just a little video I made last night when I should have been sleeping. I thought it was kind of funny. Your mileage may vary.

Can we just skip 2008?

2007-10-30T09:58:00.000-04:00

Why must we suffer another year of this failed presidency and for that matter another year of lame Leno jokes?

NBC exec says Leno out as planned in '09

Where's the stasis machine? I want to hybernate and wake up in that utopian future.

What else can you see?

2007-10-24T23:00:00.000-04:00

According to this link, some people in Poland think they took a picture of a miraculous after-death appearance by the pope.

I'll admit, it does kind of look like him, but...

It also looks like a goon from Popeye throwing a barrel.

Queen Elizabeth I

And the newest character from my cartoon arsenol, Stewie McPopefire.

As the Hypocrites Do

2007-10-12T14:32:00.000-04:00

This post over at Atrios reminds me of a story. First the post.

Moment of Silence

Let me put on my "reasonable liberal" hat and say that I don't think a mandated moment of silence is a big deal as long as it isn't accompanied by any suggestion that it be used for prayer. I mean, I think a mandated moment of silence in schools is stupid policy, but I don't think it crosses any constitutional lines. Certainly it's less offensive than mandating a pledge with the "under God" phrase intact.

I grew up doing it in PA - not sure if it was mandated or just common practice - and it never really bothered this atheist. The time my 5th grade teacher asked me to say grace before lunch during a field trip did, however. Asshole.

Now for the story.

When I was in high school before each assembly a student recited a bible verse and then lead the students in the lords prayer prayer. As a junior, I took a newly offerred speech class, and it was decided that speech students would be responsible for this "honor." Eventually the honor fell to me. So I read the following bible verse:

Matthew 6: 5 - 6

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites [are]: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

I then said that anybody who wanted to was free to recite the Lord's prayer. "Our Father...," I said and then I stood silently as the hypocrites prayed openly.

The Smaller the Target...

2007-10-01T16:57:00.000-04:00

U.S., Iraqi civilian deaths fall sharply

BAGHDAD - Deaths among American forces and Iraqi civilians fell dramatically last month to their lowest levels in more than a year, according to figures compiled by the U.S. military, the Iraqi government and The Associated Press.

.....

A total of 64 American forces died in September — the lowest monthly toll since July 2006.

The decline in Iraqi civilian deaths was even more dramatic, falling from 1,975 in August to at least 988 last month, a decline of 50 percent, according to an AP tally. The civilian death toll has not been so low since June 2006, when 847 Iraqis died.

Wow! ONLY 1054 human individuals died for NOTHING last month in Iraq.

Oh, incidentally, I hear that only a very few California Condors died last year, which is down sharply from the number that died in 1856. And absolutely no Dodo birds have died this millnium so far. Knock wood.

Power to the People

2007-09-16T10:48:00.000-04:00

A letter to the editor which I wrote was published in today's Steubenville Herald Star.

Let’s end the surge

To the editor:

As I write this, it is Sept. 11, 2007, the sixth anniversary of the day that supposedly changed everything. Monday was the day that Gen. David Petraeus spoke to Congress asking that they ignore the GAO report and the recommendations of several military experts, and they instead trust that his own assessment of his own job was the only reliable one.

Three years ago this month, Petraeus wrote an op-ed piece for the Washington Post in which he said, “Now, however, 18 months after entering Iraq, I see tangible progress. Iraqi security elements are being rebuilt from the ground up. The institutions that oversee them are being re-established from the top down. And Iraqi leaders are stepping forward, leading their country and their security forces courageously.” In that same editorial, he also wrote “Iraq’s security forces are, however, developing steadily and they are in the fight. Momentum has gathered in recent months. With strong Iraqi leaders out front and with continued coalition — and now NATO — support, this trend will continue.”

To read his pronouncements from that time, one wonders how we have yet to see the Mesopotamian Utopia he promised already come to fruition. Yet, now, he would have us believe that up is down and black is white and that the deadliest summer for American troops since the beginning of the war is actually a sign of progress, and that the surge is somehow working.

To justify the rationalization, Petraeus argues that Iraqi violence is down, but this is true only if you start counting in May, the deadliest May yet, and only if you don’t count car bombings or assassinations where the bullet went through the front of the victim’s skull.

According to the most recent Government Accountability Office report I referred to earlier, the “average number of daily attacks against civilians have remained unchanged from February to July 2007.” Another GAO report earlier this summer showed that the Pentagon lost track of nearly 200,000 weapons given to Iraqis. Moreover, U.S. troops died in greater numbers every month this year compared to the same month last year. Also, a recent BBC survey of Iraqis found that 70 percent think the escalation worsened rather than improved security conditions.

