They Attack There Because They Want to Attack Here

From Bush's cheerleading in front of an audience of stooges...

And we fight today because terrorists want to attack our country and kill our citizens, and Iraq is where they are making their stand.

Is there anyone in the world with more brain cells than the late Terri Schiavo who buys this bullshit line of reasoning? It defies all logic! There's these people, see? And they want to attack our country (that would be here, in the Western hemisphere), see? And they want to kill our citizens (again...residing here in the Western hemisphere). You with me so far? So what they're doing is attacking cities in Iraq (that's half way around the fucking planet) and our troups that are occupying those cities. See what I'm saying? See what perfect sense it makes? They attack over there because they want to attack over here. WTF? How brain-dead would you have to be to follow such bullshit, none sense logic??? If they REALLY wanted to attack us here, they'd fly over here and strap bombs to themselves in THIS COUNTRY!! But they're not. They just want our mercenaries out of THEIR country.

So we'll fight them there, we'll fight them across the world, and we will stay in the fight until the fight is won.

It would appear that the Presidunce has traded in My Pet Goat in favor of some Dr. Seuss. "We'll fight them here, we'll fight them there...we will fight them anywhere!" Yay! Goooooo TEAM!

And, apparently (I didn't watch it...can't stomach the simp) Bush also asked us to salute our troops and fly our flags high this coming 4th of July. Ironic, isn't it? We'll be celebrating the day that marks our forefathers doing to England exactly what patriotic Iraqis are trying to do to us today. Gawd Bless 'Murikkka!

For more commentary, see: BushSpeech Final: U.S. - 0, B.S. - 1,744 and rising

Federal Idolatry

Christian conservatives to seek voters' support for government displays of Ten Commandments

"There is no bigger issue on the Christian agenda," said Charles W. Colson, evangelical Xian writer and Watergate figure of the issue regarding the display of the X Commandments on government property.

So, lemme see here...of world hunger, poverty, disease and the murder of innocents the world over (but especially in Iraq), the biggest issue for Xians is whether or not they get to erect idols on government property, effectively claiming the government as their own?? Sheesh. And here I thought Xians might actually be concerned about their fellow humankind. Jesus has got to be turning in his grave...or something.

Representative Ernest Istook, Republican of Oklahoma, said he planned to try to revive a proposed constitutional amendment to permit government displays of the Commandments as well as school prayer and the recitation of the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Theocracy, anyone? Yeesh!

BushCo Politicizing 9/11? NEVER!

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usbush0629,0,4202652.story

And just last week, 9/11 made another appearance, when Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, accused liberals of a weak response to the Sept. 11 attacks, prompting Democratic cries that he was politicizing the tragedy.

Of course he was politicizing 9/11. That's what BushCo does! Hell, their complete ineptitude in preventing the attacks are a key part of the orchestration of the event. They knew they needed an attack like 9/11 to galvanize the will of the people to increase US hegemony in the middle east, so why bother with trying to prevent it? And now that it's happened, they've got to milk it for all it's worth. 9/11 was all but scripted by the Project for a New American Century (PNAC).

On Evolution

Look...I'm not saying that super-intelligent, highly advanced and powerful aliens -- per se -- created us and the universe in which we live, I'm just saying that the evidence leads one to conclude that our world is too complex to have come about without someone having planned it out and done it on purpose.

Sound ridiculous? Of course. Any more ridiculous than an invisible man in the sky creating us and the universe in which we live? Not by a long shot.

Thoughts on evolutionary biology from a deep thinker on the KS school board

"It is our goal to write the standards in such a way that clearly gives educators the right AND responsibility to present the criticism of Darwinism alongside the age-old fairy tale of evolution," Morris wrote.

It amazes me that she thinks the fairy tale of creationism -- pardon me, the fairy tale of "Intelligent Design" -- presents any kind of valid criticism of evolution other than, "we have pudding for brains and, therefore, can't understand evolution so we've made up an invisible man in the sky who created everything". There. No holes in that theory.

Morris wrote. "But the quandary exists when poor science - with anti-God contempt and arrogance - must insist that it has all the answers."

As opposed to poor mythology - with anti-science contempt and arrogance - which insists that it has all the answers, regardless of how ridiculous and juvenile those answers might be.

