Why Is Repub Proprietary Software Used For Public Elections?

This from ArsTechnica.com:

A Florida appeals court has upheld a lower court decision that denies requests for an independent source code audit of voting machines used by Florida's 13th district, which suffered election irregularities in a highly controversial congressional race. The appeals court has chosen to support a lower court decision which asserts that forcing voting machine maker Election Systems and Software (ES&S) to provide source code access to independent security auditors would amount to "gutting the protections afforded those who own trade secrets."

Are you mother-f***ing kidding me? This is making me pig-biting mad. I'm about to blow a gasket here. All this talk about 'trade secrets' is just so much heaping, steaming horsesh**. Trade secrets my big fat lily-white ass.

The question is why is Republican, partisan-owned proprietary software being used for public elections?!?

Let me say it again:

Why is Republican, partisan-owned proprietary software being used for public elections?!?

Let me say it just one more time:

Why is Republican, partisan-owned proprietary software being used for public elections?!?

Christ on a crutch, y'all - that's the issue here!

In case anyone has forgotten, Chuck Hagel, former right-wing radio talk-show host and current Senator from Nebraska, was chairman of ES&S, and as of 2005, according to personal financial disclosure reports, continues to be a stakeholder in the company which counted the votes for his own campaign, resulting in the largest margin of victory in the history of Nebraska!

In January 2003, The Hill reported that "In a disclosure form filed in 1996, covering the previous year, Chuck Hagel, then a Senate candidate, did not report that he was still chairman of AIS for the first 10 weeks of the year, as he was required to do."

"Hagel's unrecorded stake in the voting systems company poses an apparent conflict of interest on election reform issues. Three companies, including ES&S, stand to make a large profits from election reform legislation enacted last year by Congress," Alexander Bolton reported.

But wait - there's more!

ES&S (originally DataMark) was originally financed and renamed AIS (American Information Systems) by the Ahmansons of California - a far-right fundamentalist evangelical family, whose money comes from a savings and loan fortune. Heir Howard Ahmanson, Jr. is a political donor in the mold of Richard Mellon Scaife. Ahmanson is a chief contributor to the Chalcedon Institute that supports the Christian reconstruction movement. The movement’s philosophy advocates, among other things, “mandating the death penalty for homosexuals and drunkards.” The Ahmanson family sold their shares in AIS to the McCarthy Group, of which Chuck Hagel is a former owner and CEO and still holds between $1 and 5 million in stock.

Now, does any of this matter? Who cares about the political and religious affiliations of the owners of corporations? Not me -

UNLESS THEY ARE COUNTING (OR NOT COUNTING) MY VOTE!

It shouldn't matter, because our vote is the cornerstone of our democracy and as such has no business being privatized AT ALL - by anyone - much less by rabid unabashed wealthy political and religious partisans!!!!!

Please, let's quit talking about the software and who can or can't look at it and whether the machines have been hacked or are unreliable. This is a smoke screen that we've fallen for.

Any voting system must be owned by the people of the United States of America!

So, once again I ask:


Why is Republican, partisan-owned proprietary software being used for public elections?!?

More People Believe In Saddam-9/11 Tie - It's Ba-a-a-aa-d!

(original pic from allfunnypictures.com)

This from Raw Story -

A new Newsweek poll out this weekend exposed "gaps" in America's knowledge of history and current events.

Perhaps most alarmingly, 41% of Americans answered 'Yes' to the question "Do you think Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq was directly involved in planning, financing, or carrying out the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001?"

That total is actually up 5 points since September 2004.

Who's Got Ideas For Camp Casey?

This Saturday on the Bree Walker Show they're going to be discussing ideas about plans for Camp Casey. Bree has thought about building a playground for Crawford - apparently the town in which the President makes his 'home' does not have one. Dr. Zaius of Zaius Nation has suggested a skunk farm, to sweeten the stench from its nearest neighbor.

Bree is looking for all kinds of suggestions and ideas, and you can add your 2 cents by calling in to the program at 1-877-520-1150, comment on the Bree Walker Show Blog, or send an e-mail to bree at breewalker dot com.

This Saturday, June 23, from 2-4 Pacific time! You can stream it from the KTLK website.

Message From Bree Walker re: Camp Casey

(cross-posted at the Bree Walker Show blog)

What Next? by Bree Walker

Buying that plot of land in Crawford, Texas was the easy part.

Important because it prevented that symbolic soil from being tainted by right wing nut poison, but keeping Camp Casey alive as a peace movement as well as a memorial site will mean lots of hard work ahead for this career broadcaster turned anti-war resister. I will be praying my fellow media take their best shots and then stay open to the possibility that this patriot is up to the task. I welcome the learning curve. Anyone who has watched me reinvent myself to embrace a purpose in which I believe should not doubt me...yet.

I am the first to admit I will need lots of help.

So here is my call to arms for anyone who believes in the cause of peace-building and vocal anti-war resistance; please come forward to help with fundraising, assistant work, and advice on how to be most effective in the trenches in order to keep momentum building.

(from Alicia - I'll add my 2 cents and just say that this is a tremendous opportunity to do more than talk and write - this is where you can make a difference personally. We're starting from scratch here; there's no big money, no national organization, no lawyers or PR people - just some folks who are dedicated to keeping the peace movement alive. You can get in on the ground floor here! For now, go to Bree's blog and comment there if you'd like to be part of this, and we'll have an e-mail address up soon.)

I'm Baa-aa-aack!

Hi friends - I'm back, kind of!

I am getting ready for the final push to finish my book before July 14. My school is almost over except for one test I have to give next week, and starting tomorrow I'm locking myself in the studio and will be doing nothing but writing, so I will be posting to Hooterville as well as working on the book. A lot has been going on - not the least of is I will be doing some work with Bree Walker!

My old friend Robert Walker (Bree's ex and the producer of her radio show on KTLK 1150 AM) and Bree have been very supportive and helpful with my book, and Robert asked me if I'd be interested in doing some website work for Bree - now that she's bought Camp Casey, she needs a web presence to coördinate the efforts to do something wonderful with it. So I set her up with a blog to get going while they get the domain set up, and they invited me down to the show to sort of 'live-blog' and put up links to and info about the people interviewed on the show, such as Cindy Sheehan, Greg Palast, and Mikey Weinstein, and links to documents such as NSPD 51, so there are references for everything Bree talks about. It worked out nicely, so I will be doing that every Saturday, and I'm also going to be a musical guest next week!

I hope you will tune in next Saturday (2-4 PM Pacific) if you can - you can stream it on the internet, (we'll be working on podcasting also) and also check out Bree's new blog - I like the way it turned out. It's so incredibly cool to be a small part of what Bree is doing with Camp Casey, and keeping Cindy Sheehan's peace legacy alive.

Bree Walker - New Owner of Camp Casey! A BradBlog Exclusive

Exclusive from Brad Friedman at the BradBlog:

Former TV News Anchor Bree Walker to Purchase 5-Acre 'Camp Casey' Property Near Bush Ranch

Will Keep Property Open to Public as 'Legacy for Peace'; Sheehan to Appear Live in Studio on Walker's Program Saturday...

A former Los Angles newscaster turned progressive talk radio host, Bree Walker, will be purchasing Cindy Sheehan's 5-acre property near the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas, The BRAD BLOG has learned.

Walker, currently a resident of San Diego, was previously a television news anchor in Los Angles and New York. She confirmed the news to us moments ago, in an exclusive interview, that she intends to keep the property "as a ground for freedom and peace" and is considering erecting a memorial there for troops killed in Iraq. She hopes to create a meditation garden on the grounds and to keep it open to the public.

"I'm cashing out my capitalist corporate stocks and buying into a legacy of peace," she told The BRAD BLOG moments ago. Sheehan will be selling the property for the same price she purchased it for so as not to be seen as profiting from the sale, Walker explained.

Walker is the host of the The Bree Walker Show on the Los Angeles Air America affiliate station KTLK AM1150 on Saturdays from 2-4pm PT.

Sheehan will appear in studio with Walker for the entirety of tomorrow's broadcast where, Walker says, she'll "give Cindy the check, and Cindy will give me the deed to the property."

