March 21, 2005 12:41 PM
Mike's Blog Round Up has been updated.
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The success of Congress's record-breakingly speedy passage of a bill specifically crafted for the parents and brother of persistently-vegetative Terry Shiavo induced a furor this morning as America's other 293 million inhabitants eagerly awaited their own "personal legislation." read on
March 21, 2005 12:38 PM
Stunning
A few blogs had mention of this from the Carpetbagger today, but it really is amazing:
Bush could have signed the Schiavo legislation in Texas, but preferred to cut his vacation short and make the dramatic trip back to the White House just for this occasion.To recap, Osama bin Laden, Israel, war, and devastation? Vacation on. The religious right wants action on a woman who has been in vegetative state for 15 years? Vacation off. The man has his priorities.
March 21, 2005 12:38 PM
The governator pooching the widows & orphans?
already on the defensive over his proposals to reform state government, gov. arnold schwarzenegger finds himself fending off charges that his plan would cut off benefits to widows and orphans of firefighters and cops who die in the line of duty.
schwarzenegger's critics claim that, among other things, his plan to reform the state pension system would eliminate death and disability benefits for public employees, a charge the governor denies.
....schwarzenegger's plan would only apply to new employees hired after july 1, 2007. the existing pension system would continue for those who are already in it, but they would be given an option to switch to the new defined-contribution plan.- (hmmmm....does that last part sound familiar?) the daily news
forget reading any charles dickens. looks like we may be living one of his novels.
Stunning Approximately perfect
A few blogs had mention of this from the Carpetbagger today, but it really is amazing:
Bush could have signed the Schiavo legislation in Texas, but preferred to cut his vacation short and make the dramatic trip back to the White House just for this occasion.To recap, Osama bin Laden, Israel, war, and devastation? Vacation on. The religious right wants action on a woman who has been in vegetative state for 15 years? Vacation off. The man has his priorities.
the daily news
forget reading any charles dickens. looks like we may be living one of his novels.
March 21, 2005 12:37 PM
SENS. TWEEDLE DEE & TWEEDLE DUM
Among Other Nicknames for Our Greatest Embarrassments
Herewith continues a recent Rittenhouse Review series about the most recent votes of Pennsylvania’s twin -- and I mean that -- embarrassments in the upper chamber of the U.S. Capitol, collecting data from the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Sunday issue, “Area Votes in Congress,” from which these votes, by Sen. Gets It Wrong Every Time (R-Pa.) and Sen. Gets It Wrong Almost Every Time (R-Pa.), were culled:
Arctic drilling. Senators rejected, 51-49, a plan by Democrats requiring a higher hurdle for the Senate to approve drilling for oil and natural gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. This vote, which took place during debate on the federal budget (S. Con. Res. 18), will allow drilling approval on a simple majority vote; in previous years, supporters needed 60 votes to authorize drilling. A yes vote was to make it more difficult to approve drilling in the Arctic wildlife refuge.The Rittenhouse Review
Herewith continues a recent Rittenhouse Review series about the most recent votes of Pennsylvania’s twin -- and I mean that -- embarrassments in the upper chamber of the U.S. Capitol, collecting data from the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Sunday issue, “Area Votes in Congress,” from which these votes, by Sen. Gets It Wrong Every Time (R-Pa.) and Sen. Gets It Wrong Almost Every Time (R-Pa.), were culled: read on
March 21, 2005 12:36 PM
Blogenlust
Fallujah: The Safest City in Iraq
Which is sort of like saying San Quentin is the safest prison in California. Link:
American forces claim that Fallujah is now "the safest city in Iraq" - an assertion that's impossible to verify, though it's clear that the once-terrifying insurgency has been seriously crippled, mounting only small, scattered attacks in the city.
[...]
"We can't do business here," said Ali Muhammed Hussein, as he waited with his elderly father to receive a compensation check. "It's the safest city in Iraq because it's a prison."
That's not a metaphor.
Juan Cole has more on the current state of the city, and why it might indeed be the safest in Iraq (hint: everyone left or is dead):
Readers often write in for an update on Fallujah. I am sorry to say that there is no Fallujah to update. The city appears to be in ruins and perhaps uninhabitable in the near future. Of 300,000 residents, only about 9,000 seem to have returned, and apparently some of those are living in tents above the ruins of their homes. The rest of the Fallujans are scattered in refugee camps of hastily erected tents at several sites, including one near Habbaniyyah, or are staying with relatives in other cities, including Baghdad.
The scale of this human tragedy-- the dispossession and displacement of 300,000 persons-- is hard to imagine. Unlike the victims of the tsunami who were left homeless, moreover, the Fallujans have witnessed no outpouring of world sympathy. While there were undeniably bad characters in the city, most residents had done nothing wrong and did not deserve to be made object lessons--which was the point Rumsfeld was making with this assault.
[...]
However much a cliche it might be to say it, the US military really did destroy Fallujah to save it.
SENS. TWEEDLE DEE & TWEEDLE DUM
Among Other Nicknames for Our Greatest Embarrassments
That's not a metaphor. read on
March 21, 2005 12:35 PM
Florida Blues
What is wrong with these people?