Big Brother is Recruiting

The Great Cannon Fodder Hunt

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department yesterday began working with a private marketing firm to create a database of all U.S. college students as well as high-school students between ages 16 and 18, to help the military identify potential recruits in a time of dwindling enlistment.The program is provoking a furor among privacy advocates. The new database will include an array of personal information including birth dates, Social Security numbers, e-mail addresses, grade-point averages, ethnicity and what subjects the students are studying.

What? No category for income? But that's the most important one! Everybody knows it's the poor kids that are the easiest to recruit. There really only need be three categories: race, income, and GPA. If you're a poor minority of less than average intelligence or ambition, BushCo wants you to go fight its wars of aggression.

The Pentagon's statements added that anyone can "opt out" of the system by providing detailed personal information that will be kept in a separate "suppression file."

Just to clarify, the system works like this: If you don't want your personal information kept in a national database, all you have to do is provide your personal information to be kept in a national database. Why, it's ingenious!

Ridiculous WH Logic re: Iraq Exit Strategy

Pressure Growing to Plan Iraq Exit

Last week, the House International Relations Committee voted 32-9 to call on Bush to develop a strategy to leave Iraq. The White House rejects the idea, believing such a policy would only encourage the Iraqi insurgency.

That makes no sense at all! Ol' Georgie should start off by asking hisself, "Why is there an insurgency in Iraq?" The obvious answer: "Because there is a group of people there that wants us the fuck out of Iraq". If we announce an exit strategy, what motivation would they have to continue blowing themselves up in order to take out our troops? None! We would just have removed their motivation.

"We have ousted Saddam Hussein. That's a victory. We've given them an opportunity to develop a democracy. That is a victory. We're training Iraqi troops. That will be a victory," Jones (sponsor of a resolution urging Bush to produce an exit plan) said. "Have we achieved our goals, and if not, what are those goals?"

In a word, the goal is control; in Iraq, and the greater Middle East region. And if we withdraw from Iraq, those in charge of the country may, or may not, remain friendly to Duhbya and his friends' corp-whore-ate interests. They may not like us having military bases in their country and might kick us out. They may not like US companies pumping their oil out from underneath them and might kick them out. The only way to retain complete control is to remain an occupier.

Bush and his top aides have resisted setting a timeline for troop withdrawal or talking publicly about specific goals. Doing so, they say, would provide information useful to the insurgency -- an argument the House GOP leadership has endorsed.

"I never tell my kids when my patience is going to run out, because they'll usually try it," said Representative Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana and a staunch Bush ally. "Tactically, it's very unwise to signal a timeframe to the enemy, because it essentially gives them a deadline for how long they have to hang on."

What's wrong with this picture? Our leaders have the impression that they're the parents of the world! "Now, give me that oil, you little brat, or I'll spank you six ways sidelong!" Of course, our "leaders" deny that it's about oil and claim we're there promoting the cause of democracy. But how can a true democracy exist in an atmosphere where US policymakers treat the rest of the world as unable to take care of itself?

Bush on the US Role as a Global Polluter

This article reports on Bush and Blair denying that they were planning a military invasion of Iraq in spite of the evidence to the contrary contained in the Downing Street Memo. The fact that they're flatly denying their documented actions is baffling enough. But down at the bottom, the last paragraph is this little nugget concerning global warming:

"I've always said it's a serious long-term issue that needs to be dealt with," Bush said. "We lead the world when it comes to dollars spent, millions of dollars spent on research about climate change. We want to know more about it. It's easier to solve a problem when you know a lot about it."

Of course, he neglected to mention that we also lead the world in pollutants spent into the environment. And it's assinine to claim that we don't know enough about pollution to do anything about it yet.

The Ridiculous Lengths to Which the Christian Reich Will Go to Insulate Itself from the World

Shaving Private Ryan

"CleanFlicks" now sanitizing movies of all artistic or creative value for uptight, overly-clenched Christians everywhere.

One CleanFlicks fan, David Miller of Chattanooga, Tennessee, states he’s delighted with his local branch. Now, he can rent Jackie Chan’s “Rush Hour” without seeing any shooting scenes. (Pugilistic bludgeoning is okay, but not bullet wounds?)

