Show Cornyn How You Really Feel

By Andrew Dobbs

In case you didn't see it yesterday, Byron put up a rather frightening post about John Cornyn's defense of recent violence against judges. These attacks weren't terrorism in the literal sense of the term- neither of the killers were politically motivated- but it seems that had they been John Cornyn would have some sympathy for them. When I heard this it made my blood boil, and the guy needs to pay for this.

So the Texas Democratic Party is having a contribution drive in order to raise money to fight right-wing extremism and to demonstrate support against John Cornyn. If you think that John Cornyn's statements were despicable and that he should be punished either by his colleagues or by the voters of Texas, please add a $1 to the end of your donation- $11, $101, $51, etc. I'll let you know what happens.

Let's send a message to John Cornyn and the Republicans in Washington- the more you attack the institutions that keep us free, the harder we'll fight!

Why I don't like George W. Bush

By Nathan Nance

Byron wrote a post after Inauguration Day about Bush's speaking ability to speak in public. Most, if not all, of us not only can't stand the content, but the way he speaks. He's just a horrible speaker.

It's taken 4 years and countless blunders by the administration, but it finally clicked for me why I don't like him.

I was driving down the road listening to a song on the radio and I remembered how he referred to Sept. 11th; as a day of fire. At the heart of that lies this belief that it was a day that God called him to greatness. The rhetoric that he uses makes it seem like a grandiose event; he's using eloquent words to describe a day of indescribable brutality. I think that somehow belies the reality of the situation, that thousands died by an act of cowardice by small, petty men.

That rhetoric lifted what was an act of cowardice into some epic struggle of good vs. evil. I think I see some measure of selfishness and ego in that, and it lifts these small men into giants. That gives them a bullhorn to shout their stupidity at the rest of the world.

Sept. 11th was real, it was brutal. People died, bodies were mangled beyond recognition and buildings were felled. It was ugly. We don't need Bush using soaring rhetoric to describe it, we need him to talk about what happened, the reality of it. We were there, we experienced it; we can take it.

And the thought that maybe he's using this event because he thought it was his shot at greatness in an otherwise unremarkable presidency, or as political cover for his other failed policies makes me not like him.

Nate can be reached at nate_nance@yahoo.com.

Oh, fudge

By Jim Dallas

The New Republic has got a story up debunking the allegedly wide-spread belief that global warming is related to last month's tsunami.

I'm not sure how wide-spread this actually is (and I only get to see the first couple grafs, since I haven't been crazy enough to, you know, actually subscribe to TNR in years).

Nonetheless, the fact that such a story exists in an occasionally-respectable magazine greatly reduces my faith in humanity.

FYI, tsunamis are low-frequency waves generated (usually) by seismic activity. In other words the earth shakes, and the ocean sloshes around. None of this has anything to do with greenhouse gases.

New poll: Americans don't know what the hell they want

By Nathan Nance

Guest post by Nate Nance

According to ABC News, a majority of Americans, 56%, believe that the cost of the war in Iraq doesn't equal the benefits and that both Bush and Rumsfeld aren't handling the war all that well either. Welcome to the party Capt. Obvious.

A majority, 60%, also think that the elections should go on Jan. 30 whatever the security situation is and 58% say that troops should remain until order is restored. Both of those are positions held by the administration, which is why 52% think Rumsfeld should be replaced.

All of this proves once again people don't really know what they want or why. That explains that other poll taken just last month where most people disagreed with the direction of the country, yet somehow Bush won re-election with a majority of the vote.

This is a guest post by Nathan Nance. He can be reached at nate_nance@yahoo.com

Do they know something that I don't

By Nathan Nance

Guest post by Nate Nance

I keep seeing things in the British press that Rumsfeld is being pressured to resign. I can't tell if it is because they know something that we don't because of crappy American media or if they think Bush would actually use the best man for the job, which is obviously not Rumsfeld.

This is a guest post by Nathan Nance. Nate is a sports/news clerk at the Waco Tribune-Herald and writer/editor of Common Sense a Texas-based Democratic Web log. He can be reached at nate_nance@yahoo.com

This would be funny if it weren't so sad

By Nathan Nance

Guest post by Nate Nance

A test of the US missile defense system ended in utter failure Wednesday. It would be really funny because it is an embarrassment to the Bush administration, but then I remember that literally billions have been spent to make this our only defense from boxcutter wielding terrorists and I weep.

This is a guest post from Nathan Nance. Nate is a sports/news clerk at the Waco Tribune-Herald and writer/editor of Common Sense, a Texas-based Democratic Web log. He can be reached at nate_nance@yahoo.com

File it under 'Duh!'bya

By Nathan Nance

Guest post by Nate Nance

After I saw today's quote about the trade defecit, "That's easy to resolve," Bush said. "People can buy more United States products if they're worried about the trade deficit.", I thought about all the Bushisms we've heard over the years.

But he's said some things that made perfect sense at the time, they just turned out to not be entirely true. Like, for instance, when he said "I will never give another country veto power over our national security." Remember that little response to Kerry's 'Global Test'? Well,

Pakistan does not permit American military and intelligence forces in Afghanistan to cross the border to go after militants.

This prohibition on cross-border "hot pursuit" makes it relatively easy for Taliban and Qaeda fighters to initiate attacks on American bases in Afghanistan, and then quickly escape to the safety of Pakistan.

American soldiers have complained about being fired on from inside Pakistan by foreign militants while Pakistani border guards sat and watched.

As a result of the restrictions, American military and intelligence personnel in Afghanistan are no longer really hunting for Mr. bin Laden, an intelligence official said.

Really? I guess we misunderestimated him again.

This is a guest post by Nathan Nance. Nate is a sports/news clerk at the Waco Tribune-Herald and writer/editor of Common Sense a Texas-based Democratic Web log. He can be reached at nate_nance@yahoo.com.

Did I sleep through this

By Nathan Nance

Guest post by Nate Nance

It seems like I woke up the other day to find out we now live in a theocracy instead of a democracy. This is insane. We have a judge walking around with the Ten Commandments printed on his robe, we have people trying to get creationism into biology textbooks and we have other people who want to put parental advisory stickers next to any mention of evolution.

