Pokin' 'Round the Blogs...

Part One

The Blue Girl in the Red State (and there must be an easier way to refer to her) has an interesting post up on the Missouri elections, and the rationale underlying it. Well worth the read.

Just a snippet as an appetizer:

Terry Price, we absolutely know what we have done. We have replaced a senator who had more interest in serving K Street than he had with serving his constituents. We fired a senator who voted to suspend Habeus Corpus and legitimize torture, as well as repeal Posse Comitatus and The Insurrection Acts. We voted against Jim Talent and his 94% endorsement of the policies of George Bush, not against George Bush. We voted against a senator who skipped 65 of 95 Senate Armed Services Committee meetings while touting his service on that committee. We knew exactly who we were voting for, and more importantly, we knew precisely who we were voting against. We too believe the country was headed over a cliff and Jim Talent was reading the map for George Bush as he steered us farther and farther off course.

As I say, well worth it.


Part Two

Bob's Links and Rants -- a neighbor of mine, even though we haven't met -- discusses Rumsfeld addressing the American Spectator Annual Dinner on the 16th, praising economist Milton Friedman.

Then he points out:

This morning's headline?

Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman dies at 94

You're probably wondering, as I was, who else Rummy mentioned in his speech: Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL), and President Bush.

Just saying.

We should be so lucky.


Part Three

Anntichrist S. Coulter is still raising money for her friend Leola. If you could send them even a couple of bucks, it would help offset some truly horrendous medical bills. And if PayPal doesn't like you, the way they don't like me, Annti has a smail mail address for the fund.

Michigan-Ohio Update & Bo Schembechler

Obviously, the post about the Michigan-Ohio game was written before the news came out about Bo Schembechler's death.

Of course, there hasn't been much definitive information about the exact circumstances of his death, but from what I understand, he had had a pacemaker-defibrillator implanted last month; the pacemaker-defib was apparently working properly -- sending out electrical charges to stimulate a normal heart rhythm -- when he collapsed at the WXYZ studios in Detroit. This would imply to me that Schembechler's heart was damaged to the point where even the pacemaker-defib could not maintain his life.

Granted, I'm not a physician... or even an MD (which, contrary to what the docs believe, does not stand for "major diety"), but it doesn't take a Bill "Cat-Killer" Frist to see that if 'external' electrical charges aren't working, your heart is shot.

This is one of those situations where neither CPR nor an AED would have served any purpose. If an AED had been available, and if the pacemaker-defib had been firing as designed, the AED would probably have read a normal sinus rhythm, and would not have allowed a shock. If the pacemaker had not been firing, Schembechler would probably have been asystolic ("flat-lined" for the "ER"-watching crowd); AED's do not read asystole as a shockable rhythm.

Either way, Schembechler was probably dead before he hit the floor.

Does this mean you should not take a CPR class? Hell, no. Take the clas, cause the person you find probably won't be in Schembechler's circumstances.

BTW, there was a lot of discussion around the office today about Schembechler's death would affect the game. Opinion seemed to be more or less evenly split: either it would drag the Michigan team down (through sorrow, depression, and loss), or it would further energize a team that's already "up" (their own "win one for the gipper" moment).

Either way, it's gonna be a hell of a game.

UCLA, ACLU... What's the Diff?

Okay, the wingnuts are getting a little out of control. I was chatting with a friend about the UCLA police Tasering a student for failure to show identification in the university library.

One of the local loonies overheard us -- one of us said something about an ID dispute -- and he jumped right in... about the "ACLU police" stunning the guy for disputing Intelligent Design. First, he demanded to know when and why the ACLU had established its own police department, and he wanted to know why they were zapping the kid for not believing in "Intelligent Design", which he claimed had been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

We tried to expalin the difference between UCLA -- University of California, Los Angeles -- and the ACLU -- American Civil Liberties Union -- but he kept demanding to know why the ACLU had its own cops.

And we're supposed to reach out to these morons....

Michigan-Ohio Game*

I know that for some people -- my father and both brothers spring to mind -- football is a religion. And I know that Michigan and Ohio have been rivals since Don Imus crept from his mother's womb 103 years ago. And I even know both teams are going into the game with 11-0 records.

