Bush Cabal’s War Lies Captured, Compiled on Tape
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Category: Politics
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Why Is the GOP Hellbent On Giving Pres. Hillary Clinton Authority to Wiretap Without Oversight?
With word this morning that Democrats have caved again on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) wiretap laws, it appears that Pres. Bush will get what he wants: the unfettered ability to spy on anyone anytime.
Republicans are so intent on winning the battle that they have lost sight of the fact that a new president will be sworn in 15 months, and that the new president may well be their femi-nazi arch-enemy, Hillary Clinton.
The glee among Republicans over the Democrats’ spinelessness is understandable. They have them right where they want them. All they have to do is suggest liberals are coddling terrorists and Speaker Pelosi et al fold in the wind.
What is even more striking, however, is the Republicans’ short-sightedness. Are they are so intent on winning the battle that they have lost sight of the fact that a new president will be sworn in 15 months — and that the new president may well be their femi-nazi archenemy, Hillary Clinton?
Not just Clinton. Why would Republicans want Pres. Obama or Pres. Edwards, or any Democrat, to have this power? It makes no sense.
Rank and file liberals object to giving Bush unfettered wiretap authority because there is an extremely high likelihood that if he hasn’t already abused this power and spied on his political enemies (in both parties), he will before he’s through.
Either the Republicans’ rhetoric about Hillary Clinton as an evil communist bogeywoman is all a sham, or they are being overly confident about the outcome of next year’s elections.
As it stands today, all trends point to the Dems gaining in the House and the Senate and taking the White House. If trends prevail and Democrats sweep into power in January 2009, the GOP in the next Congress will be powerless to rescind the powers they are eagerly ceding to Bush today.
Congressional oversight of the Executive is not a recommendation in the Constitution, it is a requirement. No president should have unfettered power, especially when it comes to spying on Americans. But if the Republicans are determined to give this sort of authority to the current president in order to score political points, so be it. The Dems are kowtowing to their bullying and fear-mongering, which means Republicans have the votes.
We can only hope the next Democratic Congress will be more willing to watchdog a president of their own party than the GOP was during its six year reign of power.
Closeted Gay Republican Watch: Armstrong Williams Hosts an A-List Book Party for Justice Thomas
It’s no surprise that there was an A-list book party in Washington for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas last week.
In order to fool “values voters” — who would recoil at the thought of going to a party at a gay man’s home — Republicans like Clarence Thomas keep their acceptance of gays on the down low.
It is also unsurprising that the guest list included Dick and Lynne Cheney, the entire U.S. Supreme Court and a handful of senators, along with Will Smith, Barbara Walters, Charles Barkley, Bob Jones of uber-fundamentalist Bob Jones University, Al Sharpton and Julian Bond. (Okay, Sharpton and Bond are a bit of a surprise since Thomas says in the book that liberals are scarier than the KKK.)
But what might surprise the GOP rank and file about the party is that its host, Armstrong Williams, the former conservative TV pundit, is allegedly gay.
Williams is a familiar face because he was a frequent rightwing pundit on cable news, a stint that ended abruptly in January 2005 when it was revealed he had been paid $241,000 to speak favorability about Bush education policies in his capacity as a TV pundit and elsewhere. (More Bush incompetence and profligacy: Williams would have happily shilled for free.)
The prime indicator that Williams might be gay is the fact he settled a sexual harassment suit with a male employee in 1998:
Williams was trotted out on CNN and other cable nets repeatedly [in 2004] during the gay marriage controversy to trash those who argued that marriage equality for same-sex lovers was a “civil right,” an argument which Williams’ pigmentation–in the eyes of TV news producers–gave him standing to make. As originally reported by New York magazine back in 1998:
Armstrong Williams, the conservative talk-show host who instigated a firestorm last week by asking the senator from Mississippi [Trent Lott] whether homosexuality is a sin, is being sued for sexual harassment by a former employee who happens to be male. Last year, Stephen Gregory — the former YMCA personal trainer whom Williams promoted to executive producer of his show — alleged in his suit that the boss grabbed his buttocks and penis, tried to kiss him, and climbed into his hotel-room bed asking for “affection” while they were traveling together. Williams immediately held a press conference to denounce Gregory’s allegations as “false, baseless, and completely completely without merit.”After the man who was suing him produced affidavits from other men on whom Williams had pressed his unwanted attentions, Williams was forced to admit his denial was a lie, and settled the lawsuit — which alleged 50 separate incidents of rejected physical advances–for $200,000.