We even have people who refuse to say "Happy Holidays" because there is no mention of Jesus. Instead, they say "Merry Christmas", like there aren't other holidays going on this month or anything.

I've really had it with people like this. I'm a very patient person, but this. Ahhh! You would think people would want to send their kids to school to become educated, but these people seriously seem to want to indoctrinate their kids into this religion, even between Sundays. I don't even really think of them as Christians anymore; it's more like a strange cult that wants people to believe the world really is flat and thunder is God spilling a sack of potatoes.

I don't know how to handle stuff like this short of having a licensed therapist talk to these people and explain that the world is not a giant snowglobe on the back of a tortoise. You might think I'm getting their beliefs all mixed up, but that's the point. We're talking about science textbooks and the rule of law and they are talking about superstitions and judges that think the Ten Commandments are the guide book to our laws. I really don't want my kids growing up in a place where superstition is valued above science and pleasing the church is more important than rule of law.

This is a guest post by Nathan Nance. Nate is a sports/news clerk at the Waco Tribune-Herald and writer/editor of Common Sense a Texas-based Democratic Web log. He can be reached at nate_nance@yahoo.com.

VAGINA, VAGINA, VAGINA!!!

By Byron LaMasters

I'm sure that got your attention. Actually, I'm most interested in offending the folks who are protesting the Vagina Monolouges. I attended a production of the Vagina Monolouges two years ago at UT, and it was interesting, hilarious, sad and informative all at once. I had to work during the production last year, but I'll try and go again this spring.

So what is the scandal of the Vagina Monolouges that would cause such protest? Why, they promote the evils of "sexual encounters, lust, graphic descriptions of masturbation and lesbian behavior", mortal sin, and the "corrosive agenda of the sexual revolution on campus".

You'd think it's the work of the devil, huh?

Well, not exactly. Here's their radical agenda:

V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop worldwide violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sexual slavery.

V-Day stages large-scale benefits and produces innovative gatherings, films and campaigns to educate and change social attitudes towards violence against women including the documentary "Until the Violence Stops," community briefings with Amnesty International on the missing and murdered women of Juarez, Mexico; the December 2003 V-Day delegation trip to Israel, Palestine, Egypt and Jordan; the Afghan Women's Summit; the March 2004 delegation to India; the Stop Rape Contest and the Indian Country Project.

Through V-Day campaigns, local volunteers and college students produce annual benefit performances of "The Vagina Monologues" to raise awareness and funds for anti-violence groups within their own communities. In 2004, over 2000 V-Day benefit events were presented by volunteer activists around the world, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls.

A good cause worthy of your support.

Via Pandagon.

Are they handing out awards

By Nathan Nance

Guest post from Nate Nance

"Stupid people on the march" should be the headline at the end of the week. It's only Monday and I've already seen so many random act of stupidity as to boggle the mind. And for some reason they always want to write to the newspaper and show off their idiocy.

From the OpEd page of my very own Waco Trib, we get responses to a recent anti-abortion protest. A little background might be in order. About a year ago here in Waco, a really graphic anti-abortion rally was held outside Planned Parenthood of Central Texas. We're talking signs with actual pictures of dead fetuses and very harsh language about all life being sacred except the lives of those who practice abortion. Nothing wrong with that, you might say. Free speech and all. The problem is the elementary school across the street and the young students inside who had to look at those graphic signs as school let out for the day. Long story short, Waco passed an ordinance that did not allow these types of protests within a block of schools during class hours.

Whether you agree with the idea of "free speech zones" or not, that's the law here when it comes to anti-abortion rallies. Fast forward to a few weeks ago when several people had a relatively peaceful week at an area high school handing out anti-abortion and anti-homosexuality pamphlets. Except of course, some of the students protested the groups right to even be there.

Anyway, several people wrote in to give their two cents worth. I've decided I'll just quote this one particular letter in full, but feel free to read all of them.

I would be pleased for someone to ask me about my salvation. I'm glad someone is trying to give young people information on destructive behaviors like abortion and homosexuality.

Liberals like free speech only when it is their own. Liberals are notorious for their censorship. Our founding fathers would be viciously attacked by today's liberals.

America needs to let God back in.

Dazell L. Rankin

Robinson

So abortion and homosexuality are bad behaviors, like smoking? Stop being gay or you'll get lung cancer! Dear Lord, why did you make some of us so freakin' stupid?

You know, I'm fairly sure this is the same general group that wants kids to learn that you can get AIDS from gay people if they sneeze on you or some other nonsense. Yet, they are trying to educate our kids? I'm just exasperated with trying to reason with people like this. I've tried convincing them that they may be a wee bit intolerant, but that only makes them scream louder, so I've come to the conclusion that you should just call them morons and bigots and see where that get's you.

Guest post by Nate Nance. Nate is a sports/news clerk at the Waco Tribune-Herald and writer/editor of Common Sense a Texas-based Democratic Web log. He can be reached at nate_nance@yahoo.com

I never would have guessed that

By Nathan Nance

Guest post by Nate Nance

I couldn't make this up if I tried, Alberto Gonzales' stepson quit his job as a consultant to Hustler when he was nominated to be AG. Yes, that Hustler.

I'm not going to make a speech about conservative values out of this. People have jobs and he was only a consultant for the Web site, for Pete's sake. It's not like he was trying to be the next Dirk Diggler. Besides porn is a multi-billion dollar industry, so it must be pretty popular.

No, this is more about conservatives who think some people in the Republican party aren't conservative enough, so they go after them like pihranhas.

Yesterday, Jan LaRue, chief counsel of the conservative group Concerned Women for America, told me Freeze's employment with Flynt is "a legitimate issue" that should be raised next month before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"The Justice Department is responsible for enforcing the obscenity and child pornography laws," LaRue said, "and Larry Flynt's publications include hard-core prosecutable material, in my opinion."

She added that she wants to know if Gonzales had urged his stepson to quit before he knew he was going to be nominated.

"If he didn't, that wouldn't be very helpful," she said.

