NonChristians Need Not Apply

It's always nice to see John McCain pander to the social conservative base (whom hate him) and stick his foot in his mouth.

WASHINGTON — Sen. John McCain said in an interview published Saturday that he would prefer a Christian president over someone of a different faith, calling it "an important part of our qualifications to lead."

McCain did cover all bases by saying, "But that doesn't mean that I'm sure that someone who is Muslim would not make a good president." He just believe being Christian automatically makes a candidate more qualified to be President. What he is basing this on is not clearly stated. I would prefer a presidential candidate with a firmer grasp on reality. He told conservative radio host Bill Bennett, ""There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today." Should his failure to grasp reality be ignored because he is a self-proclaimed Christian? The answer is obvious.

Save Darfur Fundraising Drive

Via Jill: Save Darfur will match any dollar you donate. Hurry, because this ends at midnight tonight.

Open Thread: What Democratic Candidate You Support For President

Tell me which Democrat you support and why. Come on, I'm sure there are Joe Biden fans out there. Actually, I'm not. I'm just being snarky.

Quote of the Day

"House Republicans are committed to fiscal discipline and earmark reform."

John Boehner

If that is the case then why did Congressional Republicans not eliminate earmarks and help create a record deficit when they controlled the House.

Heh

The name of this Facebook group gave me the best laugh of the Day.

Hat tip to Gene Smith.

For the record: I don't the politician has a long way to go before he can lay claim to Tom Delay's throne.

Lone Justice - Sweet Sweet Baby (I'm Falling)

Lone Justice helped created Americana music. There would be no Wilco or Uncle Tupelo without Lone Justice. Unfortunately, the band never gain commercial success. But what an amazing singer Maria McKee is.

Blackburn vs. Shulter

Marsha Blackburn defends Rush Limbaugh calling Senator Chuck Hagel "Senator Betrayus." Blackburn said the difference is Limburgh didn't buy a New York Times ad. Blackburn was outrage over Moveon.org, but didn't know that the name of the last soldier from her district to have died in Iraq.

Shulter named a soldier, Jeremy Bohannon, who did not die in Blackburn's district.

DAVID SHUSTER: On Monday evening while guest-hosting the 6 p.m. evening hour, I conducted an interview with Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn. The congresswoman spoke at length about a newspaper ad that criticized General Petraeus. In what I believed was an effort to examine Representative Blackburn's priorities, I then asked her to name the last soldier from her congressional district killed in Iraq.

She responded "the name of the last soldier killed in Iraq from my district, I do not know." After that response, I identified who I believed to be that fallen soldier, a Tennessean killed in Iraq last month. But according to Pentagon documents, that young man came from a town inside a neighboring congressional district, not from Representative Blackburn's, and for that, I apologize for that mistake.

Whoops.

That's a bad error on Shulter's part. Conservative bloggers are eating it up. Nevermind, that Blackburn was more obsessed with Moveon.org than remembering the fallen.

I hated the Moveon.org ad. They deserve the grief they are getting.

Republicans want to turn attention away from how badly the war is going. General Petraeus's did little to change public opinion. Republicans use patriotism, gun, gays and abortion as wedge issues. When people are discontent with the administration, there is only so much traction the GOP can get from the Moveon.org ad. There always is the option of governing like adults...

Open Thread: Solar Energy in Florida

Governor Charlie Crist was at the Clinton Global Initiative yesterday. He unveiled his plan to build a $2.4-billion solar energy facility.

"Producing solar energy in the Sunshine State just makes sense," Crist told the crowd at at the Clinton Global Initiative, which draws world leaders, celebrities and scholars for three days of panel discussions and smaller working sessions on global issues and asks them to take concrete steps on those causes.

Crist thanked FPL and Clinton, one of the best-known Democrats in the nation, "for making the world better and helping my state. God bless you."

I have a few questions for readers.

1.) Will this solar facility put Florida on a green track? Florida Power & Light has contributed vast sums of money to both political parties. How much of this is just good ole boy business.

2.) How will Crist's appearance at CGI play with the conservative base? The social conservative blog Peer Review has been going batty over the Governor's green policies.

Lindsay Beyerstein has photos here, here and here of Crist at CGI.

Hate Crimes Legislation Passes Senate

I honestly didn't expect the hate crimes bill (aka Matthew Shepard Act) to pass. I'm glad I was wrong. The White House is scared of publicly commenting. They know public opinion is growing against them. People may have mixed feeling about gay marriage. The public does not support discrimination.

The White House wasn't commenting on the prospects for a veto of the underlying defense authorization bill. But some Republicans warned that's just what would happen after the Senate voted by voice to accept the hate crimes amendment.

The amendment was put in the defense authorization bill. It will be interesting to see how this affects don't ask, don't tell.

The to show how far Bush's infamous mandate has slipped, several Republicans voted for the bill.

John Warner
Richard Lugar
Susan Collins
Olympia Snowe
George Voinovich
Arlen Specter
Judd Gregg
Norm Coleman
Gordon Smith (co-sponsor)

The final vote for the Matthew Shepard Act was 60-39.

This is a good day for the GLBT movement. I'm glad to see nine Republican Senators do the right thing. Now it's up to Bush.

Karl Rove Orders You Not To Donate

Wayne Garcia writes about the humorous online solicitation sent out by the DCCC.

As my last act in the White House, I asked Dick Cheney if he could help me break into the DCCC and send you this email.

You see I've been watching you and other Democratic activists and let me say I'm a bit concerned. Over the past eight months Democrats in the House have made life for my Republican friends and me difficult -- issuing subpoena after subpoena. This has got to stop.

Rove goes on to ask people not to donate to the DCCC. Ofcourse, Rove didn't break into the DCCC's computers. I'm glad to see that Democrats are being smarter about their marketing.

Elizabeth Edwards Has A Question

Elizabeth Edwards talks about how people need to find the time to be active in their community. The message is given great power because of her cancer.

Donate to the Edwards campaign.

Poi Zsa Zsa Gabor

Who'll stop the rain?

How are they going to pay for the Iran War?

The Blackwater Surge

Larry Craig spotted in an Iranian Airport Bathroom doing a recon mission for double secret probation community service as part of his guilty plea agreement.

political, political cartoons, satire, Bush, cartoons,parody,Iran ,Ahmadinejad

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Blackwater Money

The New York Times reports that State Department records indicate Blackwater has been in more shooting incidents than security companies DynCorp International and Triple Canopy. This isn't shocking. The reason is why the Bush administration puts up with Blackwater's constant fuck-ups. The answer is sadly predictable.

The company’s close ties to the Bush administration have raised questions about the political clout of Mr. Prince, Blackwater’s founder and owner. He is the scion of a wealthy Michigan family that is active in Republican politics. He and the family have given more than $325,000 in political donations over the past 10 years, the vast majority to Republican candidates and party committees, according to federal campaign finance reports.

Mr. Prince has been very generous towards the Republican Party.

Jena6 Petition

There is an online petition asking the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice to take action.

We respectfully request that the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice review events surrounding the prosecution of six Black students in Jena, Louisiana, to determine whether the civil rights of Jena residents have been violated.