“I’ve tried to rent videos and speed past the nudity and violence but, doggone it, you already saw it and it already affected you,” he exclaimed. “It’s not just an innocent video, it’s affects the way you’re going to behave.

"So there I am sitting next to my wife and kids with a raging hard-on as a result of an on-screen flash of cleavage. An erection, by god! And that's the last thing I want to have to subject my wife to. Imagine her horror at my arousal! It was all we could do to conceive; what with all the disgusting, sinful sex and the vomiting at the atrocity of it all. We managed, somehow, to survive that horrible ordeal, and now this??

"And little Timmy? He was already vigorously rubbing up against the arm of the couch. It was Hedonism run amok, I tell you! It was just too much to take", he likely went on, eyes twitching, bashing himself in the head with his KJV.

Seriously, though. Click the link. Ed Naha's commentary is excellent!

Conservatives SO Don't Get It

Texas Governor Draws Criticism for a Bill-Signing Event at an Evangelical School

"Activist judges have used the bench to advance a narrow agenda," the governor said, adding that the measure defining marriage as a sacred bond between a man and a woman "places it beyond the reach of activist judges."

I'm sorry...who has a narrow agenda?? Apparently irony and hypocrisy aren't in the Conservative vocabulary. After all, what could be more ironic and hypocritical than a myopic law which forces the beliefs of a few on the whole while claiming the law opposes a narrow agenda?

The event caused a stir last week after The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported on plans for it. The Perry campaign later released the text of an e-mail message sent to religious groups. It said in part, "We want to completely fill this location with pro-family Christian friends who can celebrate with us."

"People of all faiths are welcome," Mr. Saenz (Perry's campaign director) said.

Then why specify that "pro-family Christian friends" were wanted?? Ass.

Rabbi David Stone of the Beth Yeshua Messianic Jewish Congregation in Fort Worth, was, in fact, present and gave the closing benediction. The group believes that Jesus was the Messiah, a tenet heretical to traditional Jews.

People of all faiths, indeed. So long as they believe that Jesus is the savior. In other words...CHRISTIANS!! It doesn't matter what you call yourself, if you believe Jesus was the Christ...you're a Christian! It's like Zell Miller calling himself a Democrat. Doesn't matter what he calls himself, he's a Reich Wing Bush supporter!

Kathy Walt, a spokeswoman for Mr. Perry, said, "It's not a separation of church and state issue: it's not limited to people of one faith."

WTF?? Since when did separation of church and state apply only when a single religion is involved? It's the separation of CHURCH and state, not the separation of Reich Wing Evangelical Homophobic Christians and state.

The Rev. Robin Lovin (great name, by the way!), a Methodist minister and an S.M.U. professor holding the Maguire Chair in Ethics, said, "There are lots of reasons to go to church on Sunday, but making laws isn't one of them."

Signing a bill into law in a church, he added, "is a pretty clear symbol that the church is at the service of the state or the state is at the service of the church and either way we've crossed an important line that has a long history in both politics and theology."

Well, at least someone of faith gets it!

"When the governor of Texas will stand for life and marriage and family, then we will stand with him."

But nobody mentioned Texas' position as the state with the most executions.

That's what I was wondering about. It's infinitely perplexing to me how Christians can reconcile support for the death penalty which a "culture of life".

Mr. Parsley also painted a grim picture of gay men and lesbians. "We are not to sacrifice our children on the altar of sexual lust of a few," he said.

Wow. These Bonk Jobs really do live off by themselves, hidden in an insular little world of fear and hatred, don't they. It might help for them to step out into the real world every once in a while and discover that homosexuality and pedophilia aren't the same thing. Although, gauging from the Catholic clergy, one might get that impression.

Don Wildmon, president and founder of the American Family Association, drew applause when he said he was proud to live in a country where people could protest. But he portrayed the controversy over the use of a church gym as silly. "Of all the things in the worlds to argue about," he said.

Then he said: "This is not the sanctuary. God ain't in here. He's in there!" He pointed outside in the direction of the church.