These are the facts of the surge. It is time for us, as Americans, to recognize that the Iraqi invasion was a mistake at every level and to insist that the president acknowledge the failure of his ideological best wishes and to leave the fate of Iraq to the people of Iraq. In fact, the 20-member independent panel led by retired Marine Gen. James Jones last week recommended the “significant reductions, consolidations and realignments would appear to be possible and prudent.” Said Jones, “The force footprint should be adjusted in our view to represent an expeditionary capability and to combat a permanent-force image of today’s presence.”

J. David Core

Toronto

Yesterday, Today and Forever

2007-09-11T01:37:00.001-04:00

U.S. Army Lieutenant General David H. Petraeus - three years ago:

BAGHDAD -- Helping organize, train and equip nearly a quarter-million of Iraq's security forces is a daunting task. Doing so in the middle of a tough insurgency increases the challenge enormously, making the mission akin to repairing an aircraft while in flight -- and while being shot at. Now, however, 18 months after entering Iraq, I see tangible progress. Iraqi security elements are being rebuilt from the ground up.

The institutions that oversee them are being reestablished from the top down. And Iraqi leaders are stepping forward, leading their country and their security forces courageously in the face of an enemy that has shown a willingness to do anything to disrupt the establishment of the new Iraq.
.....
There will be more tough times, frustration and disappointment along the way. It is likely that insurgent attacks will escalate as Iraq's elections approach. Iraq's security forces are, however, developing steadily and they are in the fight. Momentum has gathered in recent months. With strong Iraqi leaders out front and with continued coalition -- and now NATO -- support, this trend will continue. It will not be easy, but few worthwhile things are.

General David H. Petraeus - This Monday:

Petraeus referred only obliquely to political difficulties in Iraq, saying, "Lack of adequate governmental capacity, lingering sectarian mistrust and various forms of corruption add to Iraq's challenges."

As for the much-maligned Iraqi military, he said it is slowly gaining competence and gradually "taking on more responsibility for their security."
....
As a result, "I believe that we will be able to reduce our forces to the pre-surge level ... by next summer without jeopardizing the security gains we have fought so hard to achieve."
....
Criticized in advance by some opponents of the war, the general went out of his way to proclaim his independence. "I wrote this testimony myself. It has not been cleared by nor shared with anyone in the Pentagon, the White House or the Congress," he said.
.....
Using 13 pages of colorful charts, he said, "The level of security incidents has declined in eight of the past 12 weeks, with the level of incidents in the past two weeks the lowest since June of 2006."

Ticking off some of the gains, he said, "We have disrupted Shia militia extremists, capturing the head and numerous other leaders of the Iranian-supported Special Groups, along with a senior Lebanese Hezbollah operative supporting Iran's activities in Iraq."

U.S. and Iraqi forces had dealt "significant blows to al-Qaida-Iraq," he said, although he conceded that the terrorist organization remains dangerous.

Nostradamus - 500 years ago:

A doubtful one will not come far from the realm,
The greater part will want to uphold him:
A Capitol will not want him to reign at all,
He will be unable to bear his great burden.

While true that the Nostradamus quatrain is vague and could refer to almost anything, it has the benefit of being probably as accurate and trustworthy if not more so than anything Petraeus has to say.

Beware the Jub-jub Bird

2007-09-03T18:28:00.000-04:00

Bush makes surprise visit to Iraq
President says some U.S. troops could be sent home if security improves

AL-ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq - President Bush, after hearing from top U.S. and Iraqi leaders, said Monday that some U.S. troops could be sent home if security conditions across Iraq continue to improve as they have in this former hotbed of Sunni insurgency.

But the president, flanked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, did not say how many troops could be withdrawn or how soon.

Neither did he say what he means by "continue to improve as they have" since - you know - they HAVEN'T.

This is just a ploy to make us buy into the idea that the surge is working.

Consider the following:

Bombings, sectarian slayings and other violence related to the war killed at least 1,773 Iraqi civilians in August, the second month in a row that civilian deaths have risen, according to government figures obtained Friday.

In July, the civilian death toll was 1,753, and in June it was 1,227. The numbers are based on morgue, hospital and police records and come from officials in the ministries of Health, Defense and the Interior. The statistics appear to indicate that President Bush's increase in troops this year has done little to rein in civilian bloodshed, despite U.S. military statements to the contrary.

Here's the deal. The benchmarks have NOT been met. Violence CONTINUES to escalate across Iraq. Faith in the Iraqi government is slackening.

And the "liberal" MSM is complicit:

Summary: CNN's Christine Romans repeatedly claimed that American troop deaths in Iraq "are down this summer" and also reported that "[t]he Pentagon today is citing the surge in Iraq as a reason for a drop in troop deaths this summer." However, statistics compiled by the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count show that the 260 U.S. troop deaths in Iraq during June, July, and August 2007 make this the deadliest June-August of the Iraq war for U.S. troops.