I really don't see why some 20-something working on a Web site has anything to do his stepdad becoming the Attorney General. LaRue gives some bullshit about her opinion about what is obscene. I watched The People vs. Larry Flynt and I remember Edward Norton arguing about First Amendment rights in front of the Supreme Court, and they won that one. The point is local areas have a right to determine what is obscene and have a community standard, but I don't think an individual has that right. If they did, then I would proclaim cat-blogging obscene and get rid of it (I'm not a cat person).

I want to give a hat tip to Josh Marshall for picking this up and thank God for the NY Daily News.

This is a guest post by Nate Nance. Nate is a sports/news clerk at the Waco Tribune-Herald and writer editor of Common Sense a Texas-based Democratic Web log. He can be reached at nate_nance@yahoo.com.

Stuff that in your stocking

By Nathan Nance

Guest post by Nate Nance

Just when you thought things might be getting better (how do I know you haven't been in a cave the last two months?) the CIA has a leaked classified assessment that leaves no doubt things are pretty f****ed up in Iraq.

The classified cable -- sent last month by the CIA's station chief in Baghdad after the completion of a one-year tour of duty there -- painted a bleak picture of Iraq's politics, economics and security and reiterated briefings by Michael Kostiw, a senior CIA official, according to the Times.

The station chief cannot be identified because he is still working undercover, the Times added.

The cable cautioned that security in the country was likely to deteriorate unless the Iraqi government made significant progress in asserting its authority and building up the economy, the paper said.

I can't help but think maybe we need new leadership in this little endeavor, but there's Rumsfeld, sitting pretty in his post. Safe and sound rubber stamping death notices of the 1,000 soldiers killed in action and the hundreds more who have died because of friendly fire and suicide and other causes.

This is a guest post by Nate Nance. Nate is a sports/news clerk at the Waco Tribune-Herald and writer/editor of Common Sense a Texas-based Democratic Web log. He can be reached at nate_nance@yahoo.com

I'm Intolerant and I'm anti-Christian

By Byron LaMasters

Because I think creationism is stupid. Uhmm... that's because creationism has no basis in scientific fact. Its that simple.

Is the Texas SBOE Pro-Slavery?

By Byron LaMasters

Just when you thought things over at the Texas State Board of Education couldn't get more wacky, I read this:

Conservatives' efforts over the years to edit textbooks are legendary here. In a nod to those who believe God created the Earth 6,000 years ago, a sentence saying the ice age took place "millions of years ago" was changed to "in the distant past." Descriptions of environmentalism have been attacked as antithetical to free-enterprise ideals; a passage describing the cruelty of slavery was derided as "overkill."

Ya know, slavery wasn't that bad. Via Pandagon.

Scary

By Byron LaMasters

*sigh*

Only about a third of Americans believe that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is a scientific theory that has been well supported by the evidence, while just as many say that it is just one of many theories and has not been supported by the evidence. The rest say they don't know enough to say. Forty-five percent of Americans also believe that God created human beings pretty much in their present form about 10,000 years ago. A third of Americans are biblical literalists who believe that the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word.

Need I say more? Via Political Wire.

Update: I don't disagree with Ezra's comment: No wonder Bush won.

Hope makes a good point as well. The United States ranks 16/21 in science achievement among industrialized countries. How can we expect our citizens to know better than to believe stupid non-scientific creationist theories when we don't bother to do a good job teaching them real science?

380 Tons of Explosive Disappear in Iraq

By Andrew Dobbs

That's right, 380 tons of powerful explosives were sitting in a pile in Iraq. We knew they were there and yet we did nothing to secure them and now they are gone. From CNN.com:

Some 380 tons of explosives powerful enough to detonate nuclear warheads are missing from a former Iraqi military facility that was supposed to be under American control, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog says.

Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told CNN the interim Iraqi government reported several days ago that the explosives were missing from the Al Qaqaa complex, south of Baghdad.

The explosives -- considered powerful enough to demolish buildings or detonate nuclear warheads -- were under IAEA control until the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. IAEA workers left the country before the fighting began.

"Our immediate concern is that if the explosives did fall into the wrong hands they could be used to commit terrorist acts and some of the bombings that we've seen," Fleming said.

She described Al Qaqaa as "massive" and said it is one of the most well-known storage sites. Besides the 380 tons, there were large caches of artillery there.

Fleming said the IAEA does not know whether some of the explosives may have been used in past attacks.

The multinational force in Iraq and the Bush administration's Iraq Survey Group have been ordered to "look into" the disappearance of the explosives, a senior Pentagon official said.

Just FYI, the same type of explosives that went missing were used in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Scotland in 1989. The bomb that tore that plane to shreds used 1 pound of these explosives. The Bush Administration's understaffing and mismanagement of this war (which I support in spite of Bush's mishandling) has handed 760,000 pounds of the same stuff to terrorists.

I shudder to think of what will happen after 4 additional years of this kind of incompetence.

Bill O'Reilly is a Scumbag (and Another Blogger B-Day)

By Andrew Dobbs

Happy B-Day Karl-T. and welcome to Zach N. (my best friend and now a fellow blogger)! My birthday is tomorrow and as it is my 21st, I will begin legally drinking at midnight tonight. Those who know me are invited to join me on 6th- just give me a call.

But on the fun side of things, Bill O'Reilly is being sued for sexual harrassment. Now, I have been frivolously charged with sexual harrassment before and as a result I am pretty skeptical about these things. But some of the quotes from this case really sound like verbatim recordings and as a result I'm wondering what kind of evidence exists. Could O'Reilly's invitations to menages a trois and offers to instruct ladies in the techniques of vibrators bring him down? One can only hope.

Best allegation: O'Reilly was traveling to Italy to meet the POPE with his pregnant wife staying at home and he regaled the plaintiff and her friend with hopes that he would be able to hook up with "hot Italian women." That's right, he was hoping to use his audience with the Holy See as an opportunity to cheat on his wife.

Let's bring this dirtbag down.

Update Read this section with its detailed monologue. No way this is made up, IMHO. This is recorded and when O'Reilly's famous voice is heard on CNN discussing kissing his producer's "spectacular boobs," it'll be all over.