Hypocrisy that borders on the psychotic. Where is the wingnut outrage over this? Do we hear about these two cases on CNN or FOX? As Mark A.R. Kleiman of UCLA reports:
Sun Hudson, a six-month-old boy with a fatal congenital disease, died Thursday after a Texas hospital, over his mother's objections, withdrew his feeding tube. The child was apparently certain to die, but was conscious. The hospital simply decided that it had better things to do than keep the child alive, and the Texas courts upheld that decision after the penniless mother failed to find another institution that would take the child during the 10-day window provided for by Texas law. Where, I would ask, is the outrage? In particular, where is the outrage from those like Tom DeLay, who referred to the withdrawal of Terry Schiavo's life support as "murder"? If it's appropriate to federalize the Schiavo case, what about the people being terminated simply because their cases are hopeless and their bank accounts empty? (And) Sun Hudson is dead, but 68-year-old Spiro Nikolouzos is still alive, thanks to an emergency appeals court order issued yesterday. However, his life support could be cut off at any moment. A nursing home is willing to take him: if his family can show that he will be covered by Medicaid after his Medicare runs out. Otherwise, the hospital gets to pull the plug...The two Texas cases pit the families against health-care institutions motivated at least in part by financial considerations...The notion of letting the health care providers decide, after doing a careful biopsy of the patient's wallet, strikes me as pretty damned outrageous. And it seems to me that the Right-to-Lifers ought to agree, though apparently anti-abortion groups had no problem with it when Gov. George W. Bush signed the Texas Futile Care Law.
Hypocrisy that borders on the psychotic. Where is the wingnut outrage over this? Do we hear about these two cases on CNN or FOX? As Mark A.R. Kleiman of UCLA reports:...read on
March 21, 2005 12:34 PM
Take Back the Times
LAT Political Writer Dick Bergholz, One Of A Kind
When the late political writer Richard Bergholz was writing for the L.A. Times, he used to sit well in front at news conferences, and when the politician started talking, Bergholz used to shake his head from side to side. It was very disconcerting for the politician,
Bergholz could be intimidating, too, to both his editors and colleagues, but like a lot of people in our profession, he was unforgettable.
I remember, one time, during the 1976 Florida primary campaign, I caught a ride to the Tampa Airport with Reagan's campaign bus. As usual, Bergholz was the LAT correspondent with Reagan. I had been covering Carter. But I knew Reagan well, so I mentioned to him that I was going back to California that night and asked him whether there was anything I could take back home for him. Reagan never missed a beat. "Bergholz," he said very forcefully....read on
March 21, 2005 12:30 PM
What Also Matters To The Religious Right
March 21, 2005 12:29 PM
in my opinion...
War Pigs get what they deserve.
On the walk to work today my iPod hit me with a stellar set of protest songs, completely at random. One of those, one of my favorite war protest songs, was Black Sabbath’s War Pigs which I think is an entirely appropriate set of lyrics to dedicate to George Bush, “Tricky” Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Don Rumsfeld, and all those who supported the immoral war of aggression against Iraq.
War Pigs
By Black Sabbath
Generals gathered in their masses
just like witches at black masses
evil minds that plot destruction
sorcerers of death’s construction
in the fields the bodies burning as the war machine keeps turning
death and hatred to mankind
poisoning their brainwashed minds… Oh lord yeah!Politicians hide themselves away
they only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poorTime will tell on their power minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait ‘till their judgment day comes, yeah!
Now in darkness, world stops turning
as the war machine keeps burning
No more war pigs of the power
Hand of god has struck the hour
Day of judgment, god is calling on their knees, the war pigs crawling
Begging mercy for their sins
Satan, laughing, spreads his wings
ALL RIGHT NOW!
Where’s Osama?
What Also Matters To The Religious Right GreatScat!
The Truth about Sponge Bob.
LAT Political Writer Dick Bergholz, One Of A Kind
When the late political writer Richard Bergholz was writing for the L.A. Times, he used to sit well in front at news conferences, and when the politician started talking, Bergholz used to shake his head from side to side. It was very disconcerting for the politician,
Bergholz could be intimidating, too, to both his editors and colleagues, but like a lot of people in our profession, he was unforgettable.
I remember, one time, during the 1976 Florida primary campaign, I caught a ride to the Tampa Airport with Reagan's campaign bus. As usual, Bergholz was the LAT correspondent with Reagan. I had been covering Carter. But I knew Reagan well, so I mentioned to him that I was going back to California that night and asked him whether there was anything I could take back home for him. Reagan never missed a beat. "Bergholz," he said very forcefully.
One time, when he was running for President, Lloyd Bentsen came out to California for the weekend. When he got back to Washington, he told the Times' congressional correspondent, John Averill, that he had encountered in the California press corps "the worst son of a bitch I ever met." Averill responded that it had to be either Reich or Bergholz. "Bergholz," Bentsen replied.All the appropriate copyrights apply. (Emphasis added)
Where’s Osama?
