"Activist Judges" oh the hypocrisy

Activist Judges may overturn the EXPRESSED will of half the country (geographically...more or less)

This is the ULTIMATE in activist judges. People in 11 states have voted clearly on this issue and now these clowns in Washington are going to make medical decisions for millions of Americans. CLEARLY denying the will of the people in their lame attempts to gain some leverage in the failed "war on drugs".

The hypocrisy astounds.

BTW - Do any of the Justices have MDs?

On a personal note: when I had back surgery earlier this year, I was given Oxycodone for the pain. Oxycodone is highly addictive (ISN'T IT RUSH...you hypocrite) didn't help my pain all that much and gave me horrible headaches and constipation. Shouldn't John Ashcroft be suing somebody, some Doctors or States, to stop Doctors from prescribing this?

REMEMBER, WHEN CONSERVATIVES WE'RE ALL ABOUT "STATES RIGHTS"?

Another man destroyed for telling the truth

FDA may reassign Vioxx whistleblower

How can anyone support what goes on in this Administration? Retrubition for trying to stop people from dying? APPALLING

I can’t wait to hear how this is good public policy from the Bushies.

(Timely sidenote: While getting some medicine for my sick kid today, noticed I had some Vioxx samples in the cupboard…I threw them out)

Washington Governor's Race...or Damn, I'm cynical these days

WSJ had an article about the WA Governor's race:

FUND ON THE TRAIL:
"Florida NorthwestWill Democrats steal the Washington
governorship?"
Monday, November 29, 2004 12:01 a.m.

Anyway a friend sent it to me and below is my response to the article:

The only thing I think this and the Florida race in 2000 and maybe even Ohio
this year prove is that your vote doesn’t really count. Each year we learn
that states CAN NOT physically count all the votes accurately. You’re vote
surely counts if you live in a jurisdiction with a large plurality toward one
side, but in the races where each vote is critical it’s been proven that we just
can’t count votes accurately.

I was up in Washington this weekend and watched a little TV and the most obvious statement (and troubling) was someone who pointed out that “you and I could count this stack of ballots today and agree on a number, tomorrow we would count them again and likely get different numbers”. So True.

Let’s say Gregoire gets her recount and she wins by 50 votes. Is Rossi supposed to let that stand? I would think not.

The only thing you can say about this election is that we will NEVER know the true count.

Since the "Liberal Media" ignored this

You may recall there was a Marine who apparently shot a wounded, unarmed Iraqi a few weeks ago. I don't know the details and the media apparently ignored it after the initial report...America's memory span is about the same as a Goldfish these days (remember Afghanistan?).

Anyway, this is a posting by Kevin Sites who took the pictures of the shooting.

Happy Thanksgiving

With recent events like the NBA brawl, the GOP's abandonment of any semblence of Principle with the Delay Rule and Congress proving how truly disfunctional it is with the ramming thru of the Omnibus Spending package that apparently NO ONE in Congress Write or EVEN reads, I figured I'd go to the in-laws for the weekend.

Happy holidays

Check you next week.

Stop defending Ron Artest et al

I'm so SICK of former sports guys and sportswriters defending the actions of Ron Artest and especially those of the others.

Here's part of an email I sent to Steve Kerr after he defended Artest.

Ron Artest is not a police officer. I wish you and everyone else would
stop defending his actions. The fan WAS MOST definitely at fault and
should have arrested by SECURITY. By your twisted logic, having a plastic
cup thrown on you on the street should result in full on beat down by the person
on the recieving end of the cup. Sorry, Steve, that's not how the real
world works. Maybe in the world of spoiled athletes it does, but out in
the real world, Police handle things like this. Artest could have killed
that guy he attacked. As a fan, I've been hit by things thrown by other
fans, so I have a free pass to try to kill whoever threw it? Methinks not,
and maybe those of you who have had to endure the taunts of fans for you
multi-millionare dollar contracts need to get some perspective.

John Saunders of ESPN, on Friday night, that any fan who stepped on the court "got what they deserved". Really? By that logic, Artest and Jackson who crossed that same line in the other direction got what he deserved. Hey John, where would "getting what you deserved" have ended. If Jermaine O'Neal had blindedsided that one guy in the temple instead of the jaw, would have have "gotten what he deserved" as he lie on the ground? The guy that Artest punched on the floor didn't swing at him, Artest made the first move.

