Alanis Rocks!

This spoof on Fergie's "My Humps" is brilliant. The April Fools gag not only put Fergie in her place but the entire mindless blather of pop music today in general.

McCain: Lying To The American People Is 'Fun'

I am going to say this outright, John McCain is a disgrace to America. There is really nothing redeeming left to this guy. Sure, he was a POW in Vietnam and served bravely in the armed forces, but that was then and this is now. He lied to the American people when he said Baghdad was safe and his reaction to being called out on that lie shows just how callous this man is.

He could not be humble and simply apologize for his statements. To his credit he did say that he misspoke and regretted what he said. He also admitted that his safe walk around al-Shorja market included the protection of 100 U.S. troops and five helicopters. It is what he said afterward that absolutely horrifying.

From Editor and Publisher:

The remarks made headlines and he now regrets saying them. "Of course I am going to misspeak and I've done it on numerous occasions and I probably will do it in the future," says McCain. "I regret that when I divert attention to something I said from my message, but you know, that's just life," he tells Pelley, adding, "I'm happy, frankly, with the way I operate, otherwise it would be a lot less fun."

He continues to maintain that the president's surge policy has improved safety in Baghdad. "I can understand why [the Army] would provide me with that security, but I can tell you that if it had been two months ago and I'd asked to do it, they would have said, 'Under no circumstances whatsoever.' I view that as a sign of progress," says McCain.

Continuing America's military presence in Iraq has been a key position in McCain's presidential bid. He says he knows he is out of step with the rest of the country. "I believe we can succeed and I believe that the consequences of failure are catastrophic," he tells Pelley. "I disagree with what the majority of the American people want. Failure [in Iraq] will lead to chaos, withdrawal will lead to chaos."

First of all, to freely admit he is out of step with the American people should be an automatic death sentence for any Presidential campaign. A President should lead the citizens of the United States, not subvert the will of the vast majority. What is even far worse than that is saying that to lie to the voters is 'fun' and that he is happy to operate in such a manner.

With an attitude like that, consider McCain D.O.A. for any chance at becoming our next commander-in-chief.

South Park Decimates Bill Donahue

Another classic South Park episode:

Another Vindicating Moment For Howard Dean

Not too many people mentioned the party apparatus at work in the fundraisng totals this week. In case some have forgotten, Howard Dean is still running a successful operation over at the DNC. Although a lot of the financial windfall for Democratic candidates can be attributed to Hillary, Obama and Edwards by themselves; it also helps to look at the big picture.

Democrats outraised Republicans by an outstanding $30 million dollars give or take. The only Republican to breach $20 million was Mitt Romney and most of his money came from big time donors. In fact, to reach his sum of $23 million, it only took 30,000 donors. On the Democratic side, Hillary's money machine got $25 million from 50,000 donors and Obama wowed everyone with an incredible 100,000 individual contributors.

All of these small time contributors can't all live in California and New York. This is a 50 state movement and the creator of it is Howard Dean. Old time Dems wanted to stick to the failing strategy of getting large donations from a select few of the so-called "Limousine Liberals." Howard blew the door on that and made the Democratic purse reflect the people that the Dems are meant to represent, the people.

Mole333 over at the Daily Gotham has more:

Well, the demise of the Democratic Party has been predicted for some time...and when Howard Dean became head of the DNC more people than ever predicted it would spell doom and destruction for the party of the Donkey.

Since then, we did unexpectedly well in 2005 elections (NYC aside). Then in 2006 we kicked ass. Now it is too early to say what 2008 will bring, but my gut feelings about our candidates vs. their candidates may be playing out in the most important arena there is: fundraising.

Exactly! The naysayers out there saw the end of time with Howard. The only end that came was their control on the party. Now that the people have the control, the money has and will continue to flow in and it won't be business as usual. It is always better to have 100,000 people donate $20 dollars rather than less than 1,000 wealthy people give the $2,300 maximum. Of course it is good to have those too, but to get the small time donations, the party actually has to appeal to them. When the candidates look, sound and formulate smart, progressive policies, everyone wins.

GOP To Avoid Pigeon Poop

Next year's GOP Convention is going to be held in St. Paul next year and there is a problem. A pigeon problem. The city is infested by the 'flying rats' and is going to extraordinary lengths to get rid of them.

