…and proves once again that Republicans are ‘Fraidy Cats‘
University of Nebraska researchers have demonstrated a correlation between higher general fear levels and the likelihood of someone being a ‘conservative:
Compared to staunch liberals, people with strongly conservative views were three times more fearful after factoring out the effects of gender, age, income and education, all of which can affect political attitudes.
This speaks for itself…but the contrast between the last two administrations is amazing:
“We deserve reimbursement”
The above are actual quotes from Gabriel Nathan Shwartz, a 29 year old Republican delegate from their convention in Minneapolis last month. “Less taxes and more war” he said to the news cameras. He said the U.S. should “bomb the hell” out of Iran because the country threatens Israel.
Poor Gabriel tasted his own medicine at the convention when an innocent one-night-stand went sour. After meeting a woman in his hotel bar, the two went upstairs to his room, where she told him to get undressed and she made drinks. That was his last recollection.
When he awoke, she was gone, along with over $120,000 in money, jewelry and other belongings.
I hope she donates some of that to Obama!
…Citing disgust with today’s GOP:
My decision came at the end of last week when it was demonstrated to the nation that McCain and this Bush White House have learned little in the last five years. They mishandled what became a crisis in the Caucusus, and this has undermined U.S. national security. At the same time, the McCain camp appears to be comfortable with running an unworthy Karl Rove–style political campaign. Will the McCain operation, and its sponsors, do anything to win?
Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), in a 20 page memo on GOP election issues, used the term in a paragraph about Obama and Immigration:
“Remember, Hispanic voters are a swing group in this election and future elections. John McCain, being from a border state, may be out of sync with many Republicans but he has standing among Hispanics. Barrack Obama has not made the sale to Hispanic voters. Thus, this issue is a tar baby for anyone who touches it, with land mines everywhere.”
I actually love hearing this shit. These guys are so lost they will continue burying themselves…
Wow I feel like it’s the 12 days of Christmas!
(See previous post for add’l details)
What are the odds that a religiously based, conservative values website would have an article decrying homosexual men having anonymous sexual trysts in airport bathrooms next to a report praising Senator Larry Craig for a religiously based, ‘pro-life,’ vote?
The Idaho Values Alliance describes it’s mission as “to protect the values that have made Idaho such a great state in which to live [and] raise a family…to protect…the sanctity of marriage and the family, the sanctity of life, and to restrain judicial activism.”
In an April newsletter, the following item appears directly under a photo of Senator Craig and an accompanying article about the Senator’s ‘pro-life’ voting against a stem cell research bill (in agreement with President Bush):
“One of the tragic characteristics of the homosexual lifestyle is its emphasis on anonymous sex and multiple sexual partners. It is a little-acknowledged secret that many active homosexuals will have more than 1,000 sex partners over the course of a lifetime (the average among heterosexuals is seven – still six more than we were designed for). This sordid fact of homosexual life surfaced yesterday in an AP article yesterday that reports on the number of arrests police have made for indecent exposure and public sex acts in the restrooms at Atlanta’s airport, the busiest in the world. The increased restroom patrols, begun to apprehend luggage thieves, instead uncovered a rash of sex crimes. Airport restrooms have become so popular that men looking for anonymous sexual trysts with other men have advertised their airport availability on Craigslist. One such ad was from a man saying he was stuck at the airport for three hours and was looking for “discreet, quick action.”
At least he’s not a pedophile (as far as we know)!
Less than one year ago today, Idaho Senator Larry Craig’s office publicly denied allegations made by a gay activist website that he was a homosexual. The website claimed he had been having sex with men for years, and that they had interviewed (but not identified) four such men.
But it wasn’t the first rumor alleging the Senators lust for man-meat. Check out this 1982 clip, where the Senator appears on NBC news to pre-emptively deny involvment in congressional sex & drug scandal involving young page boys (Deja Vu?).
Now the Senator has pled guilty to charges of lewd public conduct, in an airport restroom known for homosexual hook-ups. The police reports claim that Craig made the moves on an undercover officer in a restroom stall.
After pleading guilty and paying the fines, Craig now says he isn’t guilty, and that it was a mistake to do so.
One might guess that his personal ‘flip-flop’ has to do with the fact that he’s up for re-election in 2008.