Oklahoma Mocking, Day #2

By Byron LaMasters

Good stuff over at The Bonassus. First, Daniel mentions the tourism brochures promoting cow manure tossing, which I mentioned last week as well. Bonassus also informs us that Jesse Helms has been reincarnated, and he's resurfaced in Oklahoma:

Now from the ridiculous to the absolutely appalling: while the state government was busy living up to stereotypes of public sector incompetence and Oklahoman yokeldom, the national Republican Party was finding ways to pander to the racists they bank on for electoral support. The NRSC has produced a new ad attacking Oklahoma's Democratic candidate for Senator, Rep. Brad Carson, for his stance on immigration policy. The ad bears more than a passing resemblance to the infamous "White Hands" Jesse Helms ad from 1990, and the national Democratic party is trying to draw attention to this nasty little tactic. If you're as disgusted by the commercial as I am, head on over to Brad Carson's website and supply some countervailing resources.

Yeah, it's from last week, but even Oklahomans aren't stupid enough for me to provide mocking material everyday. Just wait until tomorrow... I'm sure Tom Coburn will open his mouth, and something surreal will come out within 24 hours.

Backing off of Oklahoma, Daniel has a good post on where 650 international relations professors (possibly even one from Oklahoma) agree: Bush's Foreign Policy is a Disaster:

We judge that the current American policy centered around the war in Iraq is the most misguided one since the Vietnam period, one which harms the cause of the struggle against extreme Islamist terrorists. One result has been a great distortion in the terms of public debate on foreign and national security policy—an emphasis on speculation instead of facts, on mythology instead of calculation, and on misplaced moralizing over considerations of national interest.

Check the whole thing out here.

Update: Yes there is! Three signatories from Oklahoma! Maybe they're coming to their senses as the latest poll shows Bush with only a twelve point lead in the state.

Scandalous Republicans

By Byron LaMasters

Remember that Salon article about that female-sterilizing, Medicaid-defrauding [...] Tom Coburn character?

Well the national media has picked up the ball and run with it:

[The New York Times, AP, The Washington Post]

But more importantly, the local guys are paying attention, too:

[Channel Oklahoma, Tulsa World - subscription required to read article, but if you scroll down to "news" you'll see the headline]

And of course our friend Tom DeLay will not be investigated by the House Ethics Committee (where the Republicans on the committee are bought and paid for by Tom DeLay and his corporate buddies). Richard Morrison has the latest in today's press release:

In another show of the power of money in Washington, the House Ethics Committee resorted to an option that has never been used before that could, in effect, kill the ethics investigation into Tom DeLay’s illegal fundraising and his role in Texas redistricting. After nearly three months of reviewing the charges against DeLay, the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Ethics committee postponed today’s hearing and have decided to put before the committee the question of whether to proceed with the investigation. This unprecedented move could result in a deadlock among the ten member committee resulting in no further action in this Congress.

“I’m outraged that the Committee is giving DeLay a pass,” said Morrison. “Soliciting funds for legislative favors, funneling corporate contributions to state races and personally redrawing districts to ensure his power in Washington---these are serious charges and they merit investigation. But when four of the five Republicans on the committee have accepted thousands of dollars from DeLay how can they be trusted to judge him impartially? If DeLay is innocent of these violations he should demand the investigation proceed so his name can be cleared.”

Richard Morrison is on the air in Houston, but he needs to stay up. He's trying to raise $20,000 online for the ad, and he's almost halfway there - on day #2!! (thanks to Texas Tuesdays plug on Daily Kos in addition to all the regulars), but if you're in the mood, give 'till it hurts!

Reaction on today's decision by the House Ethics Committee around the blogs:

[Daily Kos, Off the Kuff, Taking on Tom DeLay, The Stateholder]

Update: Back to Tom Coburn, Matt in comments notes that after a little more research (than what I did), the Oklahoma media is being quite soft on Coburn's latest flap. Check out his research over on his blog entry on the issue.

War, Games, Evil-doers and Terrorists

By Byron LaMasters

What is war to Republicans?

As I noted yesterday, Pete Sessions doesn't really think that the war on terrorism is a war. It's just, ya know, a game, dude.

So what is war to Republicans?

For Republican Senate candidate Alan Keyes, war means his campaign against Democrat Barack Obama:

The sources said Keyes explained that his campaign has been unfolding according to plan and likened it to a war in which lighting the "match" of controversy was needed to ignite grass-roots voters.

"This is a war we're in," one source recounted Keyes as saying. "The way you win wars is that you start fires that will consume the enemy."

Keyes' comments came during a 40-minute address to about 20 leading Republican fundraisers and donors Thursday at the posh Chicago Club. The sources asked not to be identified to prevent additional pre-election controversy within an already divided GOP.

At the session, the sources said, Keyes denied that he has engaged in name-calling in his campaign. But he likened Democratic opponent Barack Obama to a "terrorist" because Obama, a state senator, voted against a legislative proposal pushed by abortion foes, sources said.

For Alan Keyes, his opponent is the terrorist. For Tom Coburn, his opponent is merely evil:

The race is “the battle of good versus evil,” he said, and his words were echoed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee at a breakfast for Oklahomans attending the GOP national convention in New York.

Brad Carson, the consummate all-American young man, devout Christian and member of the same faith as his opponent, first in every class he attended from high school through Baylor and the University of Oklahoma, Rhodes Scholar, White House Fellow — evil!

This is just a smidgen of the character attacks Coburn — the irreproachable candidate far too noble for such mud-slinging during the primaries — has made toward Carson’s character and conservative voting record.

Carson, responding to the “evil” assessment, said “Osama bin Laden is evil, not your political opponent. These kinds of nutty, extremist comments only further lead to the polarization of our democracy. This isn’t a political jihad, this is an election.”

So, I have a question for Pete Sessions. Since he believes that the war on terrorism is only a game, then what does war mean to him?

Does Pete Sessions a) agree with Alan Keyes, that his opponent is a terrorist? Or does Pete Sessions b) agree with Tom Coburn, that his opponent is simply evil?

