U.S. Supports Iran in Rejecting Gay Rights Organizations at the UN

Given the Bush administration’s rhetoric regarding the Iranian government you wouldn’t think the two have much, if anything, in common. In his 2002 State of the Union address President Bush referred to Iran as part of an “axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.” And he criticized the Iranian government’s efforts to “repress the Iranian people’s hope of freedom.” This week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice testified before the Senate regarding the administration’s request for $75 million to help further democracy in Iran, in which she stated that Iran was under the control of a “radical regime.” Yet the Bush administration recently went out of its way to support an Iranian initiative to deny access to gay and lesbian organizations within the United Nations.

Founding Fathers, baseball, apple pie, and impeachment

Remarks prepared for February 18th pro-impeachment rally in colonial dress in Charlottesville, Va., home of Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, and near the home of James Madison.

Impeachment has been part of American culture longer than baseball or apple pie.  Only Mom has been around longer than impeachment.

The Scottish take pride in having invented impeachment.  The British got it from them, and we got it from the British.  Impeachment is in the US Constitution, and was further developed by Thomas Jefferson in the manual of procedural rules that he wrote for the Congress.

The Constitution mentions impeachment six times.  It makes clear that impeachment is a power the legislature has over the executive and judicial branches of government.  And this power is not an afterthought.  It is central to the system of checks and balances that the Constitution created, and which the current administration is well on its way to destroying.

DINO stands for "Democrats In Name Only"

The reason our republic is in crisis is not that we have a ruthless, criminal administration in power; it is not that the press is controlled by self-serving corporations; it is not because rampant bribery has overtaken the Congressional agenda; and even the massive program by Republicans to subvert democracy is inadequate explanation for the crisis. The reason our republic is in crisis is that we have no opposition party.

Why have the Democrats lost their voice at this crucial moment? Why are they doing so little to retake their position at the helm? I have begun to suspect that there is more going on here than incompetence or cowardice or disorganization. Perhaps the Democratic party has been infiltrated.

Impeachment could be the Democrats' best get-out-the-vote message

In the 2004 election, Karl Rove masterfully used gay marriage as the catalyst to drive normally apathetic voters to the polls and achieve historic turnout. It worked. Republicans of all ages, shapes and sizes who couldn't care less about manufactured WMD intelligence, record deficits and gas/oil prices, CIA leaks and warrantless wiretappings raced to polling places across America just to keep homosexuals from tying the knot.

Well, the Democrats have an even better weapon this year: impeachment. If they're smart, they'll make it the linchpin turnout strategy and the single biggest motivator for liberal voters. To be sure, it'll be hard for individual candidates to make this message the cornerstone of their campaigns. They'll need to run on more than that if they want to be taken seriously. But the impeachment issue could be our Swift Boat weapon. Organizations like MoveOn.org, as well as individuals like billionaire George Soros who heavily back such groups, should pull out all stops and launch a massive campaign. I can hear the 30-second spot now:

Guns don't shoot people--Vice Presidents do

Of course, many of you may already know I've never been the Vice President's biggest fan. I've often confused him with Lon Cheney, and yes, I've had him in my sights before er, so to speak. But I find it unconscionable that the left wing punditocracy is having such unearned fun over Cheney's unfortunate hunting accident. I mean who is the victim here? The Vice President, who was deprived of the chance to become a marksman through proper training in Vietnam just because he had other priorities? Or some wealthy Texan (a conservative and a lawyer-—hello!) who had the bad sense to go on a hunting trip with ol' Duck! Cheney.

Truth

Hello, The name Molly Ivins led me to this site. I know her to be full of outlandish dribble, so I wondered about you too. Right now I can't think of any publication I have ever seen that is more full of lies and deliberate deception that this one. For a long time I have wondered why such non-sense is put forth. Then a few days ago I heard an idea suggested. It seems there is about 21% of the liberal left that believes this kind of bull shit. You and some of the liberal left's politicians are playing to this group to keep them in the fold. I suggest that some of this may not be such a good idea. Your problem is, you turn off sensible people who can easily see through you. Keep up the good work. You blatantly show the liberal left to be the liars they, and you are.

