Category: News & Comment

Monitoring God’s Vomit: Rev. O’Neal Dozier

Trish

Wingnut Bush point-men like the Rev. O’Neal Dozier pose the next problem for those of us who prefer religion stay in our hearts and not in our courthouses. They also represent a new political animal: black Republicans.

From a recent South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

The Rev. O’Neal Dozier, pastor of the Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach, is one of the Bush Administration’s “go-to” African-Americans.

Dozier belongs to a growing trend of black ministers who promote conservative values on such issues as same-sex marriage and abortion. President Bush and his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, made an effort to reach out to ministers like Dozier during the last presidential campaign.

Jeb Bush appointed Dozier to the 17th Judicial Nominating Commission in 2001. Gov. Bush reappointed him in 2003 and spoke at Dozier’s church on Martin Luther King Jr. Day that same year.

When President Bush campaigned at the Office Depot Center last fall, Dozier gave the invocation.

The president invited him to the White House in February as part of a delegation of 24 black preachers and business-owners to discuss Social Security.

Well, isn’t that nice? The Bushes are finally broadening their circle of friends. And what a prince they’ve found this time.

From the blog, goodasyou.org:

In November of 2003 Dozier referred to homosexuality as “something so nasty and disgusting that it makes God want to vomit,” and was quoted as saying: “Why is it one of the paramount of sins? Well, it is a very bad kind of sin because it really hurts society in so many ways. God, however, found a way to punish the homosexuals through HIV-AIDS. It is a type of judgment for such a sin as this one, homosexuality.” [11/27/03 NewsTimesBPB.com]

Horror over Dozier isn’t confined to the blogosphere. Back in January, 2004, he grilled judicial nominees in South Florida as to their religious beliefs, church activity, how they would rule on sodomy issues, whether they would post the Ten Commandments in the courthouse, and for females, a bonus question: how would they raise their children while on the bench?

Even the Orlando Business Journal was appalled.

Far be it from us to suggest that the process of choosing state judges is politicized’

Nor will we remind you that, only last year in Orlando, Gov. Bush told those folks he appointed to choose state judges that, “I’m looking for people who share my philosophy.”

Which brings us to the Right Rev. O’Neal Dozier.

The reverend is among nine folks who select judicial candidates to serve on the South Florida bench. We don’t know if he shares Gov. Bush’s philosophy on law, but we do know that he does not share that of the U.S. Constitution. This is how we know: “There is no such animal as separation of church and state in the Constitution,” he told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

in a statement designed to set George Washington’s wooden teeth a-chattering, the good reverend tells us “I don’t believe the developers of the Constitution would want us to compromise our Christian values.”

Gov. Bush has no more right to insist judges share his ideology than Rev. Dozier has the right to insist that they share his religious practices.

You said it, but they sure aren’t listening.

Cracks in the MSM: Star-Tribune on Memorial Day Says ‘Bush Lied’ about Iraq

Jon Ponder

Minneapolis Star-Tribune

In exchange for our uniformed young people’s willingness to offer the gift of their lives, civilian Americans owe them something important: It is our duty to ensure that they never are called to make that sacrifice unless it is truly necessary for the security of the country. In the case of Iraq, the American public has failed them; we did not prevent the Bush administration from spending their blood in an unnecessary war based on contrived concerns about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. President Bush and those around him lied, and the rest of us let them. Harsh? Yes. True? Also yes. Perhaps it happened because Americans, understandably, don’t expect untruths from those in power. But that works better as an explanation than as an excuse.

The “smoking gun,” as some call it, surfaced on May 1 in the London Times. It is a highly classified document containing the minutes of a July 23, 2002, meeting at 10 Downing Street in which Sir Richard Dearlove, head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, reported to Prime Minister Tony Blair on talks he’d just held in Washington. His mission was to determine the Bush administration’s intentions toward Iraq.

At a time when the White House was saying it had “no plans” for an invasion, the British document says Dearlove reported that there had been “a perceptible shift in attitude” in Washington. “Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The (National Security Council) had no patience with the U.N. route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime’s record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.”