But this is just plain silly.

I heard on the radio today that the Department of Homeland Security has designated this weekend's game a "National Special Security Event", which is the same designation used for Presidential inaugurations, national political conventions and the like. This means the Secret Service is in charge of security for the event, assisted by DHS, FBI, DoD, and all the rest of the bureaucratic alpha-bits agencies.

All time off has been cancelled for the Columbus police and fire departments. The city is bringing in the county and state cops, and apparently every other uniformed group including the Cub Scouts.

The rumor mill even says the University of Michigan Police Dept is sending troops to Ohio for the game.

Now, is everyone over-reacting to a flippin' football game?... or do the dweebs at DHS figure this is a way to see a sold-out game?


*It seems to be legally required that every Michigan-based blogger comment on this game. I could give a rat's rectum about football. I was born in Brooklyn, NY, so I'm waiting for the Dodgers to finish off their extended road trip and come back home.

Bush and the Will of the People

I was reading Milton Friedman’s obit on Yahoo today, and I saw a rather ironic quote from Commander Codpiece:

"He has used a brilliant mind to advance a moral vision — the vision of a society where men and women are free, free to choose, but where government is not as free to override their decisions," SEARCH
President Bush said in 2002. "That vision has changed America, and it is changing the world.”

This is truly rich, coming from the man who has used more “signing statements” than all other American presidents combined, the man whose minions stole elections in Florida and Ohio, the man who allowed his mouth-breathin’, Bible-thumpin’, hooker-humpin’, sister-marryin’, rifle-rack-in-the-pickmup neocon wingnut idjit buddies to try to overrule the sovereign State of Florida in the Terry Schiavo case, the man who – proclaiming himself “The Decider” – single-handedly trashed 230 years of American juridical history (along with a certain “Goddamned piece of paper”, the Bill of Rights, the writ of habeas corpus, and a few other Constitutional goodies), the man who ignored the knowledge and recommendations of his own advisors to hurl us into an illegal and insane war, the man who has the unmitigated gall to suggest that disagreeing with him is tantamount to treason.

Of course, to be fair, Bush doesn’t really believe the government should override the peoples’ decisions… he reserves that “right” for himself only.

Oh, and the lovely yet talented Mrs 618 sent along this priceless quote from Dim Son:

"I have opinions of my own -- strong opinions -- but I don't always agree with them."

As she said, "Only Shrubby could spit out something so stupid".

Do Something Good...

Anntichrist S. Coulter, whose heart is as big as her home state of Louisiana (plus a large chunk of the 47 adjacent states), is raising money to help a friend of hers, Leola Kinchen, who is trying to deal with a brain tumor.

More information on Leola is here.

Now bear in mind, Annti has had her own problems recently, but here she is, doing her damnedest to help someone who really, really needs it.

If every single one of my readerswere to donate a measly five dollars, we could help raise... ummm... $25.00. Or so.

Please, go hit her PayPal button (remember, the money goes to Leola, not Annti). Not that Annti doesn't need it, but right now, she's concentrating on Leola.

Thanks, folks.

More Early Mornin' Bits 'n' Pieces...

A Los Angeles fire captain is in serious trouble:

“A veteran Los Angeles city fire captain tortured a female acquaintance before he strangled her last summer, an accusation that makes him eligible for the death penalty, according to a Los Angeles County grand jury indictment unsealed in court Wednesday. "

Or, he’ll be scouted by the Bushies for recruitment to Club Fed/Gitmo… [emphasis added]

A 23-year department veteran, Del Toro had been the supervisor of Fire Station 1 in Lincoln Heights and had trained firefighters in stress management and prevention of sexual harassment, despite a history of domestic violence allegations against him. The case highlighted the Fire Department's failure to track domestic abuse within its ranks.

This is absolutely inexcusable.

Homicide investigators followed a trail of blood from the body to Del Toro's home, sources said.