With so many sex scandals bubbling up in the GOP of late, surely even the most feeble-minded “values voters” must realize that the gay community is over-represented within the Republican elite. The scales dropping from the eyes among the party’s base can’t be good news for the GOP who have relied on homophobia to get out the vote recently — especially including 2004, when an anti-gay ballot initiative may have delivered Ohio, and thus reelection, to Bush and Cheney.
Senator Smoot
Senator Smoot (Republican, Ut.)
Is planning a ban on smut
Oh rooti-ti-toot for Smoot of Ut.
And his reverent occiput.
Smite. Smoot, smite for Ut.,
Grit your molars and do your dut.,
Gird up your l–ns,
Smite h-p and th-gh,
We’ll all be Kansas
By and By.
— Ogden Nash, “Invocation,” 1931
More Evangelical Corruption – This Time It’s Oral Roberts’ Heirs
Via Digby who makes the point:
We really are getting to the point where it’s easier to assume that conservative religious leaders are crooks, perverts or liars. Sometimes all three. It’s amazing that the Christian right (to which I would add the Catholic Church’s moral teachings in light of the priest scandal) has thrived as long as it did.
One of my colleague Buck’s favorite moments in the annals of televangelism was Oral Roberts’ unique fundraising campaign in 1987 in which he told his sheeple that God had put a ransom on his head. The Big Guy was demanding that Roberts’ followers cough up $8 million or else He would smite Roberts dead.
Amazing it seems, this bizarre fundraising appeal worked. In fact, it wasn’t even considered much of a scandal at the time.
Now Roberts, who is 89, may be facing real scandals in the organizations he founded and in his family — scandals that include political skullduggery, Jim and Tammy Bakker-style lavish spending and purportedly “scores” of improper text messages sent by Oral’s middle-aged daughter-in-law to underaged males:
Now, his son, Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts, says God is speaking again, telling him to deny lurid allegations in a lawsuit that threatens to engulf this 44-year-old Bible Belt college in scandal.
Richard Roberts is accused of illegal involvement in a local political campaign and lavish spending at donors’ expense, including numerous home remodeling projects, use of the university jet for his daughter’s senior trip to the Bahamas and a red Mercedes convertible and a Lexus SUV for his wife, Lindsay
She is accused of dropping tens of thousands of dollars on clothes, awarding nonacademic scholarships to friends of her children and sending scores of text messages on university-issued cell phones to people described in the lawsuit as “underage males.â€
According to Charity Navigator,Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association has negative net assets of $-12, 687,594. Richard Roberts, who is president and CEO, receives a salary of $105,000. Lindsay Roberts, executive vice president, receives salary of $77,000.
The Red Scare Lives: Rightwing Trots Out Socialized Medicine Scare
As Michael Moore points out in “Sicko,” his documentary on how corporate greed has destroyed the U.S. healthcare system, rightwingers never complain about the socialism of the U.S. military or local fire and police departments and libraries. It is only when discussing healthcare that the old socialist bogeyman is dredged up:
Nearly two decades after the West’s victory over communism, one might have thought it possible to discuss reform of the health-care system without invocations of the old saw “socialized medicine.” But no.
“At least Mr. Baucus isn’t disguising his socialist goal,” a Wall Street Journal editorial claimed about the Montana senator’s push to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. “In sum, SCHIP turns out to be socialized medicine for ‘kids,’ ” wrote Post columnist Robert Novak. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said the “SCHIP bill is not a back door to get socialized medicine. They went straight to the front door.” Rudy Giuliani argued: “The American way is not single-payer, government-controlled anything. That’s a European way of doing something; that’s frankly a socialist way of doing something.”