Vigilante justice doesn't have a place in professional sports and getting hit with a plastic cup (ON THE CHEST, not the fact like every defender of Artest seems to be lieing about) doesn't give anyone on the street or in a basketball arena the opportunity or free pass to start trying to kill people.

In my mind, Artest shouldn't even get the worst fine. It should be Jackson and O'Neal, who didn't get hit with a cup until they decided that the Pacers were going to take on 10,000 fans.

And stop worrying about their punishment. The union will fight the fines, and the fines will amount to a couple of days pay, like a traffic ticket to a normal person. And these players will go on with their day jobs and suffer no real consequences. While the fans, maybe they get arrested and have to pay fines as well, my guess is those fines will be a hell of a lot more in percentage Income Dollars than those by the players.

Stop Calling Bushies "Conservative"

One of the main tenets of Conservativism is fiscal responsiblity, the Bushies and the GOP have proven for the third time in three years they are fiscally

Will the Missile Shield help us with this reality?

Missing tanker causing some concern...after 7 MONTHS.

Far Right still attacking Spector

National Review Online goes after Spector...again.

And rather than be honorable and let him respond to their criticism they act like a 14 year and just have to have the last word.

Are there any grown ups left on the Right?

Bill Buckley...what has become of your movement

Why does the Far Right HATE Constitutional Democracy?

Ashcroft says Judges should never question the President.

Frist says the Senate should approve all of the President's nominees.

Why the hell do these guys work in our Government if they have so much hatred for the Checks an Balances and three separate branches of Government?

If the Senate can't challenge the Executive's judicial choices and judiciary should never overturn the Executive's will all you have is a Monarchy/dictatorship.

Well, people, that's what you voted for...God have mercy.

The Glories of mass transit or why I love America

So, tonight I went to see David Sedaris in Portland. I decided to take light rail, because I didn't really want to drive into Portland during rush hour and I always feel good when I use the Mass Transit, even if it does take longer than driving.

Anyway, on the way down to the show, halfway to my stop, a hooker sits next to me. Red Leather skirt, black boots the whole nine. Behind me are these two 20's crunchy types ...who reak of living the hard life, but anyway they were pretty cool, because the girl asks the hooker if she's cold or wants something to eat...anyway just good people tryin to help out.

So, I see Sedaris, and he's great. His first reading, from an upcoming article in Esquire is the highlight, followed by his reading of diary entries.

So, that finishes up and I head back to the light rail. I'm sitting next to one clean cut guy, probably 25 with a HUGE shit-eatin' grin on his face. Appeared to be pretty hammered...all he did was smile and look at his transit map. Across from us are three girls, again probably in their 20's, obviously returning from a class at Portland St. So, I do a little listening. I hear the youngest of the trio, probably 24 or so offering advice on why shouldn't go back with her daughter's father because "he hasn't changed".

Didn't really get much more than that because I pick up today's Oregonian Business section and I'm reading about how Adidas has signed up David Beckham for there latest campaign, when this young girl, maybe 18-19 (I'm bad with ages, but I'll go with this) sits where the drunk guy was (I missed him getting off) and she leans over to say something to me. She speaks very quietly and with a slight accent. I figure she's just asking directions, because for some reason everywhere I go people think I look like the kind of guy who knows where stuff is and if you ask my wife, you'd know that's not true. (In fact when I got off the train in Portland a guy asked me where 5th street was, I guessed and said "down there" and I was right as I headed the wrong way toward the theater. Well, not the wrong way, but an ineffecient way...got off the train to the right ans should have gone left).

Anyway, back to the girl. She's got teenager's skin and long black hair in need of some conditioning. I say "excuse me" to which I get,
"Are you Christian, I'm a missionary". I immediatly reply "no thanks" very politely. I have to say "no thanks" 5 more times before she stops talking. She ends with "Jesus loves you". I wanted to respond with "well, then why should i worry", but I don't. She sits there for a little while longer before she talks to the trio across from (remember the girl with the daughter?). She talks to one who says she is also a Christian, born-again in fact. Then the two of them seem to not know what to say, but I did hear "Jesus loves you and he's coming soon". So, I get to thinking, is that only for Christians to know. How come I don't get that tidbit of info?