She tells us that she'll be taking calls from listeners during tomorrow's show as she wants "listener input on what should be done with the land."

The BRAD BLOG's creator and publisher, Brad Friedman, is scheduled to appear on Walker's show Saturday as well, at 3:00pm PT, by phone.

In a Memorial Day posting, Sheehan announced that she would be stepping away from her leadership role in the Peace Movement and planned to sell the Crawford property. Originally she had announced the property would be sold on Ebay, but shortly afterwards a group of Bush supporters announced their intentions to try and purchase the land.

That group, "Moving America Forward," had staged protests during Sheehan's original attempt, in the summer of 2005, to meet with Bush in hopes that he would explain the "noble cause" that he had claimed her son, and others, had died for in Iraq.

Bush refused to meet with Sheehan, whose son Casey, an Army Specialist, was killed in an April 2004 rescue mission in Sadr City, Iraq. Thousands of supporters gathered from around the nation to hold a vigil along with Sheehan in 2005 near Bush's ranch during his summer vacation. A national peace movement grew out of her stand that summer. The area where the protests were held was dubbed "Camp Casey."

After the city created new ordinances to keep protesters from occupying public property during protests, Sheehan bought the land where protest gatherings have been held at various times since whenever Bush was to be on vacation.

Ours was the only organization doing regular full-length daily radio broadcasts from the protest grounds that summer. Highlights from The BRAD SHOW's more than 50 hours of special "Operation Noble Cause" radio broadcasts may be heard online here.

UPDATE 6/9/07: Sheehan hands deed to Walker during in-studio appearance on Walker's show. Details, audio, now posted here...

I See Dead People. Does Anyone Else?

I haven't blogged in almost a month. I can't imagine I have any readers left at this point, considering how little I've given them lately. It's okay, I guess, since I have a book deadline to meet, a job to hold down and a family to take care of. We're aiming for July 14 as a due date, so I spend every second I have trying to get this done.

In addition, this morning I woke up sick with the stomach flu, and haven't been able to get out of bed all day. Blogging was not particularly on my agenda. But I'm sick with more than the stomach flu.

It hurt my heart to watch the Dems fold today. We elected them last November on one issue - get us out of the war. Nancy Pelosi promised "No more blank check for Bush!"

What happened today? Blank check for Bush.

My problem is, I see dead people.

Every single day, I see dead people, and read about dead people, and think about dead people. With each passing day, I see more dead people. Dead Americans. Dead Iraqis. Dead soldiers. Dead bystanders. Dead women. Dead children.

Does anyone else?

If they do, I wish they'd act like it.

I'll tell you who doesn't see dead people, though. The Kowboy Koward of Krawford. Swingin' Dick. Halliburton. Blackwater.

What exactly do they see when they look in the mirror? Probably not much. A vampire has no reflection.

In Which I Spend The Evening With Greg Palast!

This is the third time I've been to see Greg Palast speak and he did not disappoint. I went to see him at the Immanuel Presbyterian Church, a beautiful old church that hosted him last time he was in LA. He's doing a book tour to promote the paperback edition of "Armed Madhouse", complete with updated material about the plan to steal 08 - and what we can do to steal it back!

The evening started out with a showing of his documentary about New Orleans, "Big Easy To Big Empty". Although we were in a smaller part of the church than when Armed Madhouse was first released, the place was packed - standing room only. This was the film that got Palast and his crew arrested by Homeland Security (is it just me, or does that term smack of "Der Vaterland" or "Deutschland Über Alles"?) for 'violating the anti-terror laws'. Yes - Palast and company committed the heinous, seditious offense of filming the evacuees in "Guantánamo - Platinum Edition" in their cheap little trailers surrounded by razor wire a hundred miles from New Orleans, while including the lovely, scenic backdrop of Exxon' Baton Rouge refinery, and the surrounding neighborhood affectionately known as 'Cancer Alley'. That is strictly verboten as the refinery is a CAVIP, “Critical Asset and Vulnerable Infrastructure Point.” Apparently, you can’t film a CAVIP. Tell that to Google Earth.

One of the more shocking but not surprising aspects of the New Orleans debacle was the fact that they were closing off the public housing, adjacent to that commercialized tourist mecca, the French Quarter, to the former residents, who were not even allowed back in to get their belongings - even though the buildings were not damaged by Katrina! That's right, they have decided that the land is far too valuable for poor black folk to live in, and are taking this golden opportunity to do what they've wanted to do for years - get rid of the public housing there and develop it so that rich folks could be close to the entertainment!

After the movie, he talked about the connection between the fired US attorneys and the election fraud that the Rove-bots (as he calls them) are continuing to perpetrate. He is always inspiring because, although he pulls no punches as he lays out the facts, he believes that if we take action, we can stop these thugs and take our democracy back if we choose to do so. If he didn't think that, he wouldn't be writing and speaking out.

When he signed my book, he remembered me and Hooterville from the other times I've been to see him and told me he'd send me another copy to review for the blog. The copy he signed to Hooterville I am going to give away in another "Habitat for Hooterville" Katrina relief fundraiser, so stay tuned! They still need us down there, friends! The Bush Administration sure as sh** isn't going to do anything worth talking about.

I also met Bree Walker, who introduced Greg Palast. She has a Saturday afternoon show on our progressive station KTLK. Her ex-husband is an old friend from the club my band has played at for 10 years, and he produces her show. He had talked to me about coming on the show, but I hadn't met Bree. I introduced myself, and we had a great conversation. It turns out she had come to see my old band the Scarletts, who her ex had raved about. She is amazing - really intelligent, sharp and well-informed, and just as sweet as she could be. I told her what the book was about, and she was way enthusiastic and said, "Come on the show, and let's get your book out there!"

All in all, it was a very fine evening. I'm looking forward to posting more about Greg Palast's book, and doing another "Habitat For Hooterville".

(The picture's kind of blurry, but it was taken by a kind passerby and there wasn't time to focus.)

Friday Night Thoughts

Still not so good with keeping up the posting. So much is happening so quickly! A couple of weeks ago I went to Phoenix to the Nova M Radio anniversary party. It was a wonderful gathering, and it was great to meet so many interesting, smart progressives (Bill, if you're reading this, please e-mail me! I lost your address!). I finally got to meet Mike Malloy in person, and was able to thank him for helping me get a book contract by reading my posts on the air. He was just as nice in person as he is on radio (unless you are a member of or fellow-traveler of the Bush Crime Family, that is!). He has agreed to write a blurb for me. I also got to see Thom Hartmann, who I became aware of when I was diagnosed with ADD 7 years ago - his "A Different Perception - the Hunter/Farmer book" changed my life. He's also offered to write me a blurb!

Tomorrow night I am going to see Greg Palast speak - this will be my 3rd time seeing him. He makes me want to be an investigative journalist. I am just in awe of what he does, and the way he digs for the information and puts it together for us. I will try to get pictures, and fill you in on Greg's latest - he's always a couple of years ahead of the pack.

Mañana!

Cool New Blog - Check It Out!

There's a new kid in town - actually a few of them. However, they are anything but kids - they are teens and young adults who have started a fabulous new progressive blog called YOUTHinkLeft. I found out about them from a new commenter on FDL named FrecklesCassie, a very smart and well-informed teen - actually, more well-informed and smart than most of the adults I know. According to their 'about' statement, "YOUTHinkLeft is a revolutionary community of teen-young adult liberal-progressive bloggers." Their new blog is extremely well-designed and put together, but what sets them apart is the quality of the writing, their sharp analysis and the passion they have for making their voices heard.

I would urge anyone who visits here to please do yourself a favor and check out YOUTHinkLeft.

What's In A Word? The Power of Hate Speech and the Big Lie

In the process of working on my book and examining the reasons why people vote the way they do, I've been reading a lot of Dr. Bob Altemeyer, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Manitoba. He has written extensively on authoritarianism, and was a major source of material for John Dean's book Conservatives Without Conscience. In the interests of finding out as much as I can about the authoritarian personality, I bought his textbook, The Authoritarian Specter, from Harvard Press, and came across some interesting data.