The reason for this is clear: The insurance companies are major donors to the GOP. As was famously said in another horror movie: “Quid pro quo, Dr. Lector.”
Bush Bombshell: He Dislikes All the Candidates
Bush’s answer was so quick and so definitive that it was overlooked, coming two-thirds of the way through a long, rambling Q & A with a friendly group put together by the Lancaster County, Penn. Chamber of Commerce.
Question: Are you able at this point to support any of the presidential candidates coming up?
The President: No.
Q: After saying you’re still having fun, I have even more respect for you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
Q: But my question is a little bit lighter, I guess. Two things. One, are you able at this point to support any of the presidential candidates coming up?
THE PRESIDENT: No.
Q: All right. (Laughter.) Then my next question. I have recently watched the interviews with your daughters, and you have to be very proud of them.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.)
Q: I’m proud of my daughter. My question is, would you rather see your daughters go into business or politics?
THE PRESIDENT: I’d rather them do whatever they want to do…
And that was that. Bush never backed up and explained why he doesn’t support any of his party’s candidates, or elaborated on the subject in any way.
We knew the Republican candidates were distancing themselves from Bush. We didn’t know the feeling was mutual.
It will be interesting to see if that changes after a nominee is selected. I find it very hard to imagine that Bush/Cheney will refrain from supporting the Republican. Surely they know that after they leave the White House, someone’s bound to trip over a body or two left behind by their administration. Surely they’d rather that someone be a Republican.
His answer also explains why the Bush cash machine hasn’t cranked up. The Rangers are so far hanging on to the millions they made available in the last two presidential cycles, leaving Republicans lagging.
Combined, the top three Democratic contenders — Clinton, Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards — have raised nearly $190 million compared to the $121 million Romney, Giuliani and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have raised.
Poll: 27% of GOP Would Bolt If Giuliani Were Nominee
If Rudy Giuliani wins the Republican nomination and a third party campaign is backed by Christian conservative leaders, 27 percent of Republican voters say they’d vote for the third party option rather than Giuliani. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that a three-way race with Hillary Clinton would end up with the former First Lady getting 46 percent of the vote, Giuliani with 30 percent and the third-party option picking up 14 percent.
Atchison Suicide
The federal prosecutor from Florida who was arrested in a child-sex sting in Michigan last month has killed himself in prison:
J.D. Roy Atchison, 53, of Gulf Breeze was found unresponsive in his cell Friday morning in the special housing unit of the Federal Correctional Institution in Milan, Mich…
“His death appears to be the result of suicide,” Truman said. “A thorough investigation is under way.”
…He was arrested Sept. 16 at the Detroit Metropolitan International Airport after corresponding over the Internet with a Macomb County (Mich.) Sheriff’s Office detective who posed as a mother interested in allowing men to engage in sex with her fictitious 5-year-old daughter, authorities said.
NationalPornSunday – Oct. 7, 2007
It’s not what you think:
Over the last two years, almost 200 churches throughout the country have taken part in National PornSunday.
October 7, 2007…… is your chance to bring hope to those who are struggling with pornography. For some, it is ludicrous to link three X’s with church. For others, it’s long overdue. The one undeniable truth that can’t be ignored is the blatant push for all things sexual in our society. PornSunday seeks to drive the conversation about pornography into our churches, families, and lives. PornSunday wants to bring healing and recovery to those struggling with pornography.
One day. One message. Your voice. Churches across the country have become the strength and hope for those struggling with this dirty little secret, and now it’s your church’s opportunity. PornSunday allows you to begin this conversation and then, be equipped to talk about pornography and be prepared for the events that follow after addressing your congregation.
XXXchurch.com has compiled some of the best resources dealing with pornography and put them all in one PornSunday kit, that equips your church to talk about pornography and prepares your church to deal with the issues after PornSunday is over.
Call me old fashioned but I think pornography ought to be kept out of church.