Yup, that’s stupid enough to be a Bushie.
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Daily Kos front-pager DarkSyde has an interesting article comparing George W. Bush to Wile E. Coyote: [emphasis added]

It's really difficult to judge which is more pathetic: That George Bush has to rely on Daddy's friends to bail him (And the entire nation) out from the consequences of his own piss-poor decisions, again, or that Baker and Gates may now have to essentially beg Iran and Syria to pitch in and save the Bush Family name.

Yup, that works.

Early Mornin' Bits 'n' Pieces

Heard a couple of interesting things on NPR this morning on the way in:

• In a story on a terrorism class being held at the Joint Special Operations University, an instructor referred to the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) as "Thousands Standing Around" and as the "Take your Shoes off Agency" (which was really reaching, but quite appropriate).

It's no great secret that I do not hold the TSA in high esteem. They, like the rest of TSA, are still preparing for the last attack, instead of thinking about the next. Certainly, anyone who has spent any time at a major airport since 9-11 can recall all those white-shirted losers standing around looking official (when they're not stealing from passengers, groping a pregnant woman's breasts, or missing [fake] bombs). Just Google "TSA screener arrested" and see what pops up: ten pages of stories. Ten PAGES.

• There was also a story on "faith-based investing", which is, to me, a terrifying concept. One "faith-based investor" said he's not homophobic, he just doesn't want to invest in companies supporting the "homosexual agenda".

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but the only people I've heard using the term "homosexual agenda" are the fundamentalist neocons... who tend to be homophobic to the hilt and/or closted gays: the Ted Haggards, the Mark Foleys, the Ken Mehlmans.

In his (her?) Kos diaries mentioned a few weeks ago, Dogemperor -- a walk-away from a dominionist church -- refers to a "dominionist glossary" (if I can find the link, I'll update this post); I believe "homosexual agenda" was listed as one of the "code phrases" understood by dominionists (and other mouth-breathin', Bible-thumpin', hooker-humpin', sister-marryin', rifle-rack-in-the-pickmup neocon wingnut idjits), and totally missed by others.

One of the local wingnuts here also said there was a "clear correlation between the homosexual agenda and the prevalence of birth control, partial-birth abortions, and sexual immorality".

• The lovely yet talented Mrs 618 was watching C-Span last week, and saw an interview with an author who wrote about "selective literalists" - those whackos who pick and choose certain parts of the Bible (usually from Leviticus) for "literal" interpretation, while completely ignoring passages that don't agree with their preconceived notions of right and wrong. More on this later.

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled work day.

Chattin' With Mr. C.

I was chatting earlier today with Mr. Conservatard, discussing the various possibilities for the remainder of the Bush reign. Mr. C. said he believes the administration will be pushing to pass as much legislation – Bolton to the UN, wiretapping, the rest of his “unitary executive” crap – as they can before the 110^th Congress takes over. I tend to agree with him on all but one point: he said Bush was formulating these plans.

Garbage.

Bush couldn’t formulate a glass of chocolate milk given a gallon of Hood’s finest and a jug of Hershey’s syrup.

There’s no doubt somebody is formulating something, but I’m inclined to believe it’s Cheney and Rove, or possibly Poppy’s “A-Team” that Junior had to call in to bail out his butt yet again.

As Digby points out: [emphasis added]

I hope people understand that James Baker and Robert Gates are in the Bush family business not the "wise old sage who will do what's right for the country" business. Indeed, their entire lives have been devoted to bailing out Bushes. (And they haven't always been successful. Jimmy may have pulled one out for Junior in Florida, but he was called back, much against his will, to get Poppy re-elected and failed.) Their job is simply to try to save Junior from ignominy and that is not necessarily what is in the best interest of the US or Iraq.

Digby then quotes the ever-wonderful Molly Ivins:

Jim Hightower's great line about Bush, "Born on third and thinks he hit a triple," is still painfully true. Bush has simply never acknowledged that not only was he born with a silver spoon in his mouth -- he's been eating off it ever since. The reason there is no noblesse oblige about Dubya is because he doesn't admit to himself or anyone else that he owes his entire life to being named George W. Bush. He didn't just get a head start by being his father's son -- it remained the single most salient fact about him for most of his life. He got into Andover as a legacy. He got into Yale as a legacy. He got into Harvard Business School as a courtesy (he was turned down by the University of Texas Law School).