Most people have heard of the Milgram experiment, which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience. When told to administer 'electric shocks' (which were not real - the 'victims' were in on the experiment) to people behind a one-way glass if they flubbed 'test questions', there were many subjects who, after being assured complete anonymity , administered horrific 'shocks' to the 'victims' after being given stern orders to do so by the 'experimenter'. If you haven't heard of this study, I urge you to look into it. It was one of many studies undertaken since WW II to find out if what happened in Nazi Germany could happen here.

Dr. Altemeyer, as a psychology professor, has done many, many studies on authoritarian behavior to assess people' s tendencies toward or against what he calls 'Right-Wing Authoritarian' thinking (he uses the terms 'High RWA' and 'Low RWA' instead of 'conservative' and 'liberal' to de-politicize it) and the book is fascinating reading. The chapter that I found the most disturbing, however, was one entitled "The Effects of Hate Literature". It puts forth an unsettling question about freedom of speech (which, for the record, both Dr. Altemeyer and I believe in, whether it's convenient or not.)

This chapter focused on tests of how subjects responded to questions about whether the Holocaust actually happened before and after they read an article 'debunking' the Holocaust, written by an ex-SS officer who was stationed at Auschwitz. In this article, Thiess Christopherson asserts that there were no gassings, that the prisoners there were treated kindly, fed well and were allowed to walk around freely. There were movies. There were church services and a theater group. The medical experiments were 'humane and beneficial'. Along with the article were many photographs of him and his wife strolling about the grounds of Auschwitz on a 'second honeymoon', having dinner, women inmates contentedly working in the fields. He claimed that there could not possibly have been a Holocaust because there were supposedly 'more Jews in Germany after the war than before'.

What were the results of this test, before and after reading the article? I was astounded to find that the number of people who believed that the Holocaust had occurred was cut in half after reading that article!

Cut in half.

Just stop and think about that for a minute.

One short and ridiculously fabricated article.

Not only was it cut in half, but, what's even more disturbing to me, it was cut in half in High RWAs and Low RWAs equally! This means that liberals and conservatives were equally susceptible to the Big Lie.

Next, Altemeyer chose an article containing the confession of Rudolf Hoess, the Commandant of Auschwitz, detailing at great length the atrocities committed there. He divided the study group into three groups - one which received Hoess' confession, one which received the Christopherson denial, and one which received both. The group who received the confession remained relatively unchanged in their belief in the Holocaust. The second group, who recieved the denial piece, dropped significantly in their belief. And the third group, who received both, believed Christopherson; even having read Hoess' confession, their belief dropped only slightly less than the group who read the Christopherson account only.

Altemeyer also conducted some studies of the same type regarding attitudes toward feminism and homosexuality. Hostility toward both increased with the reading of articles attacking them. Even when coupled with a statement by the professor administering the test denouncing the articles, both High RWAs and Low RWAs were distinctly less likely to support women's and gay rights after reading these articles.

This is a frightening statement. It shows that, when confronted with two opposing ideas (one false and one true) many people will believe what they are already prone to believe or wish to believe, rather that what is factually accurate. And it's not just conservatives, either, as these studies show.

Dr. Altemeyer concludes, and I have to agree, that the Big Lie works. Even when put forth alongside the truth! I was aware, as many of us are, that a lie repeated enough times will be viewed as the truth. But I was not aware that a lie, next to the truth, can beat the truth, if people have some need to believe the lie. Whether it's fear, or greed, or a combination of both, this has been shown to have a devastating effect on our society.

So, how to combat this? For one thing, we can't let the Big Lies go unchallenged. The truth will have an effect on some people, and we cannot let these lies have the final word. For another thing, we need to examine how our students are being taught to think. Dr. Altemeyer says. at the end of this chapter (from his point of view as an educator):

"We have to do a much, much better job teaching people to think critically. If the students we have taught fall for absurd arguments, ridiculous reasoning and ersatz evidence - including even the Low RWAs - then we should have to give back part of our salaries. For we have failed worse than they. I think we have to make strenuous, positive efforts to tell the truth. if we do not, we leave the field to those who would destroy all we have struggled to accomplish, while they tell the Big Lie that they are trying to protect democracy."

Pretty sobering when you think about it - especially since this book was published in 1996, before the Kowboy Koward of Krawford and his murderous posse trampled over our democracy to lasso and hogtie our government, without a peep from the sheep.

Yee haw.

For more up-to-date work from Dr. Altemeyer, check out his new online book, The Authoritarians.

Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill Donohoe!

This is the second time this creepy Bill Donohoe person has intruded into my thought-space. I first heard of him when the story came out about the bloggers who were hired by John Edwards, and subsequently attacked by said Donohoe, the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, for hiring bloggers who had written anti-Catholic posts on their own blogs. In doing so, there has been a legal question raised about his using his position in the Catholic League, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, to attempt to intervene in a political campaign.

From what I can tell, the Donohoe creature is a media ho extraordinaire. As Jeffrey Feldman of Frameshop has pointed out, he "has made a career by claiming that even the most trivial mention of Christianity should be treated as a violent hate crime or genocidal atrocity." In fact, he once condemned an onion-dip ad as an anti-Catholic 'atrocity'. He's a busy guy. And for some unfathomable reason, he's treated by the media as a person whose opinion carries weight. Could it be because of the other people on the board of advisors of this wing-nut organization? People like Brent Bozell III, Linda Chavez, Dinesh D’Souza, Alan Keyes, Kate O’Beirne? It's fairly clear that if you look closely at this organization, it is more like a far-right Republican political organization wearing a thin, shabby cloak of 'religion'.

So, what's the latest with Wild Bill? Apparently he's got his panties in a wad about a sculpture. Artist Cosimo Cavallaro, who often uses food as a medium, has created a work of art entitled "My Sweet Lord" - a life-sized sculpture of an anatomically-correct crucified Jesus made of milk chocolate. It was scheduled to be shown at the Lab art gallery housed in the The Roger Smith Hotel in midtown Manhattan, which decided to cancel the exhibition after Bill Donohoe and the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights called for a boycott. When interviewed or questioned by someone who doesn't drink the Kool-Aid, he falls back on schoolyard-bully rhetoric, at one point crowing, "I got a job, and you don't!" at Cavallero, who very ably called him on his crap.

Apparently it was the idea that Jesus could actually have a penis that has thrown these people into conniptions.

In another vein, Michelle Malkin, in an attempt to secure a spot at the top of the right-wing slag heap, has called for a fatwa against furriners - a special club for those who are itching to alert the authorities about any suspicious characters they may see who look like they might be out to 'hurt America'. To this end she has composed a Manifesto, along with a secret handshake, pinkie swear and decoder ring.

What's the connection?

The razor-sharp claws of TRex from Firedoglake have taken a swipe at the controversy, and he has started his own Kool Klub, complete with the "Chocolate Jesus Manifesto":

Dear Talibangelical Christian Terrorist/Censor/Supporter/Apologist,

You do not know me, but I am on the lookout for you. I am your enemy. And you are mine.

I am Chocolate Jesus.

I am in your homeowners' association, I am on your plane, I am writing for your magazine, I am a parent at your childrens' school, I am on your editorial board, and I am your coworker.

I am Chocolate Jesus.

I will never forget that this nation was founded on religious and personal freedom, that the United States is not a theocracy, and that we have no monolithic national faith.

I will never forget your attempts to force your religious superstitions into the public sphere. I will always remember your crusades to pollute our government with a bunch of moralistic hogwash, and the billions of dollars every year that go uncollected in taxes on corporate christianity, not to mention the thousands of legislative hours that have been wasted as you have sought to impose your Medieval prejudices on American law.

I am Chocolate Jesus.

I will never forget the humiliating defeats you have suffered in your efforts to subvert science and teach fairy tales as fact in public schools. I will fight you to see that my childrens' education is untainted by religionist dogma. I will fight your attempts to burn books, silence oppositon, and reduce the choices of every person in America.

