Open Thread–11/1/2010

Posted by TomCat at 2:53 am Open Thread, Personal

Nov 012010

Another day, another month. Where has it gone? Yesterday morning I watched football and yesterday afternoon I did Blog Talk Radio with Gwen. Today I may fall even further behind, because it’s time for the quarterly surgery on my foot.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:22 (4:53 average). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Religious Agony:

DenWeek8

Short Takes:

From Waskington Post: At least seven Iraqi Christian worshipers and seven Iraqi security forces were killed Sunday night after commandos stormed a church in Baghdad where a band of suicide bombers had been holding parishioners hostage, Iraqi and U.S. military officials said.

As Iraqi troops stormed the Our Lady of Salvation Church in the upscale Karradah neighborhood shortly after 9 p.m., some of the assailants detonated suicide vests, said Lt. Col. Eric Bloom, a U.S. military spokesman.

The mayhem underscored how dangerous the Iraqi capital remains.

When I thought I had been wrong about the Bush/Republican surge being a failure. I said I was wrong. Now that it turns out I was right, I take it back.

From News Hounds: During Sarah Palin’s appearance on Fox News Sunday yesterday (10/31/10), Host Chris Wallace cited Karl Rove’s less-than-complimentary comments about her potential presidential candidacy. Wallace was referring to a recent interview in which Rove suggested that Palin’s upcoming TLC reality television show indicated that she lacked the gravitas to become president. Palin responded by rhetorically asking, "Wasn’t Ronald Reagan an actor?"

Obviously, Drill Baby Dingbat, the Tebuggerer of the Tundra, is no Ronald Reagan. In fact, today’s Republicans would drum Reagan out of the Reich.

Cartoon:

OGIM!

A Very Scary Halloween!

Posted by TomCat at 1:06 am Holiday

Oct 312010

Halloween2010

When the Republican children of perdition come calling this year, it won’t be Trick or Treat. It will be Tyranny or Teabuggery. If you are foolish enough to choose one, you’ll get both, and America loses.

Vote!

An Expert Republican View

Posted by TomCat at 1:05 am Politics, Religion

Oct 312010

Republicans claim to have the solutions, even if they usually won’t say what they are. Here’s an expert view on America’s current state by a former Undersecretary of Defense. Be sure to have a bag or trash can handy. This blogger will accept no responsibility for damage to your screen or keyboard from stomach contents.

This is Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jerry Boykin, who was the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence under Donald Rumsfeld until video emerged of him explaining that we were engaged in a spiritual war against Islam that the US would eventually win because our God was bigger than their God.

Shortly thereafter Boykin retired and aligned himself with fringe Religious Right leaders by teaming up with the likes of "Christocrat" Rick Scarborough and Dominionist Janet Porter and even sharing the stage with professional anti-gay activists like Peter LaBarbera.

He also sits upon the board [fascists delinked] of Rick Joyner’s "The Oak Initiative" along with people like Porter, Lou Sheldon, Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, and Cindy Jacobs and he recently recorded this video for the organization explaining how his years of Special Forces training in fighting Marxist insurgencies enables him to identify the plot underway to take over America through a variety of means, including President Obama’s attempt to create an army of Brownshirts loyal only to him though the passage of Health Care Reform… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Right Wing Watch>

Here’s the video:

Now the scariest thing here, is that this guy is going to vote. And fools who believe him are going to vote. They’re excited about it!

And (H/T to Color of Change) these people are voing to vote too!!

With that in mind, don’t you think you’d better tell everyone you know to

Vote!

Republican Victory in Uganda?

Posted by TomCat at 1:04 am Politics, Religion

Oct 312010

The the Theocon and InsaniTEA wings of the Republican party may be on the verge of a win in their quest to foment a final solution for Uganda’s gay population. I have previously documented Republican efforts to that end here and here.

Homosexuality may soon be a capital offense in Uganda. David Bahati, Ugandan member of Parliament, and sponsor of Uganda’s notorious "kill the gays" bill, told CNN in a recent interview that the controversial anti-gay bill will become law “soon.”

Once the bill becomes law it will punish homosexuality with life imprisonment or execution.

The law would impose a minimum sentence of life imprisonment to anyone “convicted” of having gay sex: life imprisonment to punish anything from "sexual stimulation to simply touching another person with the intention of committing the act of homosexuality.”

