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Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Goodbye 4th Amendment... 

We'll miss you, buddy.

I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave.

- H. L. Mencken

They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.

- Benjamin Franklin

You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free.

-Clarence Darrow

We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.

-Edward R. Murrow

If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.

-Samuel Adams

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

-George Orwell

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Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Call me Skeptical... 

Bush says won't base court decision on abortion - Yahoo! News

President Bush said on Wednesday he would not choose his Supreme Court candidate based on their position on specific issues such as abortion or gay marriage.
Right.
"There will be no litmus test," he said, repeating his position during his 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns.
Whatever.
In Washington, Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, doubted Bush's pledge not to give candidates a litmus test on abortion.

"This president has no credibility -- to date, he has appointed more than 200 judges to the federal courts -- not one of whom supported a woman's right to choose," she said.
Exactly.
But Democrats and interest groups on the left promise a fight to block any nominee they view as too conservative.
They'd better. This one is too important to fuck up.

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Culture of Life 

Republicans want to speed up death penalty
Republicans in Congress have launched a new effort to speed up executions in the United States by limiting the ability of those sentenced to death to appeal to federal courts.

The "Streamlined Procedures Act of 2005," introduced into the House of Representatives by California Rep. Dan Lungren and in the Senate by Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl (news, bio, voting record), would limit the ability of defendants facing the death sentence to have their cases reviewed by federal courts in what are known as habeas corpus appeals.
...
A study headed by Columbia University statistician and political scientist Andrew Gelman of all 5,826 death sentences imposed in the United States between 1973 and 1995 found that 68 per cent were reversed on appeal.

The most common reasons were "egregiously incompetent lawyering, prosecutorial misconduct or suppression of evidence, misintruction of jurors or biased judges or jurors," said the study published in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies.

Federal courts examining habeas corpus appeals overturned 40 percent of the cases that had previously been upheld by state appeals courts -- a fact the authors called worrisome.
I guess protecting innocent life only counts for fetuses and people in permanent vegetative states.

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Thursday, June 30, 2005

That Sends Me into a Shame Spiral... 

Mustang Bobby links to a story about my employer.
The money was spent in the name of improving security at the nation's airports:

· $526.95 for one phone call from the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Chicago to Iowa City.

· $1,180 for 20 gallons of Starbucks Coffee -- $3.69 a cup -- at the Santa Clara Marriott in California.

· $1,540 to rent 14 extension cords at $5 each per day for three weeks at the Wyndham Peaks Resort and Golden Door Spa in Telluride, Colo.

· $8,100 for elevator operators at the Marriott Marquis in Manhattan.
I'm too ashamed to continue. I will tell you that Pearson isn't passing along any of that dirty money to it's current employees. They don't pay us shit.

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Wednesday, June 29, 2005

St. Novak 

On the final edition of Capital Gang, Robert Novak compared himself to a saint. Transcript
I didn't pick out those little clips but if you noticed I was being abused and zinged. And I felt watching that a little bit like St. Stephen. He was the -- like I, he was a Jewish Christian and he was the first Christian martyr, he was stoned because of his views. And he was attacked and died and so I've had a good time but I think I've really been abused by my colleagues.
I'm not Catholic (hell, I'm not religious at all!) so I had to do a little research. Catholic Online Saints
The saint spoke about Jesus, showing that He is the Savior, God had promised to send. He scolded his enemies for not having believed in Jesus. At that, they rose up in great anger and shouted at him. But Stephen looked up to Heaven and said that he saw the heavens opening and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

His hearers plugged their ears and refused to listen to another word. They dragged St. Stephen outside the city of Jerusalem and stoned him to death. The saint prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" Then he fell to his knees and begged God not to punish his enemies for killing him.

After such an expression of love, the holy martyr went to his heavenly reward.
Let's compare. Man stoned to death for defending his faith. Republican shill who outed an active undercover CIA agent for political retribution. I'd say they're on equal footing.

I look forward to your canonization. St. Novak, Patron of Douchebags.

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Patience... 