I will never forget your murder of abortion providers, I will never forgive your gay-bashing, your race-hating, and your assaults on the reproductive freedoms of women. I will never falter in this fight. I will never make the mistake of thinking that you are rational, reasoning, or worth listening to at all. You are ideological poison, and it is my duty as a conscientious citizen to fight your brainwashing, ridicule your distortions, and counter your violent threats.

You are my country's real terrorists. You are American jihadi. You are my sworn enemies and I will fight you for my rights and for equal protection under the law until the day I die. If you want to try to silence me, then you better plan on killing me, because as long as I have a voice, I will be using it to fight you. This is my country, founded by a bunch of people who didn't want to be told how to worship God.

And we're going to keep it that way. I will resist all attempts to impose faux-Christian law in my schools, at my church, at work, on the Internet, at the public pool, and in all the areas of my town. You can do whatever you want in your church, but I will fight until my knuckles bleed to make sure your church stays at church and out of my government and for fuck's sake, out of my bedroom.

I am Chocolate Jesus.

I will not submit to your will. I will not be intimidated.

I.

Am.

Chocolate.

Jesus.

Eat me.

Sweet! Sounds good to me. I can sink my teeth into that!

Republicans - The 'Child' Party

So many things are happening right now - the hearings on Valerie Plame, Gone-zo-gate, you name it - that keeping up with it all is hard to do. As soon as I think of something to say about one subject, another one explodes. So, instead, I think I'll talk about the thread running through all this - the utter childishness of the Republican Party.

You will often hear the two parties called the 'Daddy' party (Repubs) and the 'Mommy' party (Dems), intimating that the Republicans are more disciplined and realistic, and the Democrats are more emotional and 'feel-goody'. I would like to set before you another view: the Dems as the 'Parent' party, and the Repubs as the 'Child' party.

While that may seem to fly in the face of conventional wisdom, think about this (if you have kids or have been around them, some of this may sound familiar) -

• Children, like Repubs, tend to think in absolutes, in black-and-white, right and wrong, good guys and bad guys. Nuance confuses them. They like their answers to be simple and direct.
• Children need an authority over them telling them what to do.
• Children are concerned with self rather than others. They want what they want when they want it, and it's difficult for a child to empathize with others' needs.
  
• Children will throw a tantrum to get what they want. Even if what they want right now will hurt them in the long run (global warming, anyone?)
  
• Children don't want to accept responsibility for anything. It's always "He did it too!" "It was his idea, not mine - he made me do it!" "It's not my fault!" "It wasn't me!" - even in the face of direct evidence! If they think they can get away with it, they will say they didn't take the chocolate chip cookie with crumbs and chocolate smeared all over their face.
  
• Children like to play war/fighting games. If other people get hurt, it doesn't register with them the way it does when they get hurt.
• Children chafe at rules, regulation, and oversight, even when it's to their advantage.
• Children like symbols, slogans, and logos, and they are very easily manipulated by the use of these. It's no accident that many kids' first symbol recognition is of McDonalds' Golden Arches®.
  

Now, let me say here that, in children, this is appropriate behavior. There are good reasons that they are born selfish. It is for survival. But, children will outgrow this if they are raised properly. As adults, we should know better.

Democrats, on the other hand, understand that it's not all about us and screw everybody else. We take our responsibilities to ourselves and each other seriously. We understand that if others are suffering, that it's not okay, even if we're doing all right ourselves. No, we're not perfect. But we do understand that the world is complex, the issues that face us are complex, and we can't substitute slogans, banners, and jingoism for considered reasoning and looking at all sides of an issue.

That's what the kids call 'flip-flopping'.

Repubs Heart Gays - As Long As They're Self-Hating, Lying Hos

I guess you could call me a fag hag. After all, my first fiancé was a gay man. Many of my good friends and co-workers are gay and lesbian. I love them the way they are. I wouldn't want them to change anything about themselves. As a Christian, I believe that God made them gay and lesbian. And even if I did not believe that, I also think that it's none of my damn business. Who died and made me George W. Bush that I should have the right to tell someone what they are and are not allowed to do with their lives, their loves, or their bodies?

One of the reasons that I am a Democrat is that my party, as a matter of policy, does not presume to judge or condemn people for their sexual orientation, or any other orientation for that matter. And as far as I know, my out and proud gay and lesbian friends are Democrats for that reason also. These are normal, well-adjusted people, many with spouses and children, who care very much about 'family values'. How can society be worse off with married, committed, loving couples who are raising happy, loved children? 'Dr'. Dobson can contest the overwhelming empirical evidence that children with gay parents are overall just as well-adjusted as children with straight parents all he wants, but he and his ilk don't care for any science that doesn't fit their theology.

Don't start in with me about drag queens, leather bars and promiscuity. If the only 'freaks' out there were gay freaks, you might have a point. But they aren't, so you don't.

My point is that if you are are out and proud, comfortable and happy with who you are, the Republican Party is not the place for you.

Matt Sanchez made a big deal about how his conservative friends were all supportive of him. Well, la-di-da. What's the message here? The message is if you are closeted, ashamed, and forced to act out in dark, twisted ways (going to or being a prostitute, looking for sex with inappropriate partners such as minors) because you can't be your real self in public, Republicans will show you the love. Hide, lie, deny, sell or buy sex - be a hypocrite - that's what we like, Matt! Semper Fi, baby!

They'll go to the 'Matt' (sorry!) for you only if you deny who you are. Sexually stalk minors? No big deal, Mark Foley! They were asking for it. Go to a prostitute and buy drugs? Poor Ted Haggard - we'll pray the gay away!

The Republican party also attracts a number of people who align themselves with - well, I won't use the passé term 'oppressors', but let's say those who feel that 'equal opportunity' means 'special privileges'. People like Larry Elder, Clarence Thomas, Alan Keyes, Ann Coulter or Michelle Malkin, who somehow think that because they've gotten conservative attention by rejecting those from whence they came, that they are somehow superior to those who are fighting for equal rights - as if they would be where they are without those that have gone before them and fought for what they are so happy to dismiss; as if their own intelligence and hard work was what made them better than the hand-wringing whiners on the left. These people are so hungry to prove that they're 'different' that they gladly support people and policies that are detrimental to their own interests. "See," they cry, "I'm black/female/gay/non-white, but I'm so smart/moral/tough/superior that they'll accept me even though they look down on everyone else like me! I won't let my 'group' define me! I'm different!" How sad that they can't see how self-defeating that is. What a shame that they can't see how they're being used - which, of course, they are the first to stridently deny. "I'm an iconoclast! I don't need special privileges to succeed, unlike those weak, lazy cry-babies who whine about equal opportunity!" For these folks, being a woman in a sea of other women is not self-affirming or unique enough. Go where you will stand out and be noticed! It's about eliminating the competition.

I'd like to see the welcome reception that Mighty Matt the Manly Masculine Marine would receive from his new friends if he were to show up in uniform with a same-sex partner. Would Ann Coulter be draping herself around him then? Would David Horowitz give him and his partner a friendly hug? Would his new buddies O'Reilly and Hannity be clamoring for his company on their shows? Oh, but I forgot - according to Matt, he's "not very good at being gay." Well, I could be wrong, Matty my man, but it sure looked to me as if you were very good indeed at being gay. From what I understand from men about how that stuff works, it's sort of difficult to fake. Oh, but you were only acting! You're not gay any more? I see. Go buy some more pantsuits for your wife, Corky.

And while we're on the subject, I have serious doubts about the claim that propelled you into the conservative spotlight. "Baby-killer"? Honey, that was so 40 years ago! I think your Vietnam combat fantasies may have gotten the better of you there.

As long as you and people like you are willing to lie and twist yourselves around for the approval of people who despise who you really are, these deadly lies about being able to change your sexual orientation (not 'preference') with willpower, therapy, or prayer will continue to proliferate and damage people for generations to come! The Republican party is all about denial of reality, so maybe it is the place for you after all.

Hey, Matty, I just thought of something! I know the perfect gal for you! She's single, conservative, Christian and slutty! Why don't you bring some of that hot, hetero hardness over to Ann? I hear she's available!

Ta-Ta, Katherine - Hello, Michele!