Or maybe it was due to pressure from Roboto-Republican presidential candidate and Hair-Club-For-Men founder Mitt Romney (perhaps no stranger to airport bathrooms himself), whose Idaho campaign was headed by Craig (he was also the campaign’s co-liason to the US Senate).
In a video posted on Youtube by the Romney campaign (now quickly un-posted), Craig explains his backing for Romney is due in part because “he has very strong family values…That’s something I grew up with and believe in.”
Or could it simply be that soliciting a plainclothes officer for sex in a public restroom doesn’t fit well with a man who on TV in 1999 rambled about “what a bad boy, a naughty boy” Bill Clinton was.
In perfect Republican fashion, Craig also has a perfectly homophobic voting record:
* Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)
* Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)
* Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)
* Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)
* Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (Sep 1996)
Brings to mind Florida State Representative Bob Allen, who last month was popped for offering another undercover cop, in a different bathroom, $20 for a blowjob!
Allen was the author of Florida House Bill #1475, the “Lewd Or Lascivious Exhibition Act” which would have made public masturbation in the presence of another consenting adult illegal; as well as the “Sexual Predators Elimination Act,” which would eliminate plea bargaining and parole and force mandatory life sentencing for sexual predators.
In another similarity, Allen was co-head of John McCain’s Florida campaign.
Mr. Allen lists “watersports” as his sole recreational interest…
My head is spinning endlessly. What else is new?
I wish I could be clever or witty about this. But right now I am blown away completely for the 42,768th time since these nutsack wackjobs took office.
This week the notorius DC Madam posted on the internet phone records going back years listing her high end clientele in D.C.
She claimed info was being leaked and possibly manipulated, and that she felt a need to release such info to head that off.
The first big news was that republican Senator David Vitter was a regular customer.
Hmm, what a surprise. Though I guess it’s not as bad as being chair of the senate caucus on exploited children while sending nasty IMs to 16 year old boys in the House page program…
In his apology/admission he said:
“This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible…Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling…Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there — with God and them. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way.”
This guy got his start by replacing former Rep. Bob Livingston, who abruptly resigned after disclosures of numerous affairs in 1998.
At the time, Vitter argued that an extramarital affair was grounds for resignation:
“I think Livingston’s stepping down makes a very powerful argument that Clinton should resign as well and move beyond this mess,” he said. [Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 12/20/98]
In an editorial, he also questioned “whether President Clinton should be impeached and removed from office because he is morally unfit to govern.”
It also appears that he only came out and confessed/apologized to do damage control after a phone call from Hustler publisher Larry Flynt inquiring about his calls to the escort service (Ironically, Flynt also outed Bob Livingston in 1998).
And as is he wasn’t already having a bad week, it appears he was a regular customer at a New Orleans Brothel as well…
I have to confess I was not able to see the Republican debates live (not a huge bummer, honestly). I’m sure they spent more energy on NOT saying the wrong thing than they did on anything that would make them rise above their cohorts.
From what I understand (from news reports and video clips), it was a Reagan Love Fest, with each candidate trying to “out-Reagan” the next, while ignoring the looming dark cloud of George Bush hovering over all.
Apparently there were 20-25 ‘Reagan’ references, not including as many or more from the moderators themselves. The lunacy went so far that the backgrounds for each speaker even included the words “Reagan library,” as if by some spirit mojo the disaster of the last seven years could be wiped out by the invocation of the Great Gipper God:
Ironic, given the controversy created by Bush in blocking stem cell research, so at odds with the wishes of Nancy and son Ron.
This obsession with Reagan is really quite amusing: Who is most like Reagan; Who will be the next Reagan; who will sell arms to a terrorist country to support third world ‘freedom fighters’ like Reagan (oops…no, not that).
But seriously, these guys remember Reagan as simply an Icon, and one that has been elevated greatly in contrast to the present Boy King. He brings a ‘warm fuzzy’ to their hearts, but besides his personality, I think they would be hard pressed to describe what his real legacy was, besides the fall of communism and the Berlin wall (which were destined to happen eventually) and restoring a sense of ‘pride’ to America.
They remember his speaking prowess and charisma, but not his slashing of social services (and the resulting explosion in homelessness), or his complete denial of the Aids epidemic - legacies that we are still paying for. And forget about the truly ugly (record deficits) and the downright evil (Iran Contra and Nicaraguan Death squads) which presented the first lessons in the now-perfected Republican art of ‘cover-up.’
