6/28/2006

SCOTUS: "Gerrymandering is okay"

From the New York Times: Justices Back Most G.O.P. Changes to Texas Districts
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld most of the Texas congressional map engineered by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay but threw out part, saying some of the new boundaries failed to protect minority voting rights.

The fractured decision was a small victory for Democratic and minority groups who accused Republicans of an unconstitutional power grab in drawing boundaries that booted four Democratic incumbents out of office.
Small victory? Hell no, this is a massive defeat, not for us, but for justice.

At issue was the shifting of 100,000 Hispanics out of a district represented by a Republican incumbent and into a new, oddly shaped district. Foes of the plan had argued that that was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander under the Voting Rights Act, which protects minority voting rights.

On a different issue, the court ruled that state legislators may draw new maps as often as they like -- not just once a decade as Texas Democrats claimed. That means Democratic and Republican state lawmakers can push through new maps anytime there is a power shift at a state capital.
This decision is going to encourage more corrupt GOP bastards like Tom Moral-Decay to redraw maps for themselves so they can screw the public over even more. Shame on you, Supreme Court, for allowing this miscarriage of justice to occur.

A thought on recent events: NYT and right-wing hatred thereof

The right is bleating endlessly about how EEEVIL and TREEEEASONOUS the New York Times is because they reported on a program that Dubya had talked about many times.

Where was this hue and cry when they had Judith Miller reporting about the identities of undercover operatives? Where was it when they outed an undercover operative and put national security actually at risk?

Where was it, you liars? WHERE WAS IT?

6/25/2006

"Family" Research Council: "Cancer is good!"

From truthout.org: Religion Running Roughshod Over Cancer Science
The Food and Drug Administration advisory panel approved a vaccine for the human papilloma virus (HPV) last week. The vaccine appears to be 100% effective at protecting against the most prevalent viruses that cause cervical cancer. While public health professionals view the vaccine as miraculous, many conservative organizations oppose it on the grounds that it might encourage promiscuity among adolescent girls. Now that the FDA has approved the vaccine, conservatives are already working feverishly [http://feministing.com/archives/005183.html] to limit or even prevent its use.

(...)

Despite the benefits of the vaccine, conservative organizations began to rally against it last year. One of the most vocal opponents was the Family Research Council. The council, according to its mission statement, "promotes the Judeo-Christian worldview as the basis for a just, free, and stable society." Last October the council's president, Tony Perkins, spoke against the vaccine. "Our concern," he said, "is that this vaccine will be marketed to a segment of the population that should be getting a message about abstinence. It sends the wrong message." He went on to say that he would not vaccinate his 13-year-old daughter.
What a surprise - another hyper-"Christian" neo-con organization that wants to punish women for having sex. Even worse, they're trying to wrap their hatred in yet another "Biblical" messages, throwing in a lot of utterly false claims about it being some kind of "sexual license" for teenagers. Maybe if they were to think for two seconds they'd figure out what those of us with functioning cerebellums already got: Cancer is bad, and having something to prevent it is good.

The truth is, these organizations don't really care about the science behind things like this, or the positive effects - they only believe that the world should follow their twisted ideas of "God says don't fuck, so don't or you'll DIE!" Worse yet, organizations like these often have the ear of the administration. So far, I've not seen evidence that they're having any effect on the folks in Washington regarding this, but you never know. Maybe the Bush-Leaguers will get a spine in dealing with these folks and say, "Cancer bad, vaccine good, you stupid" at long last.

6/23/2006

The Lips of the Media and Where They're Glued

I'm given little choice in watching CNN. It's on the TV in the lobby at work. It's either that, or I sit there and worry about work constantly.

Anyway, I've seen some dumb shit on there. Worst of all was yesterday, when I sat there and watched the liar Cheney continue his lies, belligerence, and conflation. Several times, he conflated 9/11 and Iraq, and the reporter, like everyone else in the ass-kissing press, didn't say word one about it.

I'm not surprised. Ever since the "killing" of al-Zarqawi, the media's been kissing Bush's ass all day, every day. It's the same shit they pulled in '04 - all of a sudden, the scandals disappear, and we have all these "victories" for these shameless liars. And when people start seeing through that, how much ya wanna bet they start up the "fear/smear/queer" machine again?

Party of ideas, my ass!

6/20/2006

Add Louisiana to the list.

From Reuters via Yahoo! News: Louisiana gov. signs law that would ban abortions
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Louisiana Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed into law a ban on most abortions, which would be triggered if the
U.S. Supreme Court overturns its 1973 ruling legalizing the procedure, a spokesman said on Saturday.

The ban would apply to all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest, except when the mother's life is threatened. It is similar to a South Dakota law that has become the latest focus of the abortion battle.
Even when you've got a decent Democrat in office, it's no indication they'll be worth a crap. All this law is is yet another ham-fisted attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade. The anti-choice lobby knows that the court has been stacked in their favor by Bush, and now they're trying to screw the whole country over.

I'm half-convinced it's because they hate women, but I'm sure they have other reasons.

6/14/2006

Malkin: They're doing what I think should be done to foreign people! Boo-freakin'-hoo!