Although I am thrilled that we finally have a Dem majority, I have been despondent over losing my muse, my homegirl, the lovely Katherine Harris. How many happy hours we spent together - she making a total ass of herself, me enjoying it. But now, there is a ray of light breaking through my dark clouds of despair. Over at FireDogLake, Phoenix Woman has brought to my attention a new and exciting Congresswoman, Michele Bachmann from Minnesota, who began making waves immediately upon being elected by attempting to sexually harass the President. Wow! That got my attention right away. Way to make a first impression!

But it only gets better.

She is a fierce evangelical Christian conservative in a way that makes James Dobson look like a lesbian Unitarian minister. She is a tireless advocate for creationism, insisting that it be taught in science classes so the little kiddies can 'make up their own minds'. Of course, as much time as she spends trying to 'improve' Minnesota's educational system, she would not be caught dead putting her own brood into the public schools. Nossir, all of her biological kids were home-schooled.

According to her Wikipedia bio:

During a debate televised by WCCO on October 28, 2006, news reporter Pat Kessler quoted a story that appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and asked Bachmann whether it was true that the church she belonged to taught that the Pope was the Anti-Christ. Bachmann answered that her “church does not believe that the Pope is the Anti-Christ, that's absolutely false… I'm very grateful that my pastor has come out and been very clear on this matter, and I think it's patently absurd and it's a false statement.” Bachmann is a member of a church that is part of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, whose doctrine teaches that the Roman Catholic papacy is the Anti-Christ identified in Scripture. Bachmann came under scrutiny for campaigning at the Living Word Christian Center in the 3rd district of Minnesota, where the pastor endorsed her from the pulpit, violating the church's tax-exempt status. In her speech, she claimed that "God called [her] to run for Congress." She also professed her belief that wives are to be submissive to their husbands.

And she loves teh gays:

"This is not about hating homosexuals. I love homosexuals," Bachmann concludes. "But should we allow them to teach sinful ways [to] our children?"

There's a lot more where that came from. Almost too good to be true. Katherine Who? Miz Harris comes off like a more liberal Cynthia McKinney next to her. You better believe I'll be keeping Michele on my speed-dial.

She is golden, I tell you. Golden.

Pottersville Props!

My cohort in first-klass snark and a mighty warrior in the progressive trenches, JurassicPork of Welcome To Pottersville (BTW, one of the best blog names ever and a near neighbor to Hooterville) was interviewed by Simon Owens of Bloggasm, a media blog. The discussion is (surprise!) blogging, and JP has an interesting take:

Simon Owens: Do you think that the political blogosphere will remain mostly a “commentary” type of media, or do you think they have the capacity to do some major investigative reporting? What kind of resources would they need to do this?

Jurassicpork: With very few exceptions, such as Media Matters and Newshounds, to name but two, I don’t think one major blogger and not many B listers got into this game to act as a watchdog or minder of the watchdogs of democracy, as Helen Thomas calls the press. I believe that the political blogosphere originally started as a platform for commentary, which it still is essentially. Don’t forget the provenance of the word “blog”: It’s a contraction for “web log” or an online diary. Diaries are typically journals of private thoughts.

However, for the first time in our nation’s history, we’re in a position to judge the probity and efficacy of the mainstream media. Blogs have broken us out of the capricious and often exclusionary forum of letters to the editor or even emails to your favorite program. And the longer we do our thing, the more people discover us.

(true!)

All the same, the impression I get is that bloggers in general are not comfortable with having to be arbiters of what’s true or not true. And now I’m about to say something very surprising. It’s not our job to tell the truth. I can picture the expression on your face right now. But I’m right in that it’s not our job to tell the truth. That’s why we have a Fourth Estate. It’s their job to tell the truth instead of being mere mediums and stenographers for the government. It’s only our job to seek the truth. And if the MSM doesn’t do its job which it largely isn’t, then we will have to seek it out that much more diligently. And in some notorious cases, we have “scooped” the media.

Otherwise, there’s no blogger out there who can approach the likes of Ron Suskind, Seymour Hersh or David Brooks in terms of access or sources. And that’s the way it ought to be.

Still, the MSM largely disrespects us and even resents us for being so critical of the way they do their jobs, which is alarmingly similar to the arch, “We’re in charge and we know what we’re doing” attitude of the government. And they forget that we’re an increasingly large part of their customer base.

Very well put - and since I hold the MSM at least partly responsible for this mess we're in because they have not held up their end of the bargain, I think it's important for bloggers to hold their feet to the fire.

And JP was nice enough to list Hooterville as one of his five favorite blogs! I will try to keep up with posting, even with my book sucking up most of my thinking lately.

Moral Victory: Lt. Ehren Watada!

Little by little, bit by bit...flashes of sunlight are appearing through the dark, oppressive clouds of the Bush Administration.

The court-martial of First Lieutenant Ehren Watada, who refused to deploy to Iraq because he believed that the Iraq war was illegal, had been charged with missing a troop movement and with two counts of conduct unbecoming an officer, based on his public statements criticizing the war and President Bush, has ended in a mistrial.

Because Watada neither caused nor agreed to the mistrial, it is possible that he may not be retried because of double jeopardy.

The Army, of course, plans to retry Watada in March. But in asking for a 'do-over', the prosecution may have made a fatal mistake. At issue was a pretrial stipulation in which Watada admitted to the fact of failing to deploy, but did not admit guilt for that fact because he felt justified by his belief that the Iraq conflict was illegal. "The judge was concerned that the stipulation amounted to a confession by Watada to an offense to which he intended to plead not guilty," said Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek.

The implications of this trial may go far beyond that of Watada and into the realm of the debate on free speech in the military.

But regardless of the outcome of the trial, the moral victory already belongs to Lt. Watada and his refusal to commit war crimes. When we ask ourselves "Could another Holocaust happen here?", if the answer is "Hell, no!", it will be because of people like First Lieutenant Ehren Watada, a real American patriot.

Here's a great article by ElectronicIraq, with lots of links.

And of course, the website by Watada's supporters Thank You, Lt. Watada.

I Love Ted Kennedy. So There.

People sure like to make fun of Ted Kennedy, but I love him. He just nails the
Republicans on the minimum wage.

"What is it about working men and women that you find so offensive?"

Once More, With Feeling: 'Twas the Night Before Fitzmas...

...and through Hootervill-age,
A hope was held out for an end to the pillage.
An end to the theft of American dollars,
An end to the demonization of scholars.

The people of Hooterville wished and they prayed
For justice and peace to be no more DeLayed.
They longed for the day that their country would be
No longer a captive of venality.

For many a year now, the Hooterville people
Have cried, "What's the matter with all of you sheeple?
How can you just sit there and let this go on?"
But, sadly, their outrage was met by a yawn.

And those who were stealing from those who have least,
Rampaging like some kind of greed-maddened beast,
Were holding us up, shouting, "This is a heist!
So put up your hands in the name of our Christ!"

Then, what to our wondering eyes should appear
But a man speaking words that we so longed to hear:
"It's time for the Piper at last to be paid"
And Hooterville happily hip-hip-hoorayed.

Indictments all round for the scum who would claim
That they'd never known Wilson or Valerie Plame
And all along, vengeance had been the sole reason
To 'out' our own agent, and so commit treason.

For war must be waged, and their coffers be filled -
Who cares about mothers whose sons have been killed?
Who cares for the dying, the crying, the hurtin' -
Just look at those profits for ol' Halliburton!

It's time for the hammer of justice to fall;
Time we put a stop to it once and for all.
A stop to corruption, and cronies, and lies.
Let's stop before one more American dies.

And what do I want 'neath my own Fitzmas tree?
A Scooter, a Rover, maybe a Cheney!


(I keep trotting this old chestnut out, but it's kind of timely just now.)

Let's Talk Health Care.

Today, I found out that what I thought was the flu was actually a kidney infection. Not bad enough to go to the hospital, thank God, but pretty darn painful.

I'm one of the lucky ones. For now.

