Bumper Snicker
From the Great Falls (Montana) Tribune: Bumper sticker of the week: Jack Kervorkian for White House Physician. Seen on a Subaru driving on 9th Street South.
— Thanks to T.K. for the tip
Year: 2007
Quote du Jour
All governments, the worst on earth and the most tyrannical on earth, are free governments to that portion of the people who voluntarily support them.
— Lysander Spooner (1808-1887), American lawyer, Libertarian
Quote du Jour
“All religions are the same: religion is basically guilt, with different holidays.”
— Cathy Ladman, comedian, writer, actress (1955- )
Floridians for Franken? It Could Happen
When I found the fundraising letter from Al Franken in my Florida mailbox, I almost dumped it in the “throw away unopened” stack. Instead something made me put it in the “look at it later and then throw it away” pile.
I looked at it today and now I — a Floridian with absolutely no way to vote for Franken in his run for senator in Minnesota — am writing his campaign a check.
That the man has a way with words (although having read his books, I’d say he got help with this letter) is obvious. Still, somewhere in the midst of a professional assessment that he was using too many metaphors and spending too much time on the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, he won me over.
I knew nothing about his opponent, incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman. But when Franken compared him to, “your obnoxious uncle who loves to listen to Rush Limbaugh and ruins Thanksgiving every year,” I understood immediately.
It’s important to get idiots like Coleman out of the Senate and get smart people like Franken in, whether they are running in Minnesota or Florida or California. If you got the letter, don’t toss it. If you weren’t on the mailing list, go to Franken’s web site and look around. You can donate on the spot, and right after you do, Franken will thank you via video. Nice touch.
Boffo Box Office for ‘Sicko’ Coming Soon Thanks to George Bush
The Bush administration is set to give Michael Moore’s new film “Sicko” millions of dollars in free publicity, potentially boosting it into the stratospheric range of Moore’s previous hit, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” which grossed $222 million worldwide in 2004.
On Thursday, Moore announced that he had received a subpoena from the Justice Dept. He says the Bush administration is accusing him of failing to file some documents that are required to film in Cuba and that he thereby violated the Cuban embargo. Moore says journalists are not required to submit the documents in question.
This smacks of a classic Bushie vendetta, a petty swipe at a critic based on the silly hope that a subpoena and perhaps an indictment will silence him. As if. It is also the latest example of the White House political shop using the Justice Dept. to attack an opponent. Note the timing — the subpoena to Moore came within hours after Karl Rove received a subpoena from Democrats in Congress.
Subpoenaing Moore, like so many Bushevik tactics, is also a strategy designed to fail. If silencing Moore was the objective, his legal battles with the government will only give him a bigger soapbox. If tying him up in an expensive legal battle was the goal, the additional publicity will make him much richer than he would have been if the government had stayed out of it and more than offset the legal fees.
Not that “Sicko” isn’t doing quite well without Bush’s help. Despite rightwingers’ dire predictions that ticket sales would be anemic, in the three and a half weeks since “Sicko” went into wide release it has already grossed $20.3 million, and will soon surpass the $21.5 million in total domestic receipts made by “Bowling for Columbine,” for which Moore won the Best Documentary Oscar for 2002. “Sicko” hasn’t yet opened overseas.
With the free high-profile publicity from the government, especially if Moore is indicted, ticket sales for “Sicko” could surge into $200 million range of “Fahrenheit 9/11.”
And at this early stage, “Sicko” appears to be the strongest contender for the Best Documentary Oscar this year. If Hollywood types come to believe Michael Moore is being persecuted by George Bush, “Sicko” will be a shoe-in.
Tony Snow Whines about Dem Investigations – But the GOP Issued Hundreds of Subpoenas Against the Clintons, Even Investigated Their Cat
“When I was working in the Clinton White House, one committee alone, the House Government Reform Committee, issued a thousand subpoenas to Clinton administration officials 141 different people were subpoenaed.”
— Paul Begala
— Paul Begala
Yesterday, after the Democrats sent two subpoenas to White House officials, including one for Karl Rove, and issued their first formal call for a special prosecutor to look into Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales’ apparent perjury in Senate testimony, Fox News/White House spokesman Tony Snow, rushed to the cameras to complain:
“We’ve had more than 600 oversight hearings, 87,000-plus hours spent responding to oversight requests and 430,000 pages made available to Congress for oversight,” Snow said, adding that the investigations have yet to reveal any wrongdoing.
“Look at all the pages here. Look at all the hearings. This is … it is as if they keep throwing mud against the wall, hoping something’s going to stick,” the spokesman said.
“At this point, we have hundreds of hearings that have produced bubkes,” Snow stated. “And what has happened is, that there has generated this idea, ‘Let’s go on a fishing expedition and let’s haul somebody up, and let’s make insinuations without having firm proof.’ And what that does is it creates a toxic atmosphere.”