If the accused person is HIV-positive or a serial offender, or a “person of authority” over the other partner, or if the “victim” is under 18, a conviction will result in the death penalty… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Portland Examiner>

The tie in is the C-Street ministry, infamous for providing extreme legislators with cut-rate luxury housing, helping Republican legislators cover up sex scandals and ethics violations, and this. Here’s an old Rachel Maddow video that ties up the lose ends.

If that’s what Republicans think is good for Uganda, what wil;l they do here if they take power?

Vote!

Open Thread–10/31/2010

Posted by TomCat at 1:03 am Open Thread, Personal

Oct 312010

Yesterday I felt a little more rested and caught up replying to comments. Today I will fall behind again, because it’s Holy day for the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. The Denver and San Francisco are holding a missionary service in London’s Wembley Stadium. After that, I plan to join Gwen’s Here Be Monsters show on Blog Talk Radio. It will be at 6:00 PM EDT (3:00 PM PDT) if you want to listen or join in.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:33 (4:39 average). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Baltimore Sun: Much of the "Rally To Restore Sanity and/or Fear," put on by "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart and his Comedy Central colleague Stephen Colbert, resembled a large-scale variety show, with humorous sketches and surprise musical guests such as Kid Rock, Tony Bennett and Yusuf Islam (the former Cat Stevens).

But the three-hour event ended on a serious note when Stewart, in a remarkable break from his usual satiric stance, made an impassioned defense of American unity and denounced cable news depictions of a country riven with animosity.

As much as I appreciate the sentiment, I must disagree. Cable news did not make up the parade of right wing violence we have witnessed of late. To not report it would be negligent at best.

From NY Times: Halliburton, whose failed cement job on the BP well in the Gulf of Mexico was identified as a contributing factor to the deadly blowout by a presidential investigative panel on Thursday, is defending its work and assigning the blame for the accident to BP.

Corporate Criminals and Republican hatemongers share the same mating call. “It wasn’t me!”

From Common Dreams: A historic global treaty to protect the world’s forests, coral reefs and other threatened ecosystems within 10 years was sealed at a UN summit on Saturday.

Rich and poor nations agreed to take "effective and urgent" action to curb the destruction of nature in an effort to halt the loss of the world’s biodiversity on which human survival depends.

Reporting good news is a rare privilege. I wish I could do it more often.

Cartoon:

Vote!

AQ Bomb Threat–Why Now?

Posted by TomCat at 1:49 am Politics

Oct 302010

Al Qaeda is as politically sophisticated as they are technologically backward. The effects of their attacks extend well beyond the actual damage they cause. The timing of the current attacks, described below, is so close to to a US election that we should consider whether or not influencing the election is part of their intent, especially since they have attempted to do so before with good results from their perspective.

Suspicious packages found on United Parcel Service and FedEx planes reportedly originated in Yemen. While the planes appear to be undamaged, the incidents could bring fresh scrutiny to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the relatively new franchise that claimed responsibility for the failed underwear bomber plot on Christmas Day last year.

A spokesman in Yemen’s US embassy said in a statement that the Yemeni government, which has carried out numerous strikes against suspected AQAP operatives over the past 10 months, has launched a full-scale investigation.

“We are working closely with international partners – including the US – on the incident,” said Mohammed Albasha, adding that no UPS cargo planes land or take off from Yemeni airports.

However, an airport employee in Sanaa, who did not want his name used, confirmed that there are private company flights from Sanaa to the United Kingdom, where a suspicious package was found at East Midlands airport at 3:28 a.m. local time.

The UPS store in Sanaa was staffed with one employee and one guard Friday evening local time. The employee refused to talk to the media.

The White House said that in addition to the package found in the UK, which according to CNN contained a “manipulated” toner cartridge, another suspicious item was found in Dubai. Both were said to have originated in Yemen.

“Last night, intelligence and law enforcement agencies discovered potential suspicious packages on two planes in transit to the US,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Friday. “As a result of security precautions triggered by this threat, the additional measures were taken regarding the flights at Newark Liberty and Philadelphia International Airports.”

Among the suspected targets were Chicago-area synagogues…

Inserted from <Christian Science Monitor>

In 2004, Osama released a message saying that he hoped John Kerry would win the Presidential election, and the right wing blogosphere and corporate media went crazy with it. OBL was being very sly with that one, because he had to know that American voters would consider his endorsement a negative, and thus, increase the likelihood of what OBL really wanted: four more years of Republican rule. Al Qaeda wants Republicans in power for two reasons. First, they have never succeeded in a major attack on US soiled when Democrats were in power. It took Republican incompetence to ignore the specific warnings resulting in the successful 9/11 attack. Second, Republican hatred of Islam is so obvious that it provides AQ a wonderful recruiting tool.