He got into the Texas Air National Guard -- and sat out Vietnam -- through Daddy's influence. (I would like to point out that that particular unit of FANGers, as regular Air Force referred to the "Fucking Air National Guard," included not only the sons of Governor John Connally and Senator Lloyd Bentsen, but some actual black members as well -- they just happened to play football for the Dallas Cowboys.) Bush was set up in the oil business by friends of his father.

He went broke and was bailed out by friends of his father. He went broke again and was bailed out again by friends of his father; he went broke yet again and was bailed out by some fellow Yalies.

Ivins hardly paints the picture of Bush as a master thinker (he’s probably more of a master baiter).

Despite his claims of being “The Decider”, Bush seems to lack even the most rudimentary decision-making skills. Hell, he probably needs Laura – or at least his valet – to tell him which shoe goes on which foot (“George, your shoes are on the wrong feet again”… “But, Lauuuuraaaaa, theeeese are the only feet I haaaaaaave!”).

Obviously, Mr. C. is right in that the Bushies will try to get their agenda passed before the grownups return, if for no other reason than to give the Democrats as much trouble as possible when they try to reverse Bush’s assorted disasters. Face it, the more problems the Republicans accumulate, the harder it will be for the Democrats to solve them. The harder the Dems have to work, the more the Republicans can bitch about how the Democrats aren’t doing anything. And you know those lying sack-o-shit Republicans will very conveniently forget just who caused all these problems in the first place.

An Attaboy for (gasp!) Curt Weldon???

Much as I hate the Bushites and everything they stand for, I do have to give one of them some credit. Curt Weldon (R-PA) is a long-time member of the Congressional Fire and Emergency Services Caucus. As such, he (and the other 340 members of the Caucus) have been a voice for America's first responders.

I hope that at least a few of the newly-elected Democrats will take his place in this important group.

For your services to America's firefighters and EMS personnel, Mr. Weldon, thank you.

On the other hand, for your unswerving support of that lying sack of shit George W. Bush and his insane policies, STFU.

A propos of absolutely nothing, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams is also a former volunteer firefighter.

You have to give these people credit, especially the volunteers. They're the ones that run into buildings everyone else is running out of. They don't get paid anything near what they're worth to American society (if they get paid at all), and their budgets are usually among the first to be cut (along with the cops).

Volunteer firefighters have to meet the same training criteria as the full-time paid guys, yet they often have to do it on their own time and at their own expense.

Now that we're done -- for a while -- with the requests for campaign donations, why not kick a few bucks towards your local fire department?

Impeachment? No Effin' Way.

There's been a lot of discussion on the Internets the last couple of days about how the Democrats might consider impeaching George W. Bush for his actions as preznit.

I don't think any reasonable person doubts there would be sufficient evidence to at least get him impeached (remember, impeachment is Fed-speak for an indictment, not a determination of guilt). One commentator on NPR the other day pointed out that there would be at least as much evidence -- if not more -- against Cheney (sorry, no link, 'cause I can't remember who said it or when). There's certainly no lack of websites demanding Bush's removal from office (here, here, here, just to pick the first three from Googling "impeach bush").

No, if the decision were made to offer articles of impeachment, the problem would be knowing when "enough is enough". The boy has been so incredibly stupid, so amazingly arrogant, and so genuinely horrifying as preznit, we could probably come up with at least 500 articles -- each one a separate and discrete offense.

Badtux has pointed out that Speaker-Elect Nancy Pelosi has pretty much ruled out impeachment for reasons of simple math. The speaker is, of course, next in line after the Vice President.

More to the point -- as Badtux said at the end of his piece -- we'd wind up with (ulp) Preznit Cheney.

Now, I am hardly a Constitutional scholar, nor am I an attorney, but it seems there are a few different ways a possible impeachment ploy could work out. None of them are really good, at least from my point of view.