American Family Association Rides Coattails of Homophobic Mayor
With supporters like these: Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle, contrarian that he is, is probably pissed at Donald “Wildman” Wildmon’s efforts to support him for his openly homophobic comments. Today I received an American Family Association “Action Alert” urging me to write a thank-you note to the Neandethalic Naugle in a clear attempt to co-opt Naugle’s issue.
So, Mayor Naugle, keep letting those sad homosexuals know exactly what you’re thinking about — men having sex in public restrooms — and let Donald Wildmon develop his own homoerotic sex fantasies.
Here’s Don’s personal note to me:
Dear Buck,
Mayor Jim Naugle of Ft. Lauderdale has issued an apology to the people of his city for being unaware of the magnitude of local public homosexual sex. He has also vowed to do something about it.
Naugle apologized for underestimating the problem of men having sex with each other in public restrooms. He also said that Broward County leads the nation in the number of new AIDS cases involving men having sex with men, and he questioned whether the county tourism office should be welcoming them.
As expected, the homosexuals have begun a vicious campaign against Mayor Naugle.
So, I used Wildmon’s Web site to send Naugle a letter, though I took a moment to toss his dross and write a few choice words of my own for Naugle. There’s even a button you can check to say you’re going to pray for Naugle, as if that would help. Here’s my letter:
Dear Mayor Naugle,
Don’t let the American Family Association hijack your current program of speaking out on the issues and use you for their own nefarious purposes. Don’t let yourself be a tool of Donald Wildmon and his ilk.
You’ve made it so far standing on your own two hind legs and letting your community know in no uncertain terms just where you stand on the pressing issue of men having sex in public toilets. From everything I can tell, you seem to be firmly against it.
That is YOUR issue, not AFA’s. They are trying to boycott Ford Motor Co., and not having much luck, either. So they’re trying to ride on your coattails as you spread the message of your truth-speech.
Let AFA stick to its own homophobic message and you stick to yours — it’s only right that homophobes stick together on separate issues, don’t you agree?
So, Mayor Naugle, keep letting those sad homosexuals know exactly what you’re thinking about — men having sex in public restrooms — and let Donald Wildmon develop his own homoerotic sex fantasies.
Have some fun — send your own letter to the mayor here. And to make certain he gets it, also send your letter to mayorjames@aol.com.
Republicans Terrified of YouTube Debate
It’s not their checkered pasts, their questionable financial dealings, or even their bizarre religious tenets. You know what really scares the Republican candidates for the presidency? We do.
Mitt Romney — who recently faced questions about his common sense for strapping his dog in its carrier to the top of his car during a 12-hour drive, causing the animal to defecate over his windshield — said the format is beneath his dignity
After pulling a party-line no-show at the recent National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) convention, aka, THE event for Latino movers and shakers, they are now discovering a rash of scheduling conflicts at the prospect of facing the chilling YouTube questioners in debate.
Just like with the Latino forum, all the Democratic candidates participated in the recent YouTube debate led by CNN’s Anderson Cooper. But Republicans, including Rudy Giulliani, are balking.
Republican presidential front-runner Rudy Giuliani may have better things to do than answer YouTube users’ questions at the GOP debate in St. Petersburg.
The news broke late Thursday that the former New York City mayor has scheduling issues with the Sept. 17 date, jeopardizing the showdown at the Mahaffey Theater…
Giuliani campaign officials could not be reached late Thursday to elaborate on the specific scheduling conflicts.
Mitt Romney — who recently faced derision and questions about his common sense for strapping his dog in its carrier to the top of his car during a 12-hour drive, causing the animal to defecate over his windshield — came right out and said the format is beneath his dignity.
“I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman,” Romney told the Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader this week.
Only John McCain and Ron Paul have accepted; all the other Republicans are still checking their calendars.
The Republican candidates, or should we say middle-aged white guys in black suits, are obviously more comfortable with the old snore-fest format of moderator asking question and candidates answering question.
If the chickenhawks chicken out, it will be a blow to Florida’s Republican governor, Charlie Crist, whose Serve to Preserve Climate Summit to address global warming already made party hardliners in Tallahassee uncomfortable. The debate is the highest profile event since Crist and others had the Florida primary moved up in the 2008 cycle.
Quote du Jour
A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within. The essential cause of Rome’s decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars. Rome was not destroyed by Christianity any more than by barbarian invasion; it was an empty shell when Christianity rose to influence and the invasion came.
— Will Durant (1885-1981) and Ariel Durant (1898-1981), American historians
Dems Call for Perjury Inquiry into Gonzales’ Testimony
Four Democratic senators wrote U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement asking he appoint an independent counsel to examine the truthfulness of Gonzales’ testimony to Congress on such matters as his firing of nine federal prosecutors and President George W. Bush’s warrantless domestic-spying program.
“We ask that you immediately appoint an independent special counsel from outside the Department of Justice to determine whether Attorney General Gonzales may have misled Congress or perjured himself,” they wrote.
The letter was from Sens. Charles Schumer of New York, Dianne Feinstein of California, Russell Feingold of Wisconsin and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, all members of the Judiciary Committee.