Eventually, the missionary leaves the seat and takes her show toward the front of the car, where right before she gets off she does talk to some guy for quite a while. He get literature, the whole deal, so maybe she saved a soul tonight.

After that drama, I turn my attention to my right where an older guy with a Michael Keaton from "Family Ties" kinda look is talking to two young techie dudes/skater guys about the new Canon Digital SLR he's going to buy. A 17 megapixel to replace the 11Megapixel he has now. Should run about $8000.

Then the techies get off the stop before me, then my stop. I get off, the guy with the camera gets off and the girl with the great body and sloped nose and her balding boyfriend get off too.

So, to recap. I travel on a money losing mass transit project and I feel good about it to see a gay American author who lives in France most of the time. While going I sit next to a prostitute, I watch my show, come back home, someone tries to Save me and I blow her off to listen to some excellent American consumerism.

Isn't America GREAT?

What happened to Conservatism and Federalism?

So, the Bushies, who hate activist judges when the go against the will of the people, are trying to circumvent the will of the people.

You see, in Oregon this exact law was put before the people. Not initaited by some "activist judge", but we all went to the polls and were asked this question and we resoundingly answered "Yes, terminally ill people should have the right to end their pain". Not only did we answer this question ONCE, but we answered it twice. The second time 60-40 in favor of the Death with Dignity act. 60-40.

The Bushies, who again, hate it when bureaucrats contradict the will of the people, don't care about the pain a terminally ill person feels. They will execute children and mentally handicapped, but if you're about to die and are in a lot of pain, you have to live until GOD says it's ok to go.

These hypocritical zealots. They don't give a shit about what people want (the will of the voters) or anything about States Rights (Classic Republican Ideals), they care about power for themselves wrapped up in bigotry, intolerance and discompassion. Could these clowns be any further from the ideals laid out by Jesus?

Don't let science get in the way of your zealot agenda

Amazing, that despite scientific evidence, it's the Scientists who are being political. So, Abortion doesn't cause cancer, but by law you have to say it does.

The money quote is here:

Joel Brind, a biochemist at Baruch College in New York who advises the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, noted that a woman's chances of getting breast cancer go down if she gives birth at a relatively young age. He reasons that those who opt for abortion are giving up a chance of reducing their breast cancer risk.

Therefore, he says, abortion increases the risk of cancer.

But this incredibly twisted logic, eating beans causes cancer. You see, Broccoli is very good for it's anti-cancer properties, so any meal that does not include Broccoli increases your risk of cancer, so by this quack's reasoning, Beans (and Doritos and Hot Dogs and Corn) cause cancer.

By the same reasoning, wouldn't the good doctor support every teenage girl get pregnant? Otherwise, she has a higher risk of Cancer sooooo, not being a teenage mother causes cancer.

In stores tomorrow

Toby Keith has a new Greatest Hits album coming out tomorrow…his third GH compilation. This from a guy with 8 albums, one of which is a Christmas album (required for Country artists…even my beloved Dwight has one)

Also on shelves tomorrow…Britney Spears Greatest Hits. Say wha’? She’s got four albums I believe and is there a single song that dosen’t use that horrible computerized effect to cover up her lame voice. Don’t get me wrong, I hope she stays hot and half naked for years to come, but please keep the singing to a minimum.

And don’t miss Shania Twain’s GH collection also tomorrow. AMG gave it 5 stars…again “say wha’?”.

I hate this about rating systems. Shania’s 5 stars is obviously different from the 5 stars Miles Davis or the Rolling Stones get, right. The reviewer must be comparing this album amongst other Shania work and other work in the genre of popified Country, right? I think 5 stars should mean five stars. So, if you give Rubber Soul or Pet Sounds 5 stars, a greatest hits albums by hot wives of hard rock producers could NEVER aspire beyond a four.