First off: poor, down-trodden Christians. Forced into second-class citizenship where they have to protest the overbearing secular government (as if it wasn't completely in bed with the Christian Reich). Boo-hoo-hoo. Yeah. Right. And second: I thought "God" was everywhere. Convenient, isn't it, that God suddenly up and disappears back to his hidey-hole in the church sanctuary when his followers tread dangerously along the line separating Church and State.

What to do about the Bonk Jobs?

Kind of a silly by-line ("Everybody always talks about religious conservatives, but nobody ever does anything about them") because it tends to lead the reader to believe the author is about to present the magic bullet -- the method by which religious conservatives, a.k.a. Fundie Bonk Jobs, can be converted back to reality. (I say "back to reality" because we're all born atheists. The belief that a fairy tale construct, e.g. Christianity, is real has to be taught.)

Progressives in this country have always maintained a kind of fuzzy belief that fundamentalists will eventually just disappear, as if by magic, that the phenomenon of grown men and women believing in devils and witches and angels will inevitably be outgrown, the way children outgrow Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and Marx. When some pastor in rural Alabama takes the pulpit to denounce SpongeBob Squarepants as the agent of the Evil One, we figure no response is really necessary—folks will figure out the joke on their own, somewhere down the line.

This is a mistake, and it is the same mistake people have made for centuries: underestimating the American zeal for superstition, for boobism, for living the intellectual lives of farm animals. A large statistical majority of Americans would rather live their whole lives in perpetual fear of the devil than listen to ten minutes of common sense. When you consider where these people live intellectually, the idea that the Democratic Party can somehow succeed in Middle America by making small tactical changes, by waving a few more flags, seems absurd. You either believe in the devil or you don't; and if you don't, you're never going to fool these people. The Republicans, for all their seeming "confusion," understand this now better than ever.

...this current crew of Republican strategists has always understood American thinking better than the Tom Junods of the world. They know that most political trends are fleeting. Liberalism vanished at the first sign of trouble; pacifism disappeared one generation after Vietnam; even fiscal conservatism is easily forgotten. The one thing that never disappears in this country is stupidity, and if you court it, you'll always have votes down the line. Especially when it lives on unopposed.

So the article makes very good points, but the crux of the matter is summed up best by Thomas Paine: "Arguing with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like giving medicine to the dead". We're not going to convince the god-believers that there is/are no god(s) demanding that they force their provincial rules on everyone under threat of eternal punishment. Why lament the fact that no one does anything about Fundie Bonk Jobs without proposing something? And is there really anything that can be done? Or rather, should we do anything? Forcing them to give up their fantasies is akin to them forcing their fantasies on us. Where is the line between allowing them to have their fantasy world and stopping them from legislating it?

GeeDUHbya: so freaking out of touch with reality

Bush: "Yes, Iraq is America's Golden Moment"

You know, I reminded people that because Japan is a democracy, Japan is now a great friend, we work together on big issues, and yet it wasn't all that long ago that we warred with Japan.

Translation: "See how good things worked out when we nuked Japan?"

And the problem is, is that I not only see the benefits of democracy, (indeed, the "benefits" of democracy in Iraq ARE a problem!) but so do the terrorists. And that's why they want to blow people up, indiscriminately kill, in order to shake the will of the Iraqis, or perhaps create a civil war, or to get us to withdraw early. (Pull out! Stop fucking us! We don't want to be pregnant with your bastard child of "democracy"!) That's what they're trying to do, because they fear democracy. (You and your bonk-job Fundamentalist Christian friends ought to know all about fearing democracy, eh Georgie-boy?) They understand what I just -- they understand what I understand, there's kind of a meeting of minds on that. (Is he seriously advocating that he and terrorists think alike? Finally! A moment of candor!) And that's why the American people are seeing violent actions on their TV screens, (because you're a terrorist, George) because these people want to -- the killers want us to get out. They want us to -- they want the Iraqis to quit. They understand what a democracy can mean to their backward way of thinking.

Well...Geeduhbya sure does seem to have a handle on the mindset of terrorists. Perhaps because HE IS ONE! And speaking of backward ways of thinking...I give you the Fundamentalist Evangelical Christian Reich, I give you today's Republican Party, and I give you George...DUHbya...Bush.