At first the balloons shaped like hawks didn't stop them, trapping and netting them was a fruitless effort as well. City officials thought of giving them contraceptives but feared sterilization of other species. Now the geniuses in the twin cities have come up with a new plan. Stealing eggs.

From TwinCities.com:

A longtime loser in the war against pigeons, St. Paul City Hall is gearing up for another battle.

This time, city warriors hope a new tactic will turn the tide against the downtown menaces. Their plan: Lure the birds to new rooftop nesting grounds and then steal their eggs.

"We'll build them little condos. We'll keep taking the eggs, and they won't have little ones," said Bill Stephenson, the city's animal control supervisor. "Slowly they'll die off, I guess."

The pigeon problem is just one of many housecleaning chores the city is tackling in advance of the Republican National Convention, which will come to the Xcel Energy Center next year. Flocks of pigeons have laid down their glop on skyway ledges and sidewalks and have sullied downtown's image, officials and property owners say.

Hopefully this plan will work out well for the twin cities. Hosting the Republican convention is important stuff ya know? I wonder how they will deal with the throngs of protesters and the scourge of Republican party faithful. It better not be a repeat of what happened here in NYC. If this all goes according to plan, the only shit around the Convention will be the words spewing from the speakers mouths'.

There Are Klingons In The White House

No really, there are according to Congressman David Wu of Oregon:

Senate Dems Take Action Over Sam Fox

Usually when someone goes behind your back and does something you expressly said not to, I would be pissed off. When it happens between the U.S. Senate and the President over an appointment to be the ambassador of Belgium, it might just be illegal as well.

Sam Fox lost out in the Senate confirmation process. Perhaps something with his massive fundraising efforts for the 'Swift Boats' group had something to do with it in addition to being a great friend to Republican coffers. When John Kerry grilled him over the highly personal issue, Mr. Fox was reduced to nothing. Now that the Senate is in recess, President Bush took the back door option and installed Sam as Ambassador anyways. However, the Democrats of 2007 are not taking this laying down.

More from The Huffington Post:

WASHINGTON — Democrats called for an investigation Thursday into whether President Bush acted illegally in appointing Sam Fox ambassador to Belgium.

A day earlier, Bush named Republican fundraiser Fox to the post as a recess appointment _ a maneuver that allowed him to bypass Congress, where Democrats had derailed his nomination.

"We view the recess appointment of Mr. Fox as a clear abuse of the President's recess appointment power," three Democratic senators wrote in a letter to the Government Accountability Office, Congress' auditing agency.

President Bush's abuses of power is nothing new. He has been left mostly unchecked by a Republican rubber-stamp Congress for six years. Now that the tables have turned and the Democratic party is in the majority the attitude is vastly different. This investigation is now added to the list of 'potential' crimes King George has committed. The only trick of course, is to prosecute him for those crimes.

O'Reilly Complete Loses It

Bill O'Reilly is known for his monstrous ego and undying ambition to bully his guests into submission. No matter what the issue and which side Bill takes, he has to be right once he affirms himself to a position. Frequently Bill picks sensitive topics, comes to an off-the-wall conclusion and then beats his opponent over the head with it. He did this to Jeremy Glick, a son of a 9/11 victim, he's done this when the topic of Shawn Hornbeck was in the news and now his insensitivity reaches a new level.

Before you watch the video keep the facts in mind. Geraldo and O'Lielly are arguing over whether illegal immigrantion has anything to do with a tragic drunk driving accident that claimed the lives of two teenage girls in Virginia Beach a few days ago. Despite the family tragedy, Bill seizes the moment for political opportunity, without regard for the family of the victim.



Like Geraldo (of all people), Virginia Beach's mayor and the family did not take this lying down either, here's their response:

The mayor and Tessa Tranchant's father both said that making an issue out of immigration loses the focus that the girls were killed by a man that police said was driving drunk.

Ray Tranchant said, "We need to heal, and to bring immigration, that's disrespectful to a family who's just mourning."

Bill should be ashamed of himself....but of course he has no shame, so why bother?