"Not Guilty" says woman arrested after hanging anti-Bush posters

CLEVELAND -- The woman arrested and accused of assaulting police officers after hanging World Can't Wait posters in Cleveland Heights January 28 was arraigned in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court February 16.

Carol Fisher, 53, a resident of the inner-ring suburb known for its liberalism was charged with two counts of assaulting Cleveland Heights police officers Daniel Downey and Mike Frinzl.

According to her statements, Fisher was hanging posters announcing the World Can't Wait Cleveland action during the State of the Union, when a passing officer told her it was a $100 fine if she didn't take it down.

Fisher turned and walked toward the poster, in compliance with the officer's warning.  But instead of allowing her to take it down or just issuing a citation, Downey and Frinzl were on top of her "grinding his knee into [Fisher's] back and [her] face into the sidewalk."

Fisher said she told the officers she could not breathe.  That didn't matter.  Two more officers showed up, and they dragged her to a bench, shackled her legs, and handcuffed her tight enough to cause serious bruising.

For whom does the Secret Service's bell toll?

Lost amid the sardonic humor of late-night TV comics and the metaphors of editorial critics of the Cheney-Whittington hunting accident is the role of Secret Service agents who accompanied Vice President Cheney to the Armstrong ranch. On the surface at least, their conduct was anything but accidental…and anything but appropriate.

Either of his own volition or on instructions from Mr. Cheney, a Secret Service man notified the local sheriff immediately after the accident. But when a sheriff’s deputy arrived at the ranch to investigate, he was barred from speaking to the vice president. It wasn’t until the next morning that Mr. Cheney spoke with any law enforcement officer. Meanwhile, President Bush, Andrew Card, and Karl Rove had all been notified that an accident had occurred and that Vice President Cheney had fired the shotgun and injured Mr. Whittington. Without having spoken to Mr. Cheney, the sheriff’s office nonetheless announced that no liquor had been involved and that it was an accident. Case closed.

Bush, Republicans, and Judas Priest: Breaking the law, breaking the law

Whenever Bush or a Republican member of either the House or Senate appears before cameras, the chorus from an old Judas Priest tune starts running through my head:

Breaking the law, breaking the law
Breaking the law, breaking the law
Breaking the law, breaking the law
Breaking the law, breaking the law

It doesn't matter what the topic is, the American people know that if Bush and Republicans are publicly discussing an issue, it is because they have or are, somehow, breaking the law. In matters large-n-small, Republicans have implemented a strategy of breaking the law, breaking the law.

1. Illegally imprisoning US citizens without a trial
2. DOD and FBI spying on Quakers and vegans
3. Torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib
4. Torturing prisoners at Guantanamo Bay
5. Misrepresenting intelligence in order to go to war
6. Illegally outing a CIA agent (Plame) while working on Iran's nuke program
7. Trying to cover up their Katrina-related incompetence
8. Bribing the Abramoff prosecutor with a judgeship so that he leaves the case

The Iran crisis -- “Diplomacy” as a launch pad for missiles

The current flurry of Western diplomacy will probably turn out to be groundwork for launching missiles at Iran.

Air attacks on targets in Iran are very likely. Yet many antiwar Americans seem eager to believe that won’t happen.

Illusion #1: With the U.S. military bogged down in Iraq, the Pentagon is in no position to take on Iran.

But what’s on the horizon is not an invasion -- it’s a major air assault, which the American military can easily inflict on Iranian sites. (And if the task falls to the Israeli military, it is also well-equipped to bomb Iran.)

Illusion #2: The Bush administration is in so much political trouble at home -- for reasons including its lies about Iraqi WMDs -- that it wouldn’t risk an uproar from an attack on Iran.

But the White House has been gradually preparing the domestic political ground for bombing Iran. As the Wall Street Journal reported on Feb. 3, “in recent polls a surprisingly large number of Americans say they would support U.S. military strikes to stop Tehran from getting the bomb.”

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