What if the GOP Held a Fundraiser and Nobody Came?

Via The Carpetbagger Report:

On April 1st, the Wisconsin GOP held a fundraiser for gubernatorial candidate Mark Green and House candidate John Gard. They had a special guest, Speaker of the House Denny Hastert. 700 invitatations were issued. 15 people showed up.

I know Hastert's a figurehead, but 15 people? How funny, er, embarrassing, OK both.

He Said It

Verbatim from Think Progress:

The people do have a right to know:

“The time has come that the American people know exactly what their representatives are doing here in Washington. Are they feeding at the public trough, taking lobbyist-paid vacations, getting wined and dined by special-interest groups? Or are they working hard to represent their constituents? The people, the American people, have a right to know. I say the best disinfectant is full disclosure.”

– Rep. Tom DeLay, delivered on the House floor, November 1995

It's time to live up to your own words, Tom.

Clueless George

Via Carpetbagger Report:
George W Bush is was unaware of the changes in travel policy that his Administration has propsed that will require citizens to have passports to travel to and from Mexico and Canada, until he read it in the newspaper.

“When I first read that in the newspaper about the need to have passports,” Bush told a meeting of editors Wednesday, “I said, ‘What’s going on here?’ “

First, I thought he didn't read the paper. Second, who's running this country if George doesn't know something like that? What's going on here indeed?

When the Facts Don't Fit the Ideology

Then hide the facts. According to Political Wire, the Bush Administration is ceasing publication of an annual report on international terrorism because it would show that there were more attacks last year than in any year since 1985, the first year the report was issued.

Typical Republican thinking. If you can't lie, obfuscate.

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld "Honored"

From Science Blog via Boing Boing:

George W Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld have been "honored" by having species of slime-mold beetles named after them. According to Quentin Wheeler, the professor responsible for naming the beetles,

"We admire these leaders as fellow citizens who have the courage of their convictions and are willing to do the very difficult and unpopular work of living up to principles of freedom and democracy rather than accepting the expedient or popular,"

OK, if you say so. The choice of species seems terribly appropriate to me.

Sorry for no updates recently, will try harder.

It's a Good Thing Steven King Isn't in School Now

Via Boing Boing:
A Lexington, KY high school student, William Poole, was arrested and jailed for writing a story about zombies. The charge is second degree terroristic threatening. In response to Poole's assertions that the story is fiction, police had this to say:

"Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it's a felony in the state of Kentucky," said Winchester Police detective Steven Caudill.

It's good to know that the police in Kentucky are on the job, protecting zombies from "terrorstic threats".

I Guess Fox News Wasn't Enough

Via AlterNet
I guess Rupert Murdoch and the folks at Fox News weren't doing a good enough job, because the Department of Defense is starting its own cable channel. It's already available on some cable systems and soon Dish Network will carry it on sarellite. It seems to me that the government shouldn't be in the domestic broadcasting business. The next thing you'll see is news from "state-run" TV, the way we do from other countries now. The "free press" is practically a joke now, now it seems the government is going to eliminate the middle man and start broadcasting its propaganda itself.

Howard Dean Comes to Kansas

Howard Dean began his campaign to make the Democrats a ntional party again, with a stop in Lawrence, Kansas Friday. He spoke for about 20 minutes to an enthusiastic crowd of about a thousand who paid $5 each to see the new DNC chair.

Lawrence Journal-World report
6 News Lawrence (local TV) report (Quicktime)
KCUR (Kansas City NPR) interview

It looks like Dean is keeping his promise with this trip and a trip to Mississippi next week. He's saying the right things, I only hope they translate into strategies that can get Democrats elected at the local level.

Count Me Blue Bracelets Wristbands

I'm auctioning off my extra Count Me Blue wristbands on ebay. If you don't want to buy a pack of 10 this a chance to get one at a fair price. Auction ends 2/20/2005 at 22:12 PST.

Thanks.