From blubbering right-wing whore Michelle Malkin: The Camp Pendleton 8
My column this week calls attention to the Camp Pendleton 8--7 Marines and Navy corpsman being held in shackles with no charges against them as higher-ups investigate an alleged murder of an Iraqi man earlier this spring in Hamandiya. Excerpt:

Did you know there are seven young Marines and a Navy corpsman sitting in a military brig right now in leg and wrist shackles -- despite the fact that they've not been charged with any crime?
Well, boo-freakin'hoo, Malkin. Remember saying that? Besides, it's like a resort over there - they get treated better than I do.

Maybe if you had some sense, you'd realize that you're saying the very same things we say about Gitmo. The only difference is, you're whining about 8 people, while we're sticking up for about 450. What's more pressing? Oh, but you don't care about those people in Gitmo - they're just filthy brown people with funny names, after all, not Good Christian White American Men, so the Gitmo "detainees" don't count to you.

How does it feel to have no heart? Does it hurt?

6/13/2006

Rove not being charged for role in security leak

From CNN.com: Lawyer: Rove won't be charged in CIA leak case
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- White House senior adviser Karl Rove has been told by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald that he will not be charged in the CIA leak case, according to Robert Luskin, Rove's lawyer.

"In deference to the pending case, we will not make any further public statements about the subject matter of the investigation," Luskin said in a written statement Tuesday. "We believe that the special counsel's decision should put an end to the baseless speculation about Mr. Rove's conduct."
Okay, so he's not being charged with anything. Big deal, I say - I know the guy's a dirt-eating snake, and that's all I need.

I know there's probably a lot of right-wingers out there dancing around, calling guys like me stupid. That's what they do every day, I admit, but this time they're doing it with some kind of reason. Personally, I don't recall ever saying Rove definitely had something to do with it (but I'm probably wrong - I had to have said it somewhere other than here). I'm just waiting for someone to uncover Rove's links to other crimes committed in the course of setting up this criminal organization we call the Bush Administration.

6/09/2006

Political news in brief, 6/9/2006

Ann C**ter's new book is out. And once again, the right-wing media machine is giving her time to spew her hatred of everything that's not just like her. She's getting decimated by lots of folks, even Bill O'Reilly, and she's just not stopping. I think it's time that someone finally arrest her for her frauds - the voting fraud she committed, and the fact that she's passed herself off as a woman for years.

Al-Zarqawi supposedly dead. Isn't this the third time we've killed him so far? And honestly, how is it we drop 500 lb. bombs on a man and he's totally intact. They gotta scrape our soldiers off the sides of their tanks with spatulas when they get blown up, and this guy's intact? Either something's fishy, or that was one well-built building and it was the collapse (or possibly suffocation) that actually killed him. Just a thought.

Senate votes down the repeal of the estate tax and the Homobigotry Bill. Hey, whaddya know, there's some folks out there with their heads on straight!

The House Republicans voted to destroy net neutrality. Surprise. Hope you like your favorite small sites to run like molasses. Tell your Senators to vote against the bill!

I think that should cover it.

6/02/2006

Indiana's BMVs are choosing for us.

BMV approves ‘Choose Life’ license plate
INDIANAPOLIS – Hoosier drivers might be able to purchase a “Choose Life” license plate next year with the majority of the proceeds going to benefit crisis pregnancy centers around the state.

The Bureau of Motor Vehicles said Thursday it has approved 10 new specialty license plates for 2007 – one of which was requested by the Indiana Association of Pregnancy Centers Inc.
Now this is just disgusting. I'm sure you're not going to see any "Choose Choice" license plates anywhere around here, but this? Oh, of COURSE we're going to offer that! And even worse, the idiots who actually get these things are giving money to so-called "crisis pregnancy centers", which are just outlets of the anti-choice misogynist movement. Our money is, once again, going to scaring and lying women into things they don't want to do.

I really hate this state sometimes.

Glenn Beck: Idiot or Dumbass?

At work, the TV in the lobby is always turned to Headline News. Now, that wouldn't be so bad if Headline News, like its parent channel CNN, weren't trying to copy the Fox News "offend-and-annoy" model. A good example of how bad this change in HN's lineup is is reflected in the main reasons I'm making this post: Nancy Grace and Glenn Beck.

First off, Glenn Beck. If you've been reading Media Matters for America, then you know how bad this guy is: he's a gibbering moron tryong to follow the "shout 'em down, bully 'em out" model of such right-wing blowhards as Loofah O'Reilly and Pigman Limbaugh. Don't believe me? Take some examples of what he's said, both on his show on HN and his radio hate-fest:

And it's not just the fact that he says this disgusting shit that bothers me; it's the fact that CNN's commercials try to tout this jackass as a "normal guy". Yeah, normal guys make it a point to want to nuke whole countries if they don't kiss his lily-white ass. Normal guys call grieving mothers prostitutes. Normal guys hate tragedy victims. If that's what normal guys do, then by God, I'm abnormal.

Second, my hatred of Nancy Grace. This is a minor point, but one I have to get out: this woman is a big red herring. Every night, her show is the source of more Missing/Dead Pretty White Woman stories. She does NOTHING ELSE, far as I've seen. Her only point is to distract people from the real stories, the real problems of this world, by filling them with fear that their Pretty White Women may be next.

At least I don't have to pay too much attention to the TV there. I can always just keep working.