In a May 20, 2007 Chicago Tribune article titled "Racial Demons Rear Heads," Howard Witt reported that the six students faced prosecution for charges including second degree attempted murder -- and possible prison sentences of up to 100 years -- for allegedly participating in an unarmed school brawl that resulted in no serious injuries. The alleged brawl followed months of racial tension after hangman's nooses were hung from a tree at the students' school.

Sign the petition.

Democrats Can Win On Abortion

I wrote before about how abortion is a wedge that works against the Republican Party. The Hill has an article on how NARAL helped Democrats win Congress.

Last year the group polled in a handful of districts where it played in Arizona and Pennsylvania. This year, it polled in 22 “mainstream American” districts — 19 of them Republican-held — and Quinlan said the results led him to believe NARAL “can swing that election” in those districts.

Quinlan noted that “nearly two-thirds of all pro-choice women in these districts identify as either moderate or conservative, while pro-choice independent and Republican women overwhelming identify as either moderate or conservative.”

Quinlan said the findings illustrate that 59 percent of independent-voting women favor legal abortion in all or some cases. He also found that 34 percent of all Republican women in those districts think abortion should be legal in all or some cases.

Democrats can beat the Christian Right and protect a woman's right to choose. In fact, it is in their best political interest. They need to stop listening to political advisors that put Democrats in a ditch.

Terri Schiavo and South Dakota were major defeats for the Christain Right. The Republican Party moved women to the left on abortion and end of life issues. Democrats have an opportunity to bury people like Bob Jones and Jimmy Swaggart. The former is a racist and the latter is addicted to hookers. These are people the GOP pander to to GOTV. It has nothing todo with Christian values. Swaggart and Jones are hatemongers whom love to throw stones. The GOP don't care as long as these pseudo-Christians help the party stay in power.

Facebook has NARAL as a cause. You can contributed or fundraise for NARAL.

The Backlash Started

If there is one thing Tim Fasano can't be faulted on it is his predictablity. I knew he couldn't help himself. He would have to diss me for winning a Loafie.

I call for the annihilation of his ilk and the Blog Hussy compares me to Hitler and says I suffer from xenophobia..." fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign" ...NO I just have a respect for those that want to kill me. If they are strange or foreign that is their problem.

When Wayne Garcia wanted to go to press with an article about my blog, he emailed me, sent me his phone number and talked to me BEFORE he went to press. Mr. Hussy just went off and used pejoratives about me but not his asshole buddy Ahmadinejad.

Now he wins an award from THE Creative Loafing which will never run a negative article about Ahmadinejad (Hussy's love partner). They even mention my blog as they give him the award as if it was some Goddamn big deal to call out a CAB DRIVER!

1.) Fasano accuses me of being gay buddies with a man I never met. He fails to mention that I ran a negative post about Ahmadinejad's denial that gay and lesbians exist in Iran. It's interesting the homophobic Fasno would link me to the equally bigoted Ahmadinejad.

2.) Fasano is a Republican candidate for Congress. He is more than just a cab driver. Voters have a right to know that Fasano publicly stated, "I really believe the answer to this war is to kill all Muslims on Earth and destroy any written or computer record of this horrible religion."

Fasano kicked out the white sepremist talking points against Martin Luther King.

Was MLK really color blind? I know his followers are not. Why is it that a racial separatist holiday that can only really be celebrated by one race has been rammed down our throats?

Fasano is a amateur porn photographer who is a major misogynistic heel. One does not title a blog post "Show Me Your Tits!" because he is a fan of Blogher. He refers to female passengers as "bitch."

It must be torture for Tim to have his own xenaphobic words against him. He is left to run posts with no links to the accusations he levels. That shows poor debating skills. But then this wasn't suppose to be an exchange of ideas. Tim feels he should be allowed to say what he wants. If anyone disagrees with him, they support a tyrant. That spiel works on Free Republic or Little Green Footballs. Rationale people find that laughable.

One of the problems, I had with the Tampa blogosphere, was the hatemongering. I took Tim and Rachel Moran to task for advocating assaulting the homeless (Moran) and racism (Fasano.) The progressive blogosphere got wind of Moran's post and there was a huge backlash. Hatemongering was no longer something Tampa bloggers could get away with. Fasano misses the bad old days. I don't.

Fasano thinks Garcia "had nothing to do with that fucked up decision." Garcia is the political editor and interviewed me about the blog before I knew I won. It's doubtful music critic Wade Tatangelo got up during a meeting and declared, "Hussey must win a Loafie or I will go on a hunger strike." Then Wade mysteriously started singing, "The blood is on the table and their mouths are choking." If that's the case, I got to attend one of these staff meetings.

I wish we could treat Fasano as a joke. The sad truth is their are people that take his blog and political ambitions seriously. Fasano is against the Democrats increase for SCHIP, equates all Muslims as terrorists, cites Michael Savage and does not believe global warming is influenced by mankind. Fasano is a politician and cab driver that has been profiled in the media. He does not get a free pass.

Update: Fasano faces the fury of Tas here and here.

Quote of the Day

"Childrens do learn."

President George W. Bush, discussing the educational benefits of No Child Left Behind.

If a President is going to change the American educational system, it is not unreasonable to expect him to be able to speak coherently.

Dan Gelber vs. Mel Martinez

Florida House Minority Leader Dan Gelber took Mel Martinez to task for calling SCHIP "socialized medicine."

"...As Chairman of the Republican National Committee, I recognize your role and responsibility to defend and endorse President Bush’s legislative agenda, including his opposition to the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Plan. However, the rhetoric of “entitlements” and “socialized medicine” seems designed to fire up the President’s political base rather than honestly helping your colleagues figure out how to fix a system that has left more than nine million American children without health care. Ironically, your position hurts Florida more than nearly any other state as only Texas has a higher percentage of uninsured children than we do. .."

Martinez should pay attention to what is going on in his neighborhood. 5,805 children in Broward County rely on Kidcare. Part of it's funding comes from SCHIP. Florida's Kidcare program has a 700,000 waiting list. The state does not have enough money to provide healthcare for poor children. To deny children healthcare is cruel. Martinez voted no on SCHIP. That says much about where his priorities are.

Update: Gus Bilirakis voted no on SCHIP.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

Budget breakdown is from The Gavel.

To the anonymous wingnuts in the comments, I am well aware that The Gavel is the official Democratic Congressional blog. For the two people who read this blog that can't comprehend, I am pro-Democratic Party. I celebrated when the Donkeys won Congress. I don't want to hear accusations of partisan bias from people that do not hold the factually-challenge Michelle Malkin to the same level of accountablity they hold political opponents.

I know wingnuts are angry at progressives for not being allowed to wage war against every third world nation, not being able to kill Bambi at will or paving over every green space because America doesn't have enough Taco Bell franchises and a host of other sins. I know it scares conservatives that the bad old days of job creation, balanced budgets, and a federal surplus might one day be at hand, again. Look on the bright side, conservatives had all three branches of the federal government. Look how well things worked out for the conservatives. Besides, that gay Republicans stumbling out of the closet business. We all know, conservatives are much more bothered with Democrats having hetrosexual sex. The Christian Right hates people having sex that do not further their political agenda.