President Urges Patience on War
We are also there to strengthen world order. Around the globe from Berlin to Thailand are people whose well being rests in part on the belief that they can count on us if they are attacked. To leave [Iraq] to its fate would shake the confidence of all these people in the value of an American commitment and in the value of America'’s word. The result would be increased unrest and instability, even wide war.

We are also there because there are great stakes in the balance. Let no one think for a minute that retreat from [Iraq] would bring an end to the conflict. The battle would be renewed in one country and then another. The central lesson of our time is that the appetite of aggression is never satisfied. To withdraw from one battlefield means only to prepare for the next. We must say in [the Middle East]--as we did in Europe--in the words of the Bible: "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further."

Our objective is the independence of [Iraq], and its freedom from attack. We want nothing for ourselves-only that the people of [Iraq] be allowed to guide their own country in their own way.

We will do everything necessary to reach that objective.


--but it's LBJ, it's 1965, and only 400 US soldiers had died.

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Douchebaggery... 

From Crooks and Liars: Robert Novak and the Plame Game

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Won't Someone Think of the Children... 

Senator Grassley (and 36 other Republicans) are in favor of testing pesticides on children.

S.Amdt. 1023 to H.R. 2361
To prohibit the use of funds by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to accept, consider, or rely on third-party intentional dosing human studies for pesticides or to conduct intentional dosing human studies for pesticides.
Call Chuck and ask him why he wants to test toxic chemicals on kids. (202) 224-3744

Family values my ass.

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Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Draft Your Daughters... 

Bush Tells U.S. Iraq Sacrifice 'Worth It'
Bush said he understands the public concerns about a war that has killed over 1,740 Americans and 12,000 Iraqi civilians and cost $200 billion. "Like most Americans, I see the images of violence and bloodshed," he said. "Every picture is horrifying and the suffering is real."
...
"Is the sacrifice worth it? It is worth it and it is vital to the security of our country," Bush told a nation increasingly doubtful about the toll of the 27-month-old war.
My security was never threatened by a third rate dictator living in a militarily and economically isolated country. The terrorists weren't in Iraq until Bush decided to play war games. Our loved ones are the ones playing the price for BushCo's real life game of Risk.

George, your daughters are unemployed. I suggest you call the local DC Army recruiting office. (209) 834-0272.

I suggest you buy them some body armor before they ship out. I hear they're a little short on supplies over there.

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Monday, June 27, 2005

Endorsement 

It's Craptastic! is a proud supporter of Operation Yellow Elephant.


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Cause Knowledge is Power! 

Web Site Makes Gov't. Reports Available
A new Web site aims to make widely available to the public certain government reports about topics from terrorism to Social Security that congressional researchers prepare and distribute now only to lawmakers.

The site www.opencrs.com links more than a half-dozen existing collections of nearly 8,000 reports from the Congressional Research Service and centrally indexes them so visitors can find reports containing specific terms or phrases.
...
"This initiative ought to embarrass the Congress into changing its policy and making these documents universally available," said Steven Aftergood, director of the project on government secrecy for the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists.
Finally someone is making available the reports those pesky congressmen cite on C-SPAN. G.I Joe cartoons taught me that knowing is half the battle. So sit back, read a report, and fire off an annoying letter or phone call to your least favorite senator. I have Grassley on speed dial.

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Americans Love Sequels... 

Welcome to Summer of the Shark 2!!!Boy stable after 2nd Florida shark attack
Deaths from unprovoked shark attacks are rare, according to statistics compiled by the International Shark Attack File.
Based on the amount of media coverage I thought that 10 people a day died from shark attacks. TV lied to me again. I don't know who to trust.

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Sunday, June 26, 2005

Guess Who's Back... 

So who missed me? Raise your hands!

I've spent the last several months in front of the TV, anxiously tracking the progress of missing white women and watching the Trial of the Century - Michael Jackson Edition. During my sabbatical, Fox News told me all I needed to know. Apparently the Iraqi insurgency is in its last throes. Liberals hate our troops and cheered the terrorists on 9/11. Bush's approval ratings are in the high 90s.

America - Fuck yeah!

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