I have Screen Actors Guild insurance, which is fairly comprehensive. It used to be free if you made a certain amount of money yearly through SAG. A few years ago they started charging a premium. Extremely low - $150 a quarter - but a premium nonetheless, no matter how much money you made through SAG. Every year, we've been making less and less money through SAG. Barring a miracle, in a few years we won't make enough money to qualify for that plan. Of course, since we're vested, we can self-pay about $900 a month.

Yippee.

It might as well be $9000 a month as far as our ability to pay that goes.

Along with that, my GP who I've been going to for 18 years has decided this year to close his regular practice, and open up a 'boutique' practice, with more personal service and no waiting to get in. All this for the modest fee of $1800 a year - double that for the 2 of us. On the one hand, I'm crushed. I started going to him when he was a new young doctor - we had kids around the same time, and he's been there for me through a lot of medical issues over the years. On the other hand, I can't say I blame him. Doctors are forced to see so many patients that it gets to be like a treadmill. There's no time to actually be a doctor, hardly - to be able to actually spend the time with a patient. Can you blame him for trying to find a little quality in life? If I could afford it, I'd sign up for his service, but I can't.

I have a wonderful OB/GYN who I was able to call today. Thank goodness it was close enough to being GYN that I could call him. I've been going to him almost as long as to my GP, and I'm worried that he, too, will 'wise up' and pack it in. He's one of that rare breed that goes beyond the call of duty. He's no warm-and-fuzzy, cuddly type - he's better. He is always there, always concerned about doing his very best to care for his patients, as is his staff (including his head-nurse wife). You can tell a quality doctor by his or her staff, and he's had the same fantastic people since I've known him.

But if the so-called "health-care industry" has its way, people like my doctors are going to be just ground under, used up, and thrown out. All to fatten the bottom line of people who aren't even involved in health care, except to find new and creative ways to deny it to people who need it.

And I am, as I said, one of the lucky ones. We have got to get these leeches out of the system.

Live-blogging SOTU

I've been woefully lax.

I wouldn't be surprised if I've lost all my readers. But, as you know, I've had lots on my plate. Yesterday, I got the flu bug that I've been fending off for the last few weeks, and have been in bed all yesterday and today. Since I'm just laying here in bed, I thought I'd live-blog on my laptop. I'm listening with Mike Malloy to keep from screaming.

It's just incredible. Barely had he opened his mouth when he came out with that Luntzian phrase 'Democrat majority'. Then he went on to talk about "No Child Left Behind" and subtly espouse vouchers.

6:50 - Well, let's see - he's talked about health care. And his solution is to eliminate 'junk lawsuits'. Meaning, of course, closing off any avenues for redress after the overburdened health care system denies you care.

Private health accounts. Why do they get to profit from our misery?
What else? Oh yes, the economy is just peachy keen. Isn't that swell?

The Senate must give my judicial nominees their eager support and an immediate up-and-down vote. That's their job. My job's to give the orders, your job is to do what I say, see? Order-giving is hard work. Don't make my job any harder by arguing with me. It ain't no use.

And one of the most jaw-dropping statements of all - that "Yet one question has surely been settled — that to win the war on terror we must take the fight to the enemy." It has not, you cretin!!! Quit lying!

6:56 - Nucular, nucular, nucular. Sunni extremists?

Oh god. He's talking about an African. Yay Mtumbo. 'Son of the Congo'. Sounds a little too 'Little Black Sambo' for my taste, but that's just me.

And notice that he said "Global Climate Change" instead of Global Warming. The devil's in the details, folks.


Now he's praising a former gas-station attendant-turned-hero-soldier. Isn't that wonderful?

"We've been through a lot together"? You've put us through hell - that's what you mean.

7:05 - It's over. Nothing about Katrina. The silence screams. Waiting for Jim Webb.

7:17 - Jim's up. Missed first part, but got there in time to hear him mention Katrina.

He's talking about the difference between what constitutes a 'good economy' for the rich - high Dow - and what it means for the rest of us. He mentioned that it takes an average worker a year to make what an average CEO makes in a day.

"The President took us into this war recklessly. He disregarded warnings from the national security adviser during the first Gulf War, the chief of staff of the army, two former commanding generals of the Central Command, whose jurisdiction includes Iraq, the director of operations on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and many, many others with great integrity and long experience in national security affairs. We are now, as a nation, held hostage to the predictable – and predicted – disarray that has followed."

And he does not shrink from mentioning the Robber Barons. Here's the text of Jim Webb's response.

On C-Span, they're trying to find people who agree with Bush. The only one was what sounded like a very young guy saying, in effect, "I support Bush because he knows more than we do".

How Britney of him.

Here's the full text of the KKofK's SOTU. I can't do it any more.

Update - I just noticed, when I checked the transcript on Raw Story, they have written "Democratic majority" instead of what he said, which was
"Democrat majority". Check the tape!

Have You Ever Kept A New Year's Resolution?

Every New Year, we're awash in resolutions. This New Year, I'd like to ask a different question: Have you ever made one that you've kept?

I have. I made a resolution one year - can't remember which - to make sure I appreciated my life and the people around me as if it would be gone tomorrow.

I can honestly say that I have learned to do that. My life is so much richer because of it, and less stressful, too - I don't get aggravated at so many petty things, and I don't think I'll get caught wishing I had said "I love you". I make sure it gets said.

I wish I could be as successful with some of my other resolutions, such as losing weight. However, if I had to pick just one to keep, gratitude would be it, and I'm glad I have.

How about you? I'd love to hear yours - inspire me!

Merry Christmas From Hooterville and Pottersville

At long last, the day has arrived! My talented friend jurassicpork over at Welcome To Pottersville has been working on a very special Christmas post, and I did the Photoshopping for it.

It is awesome, if I may be so bold, and I really enjoyed doing the pix.

Go to Pottersville to visit George Failey and all his friends!

(and many thanks to the love of my life, my husband David, who surprised me with a shiatsu chair massager this morning - a lifesaver after this effort!)

An Alternative To The Bush "Library"

Apparently, the plans for a Bush Presidential Library are not going so well. One of the schools considered a front-runner for the honor of hosting the rich ($500 million dollar) legacy of the Worst. President. Ever., Southern Methodist University, seems to be ambivalent about accepting that prestigious prize. SMU's Perkins School of Theology sent a letter from its faculty, administrators and staff to the president of the university. According to the letter, they

...regret to see SMU enshrine attitudes and actions widely deemed as ethically egregious: degradation of habeas corpus, outright denial of global warming, flagrant disregard for international treaties, alienation of long-term U.S. allies, environmental predation, shameful disrespect for gay persons and their rights, a pre-emptive war based on false and misleading premises, and a host of other erosions of respect for the global human community and for this good Earth on which our flourishing depends.

And these are Texas Christians!

Of course, many people have pointed out that perhaps a library is not exactly the most fitting tribute to a President who has never darkened the door of one, nor sullied the pristine purity of a book by opening it.

So I think I've come up with the perfect solution.

How about the "George W. Bush Presidential Video Game Arcade and Total Fitness Gym™"?

Now, that would be worth spending $500 million dollars on!

Instead of a boring, stuffy ol' 'liberry' full of dumb ol' books nobody's ever gonna read anyway, the George W. Bush Presidential Video Game Arcade and Total Fitness Gym™ would be filled with awesome action-packed video games like "Pre-Emptive Strike", "Quail Hunters", and "Shock 'n' Awe" where you could shoot-'em-up to your heart's content, and when you've cranked yourself up into a homicidal frenzy, you can work off all that excess energy on one of the thousands of stationary bikes lined up in the Hall of Cycling. Heck - who knows - you might find yourself spinning your wheels right next to the Bicycler-In-Chief, who now boasts a resting heart rate of 7.

Plus, unlike other Presidential libraries, this one will pay for itself! It's guaranteed to be thronged with eager customers, and filled with the the happy sounds of booms, crashes, and screams!

And that's just in the Hall of Cycling.

Chuck Norris Facts

I know this is totally off-topic, but this is the funniest site I've seen in a long time. I have gotten a 'kick' (get it?) out of Chuck Norris since the 70s, but there seems to be a resurgence of all things Chuck, and my 15-year-old son turned me on to this great site of Chuck Norris facts.