German

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I'm looking at this picture in my German book. It's a bunch of students hanging around the outside of a college talking. And to the right in German, it asks, "What are these students doing?"

a. Sie spielen Tennis.
b. Sie spielen Karten.
c. Sie sagen, "Tag, wie geht's?"

Um, I'll take C as in Captain Obvious there Alex!

Playing Tennis or Cards, seriously. Who do they think I am? A first year German student! Oh wait...

Gonzo Editorialism

By Jim Dallas

Please take a moment to follow my lead and participate in Chris Bower's "Astroturf" experiment.

"Strong, Decisive Leadership"

By Jim Dallas

Of the three charter members of the Axis of Evil,

1. North Korea has almost certainly gained possession of nuclear weapons and the means to deploy them since Bush's "Axis of Evil" speech, in large part because the White House could not decide whether/how to act, and is now left with nothing.

2. Iran is trying very hard to get nuclear weapons, and may very soon have them. Again, indecisiveness and disengagement were major factors in this.

3. Iraq, which did not have significant stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, nor apparently was anywhere close to building The Bomb, is now on a rocky road towards self-governance as our boys try real hard not to get sucked into a civil war.

Matt Yglesias lays it out:

More typically, though, the president’s intellectual infirmity affects national-security policy by creating paralysis, as his famously divided foreign-policy team is unable to agree on a common approach and the president is incapable of choosing one side or the other.

As a result, one of Bush’s biggest foreign-policy disasters relates less to something he’s done than to what he hasn’t done: devise a coherent policy toward North Korea. The debacle began in March of 2001, with South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung scheduled to visit Washington. On the eve of the trip, Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters that the new administration would pick up where the Clinton administration had left off: supporting Kim’s “sunshine policy” toward the North and pushing for full implementation of the 1994 Agreed Framework under which North Korea abided by a stipulation not to build nuclear weapons in exchange for U.S. financial and energy assistance. The White House immediately contradicted Powell, giving us the first sign that something was amiss with the supposedly “grown-up” new national-security team and infuriating Kim. Administration hawks -- led by Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld -- didn’t replace the Powell-Kim-Clinton engagement policy with any real alternative; instead, they sought simply to talk tough and “isolate” North Korea, already the most isolated country on earth. Thus North Korea found itself featured in the 2002 State of the Union address as a charter member of the “axis of evil” (although this, the country later learned, was not a deliberate policy shift but simply a reflection of a desire to throw a non-Muslim country on to the list to allay fears that America was waging war on Islam). The hawks hoped that the regime would fall apart before it built nukes. Things didn’t work out that way.

North Korean President Kim Jong-Il concluded that because Bush clearly meant to invade Iraq, had broken off negotiations with his regime, and was now lumping the two together as “evil,” he might soon find himself targeted. The result -- a result that even a moderately engaged chief executive would have foreseen -- was a North Korean rush to acquire nuclear weapons that could deter U.S. invasion before it was too late. By October 2002, the State Department sent officials to Pyongyang to confront the regime with evidence that it had been acquiring centrifuges needed to make weapons-grade uranium. Instead of offering the expected denials, North Korean officials conceded that, yes, they had done just that. After some trans-Pacific name-calling, Pyongyang let the other shoe drop: Not only was it processing uranium (which could take years to be successful), it was also kicking out the weapons inspectors who, under the Agreed Framework, were safeguarding North Korean plutonium rods that could be turned into nuclear fuel within months.

The time had come for the president to do something about the situation. So he did exactly what we were assured during the 2000 campaign he would do: He asked his advisers. The problem was, they didn’t agree. Some were hawks and others more dovish, so Bush couldn’t make up his mind. As Fred Kaplan wrote in The Washington Monthly, Bush “neither threatened war not pursued diplomacy.” Eighteen months later, with U.S. forces pinned down in Iraq and North Korea allegedly possessing several nuclear weapons, military options had to be taken off the table, and even administration hawks agreed that they had to pursue talks. Unfortunately, when you refuse to negotiate until you have no sticks left, it’s hard to get a good deal, and the United States now may be unable to secure a non-nuclear North Korea. And if we do get what we want, we will surely need to give up far more than we would have had we just negotiated in the first place.

Worse, as the Prospect goes to press, history is repeating itself in Iran, pace Marx, as tragedy all over again. Tehran is cheating on its international commitments, and the United States needs to do something about it. Some in the administration want to pursue engagement; others want a push for regime change. As before, Bush can’t decide what to do, and as time goes on, our options will only get worse. No American has yet paid the price for the North Korean fiasco or the emerging one in Iran, but down the road our strategic position is deteriorating with remarkable speed while we have not yet -- and may never -- make up for the opportunity squandered at the beginning of the Iraq War.

Alert for UT Students

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Dear UT Students -

This message is to alert you to an unknown man claiming to be
affiliated with the UT Department of Psychology who is making hoax
telephone calls to people affiliated with the UT community.  The
caller typically claims to be working on a publication with a faculty
member in the Department of Psychology and asks the person being
called if they would like to participate in an over-the-phone survey
for $300 (or more).  He proceeds to ask questions around general
themes of "the dark side of the mind," "IQ and the brain,"
"controlling and playing with people's mind," "power,"
"competitiveness," etc.  He often calls females late in the evening
and spends hours questioning his target. Eventually, he hangs up.

Although the person making these phone calls may initially sound
convincing, THIS PERSON IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF
PSYCHOLOGY AT UT-AUSTIN.  The Psychology Department and other
departments on campus do conduct studies that involve phone surveys.
These studies have been approved by the UT human research ethics
committee (the IRB), and the caller conducting the survey should
always call at a reasonable time of day and be able to provide the
investigators' names and telephone numbers.  If you have any
questions about the legitimacy of a survey, you should first take
this information and call the numbers provided to verify that the
survey is indeed valid.

For obvious reasons, we are very concerned about the reports of this
bogus survey and are working with the UTPD on this matter.  If you or
someone you know has received one of these phone calls, please
contact me or the Department of Psychology.  If you or someone you
know receives one of these phone calls in the future, do not feel
compelled to stay on the telephone and please report the incident.
If the call is made to a UT phone line, the Call Trace *57 security
feature will capture the Caller ID information even if a caller has
blocked the display (more details below).