MJA: Michael Jackson Anonymous

I see I'm slowly weening Jill off the evil known as Michael Jackson. She gives Lorna Bracewell a well-deserved shout out.

Confession: I have a soft spot for the Jacko song Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough. I admitted my Iron Maiden addiction. I mind as well come clean about my favorite Jacko song.

Iron Maiden - Run To the Hills

Hair metal with politically thought-provoking lyrics. Plus, it has one of the most badass choruses in all of rockdom. Iron Maiden is the one metal band indie rocks can name-drop and still be cool with their friends.

But what about the brewskis?

Bill Clinton wants you on his couch to watch a presidential debate with him. No, really! He says so in the latest email I got from the Hillary campaign:

There are two things in this world that I love more than anything else -- my family and politics. So you can imagine just how fired up I get when Hillary is on the stage debating the issues that matter to our country.

So here's an idea: why don't you and I share that excitement together during an upcoming debate. Hillary's campaign will pick three people -- each invited with a guest to watch one of the upcoming presidential debates with me. We'll sit down in front of a big TV with a big bowl of chips, watch the debate, and talk about the race. If you enter before the Sunday midnight deadline, you and a guest could be the ones to sit down with me to watch a presidential debate.

First, seeing this kind of political hokeyness makes me snicker. I don't have trouble imagine President Clinton as one of those guys who's perfectly comfortable with grabbing a bag of chips and settling down in front of the TV to dwindle away a Sunday afternoon watching football, but I just can't imagine any of us there with him.

But, more importantly, what about the beer? Because I'll tell ya, there's a direct correlation between the more debates I have to watch translating into the more six packs I want to guzzle. Do I even need to explain why?

Given that paradigm, personally, I feel that "Getting shitfaced with Wild Bill!" would be a much better selling point for this campaign stunt. Could somebody forward this to Hillary's campaign and let them know that they have Bill's approach all wrong and mine is the way to go? Thanks.

[Crossposted from Sugar Land is Dreaming]

Write A Caption: Hot Fudge Edition

Found at the Shakers' Facebook group.

Lieberman-Kyl Amendment

Jim Webb gives a powerful speech against the Lieberman-Kyl amendment. The legislation

We haven’t had one hearing on this. I’m on the Foreign Relations Committee, I’m on the Armed Services Committee. We are about to vote on something that may fundamentally change the way the United States views the Iranian military and we haven’t had one hearing. This is not the way to make foreign policy. It’s not the way to declare war.

The rush to war is how we got into the Iraq mess.

Josh Marshall has a vlog on the amendment.

Lieberman, on the Senate floor, beats the war drums. The man sees violence as a solution to all foreign policy problems.

First, it will send a clear message—both to the regime in Teheran, and to our allies in the region—that the United States will not stand idly by and allow Iranian-backed terrorists to kill hundreds and hundreds of American soldiers, and dominate Iraq. It acknowledges what our military commanders and top diplomats are telling us, which is that, regardless of what we might desire here in Washington, the government in Tehran has made a decision to wage a proxy war against us—and we must respond.

Our amendment states that it should be the policy of the United States to stop the violent activities and the destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as its foreign facilitators like Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies.

Our amendment also recognizes that thwarting Iran’s campaign of terror must be among the crucial considerations for any plan for the transition and draw-down of our forces in Iraq. As General Petraeus warned us in his testimony, the threat of Iran may in the long run prove an even greater danger to the stability of Iraq than al Qaeda. We cannot ignore it.

For that reason, the amendment also calls on the State Department to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization and place the IRGC on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists. This is the organization that is responsible for the murder of our soldiers. They are launching terrorist attacks against our troops—and so we should treat them as terrorists.

Democrats should not vote for this garbage just so they look tough on national security. Any foreign policy legislation with Lieberman's name isn't worth wiping your ass with. Money qoute:

(4) to support the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq, including diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and military instruments, in support of the policy described in paragraph (3) with respect to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies.

Lieberman wants war. Nevermind that are troops are bogged down in Iraq and the United States would be waging a three front war on countries that border each other. Joementem want to get his war on and he will let nothing stop him.

It's Lawsuit Time

Political consultant Vic DiMaio and Social Security attorney Mike Steinberg filed a lawsuit against the DNC. They want a federal judge to rule if the DNC can sanction the Florida Democratic Party. The DNC responds.

“It is well-established that political parties have a constitutionally protected right to determine the method of selection of delegates to their national nominating conventions; that the states do not have the power to require the parties to recognize the results of state-run primaries in the selection of delegates”; and that individual voters don’t have the right to dictate the method of delegate selection, the response says.

The Supreme Count ruled in Democratic Party of U.S. v. Wisconsin that the national party has final say over the delegate selection process. I don't see Florida Democrat activists winning in the courts.

Quote of the Day

“In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon,” he said referring to homosexuality. “I do not know who has told you we have it.”

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Columbia University.

Perhaps Ahmadinejad can explain Kaveh Ghaderi. He paticipated in the International Mr. Gay Competition.

According to Wikipedia, there is Persian literature detailing the history of Iranian homosexuality. Ahmadinejad has denied the existence of the Holocaust. No one should be surprised that Ahmadinejad is equally deluded about homosexuality. The audience at Columbia University laughed when he said there were no gays and lesbians in Iran. No one takes this clown seriously. He does harm to Iran's international standing.

Update: Here is the video of Ahmadinejad standup comedy performance.

Andrew Meyer Update

Attytood found out some interesting facts about Andrew "Don't Tas me, bro" Meyer. The kid's narcissism entends to his email address: Famouswriterman@aol.com. Meyer refers to himself on his website as "The Andrew Meyer."

Bob Norman discovered that Meyer wrote for the Sun-Sentinel's Teentime section. Norman found that Meyer mainly wrote entertainment articles.

Sun-Sentinel blogger Michael Mayo has key passages from the police report of Meyer's arrest.

“A crowd began to form and yell at us. Some were yelling let him go, he didn’t do anything. I pulled my Taser, turned off the safety, dropped the cartridge, put it against his left chest and pulled the trigger. It did not activate after several attempts. While my Taser was still against his chest, where he could see it, he was told several times to stop resisting and turn over or he would be tased. He still would not comply, continued to struggle and yell for us to let him go. I instructed Ofc. Mallo to utilize her Taser, which she did.”

That crowd video-recorded the incident. The cops could have carried Meyer's sorry ass out of the venue. Tasering a meek 5'6 loudmouth is extreme. This is coming from someone who hopes Meyer never gets a job as a journalist. (He would be perfect for Inside Edition.)

Tough Guy Bill Nelson

Bill Nelson threatened to open a can of whoop ass on the Democratic National Committee. He then wrote a letter to the stating that the DNC "could not be bound by state law to simply ratify the results of the violating Jan. 29, 2008 state government primary..." Nelson is back to channeling his inner-Clint Eastwood.

"We’re disappointed in Gov. Dean’s response,'' Nelson said in a written statement. "He’s rejected at least three compromise solutions. Now there is no choice. I’m preparing a lawsuit.”

There is a choice. Nelson can stay out of the fray and let the DNC and Florida Democratic Party handle the matter. Nelson is only making matters worse. He should stick to his full-time job of being a Senator. Last time I checked, he wasn't doing that task too well.