I guess this selective memory is a normal human trait. Much like a man remembering the sexual prowess of a crazy girlfriend from years back, conveniently ignoring the screaming on the lawn, or the tossing of his belongings from the bedroom windows at 3 A.M.
In contrast, the candidates mentioned George Bush a total of one time…
Or:
Removal and replacement of TITS (Thorn-In-The-Side) Federal Prosecutors:
Several months ago (before the mid-term elections) it could be argued that the last obstacle to unchecked presidential power and corruption was the courts (it still may be).
Congress had been paralyzed since 9-11 and the administration effectively had the mainstream media under control (whether through simple fear or moderate cash payments). So why wouldn’t they assume that with the Attorney General practically sharing a bed with Dick Cheney (what a picture!), and the senate bending on Supreme Court confirmations (like an old hooker during fleet week!), control of the Judicial branch would be just as simple?
Yet, the federal court system continued to be a hinderance. More often than not, the Bushies found the courts ruling against their trampling of the constitution. Worse yet, government attorneys were exposing and prosecuting corruption in their republican cronies – corruption that in many cases had ties to the upper levels of the administration or the Republican party.
In Alberto Gonzales’ latest advancement of his CEXPPUC program (colossal-effort to expand-presidential-power-and-usurp-the-constitution), also known as ‘authoritarianism,’ the slimiest lawyer in history launched a quiet end-run around a process that has traditionally been a safeguard against political abuse.
The main job of U.S. Attorneys is to prosecute federal crimes in their judicial districts. Though appointed by the president, the appointment is made through the advice of lawmakers in the district as well as confirmation by the full U.S. Senate.
Because they need to police the politicians, these attorneys are non-partisan (in theory) and are granted a significant degree of independence from their bosses in Washington (including the Attorney General). It was difficult to replace an honest, independent prosecutor who may have been a ‘thorn-in-the-side,’ because (according to law) if there was a midterm vacancy, the replacement would be appointed by federal circuit judges rather than the president.
Until the Patriot act II passed in late 2005.
The giant bill included an un-noticed provision, slipped in at the 11th hour, that permitted the White House to place its own appointees in vacant U.S. attorney positions permanently without Senate confirmation. This provision was claimed to have been slipped in by an aide to Sen. Arlen Specter (unbeknownst to the Senator himself, who was the author of the bill!).
One could argue this was the work of a lone agitator and not part of an organized effort, if not for Alberto Gonzales entering into the story in his typically insidious manner…
Gonzales quietly forced the resignation of at least nine U.S Attorneys in various districts across the country…What they had in common was honor, integrity, and a willingness to scrutinize republican politicians, some resulting in the largest corruption scandals in US history. As if to advertise their intentions, they then replaced them with absolute Bush cronies.
There was Carol Lam, targeting local corruption in her San Diego region, and most recently nailing congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham on conspiracy and tax evasion charges involving more than $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors. According to US News & World Report, the continuing investigation is likely to lead to high officials in the Central Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon, the Congress, and perhaps even the White House.
There was also Bud Cummings (AR), who worked with Lam on the Cunningham case, replaced by a former RNC researcher and Karl Rove assistant. Others included Kevin Ryan (CA), specializing in white collar crime and securities fraud, Daniel Bogden (NV), convicting for Campaign law violations, and David C. Iglesias (NM), exposing State treasury officials involved in extortion.
When the firings were exposed, the administration scoffed at the idea that there was political motivation; The Justice department claimed that the firings were related to job performance.
Yet, most of the lawyers say they were not aware of any problems with their work, and one, who was ‘ordered’ to resign, plans to go public with documentation of his accomplishments while in office.
Various local papers, as well as the Washington Post, expressed doubt about the administration claims. The Post found that 6 out of 7 of the lawyers had positive job evaluations from their superiors. Worse yet, they report that Michael A. Battle, the Justice Department official who made the ominous call to at least six prosecutors, told some that the order came from “on high.”
So it seems that these appointments, which would have been impossible or illegal a year ago, are shamelessly political.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted three weeks ago to restore appointment power in such cases to Federal Judges.
But it will go to Congress this month, where it is (surprise!) expected to face opposition from Republicans.