Month: February 2006

Octavia Butler Dies after Accident

Jon Ponder

Science Fiction writer Octavia Butler died on February 24, 2006, after hitting her head on a walkway near her home near Seattle. She was 58.

She remains the only science fiction writer to receive one of the vaunted “genius grants” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, a hard-earned $295,000 windfall in 1995 that followed years of poverty and personal struggles with shyness and self-doubt.

“People may call these ‘genius grants,’ ” Butler said in a 2004 interview with the Seattle P-I, “but nobody made me take an IQ test before I got mine. I knew I’m no genius.”

Perhaps best known for the book “Kindred,” in which a black woman from modern Los Angeles is transported back to the pre-Civil War slave era, she wrote about a dozen other books, including the most recent “Fledgling.”

She received a Hugo Award and Nebula Award.

First World Trade Center Bombing

Jon Ponder

The World Trade Center bombing that killed six and injured over 1,000 was 13 years ago today, February 26, 1993. The terrorists failed to bring down the towers that day but eventually succeeded, on September 11. 2001 — about eight and a half years later.

Keep that gap of eight years in mind the next time you hear a Bush worshiper argue that, in spite of his myriad mistakes and failures, at least Dear Leader has kept us safe from another attack.

It has only been four and a half years since the 9/11 attacks. And I think we can assume that when the folks at Al Qaeda hear these claims from Republicans what they hear is, “Bring it on.”

Jeb Mum on Port of Miami Takeover

Trish

There’s an odd silence coming from Florida’s top executive, compared with other states threatened by port takeovers by the United Arab Emirates.

A Florida editorial declined to play up Jeb’s omission, but then again, it didn’t have to.

Sleep well, Florida. The president — and Jeb — have got your back.

The governors of states affected by the sale are raising hell, and rightfully so. They, along with congressmen from those states are threatening all manner of legislative and legal roadblocks.

The editors chose to ask even better questions.

But Tuesday, President George Bush vowed to veto any bill Congress might approve to block the deal. He told reporters, “This is a country that has played by the rules, has been cooperative with the United States, from a country that’s been an ally on the war on terror, and it would send a terrible signal to friends and allies not to let this transaction go through.”

Would any of our “allies” in the Middle East allow the United States to oversee the operation of their ports and its national security? The answer’s pretty simple. They’re not that stupid. What’s that say about us?

Finally, how would you like to be the resident of a state where the major international port is controlled by the Arab world? Well, you are. Operations at the Port of Miami are being sold, along with others in New Jersey, New York, New Orleans, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.

Sleep well. The president’s got your back.

Florida Republicans Up the Ante on Gay Marriage Ban

Trish

Having lost any claim to national defense (aka homeland security), fiscal responsibility, and limited government as core Republican values, Florida GOoPers are still hanging on to brand identity in one area: homophobia.

By many accounts the marriage amendment stands to mobilize religious conservatives who would likely vote Republican. Lee…said that has nothing to do with his supporting the party financing the effort

After sinking $150,000 of the $193,000 raised to put a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage before the voters this year, the Florida Republican Party is digging deeper. They’re throwing another $150,000 at the failed initiative.

Determined to get a gay marriage ban on the ballot for Florida voters, the state Republican Party has doubled its initial investment in the effort to $300,000.

State Senate President Tom Lee said the additional $150,000 came after Florida4marriage.org, the political committee working to amend the state Constitution, failed to get enough signatures in time to qualify for the 2006 ballot…

“I supported it because I know it’s an important issue to Republicans. I know it may not be more important than tax cuts, it may not be more important than property rights or whatever, but it is an element, just as the sanctity of life issues are an element of importance of our party,” Lee said.

Since gay marriage is already outlawed by the Florida legislature, Democrats think that what Lee really means is, “This is the only way we can get anyone who would vote for us to the polls.”

“It looks like they’re afraid they can’t win on the issues that actually matter to Floridians – issues like port security, offshore drilling, prescription drugs and class size reduction,” [State Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski] said.