Josh Marshall on Prime Minister Bush

Surveying the scene today, one thing that occurs to me is that President Bush is remaking the government into something that is looking more and more like a parliamentary democracy. I don't mean in every specific, of course; the key feature of the
Bush presidency is an extremely powerful executive that to a great degree coopts and controls his own congressional majorities.
But the similarities are important and worth understanding. The key elements are extremely tight party discipline (something political scientists have lamented the absence of for years) and a sharp diminishment of rivalries between the branches of government which used to cut against unified party control.
Party discipline is simple enough. President Bush's first term was replete with examples. And an instructive comparison is how much President Bush was able to accomplish with thin majorities in 2001-02 compared to what President Clinton was able to do with much more substantial majorities in 1993-94.
Today I'm struck by this most recent example with Arlen Specter.
Fresh from his successful senate reelection campaign, Specter (heir apparent to the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee) suggested he'd hold the line against anti-Roe v. Wade judges President Bush might appoint.
Then no more than a day later he beat a hasty and shamefaced retreat.
“Contrary to press accounts, I did not warn the President about anything and was very respectful of his Constitutional authority on the appointment of federal judges.
“As the record shows, I have supported every one of President Bush’s nominees in the Judiciary Committee and on the Senate floor. I have never and would never apply any litmus test on the abortion issue and, as the record shows, I have voted to confirm Chief Justice Rehnquist, Justice O’Connor, and Justice Kennedy and led the fight to confirm Justice Thomas.
“I have already sponsored a protocol calling for a Judiciary Committee hearing within thirty days of a nomination, a vote out of Committee thirty days later, and floor action thirty days after that. I am committed to such prompt action by the Committee on all of President Bush’s nominees.
“In light of the repeated filibusters by the Democrats in the last Senate session, I am concerned about a potential repetition of such filibusters. I expect to work well with President Bush in the judicial confirmation process in the years ahead.”
I assume the word came down from the White House to Sen. Specter that he simply wouldn't be Chairman if that were his attitude.
Then we have the incident we noted yesterday in which Sen. Frist may, at the president's say-so, change the cloture rules which require 60 votes to push through legislation.
Past presidents have usually had to deal with Majority Leaders who were much more solicitous of their chamber's independence and institutional preogatives. But then again, President Bush all but appointed Frist to his post. So this should not surprise us.
There's even an element of parliamentarism in President Bush's post-election comments about his mandate and his right to expect others to fall in line behind views because he won a majority, even if a small one, at the ballot box.
It's fine to bemoan this. And there's much to bemoan. But Democrats also need to learn how to live with it, at least for the next four years. And that means realizing that for at least the next two years, the President can get passed almost anything he wants to. His congressional majorities are now sufficiently padded that he can even afford a few Republican defections. He simply doesn't need Democrats for anything.
And that means approaching most legislative battles not with an eye toward preventing passage or significantly altering legislation, but placing alternatives on the table that the party will be able use as contrasts to frame the next two elections. In other words, their only remaining viable alternative is to be an actual party of opposition.
-- Josh Marshall

A "liberal Democratic Thelogian"?

Gary Hart (Hart holds law and divinity degrees from Yale University and completed his undergraduate studies, with emphasis in theology and philosophy, at Southern Nazarene University.) talks about the place of religion in politics

More accurate red/blue maps

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/

A collection of maps drawn along population/voting boundaries not geographical ones.

Here's what you Red States voted for

Apparently the Zealots are now running the Country. GOD help us.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The head of a leading conservative group said Sunday that Sen. Arlen Specter "is a big-time problem" and that his quest to serve as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee "must be derailed."
The comments from James Dobson, founder of the nonprofit Christian organization Focus on the Family, came four days after the moderate Republican from Pennsylvania told reporters that any Supreme Court nominee intent on overturning Roe v. Wade probably would not win Senate approval.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/07/specter.judiciary/

Predictions

Somewhere in the next few months, it will come out that the Diebold voting machines screwed up some of the counts in the election.

Colin Powell will resign before March 2005.

Dick Cheney will step down, officially for Health reasons, but the Halliburton contract is going to play large in the move.

The will be a fight in the GOP between the moderates and the Rovian Zealots (although I don't think Rove is a zealot, he'd do anything to get his candidate to win, a modern day Earl of Warwick).

The Democratic Party will regroup and start acting a little more like the GOP, no more Mr. Nice Guy. A little more Michael Moore swagger (without the hysteria).

I will continue to support the Libertarians as that's where I stand politically.

The Long National Nightmare will go on for four more years

Last night I was mad...shocked and Mad. How could America re-elect this guy? There's so much. Huge Deficits, tax breaks for corporations, a net loss in jobs, the disaster in post-war Iraq, bin Laden is still alive and making videos, Halliburton, etc. etc. etc.

This morning...heartbroken.