Here are a few:

• When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.


• Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.


• There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.


• Outer space exists because it's afraid to be on the same planet with Chuck Norris.


• Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.


• Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.


• Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is hiding.


• Chuck Norris counted to infinity - twice.


• There is no chin behind Chuck Norris’ beard. There is only another fist.


• When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.


• Chuck Norris is so fast, he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head.

• Crop circles are Chuck Norris' way of telling the world that sometimes corn needs to lie down.

• The quickest way to a man's heart is with Chuck Norris' fist.

• Chuck Norris can hit you so hard that he can actually alter your DNA. Decades from now your descendants will occasionally clutch their heads and yell "What The Hell was That?"

• Time waits for no man. Unless that man is Chuck Norris.

• Chuck Norris was the fourth wise man, who gave baby Jesus the gift of beard, which he carried with him until he died. The other three wise men were enraged by the preference that Jesus showed to Chuck's gift, and arranged to have him written out of the bible. All three died soon after of mysterious roundhouse-kick related injuries.
  

• Chuck Norris is not hung like a horse... horses are hung like Chuck Norris.

This is just the tip of the iceberg that is Chuck Norris Facts. Go now.

Yes, I know he's a right-winger. It's still funny.

Had to add this one:

• Kenny G is allowed to live because Chuck Norris doesn't kill women.

Weblog Awards - Hooterville Is A Finalist!

I have no idea how I managed to make it to the finals (along with nine other blogs - all conservative but me) for a Weblog Award, but since the unlikely event has happened, I'd like to invite anyone so inclined to head on over and vote for me. I'm nominated in the "Best of the Top 1751 - 2500 Blogs" category (as rated by TTLB Ecosystem). Also, Blue Gal is a finalist in the "Best of the Top 3501 - 5000 Blogs", so if you happen to be over that way, send her a vote, too! She is also the lone liberal in a sea of conservatives.

Here's how it works - you are allowed to vote once every 24 hours (in each category) and the voting is open until December 15. That gives us smaller blogs a chance.

I haven't had time to check out all the blogs, but if the ones in my category and Blue Gal's are any indication, they do tend to swing to the right. So here's an opportunity to strike a blow for freedom, and get the liberal voice out there.

It's time to take it to The Man!

Bye Bye, Bolton!

Woo hoo! John Bolton has bolted!

About damn time.

Frat Boys

A friend of mine, Chris Miller, is the ultimate frat boy. The frat boy's frat boy. Look up 'frat boy' in the dictionary and you'll find his picture there.

A former National Lampoon and Saturday Night Live writer, he wrote the movie 'Animal House', based on his own fraternity experiences. We became friends through our kids - his son and my stepson have been best friends since preschool; they are now college sophomores. He has an encyclopedic knowledge and appreciation of jazz, rock, blues and reggae, is a science-fiction fan, as am I, and is one of the few people I knew who actually knew of and appreciated Don & Dewey, who I played with for years. Cool guy.

When the Kowboy was first running for office in 2000, I remember talking with Chris about him. From what I had learned about him during the primaries, I was underwhelmed. "He's just an overgrown frat boy," I said to Chris.

"Hey!" he said. "What's wrong with frat boys? I was a frat boy!"

"Nothing is wrong with frat boys as long as they're in college, where they belong," I replied. "But would you want a frat boy like you and your buddies were back then to be in charge of the free world?"

He thought about that for a minute. "You may have a point," he said.

He has just written a book called The Real Animal House: The Awesomely Depraved Saga of the Fraternity That Inspired the Movie, and he e-mailed me yesterday to tell me that he was going to be on the O'Reilly Factor that night to talk about it with none other than the Splotchy One himself. Apparently BOR was hidden away in an undisclosed location (perhaps the S-Ps were after him) but nevertheless he intended to poke his liver-spotted puss out long enough to interview my pal.

Now, I must admit that I am not exactly what you'd call a regular Factor watcher. In fact, I can say with some accuracy that my retinas have never been assaulted with that particularly grisly visage on the TV. I'm careful to limit my exposure to him to the clips that Stephanie Miller plays in the morning - sloppy seconds is all I can handle from him. But for Chris I would heroically make an exception.

It was worth it, though - this was an O'Reilly I had never seen before. He was practically babbling. It became embarrassingly obvious that the secret desire of BOR's shriveled little raisinish heart was to have been a cool frat boy in college, instead of the antisocial, irritating, splenetic little weasel that he must have been. He was lovin' on Chris like a drunken co-ed. I was waiting for him to ask Chris for his phone number, or did he maybe wanna hang out sometime, y'know - get crazy.

I hope nobody has the heart to tell him that Chris is an S-P.

On second thought, I hope somebody does.

OT: My Daughter's Blog

My daughter, Nancy Leigh, has become a blogger. She has a blog called Animal City. At 7, she can log in to Blogger, research a subject on Google, write a post about it, and publish it. She loves animals, and she also loves blogging. She asked me to ask my friends to stop by and visit her, maybe leave a comment. So I am passing it along from her. Thanks!

Update: Thanks so much to everyone who commented on Nancy Leigh's blog! She is so excited when she sees a new comment! She will go and visit you soon.

Welcome, "Crooks and Liars" Peeps

Many thanks to Mike from Mike's Blog Roundup at Crooks and Liars for the mention! And just in time for my Blog-i-versary, too! Please feel free to pull up a chair and kick back here in Hooterville - we're glad you're stopped by, and you're welcome anytime.

Outlaw War Profiteering!

Yesterday and today, Randi Rhodes has been talking about something that has been on my mind for a long time.

As in World War II, we need to take a stand - make war profiteering illegal. President Roosevelt said, "I don't want to see a single war millionaire created in the United States as a result of this world disaster". Harry Truman referred to war profiteering as 'treason'. And in 1953, at the height of the Cold War, President Dwight Eisenhower, a real war hero, said, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

I concur.

According to the Nation,

When he heard rumors of such profiteering, Truman got into his Dodge and, during a Congressional recess, drove 30,000 miles paying unannounced visits to corporate offices and worksites. The Senate committee he chaired launched aggressive investigations into shady wartime business practices and found "waste, inefficiency, mismanagement and profiteering," according to Truman, who argued that such behavior was unpatriotic. Urged on by Truman and others in Congress, President Roosevelt supported broad increases in the corporate income tax, raised the excess-profits tax to 90 percent and charged the Office of War Mobilization with the task of eliminating illegal profits. Truman, who became a national hero for his fight against the profiteers, was tapped to be FDR's running mate in 1944.

In 2003, United for a Fair Economy did a study of defense contractor CEO pay that is worth taking a look at. (Download the .pdf here.) There is a direct correlation between the size of campaign donations and the size of defense contracts. The study found that:

Median CEO pay at the 37 largest defense contractors rose 79 percent from 2001 to 2002, while overall CEO pay climbed only 6 percent, according to a new report from United for a Fair Economy, More Bucks for the Bang: CEO Pay at Top Defense Contractors, by Chris Hartman and David Martin.

Median pay was 45 percent higher in 2002 at defense contractors than at the 365 large companies surveyed by Business Week magazine. The typical U.S. CEO made $3.7 million in 2002, while the typical defense industry CEO got $5.4 million.

The jump in median defense contractor CEO pay far exceeded the increase in defense spending, which rose 14 percent from 2001 to 2002.

Compared with an army private’s pay of $19,585, the average CEO at a major defense contractor made 577 times as much in 2002, or $11,297,548. This is also more than 28 times as much as the Commander in Chief’s salary of $400,000.

The study also looked at the size of campaign contributions by the largest defense contractors and found a strong correlation between campaign contributions made by a company in the 2000 and 2002 election cycles and the value of defense contracts awarded to that company. Ninety percent of the difference in contract size can be accounted for by size of contributions. For example, top arms contractor Lockheed Martin was also the top campaign contributor among defense firms.

The 37 companies included in the CEO pay study were all the publicly-traded corporations with at least $1 billion in total defense contracts from 2000 through 2002. The list includes well-known defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics, as well as some companies not usually associated with military spending, such as FedEx and Dell Computer. Compensation was defined as salary, bonus, “other compensation,” restricted stock awards, long-term incentive payouts, and the value realized from the exercise of stock options.

