Three Sheets to the Wind

The only way to get through State of the Union addresses lately has been to be drinking. Liberally, as a matter of fact.

But any game involving tossing one back when you hear "freedom," "democracy," or "tyranny" won't feel like a good idea on Thursday morning when the alarm goes off. I'd like to suggest an alternative.

To begin with, get out all your socks and make them into nice, compact rolls. Place them in a large basket within arm's reach. Then, every time the Preznit says something really stupid just throw a sock at the screen. You should be through with the pile before the third "spontaneous" standing ovation.

Then you can start drinking. Liberally.

I bet their hair looked better than his, too.

Someone please tell me how this upholds family values...

Stars align for Donald Trump's wedding

Saturday, January 22, 2005

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The bride's gown was worth more than most American homes. Her diamond-studded ring cost more than many yachts. But the groom's hair? Self-styled. Donald Trump married Slovenian model Melania Knauss Saturday with all the glamour, glitz and gold that money and star power can buy.

...

"It is a fantasy wedding. Donald is a superstar and everything Donald does is over the top. His wedding is just going to be like the rest of his life, lots of glamour, glitter and the best of the best," said Rhona Silver, a New York caterer who has planned parties at Mar-a-Lago.

The nuptials marked the third trip down the aisle for Trump, 58, and came just days after the start of the third season of his TV show.

...but this means the end of civilization as we know it.

Lesbian Couple First to Marry in the United States

Long-Time Activists Tie the Knot

Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, who have been a couple for more than 50 years were the first same-sex couple to be legally married in the United States on February 12, 2004.

In a challenge to the state’s marriage laws, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered the county clerks to begin issuing marriage certificates to same sex couples, stating that California’s Constitution prohibits discrimination. It is not certain at this point, if these marriages will be recognized outside of San Francisco. California law states that only marriage between a man and a woman shall be recognized.

In acts of solidarity and as part of National Freedom to Marry Week, many gay and lesbian couples around the country went to their own courthouses on February 12th to request marriage licenses. All were rejected. But more than 150 couples were issued licenses in San Francisco. Couples began lining up at 4am to get in on this historic action.

Someone? Anyone?

Oedibush Rex

I didn't watch any of the Inauguration today. I caught enough of the speech to know that it was basically "Freedom blah blah blah Liberty blah blah blah Oppressors are bad, Democracy is good."

And if this isn't the scariest image of a "dynasty," I don't know what is.



41 must really take his lumps around the family dinner table these days, what with W always talking about how he managed to get rid of Saddam Hussein, and he managed to get a big old tax cut passed and he got elected to a second term. I bet the old boolah boolahs just shrivel up and hide when Bar starts in after a few Jack Daniels.

This country could have saved itself a lot of misery had we all just pitched in and paid for a couple decades of family therapy for this bunch.

Jesus Wept.

Republicans like to think that their stands on “moral issues” such as abortion, gay marriage and school vouchers are what attracts African American voters to their party. Of course, a little bribery helps grease the wheels.

From the LA Times

MILWAUKEE — Bishop Sedgwick Daniels, one of this city's most prominent black pastors, supported Democrats in past presidential elections, backing Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

This fall, however, the bishop's broad face appeared on Republican Party fliers in the battleground state of Wisconsin, endorsing President Bush as the candidate who "sares our views."

What changed?

After Bush's contested 2000 victory, Daniels felt the pull of a most powerful worldly force: a call from the White House. He conferred with top administration officials and had a visit in 2002 from the president himself. His church later received $1.5 million in federal funds through Bush's initiative to support faith-based social services.
Daniels' political conversion, and similar transformations by black pastors across the nation, form a little-known chapter in the playbook of Bush's 2004 reelection campaign — and may mark the beginning of a political realignment long sought by senior White House advisor Karl Rove and other GOP strategists.

Daniels says it was not the federal money that led him to endorse the Republican candidate last year, but rather the values of Bush and other party leaders who champion church ministries, religious education and moral clarity. It was evidence to many religious African Americans that the GOP could be an appealing home.

That's exactly the way many conservative Republican and evangelical leaders hope the faith-based program will work.

"The political benefits are unbelievable," says the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, chairman of the conservative Traditional Values Coalition, which helped shape the administration's faith-based strategy and the GOP's outreach to black Christian voters. "The Democrats ought to have their heads examined for voting against this."

Or maybe the Democrats take the Constitution seriously on that separation of church and state thing.

But perhaps these churches are in desperate need of these funds to continue their work with the poor and needy.

Sadly, no.

The political appeal of this approach was clear one Sunday two weeks before the election in the west-side Milwaukee neighborhood where Daniels' 8,000-member church is located. Lying amid abandoned warehouses and modest homes, the Holy Redeemer Institutional Church of God in Christ is instantly visible, a $25-million complex including a school, health clinic, credit union, senior housing complex and — soon — a retail center and water park.

But surely these grants are awarded solely on their merits of the programs, on whether they are serving their target populations, and not on some more devious criteria.