1. Bush is impeached, tried, and removed from office. This leaves Cheney as president (someone shoot me). As we saw with the Nixon administration, the new president gets to name a new vice president. Cheney would probably nominate someone even worse than he is. We (as in the American people) lose.
2. We impeach Cheney first; he's tried and removed. Bush gets to name Cheney's replacement. W would probably pardon Cheney (the way Ford pardoned Nixon) then re-nominate him. Otherwise, Bush would name some other moron -- like Santorum. We lose.
3. We impeach Bush and Cheney together. If they're both removed from office, the presidency would land in Pelosi's lap.

This would be a win, except for one thing: I think a lot of people -- maybe even a majority -- would view it as a power grab by Democrats. It would be a safe bet that some Republicans who might vote to convict Bush and Cheney (Snowe, Collins, McCain come to mind) if there were a Republican Speaker, would not do so with a Democratic Speaker. So we go through all the aggravation of impeachment and a trial, and come out with... nothing. All we would have done is make both of them martyrs. Kinda like the way the Republicans made a martyr out of Bill Clinton.

I think (and I've said this before) we should let Bush serve out his term, go back to Crawdad in disgrace, and spend eternity being remembered as...

Worst. President. Ever.

At least Warren Harding would be happy.

Yeah. What Badtux Sez.

In my piece "Post-Election Catch-Up", the prolific commenter Anonymous left me about a 500-line conspiracy-theory-"9-11 was no terror attack" piece of crap. I say piece of crap because most -- if not all -- of the allegations have been proven false.

Turns out Badtux got the same thing. Fortunately, the penguin saved me from having to respond to the conspiracy-theory-commenter (go read his rebuttal, and be glad I didn't post my own 500-line response).

"Why, Rummy, Why?"

I was chatting with a conservative coworker today, and asked him what his take was on Rumsfeld's resignation/firing. I was hoping to get a reasonable response, perhaps similar to responses posted by other bloggers: "Rumsfeld quit to avoid removal from office", "this is as close as Bush'll ever get to admitting we need to make a change", and so on.

Instead of a logical response, I got a tirade: "Why do you think he retired? He was sick and tired of you liberal commie-lovers targeting him"... and on and on and on...

No semblance of rational thought. None whatsoever.

And yet we have to reach out to these morons and try to work with them for the common good.

BadTux, the (Not) Wrong Penguin

BadTux, whom I have quoted in the past, is usually a very sane and competent writer on a variety of topics. Imagine my joy when I thought I had finally caught him in a boo-boo of truly egregious proportions:

Thus why I haven't exactly been jumping up and down for joy, because the only resort that Congress has, in that case, is to impeach Bush. And as Nancy Pelosi noted, that ain't happening. Impeachment is off the table for the simple reason that the Democrats don't have the 60 votes in the Senate. They could create a circus, but that's about it.

Of course, I read the whole piece, screaming (silently) at the monitor... "BadTux, you fool, don't you see????"

Then, way down at the end of the post...

All the way down...

At the very bottom...

Not to mention that impeaching Bush means... President Dick Cheney. Somehow I doubt that Darth Cheney would be an improvement!!

Rassafrassin' penguin ruined my day.

But I suppose I should have known he would have spotted the most terrifying part of impeaching Bush.

A Man of Many Talents...

The Dark Wraith (who very kindly added my humble offering to his blogroll, as well as -- apparently -- that at Big Brass Blog) is a man of many talents:

[...] a college teacher and writer who specializes in economics, finance, mathematics, business administration, computer hardware and software skills, and English grammar and composition. His extensive writings on the history of the English language appeared on About.com in the avatar of the Selig Wraith in the Medieval History Forum; and he now writes on economics and politics as the Dark Wraith, under which pen name he also publishes and hosts Big Brass Blog. In addition, he serves as the editor and publisher of the blogScream News Wire service.

He is also quite gifted in the graphics field:

Graphic courtesy of The Dark Wraith, used by permission.

I am SOOOOO glad I'm not George W. Bush....

Post Election Catch-Up

First, congratulations to all the Democrats -- both candidates and workers -- who showed that, despite Bush's best attempts, democracy is not dead yet.

Second, I would like to take this opportunity to reach out to our Republican brethren, in the spirit in which they reached out to us in 2000 and 2004:

YOU LOST! WE WON!!!!