It turns out that former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke and former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill were right. Both have been pilloried for writing that by summer 2002 Bush had already decided to invade…

As this bloody month of car bombs and American deaths — the most since January — comes to a close, as we gather in groups small and large to honor our war dead, let us all sing of their bravery and sacrifice. But let us also ask their forgiveness for sending them to a war that should never have happened. In the 1960s it was Vietnam. Today it is Iraq. Let us resolve to never, ever make this mistake again. Our young people are simply too precious.

Dems Demand Bush-Cheney ’04 Return Tainted ‘Coingate’ Money

Jon Ponder

The Democratic National Committee has demanded that President Bush’s re-election campaign return over $100,000 that Bush-Cheney ’04 may have received in money stolen in the GOP “Coingate” scandal, reports the Toledo Blade.

Coin dealer Tom Noe, a Republican fat cat and donor, apparently talked GOP state officials into investing public money in rare coins, and now $10 million to $12 million from that $50 million fund is missing.

After the money went missing, Noe made donations to GOP elected officials in Ohio, including Gov. Bob Taft. It appears Noe made a donation to Bush-Cheney ’04, as well:

The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI are investigating whether Mr. Noe violated campaign-finance laws. That probe has focused on an October, 2003, fund-raiser in Columbus that generated $1.4 million for the Bush campaign.

The Bush-Cheney campaign lists Mr. Noe as a “pioneer” for raising from $100,000 to $250,000 for the President’s re-election campaign.

Bush stole the election in 2000. Now it appears he won Ohio in 2004 with stolen money.

(Thanks to Friend of PR Kim for the update!)

Leaked UK Report Supplies More Proof That Bush, Blair Lied in Run-up to War

Jon Ponder

DailyKos has a diary entry from Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) who says a report leaked to the London Times provides proof positive that the Bush and Blair administrations were on the course to war in Iraq long before they started “marketing” the overthrow of Saddam Hussein to their hapless citizens in September 2002.

The [Royal Airforce Force] and US aircraft doubled the rate at which they were dropping bombs on Iraq in 2002 in an attempt to provoke Saddam Hussein into giving the allies an excuse for war, new evidence has shown.

The attacks were intensified from May, six months before the United Nations resolution that Tony Blair and Lord Goldsmith, the attorney-general, argued gave the coalition the legal basis for war. By the end of August the raids had become a full air offensive.

The details follow the leak to The Sunday Times of minutes of a key meeting in July 2002 at which Blair and his war cabinet discussed how to make “regime change” in Iraq legal.

Geoff Hoon, then defence secretary, told the meeting that “the US had already begun ‘spikes of activity’ to put pressure on the regime”.

The new information, obtained by the Liberal Democrats, shows that the allies dropped twice as many bombs on Iraq in the second half of 2002 as they did during the whole of 2001, and that the RAF increased their attacks even more quickly than the Americans did.

Rep. Conyers has written a letter to President Bush demanding an explanation for the inconsistencies between his Administration’s statements both before and after the fall of Saddam and the emerging record of the facts.

The conservatives who control our Congress are far too corrupt to investigate the Bush Administration, especially if there is a better than even chance the Bushites did something that might lead to impeachment, which this matter certainly could. Don’t roll your eyes. As I’ve noted before, Andrew Johnson was impeached for firing a cabinet member and Bill Clinton was impeached over sex lie told under oath. The lies told by Bush and company have led to the deaths of tens of thousands.

Even if the chance are slim that a serious investigation will take place, you can take action. It only takes a minute to sign the letter.

Father of Lesbian Raised $200,000 for Sponsor of Anti-Gay Amendment

Jon Ponder

How did I miss this story two weeks ago? Vice President Dick Cheney, the father of a devoted lesbian daughter, flew to Colorado to be the big ticket draw at a fundraiser for an ultra-rightwing member of Congress who happens to be a sponsor of the proposed constituitional amendment to ban gay marriage.

Though he has a lesbian daughter, Vice President Dick Cheney gave an estimated $200,000 boost Monday to the campaign coffers of Republican congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave, who is one of the original sponsors of a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and considered one of the nation’s most vulnerable incumbents.

Musgrave has proved “to be exactly the right person for the job,” Cheney told a crowd of about 200 people who paid $500 to $4,000 to attend a downtown Denver luncheon.