Crist Attending Clinton Global Initiative

This should drive conservatives batshit. Charlie Crist will appear at the Clinton Global Initiative. Crist will be on the "Redefining Business As Usual" panel. Somewhere the collective heads of Peer Review are exploding.

Conservatives don't have much to fear over Crist's green policies. Crist is more talk than action. Any man that appoints developer Ron Bergeron to the Wildlife Conservation Commission is not serious about protecting the environment. Bergeron main qualification seems to be raising $9,000 for the Crist campaign. Sorry Tommy, color me cynical.

Paging Rita Cosby!

Blog Against
Racism Day

Shakesville

Jena 6, Jena Six

political, political cartoons, satire, Bush, cartoons,parody,Zora Neale Hurston,Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurricane Katrina, Katrina, fema, levees, New Orleans,

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Open Thread: The Loafies

I attended the Loafies. It was a rather surreal experience. I didn't go up onstage because my win was already announced in Creative Loafing. I was happy to see WMNF, Creative Clay and Jobsite Theatre win. I finally met Wayne Garcia. I saw David Jenkins, but he disappeared before I had a chance to say hi.

I saw Tommy Duncan and thought it was best we didn't talk. Sticks of Fire won readers' choice for best blog.

I technically didn't get my award. The CL staff don't know where it is. They looked. They're going to send it in the mail. Winners get a framed certificate. I declined my loaf of bread. I'm not mad at CL. It's just one of those things that happens. Besides, blogging shouldn't be about winning awards.

Anyone else who reads this blog at the Loafies? I like other people's take on it. It had a New York Eastside feel to it. I thought about cutting out when I saw the people in bath robes waiting to get in.

How many people split for the Hub before the show was over? I hated how the beer line was set up at the Tampa Theatre.

Update: David Jenkins has post up on the Loafies. He also left an interesting comment about the behind-the-scenes work Jobsite did at the Loafies.

The weirdest and most humorous part of the red carpet event was people getting in limos in front of the Tampa Theatre. The limos would drive around the block and drop the people off in front of the red carpet. Eric Snider and Katrina Stevenson were interviewing people with Loafies as prop microphones.

Update: Lorna Bracewell's musical performance impressed me. She performed the song Flowers On the Chains. The song can be heard on her Myspace site.

Update: I need to tell Jill about Lorna Blackwell. She has good (Ani DiFranco) and evil (Pussycat Dolls) musical tastes. I feel it's my duty to save her from the dark side.

Newt Might Run

Newt Gingrich told Fox News's Chris wallace that if he can raise $30 million in 3 weeks he will run for President.

“I think the odds are very high, if we ended up with that level of pledges - I don’t see, as a citizen, how you could turn that down,” Gingrich said on Fox News Sunday.

“So you’d run?” host Chris Wallace asked.

“I think you’d be compelled to,” Gingrich said.

Newt has become the savior for many conservatives. Newt was forced out of Congress by Republicans and had a sexual relationship with someone who was not is wife. Those two items should kill him with the party establishment and social conservatives. Why conservatives still love Newt is because he relentlessly bashed Bill Clinton. Hatred for Clinton trumps all other considerations.

Chairman Shelton Quarles

In what is the biggest joke of a political appointment, Charlie Crist appointed recently retired Tampa Bay Bucs player Shelton Quarles as Chairman of the Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority. Quarles has been a pro football player his adult life and has no experience with public transportation. Quarles did donate to Crist's last campaign. Which says much about how seriously Crist takes issues like busing and light rail.

Quarles will lead a 15 member board. Mayors Pam Iorio, Rick Baker and the Hillsborough County Commission will serve as members. Quarles will be in charge of setting the agenda for tying public transportation from several bordering counties.

Quarles told the (no link) St. Petersburg Times he is no "dumb jock." The article didn't list how he felt he was qualified for the job.

This appointment reeks of political payback.

Blackwater Hell

Lindsay Beyerstein has a fascinating post on her encounters with Blackwater in New Orleans.

The Blackwater dude was acting as a glorified rent-a-cop on the sidewalk, about two blocks from the main media staging area for New Orleans, which was already amply secured by US military and law enforcement.

What I didn't realize at the time was that these Blackwater guys thought of themselves as frontline soldiers in a literal war zone, ready to use deadly force at the slightest provocation. That was an unfounded estimate, in the middle of the day in downtown New Orleans several days after the city had been secured by the legitimate authorities.

We certainly weren't seeing that level of aggression or anxiety from the 82nd Airborne or the NOLA police, or the National Guard, or anyone else in the vicinity.

Newsweek's Michael Hirsh wrote the best opening paragraph I have read in an op-ed in ages.

Imagine a universe where a man can gun down women and children anytime he pleases, knowing he will never be brought to justice. A place where morality is null and void, and arbitrary killing is the rule. A place that has been imagined hitherto only in nightmarish dystopian fiction, like “1984,” or in fevered passages from Dostoevsky—or which existed during the Holocaust and Stalinist purges and the Dark Ages. Well, that universe exists today. It is called Iraq. And the man who made it possible is George W. Bush.

U.S. military personal has been in shootouts with Blackwater. Servicemen view mercenaries with complete disdain. The Iraqi people hate Blackwater even more intensely. The Bush administration simply makes matters worse by allowing Blackwater to do what they want without fear of criminal prosecution. Bush refuses to public chastise the security firm. The White House wonders why things work out poorly for them. Blackwater is a classic example.

In related news: the Iraqi government claims they have a video of Blackwater security personal opening fire at civilians.

Marco Rubio's Double Standard

Marco Rubio lectured counties to make budget cuts. This same man who lavishly used taxpayer dollars for his own staff.

Press Sec. Jose Fuentes - $119,484

Staff Director Todd Reid - $103,008

Consultant Donna Arduin - $10,000-a-month

Rubio has awarded his alma mater, the University of Miami, the money for it's medical school. The state legislature is asking other universities to cut $188 million from their budgets.

the University of Miami, a private 11,000-student school in Mr. Rubio's political district, is in line to get not only $12.5 million in annually recurring money for its medical school, but also $80 million that is tucked into the general government budget to establish a new program at UM called the Institute of Human Genomics.

I am not shocked by the hypocrisy. Rubio is on an anti-gambling crusade and has received $4,000 in campaign contributions from gambling organizations.

Update: Rubio talks about the need for budget cuts.

"We need to get this $1 billion spending reduction squared away," the West Miami Republican said. "It's a big task, an important one. Once we've done that, those other issues could come into play."

Democrats Sticking to Jan. 29th Primary Date

Karen Thurman of the Florida Democratic Party announced that the Jan. 29th primary will be binding. That doesn't change the Democratic National Committee punishing the FDP by not allowing delegates at the convention. Thurman released a letter to the press and FDP members.

There will be no other primary. Florida Democrats absolutely must vote on January 29th. We make this election matter. Not the DNC, not the delegates, not the candidates, but Florida Democrats like you and me voting together. We make it count.

Don't let anybody call this vote a "beauty contest" or a "straw poll." On January 29, 2008, there will be a fair and open election in Florida, which will provide for maximum voter participation. The nation will be paying attention, and Florida Democrats will have a major impact in determining who the next President of the United States of America will be.