GET OVER IT!!!

LOOOOOOOO-SERS!!!!!

Third, on a more sedate and appropriate note, many bloggers have pointed out that our work has just begun. My good friend, Mr. Conservatard, reminds us:

I am sure that quite a few questions will be going thru every Americans head next week, and the Democrats better have answers. The questions will probably look like the following examples. Now that the Democrats have some power in the government, what are they going to do with it? What is the best way to fix the mess of Iraq? What are the Democrats plans to help the economy? What are the Democrats plans to reverse six years of the Bush regime’s attack on the Constitution? How are they going to reverse the ecologically devastating policies of the Bushtard/Big Oil cabal?

None of these questions have simple answers. If the Democrats are smart they will be open with the American public about the complexity of the problems and that any solution will not be perfect. The conservatards have spent a lot of time and money to fool the American public into allowing them to use the military as a tool. A tool called “The War on Terror” that was in reality a tool to help the conservatards advance their neo-conservative imperialistic agenda. You can take it to the bank that the conservatards and their masters will not easily put the crack pipe of power and money down without a fight.

Mr. C is quite right in his assessments (I especially like the phrase "the crack pipe of power"). Of course, Mr. C is not the only one to advance such cautions: Kos and company, Digby, Atrios, Billmon, and many others have said similar things.

They are all 100% correct.

Now is not the time for gloating (at least, not too much). Now is the time when we as Democrats, with our newly-minted majority*, have to reach out. I'm not saying we have to suck up to the Republicans, but neither can we show their arrogance and disdain for "non-believers."

And like Georgia10 at Kos, I'm having kind of a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of victory. Of course, I'm considerably older ("older than dirt", as my son says) and remember handing out flyers on the streets of NYC for Johnson, Humphrey and Kennedy. But after 12 years of Republican rule on capitol Hill and six years of Bush's phony-cowboy hell, it'll take some time to accept that the grown-ups are back in charge.

*And while our majority is slim, remember that Bush and his sycophants claimed 51% was a "mandate" (No, Mehlman, not that kind of man-date. Idiot.)

Damn! The Dark Wraith Does It AGAIN!!!

Graphic Courtesy The Dark Wraith; Used by permission


From Dark Wraith:

The Republicans have retained and even expanded their control of the House. They have won Senate seats where they should have lost, and they have taken a couple more they shouldn't have won. Several governorships have gone from Democrats to Republicans.

GOP faces are all over the TV, smirking, waving, smugly preening themselves before the cameras, talking about the "future," "the people's vote of confidence," and all manner of other sound bites that make you just sick to your stomach.

Yes, an election has been stolen. Again.

What, exactly, was it that you thought would happen? That the Republicans would play fair? That the rigged electronic machines, the tainted software, and their corrupted manufacturers from 2000 and 2004 had all simply vanished into thin air?

That the party of a President who had committed all manner of crimes both personally and by proxy through his subordinates would simply let all Hell break loose in a free-for-all hanging that could very well include humiliating disclosures, removals from office, and even prison terms?

That a party corrupted to its core even as it is insanely convinced of the rightness of its vision would merely stand down and let that vision of the Republic get savaged in such a way that it might be generations before people once again would forget how wretched that vision always turns out to be in practice?

And from his response to a comment:

Of no small importance in this regard is the plan by Republicans in some districts to have those sleezy voter qualification "challengers" slithering around at the polling sites trying to intimidate people. My own method in this regard is to simply walk up to them with my camera and take their pictures. I'll make sure a policeman is nearby when I do it. Any trouble they make will result in immediate, on-the-spot charges being filed against them. I am most definitely not in the mood to mess around.

They've had their fun being the school-yard bullies for six years; now it's their turn to get the swirlies. If my life experience is any indication of what's going to happen, school-yard bullies are great on offense but have a really hard time with defense: they tend to stick to offensive tactics even when they need to go to defensive mode (with which they are entirely unfamiliar), and that's where they'll get their come-uppance. My bet is that they'll get physical even in the presence of law enforcement officers, which will ensure their removal.

So, yes, I expect trouble; and, yes, I'm so looking forward to it.