Musgrave’s campaign fund had about $422,000 in cash as of March 31, the end of the first quarter, said Guy Short, her chief of staff…

“By funneling cash into the coffers of Marilyn Musgrave, Vice President Cheney is merely money-laundering for the antimarriage amendment,” said Eric Stern, executive director for the National Stonewall Democrats.

This is pathological.

Clinton Aide Cleared But LA Times Buries Story on Front of ‘California’ Section

Jon Ponder


Good news for Hillary Clinton. Former campaign worker David Rosen was cleared by a jury yesterday of charges he stole money collected at a Los Angeles fundraiser during her run for the U.S. Senate in 2000. You won’t find this story on the front page of today’s Los Angeles Times however – or even on the top the screen of the paper’s homepage, above.

Think about it. If Rosen been found guilty, is there any doubt that the allegedly liberal Los Angeles Times would have trumpeted the news on the front page? I’m not saying it would have been the the lead story above the fold, but the paper definitely would’ve run it in the third or fourth position. Instead, the story can be found on the front of the “California” section of the paper, which is like the “Local” section in other dailies.

A former top aide to Hillary Rodham Clinton was acquitted Friday of charges that he deliberately concealed more than $700,000 in contributions to finance a fundraising gala for her 2000 Senate campaign.

David Rosen, who served as Clinton’s national finance director, embraced his lawyer and smiled broadly as U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz announced the jury’s verdict after a three-week trial.

“I’m relieved this ordeal is over,” Rosen said afterward. “This has been going on for five years. I now have closure in my life.”

Although Clinton was not charged in the case, her political foes had seized on it, anticipating incriminating disclosures that might affect her possible 2008 presidential run. But their expectations were dashed on opening day when a Justice Department prosecutor told jurors that Clinton was not involved in any wrongdoing.

The fact that Clinton was not implicated or under suspicion will not matter to her enemies. The “facts” have never gotten in the way of smears created by folks like Richard Mellon Scaife, Ted Olson, Ken Starr and their minions who ran the Vast Rightwing Conspiracy against the Clintons in the 1990’s. Facts won’t matter to the folks who pick up the mantel of character assassination if Hillary decides to run for president in 2008.

In the early years of the Clinton Administration, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and the Washington Post all printed stories about the Clintons that later proved to be false without ever printing a retraction. (See “The Hunting of the President,” by Joe Conanson and Gene Lyons and “Blinded by the Right,” by David Brock, among other books, for details.) Many of these stories were used by the rightwing to establish credibility for the outright lies they propagated about the First Family and their friends. Sad to see that this bias continues even today.

Wes Clark Is the Dems’ Go-To Guy on Security Issues

Jon Ponder

I voted for Gen. Clark in the California primary and still believe he could have beaten George W. Bush – there sure as hell wouldn’t have been a Swift Boat Liars onslaught against him – so I’m glad learn he’s working with the party’s Congressional leadership. Via Carpetbagger:

Roll Call has a really interesting article today (alas, it’s unavailable to non-subscribers) on Wesley Clark and the role he is establishing for himself in Dem policy circles. There’s a lot to this.

“Retired Gen. Wesley Clark has taken a high-profile role, both on and off Capitol Hill, as a Democratic spokesman and foreign policy adviser, stoking speculation that he is planning another national campaign in 2008.

” Clark has emerged as a regular presence on Capitol Hill in the last few months.

” His allies paint him as a ‘go-to guy’ for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) on foreign policy matters, pointing out that he has been repeatedly invited by the duo to address their respective caucuses on the handling of current military situations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

” Jim Manley, a Reid spokesman, noted that Clark is a member of the two leaders’ National Security Advisory Group.

‘“He is someone that Sen. Reid will continue to look to for advice,’ Manley added.”

The implications in the 2008 race are obvious, and the article notes that Clark is continuing to cultivate his relationships with key Dem leaders, including Reps. Charlie Rangel (N.Y.) and Rahm Emanuel (Ill.). Of course, it’s not just beltway activities either — Clark is maintaining a busy speaking schedule with Dems across the country, including a speech next month at the annual Flag Day Dinner of the Manchester City Democratic Committee in New Hampshire.

Those who were with Clark before haven’t lost their enthusiasm. Though I was surprised to see it in print, I think this was a telling remark:

“I’m convinced we would have won with him,” Rangel said.

What Dead Afghans?