Jennifer M. Loving, M.S.
Research Coordinator, Department of Psychology
Phone: 512.232.4269
Email: 301research@psy.utexas.edu

Back to Normal: Bush Politicizing the War on Terror

By Andrew Dobbs

Phew... well after my rather conservative screed below, I imagine I'd better do a story about how freaking awful this administration is. From the New Republic:

This spring, the administration significantly increased its pressure on Pakistan to kill or capture Osama bin Laden, his deputy, Ayman Al Zawahiri, or the Taliban's Mullah Mohammed Omar, all of whom are believed to be hiding in the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan. (...)

This public pressure would be appropriate, even laudable, had it not been accompanied by an unseemly private insistence that the Pakistanis deliver these high-value targets (HVTs) before Americans go to the polls in November. The Bush administration denies it has geared the war on terrorism to the electoral calendar. "Our attitude and actions have been the same since September 11 in terms of getting high-value targets off the street, and that doesn't change because of an election," says National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack. But The New Republic has learned that Pakistani security officials have been told they must produce HVTs by the election. According to one source in Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), "The Pakistani government is really desperate and wants to flush out bin Laden and his associates after the latest pressures from the U.S. administration to deliver before the [upcoming] U.S. elections." (...) the November election is apparently bringing a new deadline pressure to the hunt. Another official, this one from the Pakistani Interior Ministry, which is responsible for internal security, explains, "The Musharraf government has a history of rescuing the Bush administration. They now want Musharraf to bail them out when they are facing hard times in the coming elections." (These sources insisted on remaining anonymous. Under Pakistan's Official Secrets Act, an official leaking information to the press can be imprisoned for up to ten years.)

A third source, an official who works under ISI's director, Lieutenant General Ehsan ul-Haq, informed tnr that the Pakistanis "have been told at every level that apprehension or killing of HVTs before [the] election is [an] absolute must." What's more, this source claims that Bush administration officials have told their Pakistani counterparts they have a date in mind for announcing this achievement: "The last ten days of July deadline has been given repeatedly by visitors to Islamabad and during [ul-Haq's] meetings in Washington." Says McCormack: "I'm aware of no such comment." But according to this ISI official, a White House aide told ul-Haq last spring that "it would be best if the arrest or killing of [any] HVT were announced on twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight July"--the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Holy shit. I really hope the SCLM doesn't try and bury this one- this is big stuff. For 3 years nearly we have dicked around on catching bin Laden- Bush didn't want to risk the casualties a concerted effort to capture him would have certainly incurred- and now he's putting the thumbscrews on Pakistan to make sure they make a good little ad for him. This is hideous, infuriating and awful.

The story goes on:

During his March visit to Islamabad, Powell designated Pakistan a major non-nato ally, a status that allows its military to purchase a wider array of U.S. weaponry. Powell pointedly refused to criticize Musharraf for pardoning nuclear physicist A.Q. Khan--who, the previous month, had admitted exporting nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea, and Libya--declaring Khan's transgressions an "internal" Pakistani issue. In addition, the administration is pushing a five-year, $3 billion aid package for Pakistan through Congress over Democratic concerns about the country's proliferation of nuclear technology and lack of democratic reform.

Gee, is this the same administration that sent us into a war against a country with no WMDs because they might put them into the hands of terrorsts that is now coddling a country that has admitted to giving WMDs to enemies of the United States? I mean, what if Eisenhower had pardoned the Rosenburgs? We would have had anarchy in the streets. Well this Khan guy makes the Rosenburgs look like the Partridge Family because unlike the Soviets the people Khan sold the secrets to don't have any sense of self-preservation or caution towards the use of nukes. Now we are helping to strengthen the military of a country with a very weak and embattled dictatorship and a large undercurrent of Islamic extremism that also happens to be the sworn enemy of the world's largest democracy (India). Call me in 10 years, if we are still around, so I can say "I told you so" after an Islamic cabal in Pakistan nukes Israel or India or the United States.

While I disagree with Moore's way of stating his criticisms, he makes a few good points in his movie (even a stopped clock is right twice a day) and among them is that this administration's foreign policy is about promoting their own power more than promoting stability. This is a despicable case of it and Bush ought to be kicked out whether we catch UBL or not.

It's not easy being green.

By Jim Dallas

Warning: The following entry is rated PG-13 for adult situations and language.

HULK SMASH!

Sigh. One of the downsides of living in a smaller city is that we get to read a constant stream of unenlightened letters to the editor. As a matter of simple economics, the supply of column inches far outpaces the demand for intelligent analysis. We don't get witty journalism in our opinion pages, we get rote jeremiads. It's getting so that I can read the entire letters to the editor section and not learn a darn thing.

Today's entry in the hall of shame makes me fear for my country more than I usually do. From today's Galveston Daily News:

Christians Must Stand Up For Their Rights

I am furious with the corruption of our nation. Drug use, murder, suicide, rape and homosexuality make me gag.

How long can God-loving Christians stand by and watch while our civil rights are taken away by a government that was supposed to be a republic but turned into a democracy?

I can’t wait any longer. Democracies almost always end up as dictatorships, and the majority opinion is not always right. The main reason I am furious is because evolution is being taught as fact rather than theory in our public schools.

If you don’t want evolution out of schools, at least require the teachers to teach both sides. Yes, there is another side. It is called creation.

Another issue that makes me angry concerns prayer in schools. The idea of “separation of church and state” has been taken out of context.

Thomas Jefferson initiated this idea. Even when Jefferson made this comment, its intended meaning was that the federal government was prohibited from creating a national religion.

This is exactly what the atheists are doing with evolution today, and the federal government is funding it.

Jeremy Osborn
Bacliff

Now, I'm not writing what I'm about to write to "pick on" Mr. Osborn or say he's a bad person... ahh screw it, yes I am. Mr. Osborne, yes you are a moron, and a bad person. Let me explain.