No again

Some black ministers reported receiving entreaties to attend White House meetings or faith-based conferences held around the country, some of them in hard-fought election states. In addition, about two-thirds of Towey's travel during the election year was to a dozen battleground states where he often met with community leaders and promoted the availability of federal funds for church-related social service projects. (Ed. Note: Jim Towey is head of the Office of Faith Based Initiatives)

The administration also awarded grants to a number of high-profile African American organizations whose leaders were linked directly or indirectly to the GOP. Besides Daniels' church in Milwaukee, a Philadelphia church led by the Rev. Herb Lusk II received $1 million in federal funds for a program to help low-income Philadelphians. Lusk gave the invocation at the 2000 Republican convention and has been an outspoken Bush supporter.

Another beneficiary was a South Florida-based organization headed by Bishop Harold Ray, a longtime Bush acquaintance who gave an invocation for Vice President Dick Cheney at a West Palm Beach, Fla., rally. Ray's group received $1.7 million in taxpayer funds.

A third grant went to the Washington-based National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, founded and headed by Bob Woodson, an outspoken black conservative who backed Bush and whose late son was active in the president's first campaign.

Now I have nothing against African Americans climbing aboard the gravy train just like everyone else. But calling this political payola a “faith-based initiative” is disingenuous even by Bush administration standards.

Waiting for Georgot.

The last few days have seen some stories that would, in previous times, have the press falling all over themselves to dig deeper, shout it louder, editorialize about it to the hilltops. But we live in surrealistic times. So much of what we hear is spun to a fare-thee-well by the pundits. Our attention is diverted from the real stories to local murder trials that take on national importance or separations among the glitterati.

So maybe not a lot of people paid attention to these.

On Friday, the Washington Post reported that our invasion of Iraq has created a haven for terrorists:

Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of "professionalized" terrorists, according to a report released yesterday by the National Intelligence Council, the CIA director's think tank.

Iraq provides terrorists with "a training ground, a recruitment ground, the opportunity for enhancing technical skills," said David B. Low, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats. "There is even, under the best scenario, over time, the likelihood that some of the jihadists who are not killed there will, in a sense, go home, wherever home is, and will therefore disperse to various other countries."

Well that went well, didn't it?

And from this morning's NY Times, a story about how we're going to use some of those "endangered" funds to push for the President's plan for reform:

Over the objections of many of its own employees, the Social Security Administration is gearing up for a major effort to publicize the financial problems of Social Security and to convince the public that private accounts are needed as part of any solution.


The agency's plans are set forth in internal documents, including a "tactical plan" for communications and marketing of the idea that Social Security faces dire financial problems requiring immediate action.

Social Security officials say the agency is carrying out its mission to educate the public, including more than 47 million beneficiaries, and to support President Bush's agenda.

"The system is broken, and promises are being made that Social Security cannot keep," Mr. Bush said in his Saturday radio address. He is expected to address the issue in his Inaugural Address.

But agency employees have complained to Social Security officials that they are being conscripted into a political battle over the future of the program. They question the acuracy of recent statements by the agency, and they say that money from the Social Security trust fund should not be used for such advocacy.

"Trust fund dollars should not be used to promote a political agenda," said Dana C. Duggins, a vice president of the Social Security Council of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 50,000 of the agency's 64,000 workers and has opposed private accounts.

Deborah C. Fredericksen of Minneapolis, who has worked for the Social Security Administration for 31 years, said, "Many employees believe that the president and this agency are using scare tactics to promote private accounts."

Did I mention this is your social security taxes they're using?

You can't go wrong underestimating the arrogance and absurdity of this Administration. Just when you think it can't get any more ridiculous, it does.

Beckett would be proud.

The fix is in

In our continuing effort to export democracy to Iraq, we already have a plan in place if the elections don't go our way:

The problem of underrepresentation of Sunnis in a future legislature has already stirred talk among Americans, Iraqis and United Nations officials of making adjustments after the voting. Among the ideas being discussed are simply adding seats to the 275-member legislature, or guaranteeing that the future government or constitution-writing committees have a fixed percentage of Sunni representatives. Steven R. Weisman, NYTimes, January 9, 2005

(Emphasis added)

Since the whole country seems to be going to hell in a handbasket and those pesky insurgents keep blowing things up, the January elections could very well result in a "democratically elected" government in Iraq which doesn't really represent the population as a whole. One of the reasons we're in this mess is that we decided to hold elections nationally, instead of at a provincial level.

And whose brilliant idea was that? Why one of our latest Medal of Freedom winners!

Of course, no matter how or when these elections are held, we would have figured out a way to make the final outcome reflect our idea of what Iraqi democracy should look like. That way it's guaranteed that the first official act of the new parliament won't be a law requiring that all foreign militaries leave the country immediately.

And you thought Ohio was sleazy?

A day late and a dollar short.

Sure, I've been reading blogs forever, but it wasn't until I signed on just reply to my friend Rocks' posts that I realized I now had a place to publish my own profound and poetic thoughts.

Thinking.....thinking.....

Ah well. If and when the muse does visit, she and I can log on and publish my profound and poetic thoughts together.