Buck Banks

Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin poses the question nobody is asking: If 15 to 18 people really were killed in Afghan riots sparked by Newsweek’s story about a Koran being flushed down the toilet by U.S. military interrogators in Guantanamo, who are they?

Farah claims to have scoured every available document in Lexis-Nexis, as well as the entire Internet, and talked to an anonymous source (gotta love those) and has been unable to find a single mention of a name of one of the dead anywhere. Indeed, he can find no substantive proof that the riots in fact ocurred.

Then there were riots in Afghanistan, the Far East and the Palestinian Authority – all, the international media reported, connected to the Newsweek story.

Later, many who had first-hand knowledge of the disturbances said they were planned months in advance and had little or no connection to the Newsweek story.

But now there’s a new twist.

Virtually every major news agency in the world has reported without verification that between 15 and 18 Afghanis were killed in the riots.

There’s just one problem. There is no more evidence for these deaths than there is that a U.S. interrogator flushed a Quran down the toilet.

Not a single name of even one victim has been released. No details of the circumstances of the riots were released from any official sources – either U.S. or Afghan.

Who were these victims? Were they rioters killed by police or military forces? Were they innocent victims attacked by fanatics? Were they Afghanis? Were they relief workers?

Farah claims he has queried both U.S. and Afghan official sources for details about “these alleged deaths.” but has been stonewalled, forcing him to rely on that old chestnut, unnamed sources.

Now, some sources inside the U.S. government are saying off the record that they believe the death toll may have been deliberately exaggerated by Islamists – perhaps even some Afghan government officials – who want to make a point about the grievous nature of the supposed Quran desecration.

Hmm, what if there were no dead Afghans ….

Randall Terry for Florida Senate?

Trish

The bad news: Anti-abortion violent wingnut Randall Terry has all but announced he is running for state senate in my district in Florida.

The good news: Randall Terry might be running for state senate.

First, the news itself, then I’ll explain.

St. Augustine Record:

On Thursday, Terry was flanked by his wife, new baby and a dozen supporters at a Plaza de la Constitucion press conference in St. Augustine. He first scheduled a morning announcement in Jacksonville, drove to St. Augustine for a second press conference, then left for Daytona Beach for a third.

At each stop, Terry gave away copies of his 1995 book, “The Sword: The Blessing of Righteous Government and the Overthrow of Tyrants,” now in its fourth printing.

Yes, it sounds suspiciously like he’s running. Why not? He is enjoying newfound respectability, in light of his exploitation of the Terri Schiavo fiasco.

Terry said he became involved in the Schiavo case in 2003 through a mutual friend of Schiavo’s parents. He frequently appeared on TV this year as the parents’ spokesman in their effort to keep her alive.

“Certainly my ability to be in everyone’s living room night after night was a help to me in this race, if I decide to do it,” Terry said.

Yeah, right, “If.” Terry is targeting Jim King, former Florida Senate president, who caved to Jeb during the first Schiavo wars a couple of years ago and got “Terri’s Law” passed. That very specific bill (it only applied to her) kept the woman on life support so her parents and Randall Terry could fight another day. King later called it the worst decision of his life, in view of his own ordeal to help his parents pass peacefully in hospice care, and did not support government intervention in the recent Schiavo battle.

Terry hammered at King’s record, saying the senator is pro-choice, not pro-life, “repeatedly offered special rights to homosexuals,” is “more interested in teacher’s unions than in kids,” and had named Democrats to committee chairs.

If Jim King ends up with no Democratic opposition, I’m signing up for his campaign. He sounds like my kind of guy, plus I have come to respect him in the dealings I’ve had with state politics.

Terry, on the other hand…Well, what can I say?

Terry, 46, of Ponte Vedra Beach, gained national notoriety in the 1980s and 1990s by organizing anti-abortion rallies, closing abortion clinics and aggressively harassing women seeking abortions.

Aggressively harassing pregnant women? What a values-burdened soul.

In 1986, he founded Operation Rescue. He now operates The Society for Truth and Justice.

… Terry said his inflammatory language and actions got him in trouble in the past. Google his name and 1.5 million sites will discuss his personal, financial and political history.

Terry said much of what he is quoted as saying is false or taken out of context. Some was humor that didn’t translate to a page.