The FDP has set up the website MakeItCountFlorida.com. The problem is the primary will not count. Howard Dean and the DNC hasn't moved an inch on the primary not being before Feb. 5th.

Kenneth Quinnell and Alison Morano discuss the primary on The Big Show audio cast.

Related posts:

The DNC Can Refuse To Allow Florida To Have Delegates
Bill Nelson Gets Tough (Snore)
Florida Democratic Primary Still on Jan. 29th
Jon Ausman vs. Florida Democratic Party

Greatest Political Ad Ever

The Mitt Romney campaign asked supporters to make a campaign video. Slate took up the challenge. The video illustrates the heroic sacrifice Mitt's sons are making in our time of war. They are working on Dad's campaign. It's the most gut wrenching film since Saving Private Ryan.

She's Back

Katherine Harris spoke at the the Family Impact Summit. It is a gathering for Christian Right activists. Harris advised people to follow politics. She just doesn't want them to read newspapers.

She told them to educate themselves on the upcoming presidential race, but not to read newspapers. "They're not going to write stories in the newspapers that are news, they'll editorialize," she said.

Short answer: Kitty is saying Jesus wants you to watch Fox News.

Florida Primary Update

Remember Bill Nelson and Karen Thurman doing their get tough grandstanding at the Democratic National Committee? Nelson is now playing nice with the DNC and Thurman is begging Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada to allow presidential candidates to come to the Disney World convention. How the less-than-mighty have fallen.

In related news: the Florida Democratic Party has a week to formulate a plan that doesn't violate the Feb. 5th rule. Florida broke the rule by setting the primary for Jan. 29th.

Shorter Rudy: Tax Cuts Pay For Tax Cuts

Rudy Giuliani made the bizarre statement that lost revenue from cutting or eliminating the alternative minimum tax could be paid for by making the Bush tax cuts permanent.

"Over time we can figure out how to eliminate it. ... If we were going to eliminate it, though, we'd have to balance it with additional tax cuts," Giuliani said, leaving confused expressions on his audience. "That might be by making the Bush tax cuts permanent."

The AMT was created to eliminate loopholes in the tax code. Over 50 percent of people taxed under AMT make over $200,000-a-year. A way to make AMT less regressive is to adjust it to inflation. Getting rid of the tax during a war and budget deficit is stupidity. AMT brings in a $100 trillion-a-year. How does Giuliani plan to pay for the ten new combat brigades he wants? He is in for a shock if he thinks supply side economics really works.

Kevin Drum wants people to take Rudy to task for his statements.

Please. Just for once, can we hold this guy responsible for what he says? Sure, he misspoke, but he misspoke because he doesn't have a clue what he's talking about and blurted out the first thing that came to mind: namely that reducing taxes is the answer to every question. Nobody with even the vaguest idea of what it meant to eliminate the AMT would say that it had to be balanced by reducing other taxes.

Remember when George Bush wasn't able to name the president of Pakistan back in the 2000 campaign? Everyone laughed it off. But this isn't a game of gotcha. Nobody forces Rudy to say this stuff. He just flatly doesn't know what he's talking about. He's a buffoon. It's time for the press corps to take notice and quit giving him a pass on this stuff.

Campaign reporters don't write about economics. Mainly, because they don't have the background or training in the field. Editors need to stress economics more in presidential campaign coverage. One of these candidates will win the Oval Office and run policy for the world's biggest economic power.

Rudy is running for President of the United States, not Student Council. He is an educated man. He should have a basic understanding of economics. The fact that he knows not what he says shows lazy critical-thinking-skills. His statement that tax cuts pay for other tax cuts is the equivalent of a person getting a lower paying job to pay his bills.

Rilo Kiley - Silver Lining

It's Friday and that gives me an excuse to do a Jenny Lewis post.

Quote of the Day

This is the lamest excuse I heard a candidate use to justify his political position. Rudy Giuliani said 9-11 changed everything on (drum roll please) gun control.

"I also think that there have been subsequent intervening events — September 11 — which cast somewhat of a different light on the Second Amendment and Second Amendment rights. It doesn't change the fundamental rights, but maybe it highlights the necessity for them more."

Giuliani is incapable of admitting he flip-flopped on gun control. He would rather evoke 9-11 to pander to a crowd of NRA supporters. Giuliani is concerned his previous anti-gun stance will hurt him with the base.

Giuliani on March 2, 1997

And thanks in part to our stricter gun control laws, crime is down dramatically in New York City. Shootings are down over 50 percent. Murder is down over 50 percent. But the fact is that 90 percent of the guns we take out of the hands of criminals in New York City come from out of the State of New York.

Someone hand this man his NRA membership card.

Fred Thompson In Florida

Fred Thompson continues to embarrass himself on the campaign trail. Florida proved to be no exception.

On Terri Schiavo

“That’s going back in history. I don’t remember the details of it.”

Drilling in the Everglades

"Gosh, no one has told me that there’s any major reserves in the Everglades, but maybe that’s one of the things I need to learn while I’m down here." He eventually said he would not rule out drilling in the Everglades.

Jena6

“I don't know anything about it."

It's like a watching a car crash in slow motion.

PIP Update

Marco Rubio and Ken Pruitt are "discussing" whether or not to hold a special session on PIP insurance. There is a proposal that should make insurance companies happy.

Details of the deal appear to this: Extend current PIP system until end of the year, while adopting a new system on Jan. 1. It would place limits on certain types of utilization: For example, no reimbursements for clinics unless ordered by a doctor, or if the clinic has been licensed for at least 3 years, or has a medical director. The bill would allocate $2 million for fraud prosecutors.

Details are scant about how citizens will be affected. That isn't Rubio's and Pruitt's most pressing concern. The insurance industry contributed to both men. Priorities come first. These two should reach a PIP deal sometime in the middle of 2008.

Hurricane Ronda Storms

Ronda Storms attempted to delay the paperwork for a Valrico bikini bar. The establishment was already cleared for zoning and legally allowed to open. That didn't stop Storms from ordering a Hillsborough County employee to sit on the final paperwork to delay the opening. Now the taxpayer is paying for Storms's grandstanding.

Luke Lirot, a Clearwater lawyer representing Gemini, said the county will pay his clients $49,000 to resolve the case. Lirot said the case was settled, in part, so Gemini could devote full attention to another lawsuit against the county over ordinances governing sexually oriented businesses.

The resolution comes nearly two weeks before the case was supposed to go to trial. Part of the case focused on actions taken by then-County Commissioner Ronda Storms before the Showgirls bikini bar opened its doors.

Gemini sued the county in November 2005 and in a recent filing alleged Hillsborough "maliciously and intentionally" manipulated procedures and county employees to try to keep the club from opening.

Storms was accused of asking county workers to delay issuing a certificate of occupancy for the club, preventing its opening. She was later cleared of wrongdoing by the State Attorney's Office and Florida Commission on Ethics.

Everyone gets cleared by the Commision of Ethics. Pam Iorio allowed firefighters to use city computers to lobby Tallahassee. All parties were caught redhanded. Iorio was cleared by the Commission of Ethics. Hillsborough County wouldn't be coughing up money to a titty bar if Storms was so innocent.