On the August 30 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, guest host Christine Romans repeatedly claimed that American troop deaths in Iraq "are down this summer." Romans also reported that "[t]he Pentagon today is citing the surge in Iraq as a reason for a drop in troop deaths this summer," by comparing casualty figures in July and August to those in May and later asked if lower American casualty figures were a measure of the success of the "surge." However, as Media Matters for America documented, statistics compiled by the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count on its website iCasualties.org show that the 260 U.S. troop deaths in Iraq during June, July, and August 2007 make this the deadliest June through August of the Iraq war for U.S. troops.

Look, if this summer is the worst summer yet for US military deaths, saying that deaths are down because the number is lower than what it was at the end of spring is a LIE.

Deaths in Spring - at the BEGINNING of the surge - were up. They are still UP. They may be less up, but they are not NOT NOT down.

What we are probably going to get from Patraeus and the white house is a white wash or series of intentional misdirections. We'll be told that sectarian attacks are down with no mention of the FACT that the attacks are actually becomming more effective in that more people are dying. We'll be told that the Sunnis are routing al Qaeda, etc with no mention of the Shia. And all of this will be true according to a very narrow definition of certain well chosen terms. But the over all picture will be blurred to the point that one can only call it an intentional obfuscation - which means a lie.

Liars!

UPDATE Sept. 4: GAO link added.

The Certainty Question

2007-07-23T12:57:00.000-04:00

I was asked today how it is that I can be so certain that there is no God. This is the answer that I gave.

I have examined other world religions. All of them have very different beliefs about the nature of deity. And all of the followers of these beliefs know very little about the history of their own faith or of the beliefs of others. And the truth is that the more one knows of the history of their own faith and the more one compares that history to the histories of other faiths, a commonality becomes more and more apparent. All of the faiths are based on stories of miracles or magic events that no impartial parties witnessed and which the believers all take on faith. There is never any empirical proof - just faith.

So if all of the religions of the world have this reliance on faith, then we have to examine the question of why would the deities place such a premium on gullibility? Why is skepticism such an anathema to the heavenly host?

In fact, doesn't elevating faith to the position of most admired attribute make the devout easy prey to charlatans and con-men? History, in fact, is replete (metaphorically speaking) with cases where skeptics who were merely warning their fellow men not to trust the priest who advocates surrendering the virgins to the volcano were turned on by the devout and were themselves tossed into the volcano.

It happens today - now - in America every day.

But I refuse to acknowledge ANY merit in faith for faith's sake. Ignorance for the sake of ignorance is more like it. And since I reject that basic tenant of faith, I find that the things that men have faith in that have no basis in sustainable fact are probably if not positively lies. No God that I could believe in would have me reject my own nature and embrace trusting the unprovable promises of long dead men. And since any God worth believing in would know that about me, none worth believing in must exist.

There is no God. I'm certain of it.

Is My Mascara Running?

2007-07-22T01:21:00.000-04:00

Tammy Faye Messner dies at 65

RALEIGH, N.C. - Tammy Faye Messner, who as Tammy Faye Bakker helped her husband, Jim, build a multimillion-dollar evangelism empire and then watched it collapse in disgrace, has died. She was 65.

In related news, Revlon stock dropped half a point at the close of this weeks Dow.

I'm just sayin'...

Someone in Ohio Thinks You Suck, Sir

2007-07-03T13:06:00.000-04:00

I just got off the phone with the White House's comment line at 202-456-1111. After they asked me from what state I was calling, I read the following statement,

The president’s commutation of Scooter Libby’s prison term is nothing more than an obstruction of justice. Moreover, his excuse that the penalty was too harsh rings hollow coming from a man who as governor of Texas refused to even entertain the idea of commuting the death sentences of the mentally challenged and an obviously truly repentant women. It is especially galling since the president himself wrote in his autobiography, “I don't believe my role is to replace the verdict of a jury unless there are new facts or evidence of which a jury was unaware, or evidence that the trial was somehow unfair.”

Just me and My Shadow Government

2007-06-26T02:19:00.000-04:00

'A Different Understanding With the President'

Just past the Oval Office, in the private dining room overlooking the South Lawn, Vice President Cheney joined President Bush at a round parquet table they shared once a week. Cheney brought a four-page text, written in strict secrecy by his lawyer. He carried it back out with him after lunch.

In less than an hour, the document traversed a West Wing circuit that gave its words the power of command. It changed hands four times, according to witnesses, with emphatic instructions to bypass staff review. When it returned to the Oval Office, in a blue portfolio embossed with the presidential seal, Bush pulled a felt-tip pen from his pocket and signed without sitting down. Almost no one else had seen the text.