As the day wore on determined and rationalizing.

So, now I go back and forth between disgust and disbelief. The disgust is not just the Bush (I guess I shouldn't say "re-election" as he did come in 2nd last time...) "election", but that 11 states including my own are so homophobic that they won't allow gays to marry.

Yet, not one, NOT ONE, of these zealots has been able to tell me why they care if I'm married or if my neighbors are married or not married. I don't care if you're married or to whom you get married, I've still got to get up and go to work in the morning. Anyway that's another subject.

it looks like it's still two Americas...and I don't know what the hell is going on in Red America, but it ain't pretty.

The long national nightmare continues

So, it's not looking good here at 10PM PST. Another 4 years of Bush, unconstrained by the threat of re-election. Can you say Theocracy?

I weep for America.

But you idiots voted for him, you get what you deserve.

The time is Neigh

Just had a great post, but Blogger ate it.

So, forget all that crap...go Vote

More Lies...remember when he was going to restore integrity?

Propaganda machine in full effect...

WH to stop using fake photo..

Another Bushie hypocrite exposed

First, it was the arbiter of American Values with a little Gambling issue
Then Mr. Law and Order Radio host turns out to be a junky

And no Mr. No-Spin Zone turns out to be a perv.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6357736/


Tough couple of years to be a partisan hack for the Bushies

When will the Rovites began the destruction of this woman?

Halliburton objected to?

How soon before Drudge is running that this woman had a baby out of wedlock with a gay communist Frenchman?

Freedom on the March...but not for these folks

100,000 Dead in Iraq

Oops, we did it again

ANother set up ammunitions ungaurded:

Making America safer, one Rubik's cube at a time

From the Oregonian:

Feds create puzzle not found on toy shelf
The owner of Pufferbelly Toys in St. Helens worries when Homeland Security agents show up on official business
Thursday, October 28, 2004
ASHBEL S. GREEN
Nothing about running a small store called Pufferbelly Toys prepared Stephanie Cox for a cryptic phone call from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
"It's all very surreal, quite honestly," Cox said Wednesday. "I thought it was a prank when I first heard. I couldn't understand why Homeland Security would be investigating a tiny toy store in St. Helens."
The call came in late July or early August. A man identifying himself as a federal Homeland Security agent said he needed to talk to Cox at her store.
Cox asked what it was all about.
"He said he was not at liberty to discuss that," she said.
They agreed to meet in early August, but the agent later canceled. Cox thought the matter had blown over when the agent called back Sept. 9 to say he was coming out there.
"I was shaking in my shoes," said Cox, who has owned Pufferbelly Toys for more than four years. "My first thought was the government can shut your business down on a whim, in my opinion. If I'm closed even for a day that would cause undue stress."
The next day, two men arrived at the store and showed Cox their badges. The lead agent asked Cox whether she carried a toy called the Magic Cube. She said yes. The Magic Cube, he said, was an illegal copy of the Rubik's Cube, one of the most popular toys of all time. He told her to remove the Magic Cube from her shelves, and he watched to make sure she complied.
The whole thing took about 10 minutes.
After the agents left, Cox called the manufacturer of the Magic Cube, the Toysmith Group, which is based in Auburn, Wash. A representative told her that the Homeland Security agents had it wrong. The Rubik's Cube patent had expired, and the Magic Cube did not infringe on rival toy's trademark.
John Ryan, corporate counsel for the Toysmith Group, said Homeland Security, which includes Customs, routinely blocks shipments of products from overseas that violate intellectual property rights, such as patents, copyrights and trademarks.
"That's fine. That's not an outrageous federal act by any means," Ryan said. "But we certainly were surprised that a federal agent approached a toy store owner and frightened them."
Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said agents went to Pufferbelly based on a trademark infringement complaint filed in the agency's intellectual property rights center in Washington, D.C.
Kice also said Homeland Security officials routinely investigate such complaints and follow up if they determine they are valid.
"One of the things that our agency's responsible for doing is protecting the integrity of the economy and our nation's financial systems and obviously trademark infringement does have significant economic implications," she said.
After gaining assurances from Toysmith officials, Cox put the Magic Cube back on the shelf soon after the agents left.
Six weeks after her brush with Homeland Security, Cox is still scratching her head.
"Aren't there any terrorists out there?" she said.