Lack of Progressive Coverage On Jena6

Pam Spaulding has a post taking the progressive blogosphere and Glenn Reynolds to task for not covering the Jena6 story.

* DailyKos features a handful of posts about injustice in Iraq today -- but not a single entry on its main page, or even its user-generated "diaries," about this important case.

* TalkingPointsMemo, a favorite of the DC wonk set, is similarly incensed about foreign policy, but apparently not about racial justice in the South -- nothing there either.

* Long-time progressive blogger Atrios doesn't have a lot of posts up,but found time to touch on Paul Krugman, Iraq and the state of the Euro -- but not this major issue.

* Surely TalkLeft -- which has positioned itself as the leading progressive blog about criminal justice issues -- would have something? Think again -- not a single mention, not even in the quick news briefs!

* What about another progressive favorite, FireDogLake? A rant about Republicans being "little bitches," but nothing on the Jena 6.

When the Jena 6 does make an appearance on progressive blogs today, it's little more than a passing nod. Huffington Post has a blog post buried below the fold; ThinkProgress gives it a two-sentence news brief.

However, many of these blogs are eagerly pointing to news stories which suggest the Republican candidates don't care about black issues.

Jane Hamsher protested Spaulding's post. She felt she was being accused of being a racist and would have to defend herself if she wrote about the Jena6 controversy. I don't think that was the intention of Spaulding's post. The point was minorities and the poor are often neglected in news coverage. That doesn't mean Hamsher is a racist. (I have seen no evidence to lead me to believe that.)

I have been guilty of not covering the Jena6 story. I wrote this comment at Pandagon.

I have learned about the Jena6 story from media reports in the last few days. I admit that I haven’t blogged about it myself. I think Jane Hamsher is being overly defensive. The truth is there are a lot of stories the blogosphere doesn’t cover. I try to write about Florida and Tampa politics because very few people do. If people say I haven’t blogged enough about Jena6 I’ll take it as a valid criticism.

I’m trying people. Believe me.

What is interesting is Facebook has activists very involved in getting the word out on Jena6. That is how I first learned about it.

Students Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York, and New Orleans are protesting the legal treatment Mychal Bell and other black high school students in Jena, Louisiana. Bell was convicted of second-degree battery by an all-white jury. His conviction was overturned. The court ruled he should not be tried as an adult.

Jean has a history of racially-charged fights. White youth would either not get charged or face misdemeanors. Black teens would face harsher penalties. Six teens are facing second degree murder charges for assault on Justin Barker.

There is something extremely dysfunctional about the community. Black and whites long had contempt for each other. Nooses were hung at a high school. This is not the way for people to live.

PIP & Cat Fund Madness

Governor Charlie Crist admitted he had no interest in using his political clout to extend PIP insurance. PIP elapsed and that has created a crisis with the Catastrophe Fund. Money from liability insurance premiums is used to fund the CAT.

Personal injury protection insurance lines account for 7 percent or $2.5-billion of a total of $37-billion a year in assessable premium dollars in Florida. All auto insurance lines account for 40 percent of the state's assessment base or more than $14-billion of the $37-billion assessable base.

The CAT Fund was created to lower hurricane insurance premiums. Insurance companies responded by increasing premium rates. Now the state is on the hook for $37 billion during a budget crisis. The state is borrowing $5.2 billion and hoping the federal government will bail them out after a hurricane.

I like to hear conservatives explain how more tax cuts will solve the problem. The market didn't take care of itself. The state bent over backwards to take the brunt of financial burden. Insurance companies finally got what they wanted by ending PIP. Why then is everything a mess. I like economic illiterate social conservatives at Peer Review explain this to me.

The worst thing that happens to conservatism is when they get what they want.

Crooked Talk Express

It's really sad when John McCain makes Bill Kristol sound like the voice of reason.

UF Taser Incident Update

University of Florida journalism student Adrew Meyer has been offered a job by Greg Palast. Meyer was tasered by police officers after he refused to yield the microphone at a John Kerry speaking engagement. Meyer was already pinned by several officers when he was tasered. Palast has not been able to make the offer to Meyer personally.

"His attorneys seem to be keeping him on ice," Palast told us, when we asked if he'd been able to officially offer the gig to Meyer.

In related news: two UF police officers have been put on paid leave.

What bugs me is that Meyer had a cameraman present to film the incident.

He then turned to a woman and said "Are you taping this? Do you have this? You ready?" the report said.

Meyer has a personal website where he brags about taunting professional athletes.

Now, you have to know this about me: I am huge Marlins fan, and a born heckler. My purpose in life is to badger, jeer, and cajole professional athletes. I have angered two other All-Star baseball players, Bobby Abreu and Odalis Perez, on separate occasions. I have booed singers that mess up the national anthem. Heck, I’ll even heckle other hecklers if I don’t care for their stuff. What happened during this particular game was destined to be, the paths of Griffey and I on a collision course.

My view is the use of force was questionable and this guy is a crackpot. Free speech is a right we all have. I'm willing to defend Meyer's. Even though is wasn't willing to let Kerry answer his questions or let others speak at the microphone. If Palast hires Meyer, he will regret it.

Tas Raw Story Article

Tas (aka Adam Dupont) has a Raw Story article about Ann Coulter.

Money quote:

"Obama is half-white and half-black," Coulter said, before comparing the Illinois senator to former President Bill Clinton. "Clinton was half-white, half-trash."

None of Coulter's controversial comments stops her from coming on cable talk shows. In fact, that is exactly why networks bring her on. It's not because of her wonkish policy knowledge. Coulter appearances are about ratings. She is the punditry equivalent of a shock jock.

Coulter continues to beam with pride over the fact that she called John Edwards a "faggot"

Ann Coulter spammed me with an email a few days ago, telling me her new book is coming out soon. And it'll be great. So great, in fact, Ann belts out this line to compare it with her other work:

For liberals who enjoy exclaiming, "This time, she's gone too far!" the quotes in this book will make that crack about Edwards look like a frosty beer on a hot summer day.

Classy.

I must admit, Coulter knows her target audience. I was there when Coulter uttered her infamous crack about Edwards. And despite all the token repudiation from wingnut bloggers who like to try and make us think that Coulter doesn't espouse the values of the conservative movement, the conservative base spoke for themselves. As I collected my jaw from the floor directly after Coulter's bombshell, everyone around me -- and I mean everyone -- were cheering as loud as they could. And I was surrounded by thousands of conservatives.

Coulter knows that what she said is wrong, but instead of offering an apology or even trying to distance herself from the Edwards crack, she's using it to pimp her new book.

No recantation, no shame. No recognition of any wrongdoing. How so very... Republican.

[Crossposted from Sugar Land is Dreaming]

Quote of the Day

Jim Webb sponsored a bill that would guarantee U.S. service personal more time at home. The bill received 54 votes, but failed to break the filibuster. Mel Martinez had the audacity to say it would be demeaning if soldiers spend more time stateside.

Mel Martinez

The reenlistment rates of those who have served in the theater are larger than those of any other. And, in fact, it is a testament to their courage, to their valor, and their sense of duty to their country. I think we would demean their service if we were to say to them that there had to be a parity between the time in service out of the country and the time at home.