Cheney's proposal had become a military order from the commander in chief. Foreign terrorism suspects held by the United States were stripped of access to any court -- civilian or military, domestic or foreign. They could be confined indefinitely without charges and would be tried, if at all, in closed "military commissions."

"What the hell just happened?" Secretary of State Colin L. Powell demanded, a witness said, when CNN announced the order that evening, Nov. 13, 2001. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, incensed, sent an aide to find out. Even witnesses to the Oval Office signing said they did not know the vice president had played any part.

The episode was a defining moment in Cheney's tenure as the 46th vice president of the United States, a post the Constitution left all but devoid of formal authority. "Angler," as the Secret Service code-named him, has approached the levers of power obliquely, skirting orderly lines of debate he once enforced as chief of staff to President Gerald R. Ford. He has battled a bureaucracy he saw as hostile, using intimate knowledge of its terrain. He has empowered aides to fight above their rank, taking on roles reserved in other times for a White House counsel or national security adviser. And he has found a ready patron in George W. Bush for edge-of-the-envelope views on executive supremacy that previous presidents did not assert.

Over the past six years, Cheney has shaped his times as no vice president has before. This article begins a four-part series that explores his methods and impact, drawing on interviews with more than 200 men and women who worked for, with or in opposition to Cheney's office. Many of those interviewed recounted events that have not been made public until now, sharing notes,e-mails, personal calendars and other records of their interaction with Cheney and his senior staff. The vice president declined to be interviewed.

Why Not Call Him, "Mr. Putin?"

2007-06-11T02:04:00.000-04:00

Bush Says Russians Have Derailed Democratic Reform

PRAGUE, June 5 — President Bush delivered a double-barreled message to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia today, two days before the leaders are to meet in Germany, by assuring Mr. Putin that he has nothing to fear from a missile defense system but also chiding him for derailing democratic reforms.

On the first day of his eight-day tour through Europe, Mr. Bush wasted little time in prodding Mr. Putin to cooperate with the United States on a proposed network of radar and missile defenses in Poland and here in the Czech Republic.

But he also risked provoking the Russian leader, who is already up in arms over the missile defense plan, by taking Mr. Putin to task over human rights.

“My message will be, Vladimir — I call him Vladimir — that you shouldn’t fear a missile defense system,” Mr. Bush said during a morning appearance with leaders of the Czech Republic at Prague Castle, high on a hill overlooking the city.

Seriously, first he gropes the German Chancelor, then he calls the British Prime Minister's name as if he was calling a bassett hound, and now this.

But what more should we expect from this guy?

Cross posted to jdcore.org.

Always Know Sometimes Think It's Me

2007-05-24T01:12:00.000-04:00

Goodling's Testimony

Chairman Conyers:
“Miss Goodling, I am hereby communicating to you an order signed by Chief Judge Hogan of the United States District Court for DC district…”

Oh, snap!
Not cross posted.

Sometimes They Do NOT Write Themselves

2007-05-21T16:39:00.000-04:00

White House Calls Carter 'Irrelevant'

CBS News) CRAWFORD, Texas The White House on Sunday dismissed former President Jimmy Carter as "increasingly irrelevant" after his harsh criticism of President George W. Bush.

Carter was quoted Saturday as saying "I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history."

I know, I know, this one is very text-heavy. But I had a point to make, damn it.

Cross posted to jdcore.org.

Sometimes These Things Write Themselves

2007-05-16T01:10:00.000-04:00

Falwell was a uniter and a divider

Falwell, who had a history of heart trouble, was found without a pulse in his office at Liberty University at midday Tuesday and pronounced dead at Lynchburg General Hospital an hour later. His doctor, Carl Moore, said he presumably died of a heart rhythm abnormality. He was 73.

Cross posted to jdcore.org.

My First Cartoon

2007-05-15T01:15:00.000-04:00

Lottery to take over gamblers hot line

MORGANTOWN — The Lottery Commission plans to bypass state public health officials and take control of West Virginia’s nationally recognized program for compulsive gamblers, a move that is alarming addiction counselors and church groups.

Under the little-known plan, the Department of Health and Human Resources would stop administering the $1.5 million Problem Gamblers Help Network on July 1, when the current contract with First Choice Health Care expires. The Lottery would then begin paying providers directly.

Years ago, I was editorial cartoonist for the Pitt News, the University of Pittsburgh student newspaper. Afterward, I would periodically try my hand at editorial cartoons for my own enjoyment. I think for now I will periodically do one up just to see how it goes. Feel free to let me know what you think of my work in comments.

Cross posted to jdcore.org.

Bloggered

2007-03-25T02:01:00.000-04:00

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