By many accounts the marriage amendment stands to mobilize religious conservatives who would likely vote Republican. Lee is running for chief financial officer but said that has nothing to do with his supporting the party financing the effort.

No doubt he’s just concerned that his own marriage will fall apart if gays are allowed to marry. Let’s see, there’s a law against it, now they want an amendment barring it…what next? A proclamation from the governor? Or how about statutes in all 67 Florida counties? Yeah, that’ll turn out the base!

Katherine Harris is Named as “Representative A” in Cunningham Bribe Case

Trish

Over one year ago, PR reported on U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Stolen Elections) trying to divest herself of the same illegal contributions which former California Representative Duke Cunningham is going to jail for accepting.

“The congressman who got the most money is going to prison,” McLaughlin said. “The one who got the second-most money wants to be a senator. I would hope voters would look at that”

If you missed it the first time around, Harris took somewhere near $50,000, funneled through employees of defense contractor MZM Inc., whose employees also favored Duke.

After the employees complained about coercion, Harris offered — in the style of the DeLay-linked — to return the payola. Now the horse manootey is hitting the fan, and Harris’ new name is in legal circles is “Rep. A.”

Harris’ campaign attempted to return the campaign contributions to MZM employees but never received a response, the release said.

Harris acknowledged having contact with Wade and his firm…

Cunningham, a Vietnam veteran who represented a southern California district, resigned from Congress in November and pleaded guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes from Wade and MZM in exchange for help securing Pentagon contracts. Cunningham faces up to 10 years in prison.

In Wade’s guilty plea on Friday, the court document stated “Representative A” received $46,000 in “illegal contributions” from employees and spouses at Wade’s firm.

Harris is “Representative A.”

[…]

Let’s Outsource the Secret Service to the UAE

Trish

Alert PR reader Vito D. had a really good question for the Deputy Defense Secretary. Gordon England said last week that those who question the port deal put our security at risk by giving people from Arab countries a complex. Vito asked:

Why not abolish the Secret Service and let U.A.E. guard the President? Now this would show our Arab allies that we trust them.

I agree. If there’s no problem with letting them hire the longshoremen in our ports, then while we’re at it, let’s put them where they could really do some good.

Brown Says Bush Was Fully Briefed on Katrina

Jon Ponder

Michael Brown tells NBC News that President Bush was fully informed prior to landfall that Hurricane Katrina would likely destroy New Orleans:

“We ought to get mad at the President… The alarm bells were being sounded on Sunday. Because not only was I having conferences with the President on the telephone, but he was also on the video conference with all of the state emergency managers.”

This means that while the president was cavorting across the country, strumming the guitar, cutting up with John McCain and birthday cake and sleeping peacefully in San Diego, he knew that Americans were drowning in the flooded streets or clinging for dear life on rooftops.

It also means that he was lying on Good Morning America that week when he said:

“No one could have anticipated that the levees would be breached.”

Now William F. Buckley Jr. Hates America

Jon Ponder

Remember the equation set forth by the GOP message machine:

Criticizing President Bush = Hating America

The latest America-hating critic of Dear Leader is the elder statesman of conservative fantasists himself, William F. Buckley. Under the headline “It Didn’t Work,” he writes:

One can’t doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed… And the administration has, now, to cope with failure..

Mr. Bush has a very difficult internal problem here because to make the kind of concession that is strategically appropriate requires a mitigation of policies he has several times affirmed in high-flown pronouncements. His challenge is to persuade himself that he can submit to a historical reality without forswearing basic commitments in foreign policy.

He will certainly face the current development as military leaders are expected to do: They are called upon to acknowledge a tactical setback, but to insist on the survival of strategic policies.

Yes, but within their own counsels, different plans have to be made. And the kernel here is the acknowledgment of defeat.

So Buckley is one of those cut-and-runners, huh? He’d better watch out for Swiftboaters. Bushistas don’t take kindly to this kind of talk. The next thing you know, they’ll be questioning his conservative credentials.

Hat Tip to LL & ST