If these attacks had been successful, right before an election, Democrats would have been blamed, making Republicans more likely to do well. Fortunately for the intended victims, America voted out the incompetents in 2008.

Oreos Meet the Defense Budget

Posted by TomCat at 1:48 am Politics

Oct 302010

With all the calls for austerity, is there anywhere in the budget where we really can save some money? In my opinion, most of the deficit problems need to be solved by closing tax loopholes that amount to welfare for criminal corporations and the richest 1%, the people Republicans represent, but that’s not a spending cut. The one place in the budget that screams for reform is military spending, with its no-bid contracts, cost overruns, etc. Here’s a big thank you to Lisa G, who emailed me a link to this article by Shane Claiborne with a remarkable video that explains it so simply that the only people who can’t understand will be those so brainwashed that they refuse to understand it.

There’s some interesting talk stirring about how it may be necessary to cut defense expenditures to decrease the deficit. Even though the $533 billion budget is the elephant in the room and the $200,000 spent every minute on the endless war on terror is the gushing, bleeding wound of America, this has been the taboo secret, the idolatrous sacred cow. But folks are beginning to whisper.

Maybe people have grown tired of militarism and war. After all, war hasn’t gotten the best press over the past few years. Maybe the recession has created a desperation that has led us to rethink the status quo, where nearly half of every tax dollar goes to militarism. Maybe we are starting to realize if we don’t stop spending all our money on a defense shield soon we won’t have much left to need to defend. Or maybe it’s all the above, the perfect storm for peace.

As a Christian, I am convinced in the power of non-violence by the greatest nonviolent act in human history: Jesus dying on the cross, even for his enemies. You’d think we Christians would be the hardest folks in the world to convince that violence is necessary, but that hasn’t always been the case. In fact, much of the world seems confused by Christians who are so quick to abandon the cross of Christ and pick up the sword of Rome.

I’m reminded of a dinner conversation I had recently with Ben Cohen, founder of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, who has become a friend I deeply admire (and not just because he makes good ice cream). We talked about how this moment in history may very well be perfectly poised for Christians and non-Christians to work together for peace, and to eat some ice cream together with the money we may have spent on guns. And it is Ben who put together one of the coolest demos about the federal budget, using cookies as measuring units to show us how the dollars stack up… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Huffington Post>

Here’s the video.

Just think. The only reason I’ve been eating B&J is that I think it’s the best ice cream there is.

Open Thread–10/30/2010

Posted by TomCat at 1:47 am Open Thread, Personal

Oct 302010

Yesterday I took the day off. I did not reply to comments or return visits. I needed the rest. Today I should do better after running my errands.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 3:45 (Average 4:32). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Lefty Bloggers Plus:

Players, don’t forget to set your lineups.

Short Takes:

From Washington Post: According to people familiar with talks at the White House and among senior Democrats on Capitol Hill, breaking apart the Bush administration tax cuts is now being discussed as a more realistic goal. That strategy calls for permanent extension of cuts that benefit families earning less than $250,000 a year, and temporary extension of cuts on income above that amount.

Bad idea. Tax cuts for the rich is the least simulative thing we can do for the economy and the only thanks we’ll get from Republicans is to be blamed for the defecit increase it will cause.

From TPM: A Republican candidate for the U.S. House from Arizona this week claimed that his opponents are busing Mexicans over the border to vote illegally in Arizona.

Jesse Kelly, who is challenging Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) in the eighth district, said on the Mark Levin radio show Wednesday in a response to a question about "dirty tricks" that there are "rumors" of Mexicans being brought into vote.

As always, the Republican is lying. His bogus claim is the first mention of such an absurd idea.

From Portland Examiner: Tea Party targets minorities for voter intimidation and suppression. Across the nation Tea Party thugs are planning election day campaigns to intimidate and harass potential minority voters. Already there are disturbing reports coming out of Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota of Tea Party plans for minority voter intimidation and suppression.

Claiming concerns about alleged voter fraud, Tea Party activists in a number of states are mounting well-publicized campaigns aimed at threatening and intimidating a targeted group of voters, usually in minority precincts.

Here in Oregon, we don’t have polling places, so it won’t work here, but I would strongly encourage you all to take a camera to a minority area and document any Republican violence you might encounter after you have cast your own vote.

Cartoon:

It’s Caturday so remind your cats to…

Vote!

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