Side-stepping chest thumping like "homosexuality make[s] me gag" (apparently, Mr. Osborne needs practice), this letter should win an award for most negative IQ points packed into a 150-word container. It's a steady stream of non-sequiturs and sundry illogic. It's just.... baaaaaaaaaaaad.

I mean, I am not particularly enlightened myself. I'm not an "Oprah-topian"; gee, come to think of it, I know all the words to "Sweet Home Alabama." But there are lines intelligent people do not cross.

I will now put on my "Responsible Adult" cap and disect two lines of attack in full.

(1) "How long can God-loving Christians stand by and watch while our civil rights are taken away by a government that was supposed to be a republic but turned into a democracy... Democracies almost always end up as dictatorships, and the majority opinion is not always right."

(a) The President, The Vice President, The Leaders of Congress, The Governor, The Lieutenant Governor, The Speaker of the House, and A Majority of High Court Justices both in Washington and Austin are all allegedly Christians, conservatives, and Republicans (not necessarily in that order).

It thus follows that, if there is any tyranny-of-the-majority, it sure as hell isn't the atheists who are doing the tyrannizing.

Speaking of tyrannizing, Pharyngula notes that many school teachers are afraid to even talk about evolution. It's kind of hard to believe that the Atheist Liberals are forcing the national gospel of Darwinism on our youngsters when an increasingly large number teachers simply shrug it off (which is a bad thing).

(b) Empirically, democracies do not "almost always end up as dictatorships." In fact, democracies rarely do, unless they are so institutionally weak that they get overthrown by force, or so culturally weak that they are not seen as legitimate by their own people.

According to a report by Freedom House, the 29 states which were ruled by "totalitarian" or "authoritarian" regimes in 1950 were ruled by democratic governments in 2000. Another, Tajikistan, was on the road to democracy in 2000 (with "restricted democratic practices").

NOT A SINGLE DEMOCRATIC STATE IN 1950 WAS RULED BY A TOTALITARIAN OR AUTHORITARIAN REGIME IN 2000. It would seem that "dictatorships" almost always end up as democracies, not the other way around.

*The twenty-nine 1950 dictatorships which became democracies by 2000 are:Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Haiti, Hungary, Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Ukraine.

(c) Thomas Jefferson, who Osborne seems to approve, and who should have known a little something about the founding of America (having written, you know, the Declaration of Independence) was committed to democracy by name.

(c1) He even liked it so much he named his party the Democratic Party.

(c2) In an 1816 letter, Jefferson writes "We of the United States are constitutionally and conscientiously democrats."

(c3) Another 1816 letter: "The full experiment of a government democratical, but representative, was and is still reserved for us."

(2)"The main reason I am furious is because evolution is being taught as fact rather than theory in our public schools.

If you don’t want evolution out of schools, at least require the teachers to teach both sides. Yes, there is another side. It is called creation.

Another issue that makes me angry concerns prayer in schools. The idea of “separation of church and state” has been taken out of context.

Thomas Jefferson initiated this idea. Even when Jefferson made this comment, its intended meaning was that the federal government was prohibited from creating a national religion.

This is exactly what the atheists are doing with evolution today, and the federal government is funding it."

(a) More Jefferson:

"I do not believe it is for the interest of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct its exercises, its discipline, or its doctrines; nor of the religious societies, that the General Government should be invested with the power of effecting any uniformity of time or matter among them. Fasting and prayer are religious exercises. The enjoining them, an act of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the times for these exercises and the objects proper for them according to their own particular tenets; and this right can never be safer than in their own hands where the Constitution has deposited it... Everyone must act according to the dictates of his own reason, and mine tells me that civil powers alone have been given to the President of the United States, and no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents." --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Miller, 1808. ME 11:429

"To suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency is a dangerous fallacy which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own." --Thomas Jefferson: Statute for Religious Freedom, 1779. ME 2:302, Papers 2: 546

"It is... proposed that I should recommend, not prescribe, a day of fasting and prayer. That is, that I should indirectly assume to the United States an authority over religious exercises which the Constitution has directly precluded them from. It must be meant, too, that this recommendation is to carry some authority and to be sanctioned by some penalty on those who disregard it; not indeed of fine and imprisonment, but of some degree of proscription, perhaps in public opinion. And does the change in the nature of the penalty make the recommendation less a law of conduct for those to whom it is directed?... Civil powers alone have been given to the President of the United States, and no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents." --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Miller, 1808. ME 11:428

[Which leads one to ask - if the President of the United States claims he'd be wrong to even recommend fasting and prayer, doesn't that suggest that he feels that public school teachers are equally bound to keep the heck out of the prayer business?]

"Whenever... preachers, instead of a lesson in religion, put [their congregation] off with a discourse on the Copernican system, on chemical affinities, on the construction of government, or the characters or conduct of those administering it, it is a breach of contract, depriving their audience of the kind of service for which they are salaried, and giving them, instead of it, what they did not want, or, if wanted, would rather seek from better sources in that particular art of science." --Thomas Jefferson to P. H. Wendover, 1815. ME 14:281

"No religious reading, instruction or exercise, shall be prescribed or practiced [in the elementary schools] inconsistent with the tenets of any religious sect or denomination." --Thomas Jefferson: Elementary School Act, 1817. ME 17:425

(b) There's a reason the theory of evolution is taught seriously in public schools; it is based on facts and reason.

(c) There's a reason why creationism is not - the assertion that the earth and stars were created begs the question - "by whom?". That is inherently a religious question.

(d) The theory of evolution does not assert the presence of a divine Creator; that is not the same as asserting the absence of one. Evolution and creationism are not mutually incompatible (unless you are asserting a specific theory of creation, e.g. Young Earth Creationism. As YEC has very little evidence supporting it (aside from Scripture), why would it be taught in public schools?)

(e) As the theory of evolution does not hold that there is *NOT* a Supreme Being, the assertion of the theory of evolution in public schools should not be equated with the promotion of atheism as a national religion. The whole argument is a non-sequitur.

Listed on Nasdaq- GWB

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

My mother the writer, sent me the greatest thing the other day that she wrote about Mr. GWB, the President...