People, let's be real.

That's what's put us in Iraq, that's what's keeping us in Iraq. This is 'War A-Go-Go', as Country Joe said, and 'there's plenty good money to be made supplying the army with the tools of the trade'.

How ironic that the Kowboy Koward of Krawford is making his first trip to Vietnam right now. As we muddle and muck through this terrible quagmire, American soldiers' lives are still being traded for profits. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to get a law passed today against war profiteering, but I can guaran-damn-tee you that the contractors would be out of there so fast it would make your head spin.

And our kids could come home.

What if they gave a war and nobody came?

Hooterville Blog-i-versary! Let's Party!

Wow - with everything that's been going on, I forgot about my Blog-i-versary yesterday. Hooterville is 2 years old!

I'm having my party here, and you're invited!

What a difference a year (or two) makes! When I started this blog, I was in the depths of despair. The theft of 2004 left me shaking. I had never written before, but I had to find some way to deal with the helplessness and frustration that was paralyzing me, making it difficult to even get out of bed in the morning. Through blogging, I was able to meet people who felt the way I did, and people who were doing something about it! You guys energized me and motivated me.

Fast-forward two years - we just took back the House and Senate, I've become an active participant in my local political community as well as online, I'm writing a book, and I've made some wonderful friends all over the world - all due to blogging.

I know that we have a lot of work ahead of us, and it's not going to be a 'cakewalk' with 'flowers and chocolates' (sorry, I couldn't resist) but I think we've earned the right to feel good about the work we've done together for the last couple of years.

So, this year (as last year) my blogiversary is dedicated to you, my blog compatriots. I'd like to take this opportunity to give shout-outs to some of my fave blog-friends and sites (I'd need a whole new blog to list them all) - thanks for my sanity!

Helen Wheels @ Just Ain't Right
DivaJood @ Journeys With Jood
Karena @ Karena's Blog
Blue Gal @ Blue Gal
Maryscott @ My Left Wing
Old White Lady @ It's Morning Somewhere
Wanda @ Words On A Page (not forgotten!)
Sue Woo @ Susie's Sharp Points
ae @ arse poetica
John and Mike @ Crooks and Liars
Princess Sparkle Pony @ Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog
G @ Library Bitch
kissfan @ Truespeak
Star A. Decise @ The Enigmatic Paradox
Crabbi @ A Curmudgeonly Crab
The Fat Lady Sings @ The Fat Lady Sings
Kvatch @ Blognonymous
jurassicpork @ Welcome To Pottersville
Howie @ DownWithTyranny
Catherine @ PovertyBarn
Cookie Christine @ It's Recess-time Somewhere
Station Agent @ Ice Station Tango
Rainbow Demon @ =Coffee House Studio=
Frederick @ Mccs1977
quakerdave @ The Quaker Agitator
greensmile @ The Executioner's Thong
Yoga Korunta @ Yoga Korunta
my comrades @ Comments From Left Field
my blogfather, Mr. M @ Comments From Left Field
my comic compatriots @ 'Left Toon Lane

and everyone else on my blogroll - all personally selected and approved of!

Thanks, friends.

PS - even though Blue Gal is miserably ill, she is all about the linky love, so - double-back atcha, and friends, go visit her and make her feel better...

Moving Along With My Book - Would You Like To Help?

Hi friends -

Here's an update on my upcoming book. After Nov. 7, to my great satisfaction, I found that I needed to retool the focus of my book, as there were many people who actually did 'vote for their best interests!' While that group of people who continue to support their oppressors has not changed, the number of people who stood up for democracy has increased to the point to where they couldn't completely steal the election.

So, I have decided to concentrate on conservatism itself - why it's bad for America. I believe conservatism is built on myths, but they are very deep-rooted myths about society and about human nature.

My working title is "Glass Houses, Fun-House Mirrors, and the First Stone - Why Conservatism Is Bad For America". Since this is a book which has come about completely through blogging, I invite any of you (my blog friends) who would like to weigh in on the subject to do so, and I will happily acknowledge you in the introduction, or wherever your input is used. I would love to have you guys come along with me on my book-journey!

The first thing I'd like to put out is for the cover. My best friend from the 5th grade, who is an incredibly talented illustrator, will be submitting the cover art. My idea is this - on the cover will be a picture of a fun-house, with at least three distorted mirrors. In front of one mirror you'll see a Democrat - shown in the mirror you'll see a terrorist. In front of another, you'll see a chicken-hawk, but the mirror will reflect some military hero - who that would be is open to suggestion.

So this is what I'm looking for - ideas of mirror-pairs, seen through the distortion of the conservative mirror.

Any thoughts?

Excuse Me, But Was That A Threat?

In his Veteran's Day (augh!) radio address, many people noticed that, in addition to kicking Rummy to the curb, the Kowboy Koward of Krawford slipped a few zingers into his speech. Among them was this little gem:

Whatever your opinion of the outcome, all Americans can take pride in the example our democracy sets for the world by holding elections even in a time of war.

WTF?

Now, why on earth would you say something like that unless it was at issue? Is this what the writery folk call 'Chekhov's Gun'? There has never been a time that we have not had elections in a 'time of war' (again with the 'war' frame, even though we're not technically at war.) John Nichols writes that even during the Civil War, when Lincoln was urged by his party to suspend elections, he refused. Instead, he ran for re-election, facing strong opposition both within his own party and from a Democrat who was a decorated general.

“We cannot have free government without free elections,” he said. “If the rebellion could force us to forgo or postpone a national election, it might fairly be claimed to have already conquered and ruined us.”

So what's this talk about suspending elections, if it's never been done before?

Are you threatening us, Dubya?

Thanks, Rush!

Hey folks - there's a hot new Democrat in town!

Everyone's favorite Oxy Moron, Rush Limbaugh!

Don't believe the hype - that he 'hates liberals'. It's all been a secret stealth plan to propel the Democrats to victory. The modest, retiring Limbaugh is loath to take credit, being the humble and self-effacing guy that he is, but I can tell you that we owe the Democratic Senate majority to one man and one man only - the Rush-meister. Oh, he had everyone fooled for a while, but all of that bluff and bluster conceals the squishy, rubbery, blubbery heart of a true-blue Democrat.

So, welcome to our party, Rush, and please accept our heartfelt thanks for single-handedly delivering the complete domination of Congress to the Democrats. You gave us the single Senate vote that made the difference between a tie and a majority. Your entertaining dance routine in homage to Michael J. Fox was truly inspirational to all Americans.

We've got a big tent, Rush - even big enough for you!

Rummy's New Job?

Just like K-Fed, Rummy's a free man! And ready for a new job, according to G at Library Bitch... (still waiting on my petits-fours, G!)

click on the pic to enlarge - it's worth seeing in detail.

Brakes On The Crazy Bus!

...and not a moment too soon.

Events are unfolding at a break-neck pace - Rummy's been thrown under the wheels of the Crazy Bus! - things are happening almost too quickly to process.

All I can say is, whatever happens next, at least we have brakes on the Crazy Bus. We may not have a steering wheel, but we have brakes. We're not going over the cliff just yet. It's not going to be all gazebos and jellybeans. Dems have a lot to figure out. And we will now be held responsible for what goes on. There's no magic wand.

But at least we have checks and balances again.

Thank God.

I think that's plenty to be happy about for today.

File Under "Isn't It Ironic?"

Wow. Now that's chutzpah!

Raw Story reports that the winner of the Hilary Swank Look-Alike contest, the lovely Ken Mehlman, has written an Op-Ed in USA Today, the nation's favorite McPaper. Mehlman said that given their electoral impotence, Democrats need the help of activist judges.

"Democrats ... vocally fought - and then voted against - Justices Roberts and Alito. Why? Because they depend on activist judges to hand them the victories they can't win at the ballot box," wrote Mehlman.

That's really cojon-er-rific, considering that his Dear Leader assumed office by 'depending on activist judges to hand him the victory he couldn't win at the ballot box'.

I'm just sayin'.