Does Martinez think members of the military prefer a 120 degree heat and being shot at? There is a reason these soldiers are happy when they see their families and have their feet on American soil. They want to get the fuck out of Iraq and be with their loved ones. It's one thing to be a Bush crony. It's quite another thing to be a stupid quote machine.

Iraq Gallup Poll Results

Gallup poll results from 2003 to present. The Dark green line represents vell well and moderately well. The light green line represents moderately badly and very badly. As you can see, the light green line has steadily climbed upward over time.

Hat tip to Ezra Klein.

Jim Naugle Meets G.I. Joe

The tale of homophobic potty-policing Mayor Jim Naugle gets more twisted. He has enlisted the aid of Mathes Guice. That is Guice dressed in full paramilitary garb. His followers were dressed in similar apparel.

To no one's surprise, O'Neal Dozier was part of Guice's group. It would take me a week to write about the insanity Dozier has been in. However, I will make note of this Dozier quote.

God sees homosexuality as an abomination. It is something that causes him to want to vomit… It is just that ungodly and just that nasty.*

I want to vomit. It's not because of homosexuals.

Stamp Out Bogus Voter Fraud

The Miami Herald interviews attorney Justin Levitt about the Brennan Center of Justice lawsuit against Florida. State law requires a Social Security nember and driver's licence at the polls. The BCJ is reprresenting the NAACP and the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition.

Several Republican-controlled states has instituted more restrictive voting laws. Contrary to Karl Rove's claims, there is no widespread conspiracy. The Bush Justice Department have only convicted 86 people of voter fraud.

The Florida Division of Elections has a voter fraud video on their website. Unfortunately, I can't get it to work. They also have a "Stamp Out Voter Fraud" poster. I'm sure we will see it in Hot Topic soon.

Chris Matthews Is Creepy

What is up with Chris Matthews hetrosexual obsession with Fred Thompson's sex appeal. It's really getting weird.

Does [Fred Thompson] have sex appeal? … Gene, do you think there’s a sex appeal for this guy, this sort of mature, older man, you know? … Can you smell the English leather on this guy, the Aqua Velva, the sort of mature man’s shaving cream, or whatever, you know, after he shaved? Do you smell that sort of — a little bit of cigar smoke? You know, whatever.

There is also Matthews blatant sexual harassment of Erin Burnett.



Chris Matthews: Could you get a little closer to the camera?

Erin Burnett: My— What is it? Is it [crosstalk] coming in strangely?

Matthews: Come in closer...no...come in...come in further...come in closer...really close.

Burnett: [leans in nervously] What are you, what are you doing?

Matthews: HA HA! Just kidding! You look great! Anyway, thank... Erin it's great to have...look at that look... You're great...

Burnett: I don't even know. I'm going to have to go look at the tape here. I'm in a strange location.

Matthews: [laughs] No, you're beautiful! I'm just kidding! I'm just kidding! You're a knockout! Anyways, thank you, Erin Burnett. It's all right getting bad news from you, even. Okay. Thanks for coming on Hardball.

I wouldn't let this guy 100 yards near a daycare center. Let alone host a cable news show.

Bob Allen Trial Delayed

The Bob Allen trial has been postponed until November 5th. Defense attorneys want a jury pool to reflect all of Breward County.

Allen's attorney Greg Eisenmenger said it would "not be realistic" to seat a jury for the trial moved to Nov. 5 without a pool of least 100 jurors from across Brevard.

This is a lot of trouble for a misdemeanor charge. Judges wouldn't be this lenient for an average citizen.

The defense got a major break. The infamous tape recording of Assistant Chief John Lau will not be used in court.

Allen has been charged with soliciting from a male undercover police officer.

Pushing Rope Wins Best of the Bay For Political Blogging

Pushing Rope is winner of the Creative Loafing Best of the Bay award for political blogging. My conservative counterpart Jim Johnson won the award last year.

Winning the award is nice. It isn't why I started blogging. This doesn't make me a star. Girls aren't going to chase me down the street like the opening of A Hard Day's Night. So, let's get carried away with this and be thankful. I'm grateful that you people read this site and contribute comments.

A big thanks go out to Tas, Litbrit, Sine.Qua.Non and Zencomix. Their posts on this site are greatly appreciated.

University of Florida Taser Incident

Student Andrew Meyer was tasered when he was arrested for speaking too long at a John Kerry Q and A. Officers told Meyer he was arrested for inciting a riot. The student was annoying, but inciting a riot is pushing it. There were hardly any people at the Kerry event.

John Kerry was overwhelmed by the situation. He stammered a few words. It was obvious he had no control over the events. Kerry released this statement.

"In 37 years of public appearances, through wars, protests and highly emotional events, I have never had a dialogue end this way," Kerry said in a statement. "I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption, but I do not know what warnings or other exchanges transpired between the young man and the police prior to his barging to the front of the line and their intervention. I asked the police to allow me to answer the question and was in the process of responding when he was taken into custody."

University of Florida Police Chief Linda Stump will conduct an investigation into the arrest.

To students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends:

I have received a great deal of communication and input last night and this morning regarding the incident that occurred Monday at the conclusion of a town hall forum being held by Sen. John Kerry. The incident resulted in a student being tasered.
We are interested in learning what happened and are taking the following immediate steps to ensure the university utilizes best practice protocols:

• University of Florida Police Chief Linda Stump has requested the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conduct a formal investigation into the arrest of UF student Andrew Meyer. An independent review such as this will make sure the results are objective and impartial. Chief Stump’s priority is to ensure that the public remains confident in the department’s ability to keep the campus safe.

• Two officers involved in the incident have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

• We plan to assemble a panel of faculty and students to review our police protocols, our management practices and the FDLE report to come up with a series of recommendations for the university.

• Administrators and police officials plan to analyze the incident and conduct an internal review and will consider changing protocols in response to this incident, if necessary.

• Finally, as is standard procedure, the State Attorney’s Office will review the charges brought against Mr. Meyer. We have communicated with the State Attorney and understand he plans to expedite his review.

I will talk about the incident and answer questions at a news conference scheduled for 2 p.m. in Emerson Alumni Hall.

J. Bernard Machen

I personally hate the use of tasers. I am certain that if several law enforcement officers are telling me to shut the fuck up or I will be tased: I'm going to shut up. This whole situation is a mess that could have been avoided. Kerry showed no leadership, Meyer ilustrated bad judgement and several law enforcement officers openly used a taser in the Youtube era.

Tom Feeney Makes CREW List

Tom Feeney made the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington's list of most corrupt members of Congress. Well done, Mr. Feeney.

Great Moments In Conservative Punditry

Peer Review is always good for the occasional comedy masterpiece. Mr. G's praise for Alan Keyes is a gem.

As I've mentioned on numerous occasions before, I am a HUGE Keyes fan. There is currently no other candidate I would rather vote for than Alan Keyes. He is a man of character, conviction and brilliance as well as a tremendous communicator.

If coming off as crazy means great communication skills than Mr. G is correct. This exchange with Mike Signorile is the kind of bigotry that scares people away from the GOP.

Mike Signorile: "So Mary Cheney is a selfish hedonist, is that it?"