Even with all the negative repercussions that Bush’s “war of choice” in Iraq has spawned, including falling poll numbers, there are still plenty of Americans that support the President. Why?

For these people, Bush is like the Internet tech stock they still have in their portfolio. Three years ago they bought into all the media hype- then their pick imploded on them. Now they still don’t want to admit that they made a bad selection and figure if they just give it enough time, the performance will improve.

Here’s a tip, folks- time is running out. You need to unload that loser and invest in something else- something with a positive return.

Take it and run with it!

Ryan Lizza is wrong

By Jim Dallas

Brad DeLong references this note from The New Republic's Ryan Lizza:

...the White House counterterrorism job is the bureaucratic equivalent of the drummer in Spinal Tap. Bush has now gone through five of them since 9/11. (Clinton had one.) Like Spinal Tap's drummers, who often choked on their own vomit or spontaneously combusted, Bush's counterterrorism aides all seem to disappear under unusual circumstances. First there was Richard Clarke. We all know what happened to him. He left his post in disgust and wrote a book arguing that Bush paid no attention to terrorism before 9/11 and that the war in Iraq was a monumental diversion from the fight against al Qaeda and a gift to jihadist recruiters across the Muslim world. Clarke was replaced by General Wayne Downing, a pro-Iraq war hawk. Nonetheless, he had a similar experience, lasting a total of 10 months before abruptly resigning in frustration at how the White House bureaucracy was responding to the terrorist threat. Downing was replaced by two men, General [John] Gordon, who lasted ten months before moving on to his homeland security job, and Rand Beers, who resigned in disgust over the Iraq war after seven months in his post. His experience was searing enough that he immediately joined the Kerry campaign. Beers was replaced by Townsend, who has now been tapped to replace Gordon, who is apparently resigning under circumstances similar to Clarke and Beers. (Got all that?)

While comparing Bush counterterrorism chiefs to Tap drummers is an accurate and fitting analogy, I feel compelled to point out that no Spinal Tap drummer choked on "his own vomit."

There was, however, a drummer that choked on someone else's vomit:

Marty: Your first drummer was uh.... Nigel: The peeper.... David: Joe stumpy Pepys...great great...uh...tall blond geek.. with glasses uh... Nigel: Uh.. good drummer. David: Great look, good drummer. Nigel: Good, good drummer.... David: Fine drummer.... Marty: What happened to him? David: He died, he, he died in a bizarre gardening accident some years back. Nigel: It was really one of those things...it was...you know...the authorities said...you know...well best leave it unsolved, really...you know. Marty: And he was replaced by...uh.... David: Stumpy Joe - Eric Stumpy Joe Childs. Marty: What happened to Stumpy Joe? Derek: Well, uh, it's not a very pleasant story..but, uh, David: He's passed on. Derek: he died. uh...he choked on..the ac- the official explanation was he choked on vomit. Nigel: It was actually, was actually someone else's vomit. It's not.... David: It's ugly. Nigel: You know. There's no real.... Derek: You know they can't prove whose vomit it was...they don't have the facilities at Scotland Yard.... David: You can't print, there's no way to print a spectra-photograph Nigel: You can't really dust for vomit.

Perhaps it would disturb normal people that I remember this. At any rate, this oversight is clearly another example of how the liberal media outlets like The New Republic fail to report all the facts.

Wink. Nod. Chuckle.

Ryan Lizza is wrong

By Jim Dallas

Brad DeLong references this note from The New Republic's Ryan Lizza:

...the White House counterterrorism job is the bureaucratic equivalent of the drummer in Spinal Tap. Bush has now gone through five of them since 9/11. (Clinton had one.) Like Spinal Tap's drummers, who often choked on their own vomit or spontaneously combusted, Bush's counterterrorism aides all seem to disappear under unusual circumstances. First there was Richard Clarke. We all know what happened to him. He left his post in disgust and wrote a book arguing that Bush paid no attention to terrorism before 9/11 and that the war in Iraq was a monumental diversion from the fight against al Qaeda and a gift to jihadist recruiters across the Muslim world. Clarke was replaced by General Wayne Downing, a pro-Iraq war hawk. Nonetheless, he had a similar experience, lasting a total of 10 months before abruptly resigning in frustration at how the White House bureaucracy was responding to the terrorist threat. Downing was replaced by two men, General [John] Gordon, who lasted ten months before moving on to his homeland security job, and Rand Beers, who resigned in disgust over the Iraq war after seven months in his post. His experience was searing enough that he immediately joined the Kerry campaign. Beers was replaced by Townsend, who has now been tapped to replace Gordon, who is apparently resigning under circumstances similar to Clarke and Beers. (Got all that?)

While comparing Bush counterterrorism chiefs to Tap drummers is an accurate and fitting analogy, I feel compelled to point out that no Spinal Tap drummer choked on "his own vomit."

There was, however, a drummer that choked on someone else's vomit:

Marty: Your first drummer was uh.... Nigel: The peeper.... David: Joe stumpy Pepys...great great...uh...tall blond geek.. with glasses uh... Nigel: Uh.. good drummer. David: Great look, good drummer. Nigel: Good, good drummer.... David: Fine drummer.... Marty: What happened to him? David: He died, he, he died in a bizarre gardening accident some years back. Nigel: It was really one of those things...it was...you know...the authorities said...you know...well best leave it unsolved, really...you know. Marty: And he was replaced by...uh.... David: Stumpy Joe - Eric Stumpy Joe Childs. Marty: What happened to Stumpy Joe? Derek: Well, uh, it's not a very pleasant story..but, uh, David: He's passed on. Derek: he died. uh...he choked on..the ac- the official explanation was he choked on vomit. Nigel: It was actually, was actually someone else's vomit. It's not.... David: It's ugly. Nigel: You know. There's no real.... Derek: You know they can't prove whose vomit it was...they don't have the facilities at Scotland Yard.... David: You can't print, there's no way to print a spectra-photograph Nigel: You can't really dust for vomit.

Perhaps it would disturb normal people that I remember this. Oh well.