David Sirota On John Edwards: The People Party's Candidate

David Sirota wrote an excellent post today over on dKos about the top three Democratic candidates, the lay of the Presidential primary landscape and why John Edwards is truly the man meant for the nomination and ultimately to be our 44th President. He talks about the latest numbers from the first quarter fundraising results and why $14 million is much more astonishing than Obama and Hillary's $25 million a piece.

The article also compares campaign staff, issues, the candidates' enemies and most importantly their message. Hillary and Obama have their appeal as Democratic insider and political rockstar (you should know which one is the rockstar) but Edwards is on a different level. His campaign is about something bigger than him or his wife. Edwards' run for President is about healing our country and putting it on the right path. There is so much more in there, so go check it out.

It's Those "Clean Skin" Terrorists We Really Need To Look Out For

The latest warning to come from the Bush Administration is straight out of the mouth of Michael Chertoff. The Homeland Security Chief, well known for his part in the Hurricane Katrina debacle made a few statements regarding terrorism today before departing for Britain. One of these remarks included 'clean-skin' terrorists.

From The Daily Telegraph:

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Michael Chertoff, who arrives in Britain tomorrow for talks with John Reid, the Home Secretary, said the US was determined to build extra defences against so-called "clean skin" terrorists from Europe.

"We need to build layers of protection, and I don't think we totally want to rely upon the fact that a foreign government is going to know that one of their citizens is suspicious and is going to be coming here," he said.

Mr Chertoff insisted that the US required additional information, including email addresses and credit card details, to vet European passengers and rejected "the idea that we're going to bargain with the European Union over who's going to come into the United States" under the visa waiver scheme.

So if a terrorist doesn't have clean skin, then what? Did the others not take a shower recently? These remarks are hardly appropriate and especially not in the manner in which he said them. Indirectly referring to people with dark skin as dirty is a disgusting practice that Mr. Chertoff inadvertently revealed about himself.

Protecting America from terrorists is definitely a good thing, but to inject racist attitudes into the matter is most certainly not. We should expect more from our Administration's officials, but with President Bush at the helm it is hardly surprising to see this make the news.

How To Debate Republicans When It Comes To Elizabeth

From Bill Maher this past Friday:

American Family Association Get Slammed By Ex-Lawyer

When I think of the American Family Association, the last thing that comes to mind is 'family.' Words like 'bigotry,' 'racism,' and 'hypocrisy' are much farther up on the list. Though what does my opinion matter on the issue. It isn't like I worked there or anything, I am just an outsider to the AFA. Joe Murray is an insider, more accurately an ex-insider who used to represent the AFA as legal counsel. His opinions on his former employer are damning to be sure.

From The Bulletin (penned by Joe Murray)

The American Family Association, a pro-family organization and former employer of this writer, sprung into action sending out this "action alert": "Homosexuals working to get Marine general punished for comments calling homosexual act immoral."

AFA then warned that the homosexual lobby "already forced [Pace] to back down a step," and urged supporters to defend Pace and "take a stand for our troops who cannot get involved in this political situation." AFA, like others, had pulled out its red herring.

This is not a political situation, but instead it is a situation where a high ranking official made comments that judged individuals, not ideas. Pace singled out gay soldiers during a time of war and told these men and women that they were immoral. His comments, as a military official, were over the line and not defensible.

AFA, like other "Christian" groups, chose to run to Pace's aid and such an act suggests borderline bigoted behavior from an organization claiming the mantle of Christianity. This is disturbing.

If troop safety is AFA's primary concern, and not fear-mongering, why hasn't AFA demanded Bush bring these soldiers home? Does it really think the "political situation" of gays in the military presents a greater harm to soldiers than the bullets flying in Baghdad or are other motives being subtly conveyed to an America populace who are already fearful, thanks to past action alerts, of the "homosexual agenda?"

Conservative groups had an opportunity to bring a sense of Christian compassion to this debate, but opted instead to scare supporters into believing homosexuals were trying to raise the rainbow flag over the Pentagon. This is not political activism based upon Christian principle; it is fear mongering based on the politics of man.

Murray nails it right on the head. Thankfully this compassionate Conservative actually believes in being compassionate. It isn't about rhetoric for the guy like his former employers use quite frequently. It is wonderful to see decent people that have worked for hateful organizations like AFA finally see the light and fight against bigotry and hypocrisy. Cheers to Joe Murray!