“And a lot of us have said (and done) stuff in our 20s that we regret,” he said Wednesday. “That’s not who I am now.”

There you are, just going along having fun, bellowing death threats at pregnant women and the doctors who treat them, blowing up buildings without regard to who might be inside, getting arrested more than 40 times, and people go and try to make that sound…not good. I hate it when that happens.

In any event it sounds like the concept, “personal responsibility” doesn’t keep Terry up at night.

The Palm Beach Post has more:

Terry moved in 2003 to a house in Ponte Vedra Beach that was purchased with donations from anti-abortion activists after he said he was wiped out financially by court judgments stemming from his anti-abortion activities…

Ponte Vedra, in case you don’t know, is the whitest, richest, most Republican enclave you’ll find in Florida north of Palm Beach. It’s the home of The Players Championship PGA tournament, and passes its days behind the security gates that line A1A. Ever wonder where all that money went when the stock market crashed under Bush I? Come to Ponte Vedra, and you’ll find all the Barbarians at the Gate you’ve been missing. It’s a common bankruptcy strategy to sink $5 or $6 million into a home in Ponte Vedra and then file. In Florida, no one can touch your personal residence.

And these folks like to make their dreams come true. According to OpenSecrets.org, the zip code that represents most of Ponte Vedra gave over $1.3 million in the 2004 election, while the average zip gave about $45,000.

So why am I not entirely appalled that Terry is running for the Florida Senate?

First, I think his candidacy will ensure that Republicans feed on their own during the primary. This will be an all-out war between the most extreme right wing of the party and those who have been skating by because people like Jim King let them say they’re Republicans without taking on the social agendas the GOP has become known for in Bushistan.

King himself acknowledged all this and is counting on reason to prevail in his party. From the Post:

King said Thursday that since the Schiavo vote, he has been expecting a challenge from the “far Republican right.”

King described himself as moderate on social issues. He supports abortion rights but favors parental-notification laws and a ban on late-term abortions.

King called abortion repulsive but said, “I just don’t think it’s the place for the government to be. It’s the same thing in the Schiavo situation.”

Second, if King is defeated, it could clear the path for almost any Democrat who isn’t Hillary Clinton to win. Terry is so far out, and so in la-la land, that he failed to grasp that most Americans did not want the government to force Michael Schiavo to keep his wife on life support. He was quoted at his St. Augustine press conference:

“According to a Zogby poll, the American people were overwhelmingly in favor of intervention, for keeping Terri alive,” he said. “Our Republican base believes in life, not euthanasia.”

Maybe his Republican base, but not Jim King’s.

Third, and finally, if Terry wins it will mean the wingnuts have gone as far as they can go. Florida already had a Republican governor and Republican House and Republican Senate this past session, and found out even one-party rule did not ensure smooth passage of stupid bills. If more guys and gals like Randall Terry go to Tallahassee, and someday to Washington, they will become the status quo and it will mean the pendulum is at its highest arc. You know what happens after that.

Students Learn Not to Desecrate Image of Dear Leader

Jon Ponder

His image is all George W. Bush has, so it is imperative that young people be taught not to screw around with it.

Posters that depicted President Bush with a Groucho Marx-style mustache and cigar were ordered torn down at a high school after a student complained.

Theater students, who had created the posters to advertise a satirical play, countered with new posters with a First Amendment message.

Principal Kenny Lee ordered 100 posters removed from the campus of El Camino Real High School in the Woodland Hills area last week on grounds that they promoted smoking and “endorsing one ideology over another.”

“That’s our take on the student speech and conduct,” Lee said.

The school-funded posters advertised the students’ play, “The Complete History of America (Abridged),” which satirizes U.S. history.

A senior who supports the president wrote a complaint letter to the administration, teachers and students said.

“We had one student who was very upset,” Lee said. “If something is bothering a student on campus, we’re going to address it.”

The poster ban infuriated some students.

“It taught us that the First Amendment certainly does not guarantee the right of free speech,” said Jes Shah, 16, a junior in the school drama program.

The principal asked the drama students to come up with new posters. The new designs all feature a silhouette of Bush and a burning cigar, along with inscriptions such as “Free Expression for All (unless you are in high school)” and “What First Amendment?”

“They’re good,” Lee said. “I like the follow-ups.”