And as far as getting myself a bloody nose or two, which is a real possibility when thugs run amok are in the mix, if I remember my old days properly, a bloody nose is pretty fun if I get to have some bloody knuckles with it.

Oh, hell, just go read the whole thing.

One thing for sure: I wouldn't want to be one of those Rethug "challengers" when the Wraith shows up.

Violent Crime Alert

From the "Coastal Journal", which is part of the Portland (ME) Press-Herald, from October 13, 2006:

Joshua [redacted], age 18 of Phippsburg, was arrested for Unauthorized Taking. [He] picked flowers from displays along Front St.

And I thought we had serious crime problems in Detroit....

Billmon on Haggard

From Billmon the other day:

Rocky Mountain High

You know you're in a pretty tight spot when you're a fundamentalist preacher with a high political profile and your defense is: "I only bought crystal meth from that gay hooker."

Maybe Jimmy Swaggart could survive something like that, but then Jimmy isn't gay.

Good luck in your future endeavours, Ted. You're going to need it.

Or, to quote that other Haggard (Merle):

I'd like to hold my head up and be proud of who I am / But they won't let my secret go untold / I paid the debt I owed them, but they're still not satisfied / Now I'm a branded man out in the cold

Update 8:00 PM ET:
Ted Haggard, the beleaguered pastor of a Colorado Springs evangelical church who had denied having sex with a male prostitute, has been fired by an oversight board, which found him guilty of "sexually immoral conduct."

So much for Christian forgiveness. God help me, but at this point even I feel sorry for the guy.
Posted by billmon at November 4, 2006 03:13 PM

I almost hate to say this, but I don't feel sorry at all for Haggard (Ted, that is). He's a typical, hypocritical, mouth-breathin', Bible-thumpin', hooker-humpin', sister-marryin, rifle-rack-in-the-pickmup neocon wingnut idjit... who just also happens to like smoking crystal meth and having sex (paid sex, at that) with men.

By his own logic (if one can call it that), he should be condemned to an eternity in Hell.

Of course, maybe once he feels the full brunt of his brethrens' "Christian forgiveness", he'll vote Democrat in an effort to save his soul.

I just LOVE seeing these bastards get their just desserts.

Mini-Update

First, some good news: Anntichrist S. Coulter is out of the hospital. Not in tip-top shape, but still with us. The lovely yet talented Mrs 618 and I send our wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

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In my previous post (yeah, I know, last week), I recapped some of the more popular and well-known examples of Republican "Family Values". Today, I stumbled across a list of Rethugs involved in various pedophile cases. Go read the full list here. Here are just a few:

• Republican County Board Candidate Brent Schepp was charged with molesting a 14-year old girl and killed himself three days later.
• Republican chairman of the Oregon Christian Coalition Lou Beres confessed to molesting a 13-year old girl.
• Republican Party leader Bobby Stumbo was arrested for having sex with a 5-year old boy.
• Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.

Between the pedophilia and the run-of-the-mill corruption, how anyone can claim (with a straight face) that the Republicans stand for "family values" is beyond me.

Thanks to ArmChairSubversive for compiling the list.

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Daily Kos diarist "dogemperor" recently finished a three-part series on "Racists and Dominionists" (Part I, Part II, Part III), as well as numerous other postings on dominionists and similar groups. The recent series illuminates some of the instances in which seeming disparate groups -- tax protestors, sovereign citizens, common-law-court believers, racists, anti-abortion extremists, militias, neo-Confederates, etc -- come together, and the disturbing consequences of those convergences. The series is well worth the read (as are the rest of dogemperor's pieces), although some basic knowledge of the various fundamentalist/extremist/hate groups might be helpful (which is available here).

In the past, I've posted a few pieces about the convergence of anti-government extremists and the current administration (here and here, for instance). This series has energized me to resume work on a series of pieces trying to demonstrate and clarify the connections between the administration and various anti-government extremist factions -- those whom it would label "terrorists".

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Mr Conservatard is considering a new name for himself and his blog. Drop by, read his commentary on the renaming issue and let him know what you think. Personally, I think it should stay the way it is.

More later....