Adventures in My Mind
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Jan 25, 2007
Not In My House You Don't
Uncle Dick sure is a grumpy f***er! Here we see him glowering at Wolf Blitzer as Wolf tries to bait Darth Cheney with some criticism of his lesbian daughter's recently announced pregnancy.
So Wolf is out of line with his questions, but anti-gay marriage amendments are perfectly fine. Speaking out against unwed mothers is cool. Refusing to fund women's clinics that give birth control options is fin and dandy. But daring to bring those chickens home to roost is out of line.
Obviously, I'm not the first person to point out Dick and Lynn Cheney's "Do as say, not as I do" attitudes, especially in regards to their unmarried, lesbian, now pregnant daughter.
It's just that I don't understand how the people who support Cheney and proudly sport their Bush/Cheney 04 bumper stickers can continue to swallow this stuff with smiles on their faces.
The lies, distortions, mistruths, and general calumny of the communications of this administration are a constant slap in our collective faces, regardless of the color of our votes. Each utterance removes another brick from the bulwark of American democracy. Each aristocratic refusal to share power or information with the media and other members of the unwashed masses moves us closer to the bonds of autocracy that Franklin, Jefferson, Paine, and Washington fought so hard to remove us from.
And everyday, we let it happen. We hear the lies and the distortions of fact, and mischaracterizations and we do nothing. Many of us even cheer it on as the right of power to do what it wishes, hoping in vain that one day we, too, will have the opportunity to abuse privilege in their image.
They characterize stubborness as conviction, refusal to compromise as courage under fire, and undisguised nationalism and intolerance as patriotism. And we, for the most part, are too disinterested or lazy to call them on it.
Our American system allows us to speak truth to power only if we are active, only if we are involved. Our system also enables distortion, secrecy, and turpitude if we are not. And that is exactly what what Lord Cheney is counting on.
BTW, I, just like Wolf, really dig unmarried pregnant lesbians, too. Really. I do, Mr. Cheney, sir! Really.
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 11:56 AM
Jan 5, 2007
Now He Wants to Open Your Mail
Statement May Allow Gov't to Open Mail
Currently, and thankfully, postal law requires a search warrant before the G-Men can open your mail. But that may no longer be true. Thanks to a signing statement attached to a postal reform bill, W. has reserved the right to construe the law "in a manner consistent, to the maximum extent permissible, with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances."
The key here is what does "exigent circumstances" mean in the W. vernacular. Well, maybe not in his vernacular exactly, since I doubt the Prodigal President knows himself. The better question is what does it mean to Alberto "El Jeffe" Gonzales.
Normally it would mean emergency circumstances. Like if postal authorities were concerned that a package contained a bomb. They are allowed to open that package without obtaining a warrant. But since the law already allows for such necessary exceptions, why exactly is W. reserving the right to do just that unless he is positioning the executive branch to be the final arbiter of what exigent circumstances are.
And what might those circumstances be exactly? How about an ongoing, nebulous War on Terror that knows no borders and has no criteria for winning. One that has already seen an uprecedented power grab by this president and his cabal of neo-con thugs.
But Whitehouse meat puppet Tony Snow says not to worry. In a press briefing today he said, "As has been the long-standing practice, first-class mail is protected from unreasonable search and seizure when in postal custody. Nothing in the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act changes this protection. The president is not exerting any new authority." Right. At least until he exerts new authority.
And of course this news is quietly disseminated through a humdrum daily briefing during a day of great importance on Capitol Hill, where Democrats take over for the first time in 12 years and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) takes over as Speaker of the House - the first time ever this position has been held by a woman. While both of these of facts are important politically, they pale when compared to this latest power grab by George II. And we get it stuffed into page ten with the other throw aways.
It just keeps getting better and better ...
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 5:45 PM
Jan 3, 2007
F*** W. and His Flying Republican Monkeys
This rant brought to by Republican bullshit ...
Speaking about working with the new Democratic Congress, W. was optimistic about allying with congressional Democrats to find "a different approach" by ending partisan warfare and eliminating earmarks and other pork barrell spending. But he warned that "If the Congress chooses to pass bills that are simply political statements, they will have chosen stalemate."
How quickly he forgets about flag burning and gay maririage amendments, sham resolutions to end the war in Iraq, and the Schiavo legislation, among bushels of others. All of which were crafted as the most transparent of political statements. All of which were strongly supported by the Bush whitehouse.A special "Chuck You Farlie!" to Representative Virgil H. Goode (Rep. MN) for his bloviations regarding incoming rep. Keith Ellison's plan to use a Koran for his swearing in photo-op. Give it up Virg; it's tiresome. It's old. And it's highly predictable. It's also why I have no comprehension of the political leanings of half the people in this country. They baffle me, just like Virgil. Outright bigotry, hatred, and intolerance has replaced any civil political discourse - if, indeed, there ever was any.
The real outrage is not the use of an alternative religious text in a swearing in ceremony. It is the use of any religious text whatsoever! If today's religious litmus test were applied to our Founding Fathers, few, if any, would have ascended to their lofty status. The majority would qualify as secular humanists by today's standards and thereby be deemed as unworthy by the helmet-headed, Haggar-clad "moral majority."
And why have I seen so much of the coffin of Gerald Ford over the last week? By all accounts he was a genial and fiercely loyal man who was a capable Republican leader in the House. He was also a medicore president who appeared to be a dear in the headlights trying to handle the serious and myriad problems we faced in the mid-70s, not the least of which was the fallout from the Watergate scandal. So when and why was he deified?
Perhaps if we would see as much of the 3000+ coffins sent back from Iraq everyday, then we would almost immediately stop adding to that grim number.
Apparently, though, some flag-draped coffins are more special than others.
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 4:14 PM