Alan Keyes: "Of course she is. That goes by definition. Of course she is."

Mike Signorile: "I don't think Dick Cheney would like to hear that about his daughter."

Alan Keyes: "He may or may not like to hear the truth, but it can be spoken."

Alan Keyes carpetbagged in Illinois and got trounced by Barack Obama. The latter won 70 percent of the popular vote. Keyes called Obama a "socialist and a liar" and that Jesus Christ would not vote for Obama. Keyes ignores the fact that Christ did not meddle in political affairs of the Roman Empire.

Would Jesus approve of Keyes throwing his lesbian daughter Maya out of the house?

Now Maya Keyes -- liberal, lesbian and a little lost -- finds herself out on her own. She says her parents -- conservative commentator and perennial candidate Alan Keyes and his wife, Jocelyn -- threw her out of their house, refused to pay her college tuition and stopped speaking to her.

Maya, 19, says her parents cut her off because of who she is -- "a liberal queer." Tomorrow, she will take her private dispute with her dad into the open. She is scheduled to make her debut as a political animal, speaking at a rally in Annapolis sponsored by Equality Maryland, the state's gay rights lobby.

This is the kind of candidate the Peer Review crowd wants. Are the majority of Americans hedonists or do they find Keyes repulsive? Mr. G should answer that question for his readers.

Thompson Watches Some Football

I agree with Wayne Garcia. The only reason Fred Thompson went to Gainsville was to watch the Gators vs Vols game. Thompson didn't talk politics before the game. He signed autographs and went up to the president's box. The man views campaigning for President as a part-time job.

What a game that was for Thompson's Volunteers.

ACLU & Larry Craig

Larry Craig has an unlikely ally in the ACLU.

Sen. Larry E. Craig got an ally Monday in his fight to withdraw his guilty plea in a restroom sex sting. The American Civil Liberties Union submitted a brief to a Minnesota court arguing the Idaho Republican’s arrest was likely unconstitutional.

Anthony Romero, the ACLU’s executive director, argued that police sting operations sometimes trap innocent people. He said police must show that sex was to occur in public, not just that someone was soliciting sex.

Social conservatives have contempt for gays, sex and the ALCU. This is a perfect storm. Jerry Falwell would be going mad if was still alive.

John Kerry Coming to University of Florida

John Kerry will speak at the University of Florida this Monday.. The Senator will dicuss Iraq and national security. He will take questions from the audince.

For those wondering: this is not a paid speaking engagement for Kerry.

In related news: Kerry made a point on Meet the Press that I realized a long time ago. Iraqis will never allow al-Qaeda to gain a foothold in Iraq. They will slaughter them first. The Iraqis view al-Qaeda as foreign occupiers. The Sunnis were fighting al-Qaeda before U.S. Troops came into the Anbar province.

Kerry on Meet the Press:

Tim, al-Qaeda views Shia as apostates. They are not legitimate Muslims. The fact is you’re better off as a Christian or as a Jew than as a Shia in the eyes of al-Qaeda. And Iran, linked as it is already to Maliki, who was in Iran a month ago, holding hands with the leader of Iraq, they’re already linked. The Shia will never allow al-Qaeda to take over Iraq. The Kurds will never allow al-Qaeda to take over Iraq. That’s 80 to 85 percent of the country. And the Sunni in Anbar have now decided they don’t want al-Qaeda. We are the attraction for al-Qaeda. And if we begin to reduce our footprint, as the Iraq Study Group has said we should do, as General Jones said we should do, as those seven soldiers of the 82nd Airborne, two of whom were just recently killed, wrote in The New York Times the other day, as we should do, then al-Qaeda, believe me, will be driven out by the Iraqis themselves.

The entire Meet the Press transcript is worth reading. John McCain comes off as completely delussional. He should quit the Senate and become a Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Brennan Center of Justice vs. Florida

I hope the Brennan Center for Justice is able to strike down Florida's bogus voter fraud law.

Florida and a handful of other states refuse to place eligible citizens on the rolls unless they clear a series of extra bureaucratic hurdles largely dependent on “matching” registration information on a new statewide voter list with information in the state motor vehicle or Social Security systems. Common database errors, however, make “matching” unreliable, jeopardizing the status of up to 30% of new voters. A 2006 study by the Brennan Center for Justice, one of the voting rights groups that brought today’s suit, found that such a procedure misinterpreted the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which told states to create the statewide lists.

Plaintiffs today argued that there are several ways the bureaucratic process, embodied in Florida’s state law (Subsection 6 of Section 97.053), will disenfranchise tens of thousands of eligible voters in the 2008 election cycle, especially in trying to match registration forms with Social Security information. A citizen registering as “Bill” might not “match” if his Social Security number is issued under “William”; a woman’s married name might not match against a database that has her maiden name. Common data entry errors also cause matches to fail. According to court documents in a 2006 Washington State case, in which the Brennan Center challenged a similar state law, one woman was barred from the rolls when her birthday was mistakenly entered into the system as “1976” instead of “1975”.

The NAACP and the American Grassroots Coalition have filed suit over Subsection 6 of Section 97.053 of Florida voting law that is designed to make it more difficult for people to vote.

Voters must provide Social Security an driver's licence as proof of ID. If they can't, voters are provided with a provisional ballot. The Supervisor of Elections must approve it for the vote to count. There is a fat chance in hell they will go to the trouble. I went to motor vechicle to renew my ID and was told they have no record of me ever being in Florida. I have lived in the state since 1987. Apparently, I don't exist.

I wrote an old entry in 2004 about the unreliability of Florida's voting rolls.

***

If anyone wonders how Florida can keep making mistakes after the embarrassment that was the 2000 presidential election you have to understand that this is a state that convicts five year-old boys for cocaine possession. For some reason this little tyke is 6'4 and 220 pounds. This is also a state where a sex offender's race can magically go from hispanic to white.

As we all know, the Florida Felons List had "almost no Hispanic names." Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood maintained that this was because that Florida Department of Law Enforcement database doesn't have a Hispanic catagory. It's not suppose to. For online searches for Florida felons you would have to go to the Florida Department of Corrections since they are the government agency that processes all the state's felons. There you will find "race" in the top right corner and when you pull the bar down you will see that hispanic is listed. So as Jimbecile correctly pointed out at MonkeyFilter, Hood's answer is nothing more than clever spin.

One page 61 of the Department of Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Uniform Crime Reports Guide Manual states law enforcement officers should fill out arrest reports like this.

Name (Last, First, Middle) - Record the last name, first name, middle name (please do not provide an

initial for the middle name). If applicable, record the suffix abbreviations used to distinguish between fathers and sons (Jr., Sr., III, etc.). Please ensure that the complete name is provided. Race - Record the appropriate race from those listed below in this field.

W - White
I - American Indian
B - Black
O Oriental/Asian

Now here's the kicker. If you didn't click the Uniform Crime Reports Guide Manual link before you should do so now. On the first page it says it states, "Updated November 2000."

***

This is part of the Republican Party's disenfranchising poor and minority voters they believe will lean Democrat. This is a plan that has been pushed by Karl Rove and led to US Attorneys being dismissed. Rove's philosophy about democracy is more Boss Tweed than Jeffersonian.