Chicken George

Via Political Wire:
George Bush was supposed to have a town hall style meeting with average Germans during his visit there, Wednesday. When the German government declined to go along with Bush's pre-screened and scripted format, he backed out.

Is anyone actually surprised by this? If George Bush had to answer questions from a potentially hostile crowd off the cuff, his brain would implode.

I Thought That Sounded Familiar

I thought Bush's recent denails of military plans for Iran sounded familiar. Think Progress was kind enough to lay it out for me.

“This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. Having said that, all options are on the table.” - George W. Bush, 2/22/05

“Again, all options are on the table, and – but one thing I will not allow is a nation such as Iraq to threaten our very future by developing weapons of mass destruction.” - George W. Bush, 3/13/02

Warning: This Program Contains Nudity, Violence, and Same Sex Marriage

On tonight's episode of the Simpsons, Homer becomes an ordained minister in order to perform same sex marriages. Fox thought it necessary to warn viewers of this fact before the show began. Anyboody who watches the show, shouldn't be surprised at its liberal views. But it's still a shame that same sex marriage has risen to the level of sex and violence as something viewers need to be protected from. On Fox, anyway.

Check the parody website mentioned on the show

Don't Like the Science? Change the Law

Via Think Progress:

A committee of the Indiana House voted Wednesday to send a bill to the full House that states that a human fetus is viable outside the womb at 20 weeks. Despite the fact that there's no scientific evidence to support this.

Attention all politicians! Science cannot be legislated. Leave science to the scientists. Please.

Memo to Joe Lieberman

Via Political Wire:
According to poll in the Wall Street Journal 60% of Americans want Congressional Democrats to make sure Bush and the GOP don't go too far. Only 34% want Democrats to work in a bipartisann way to pass Bush's priorities.

Someone could do the country a great service by passing out copies of this poll to those Democrats who vote for Republican bills. Like the 50 Democrats who voted today to take away Americans' right to class action lawsuits.

It's Worse Than I Thought

It's bad enough that the Army is sending one legged soldiers back to Iraq, now they want to send senior cittizens too. According to this Carpetbagger Report item, 84 year old WWII vet Floyd Baker, received letters from the Army promising generous incentives if he re-enlisted.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: there's a draft coming, and I'm not talking about the wind.

Howard, Get to Work on This

Yesterday, the mid point of February, I received from the DNC my 2005 calendar.

Howard, I know you were just elected on Saturday, but you might want to look into this, so that next year the calendatrs go out in January, or even December!

Dems Out-Mobilize GOP

Via Donkey Rising:

According to the 2004 American National Election Survey, 31% of respondents were contacted by the Democratic Party vs. 25% for the GOP. The previous high was 22% in 2000. The survey also showed that Democratic efforts were more effective. Among those who were contacted, the gap in turnout between the lowest and the highest income groups was only eight percentage points. Among those who weren't, the gap was 26 percentage points.

It's good to know that all those phone calls I made did some good.

Congratulations Howard!

Although the result was a foregone conclusion, Howard Dean was elected chairman of the DNC today. I am, admittedly, a big fan of his, but I think he was the right choice because he has a plan to build the party by expanding it at the state and local levels.Which is exactly the path we need to take if we're going to be a national party again.

Good Luck Howard!

Did Bush Know About Steroid Use?

Sorry, no updates last week, I was very tired.

Via Political Wire:
In former Chicago White Sox (I'm a fan) slugger Jose Canseco's new book, Juiced : Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big, he claims to have brought steroids to baseball, having introduced them to Mark McGwire, Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro and Juan Gonzalez. He even claims that, then Rangers owner, George W Bush knew players were using performance enhancing drugs, but did nothing about it. The White House declined comment.

I don't know if Canseco's telling the truth, but if he's trying to draw attention to himself, it may just work.

Recommended Online Viewing

Via Green Cine Daily:
America's Biggest Dick takes Dick Cheney's 2004 convention speech and replaces the audio with lines from Scarface. The result is both funny and scary. Check it out.