George W. Bush is a Lying Sack of Crap

Following, I have posted a verbatim transcript from today's press conference (the text below was copied and pasted from the White House's own web site). If there is anyone left on this planet who does not regard George W. Bush as the stupidest, most idiotic, most moronic president who has ever stolen the oval office - then you can't read or think for yourself. Let me point out a few salient lines to you, dear readers: the president claims that he not only did not know about the NIE until last week, he also claims that when Mike McConnell came into his office in AUGUST (2007) and said, "Mr. President, we have new information about Iran and their nuclear plans," he did not reply, "What is the new information, Mr. McConnell?" And if he didn't ask that question, does he have any business leading the free world? I think not. I rest my case, mostly because I am exhausted, and I know that I could not rest tonight without commenting on these highly egregious and suspicious statements made by our fearful leader (sic).

I had to borrow a well-worn phrase from this blog's namesake show as I composed this post. It is, of course, the "Lying Sack of Crap" phrase that has magically become ensconced in the brain of every listener of the SMS. It is a song that haunts us every night as we lie awake at 2:30 in the morning and wonder what kind of world we will awaken to the next day. It is an earworm so powerful as to knock out even the sappiest of '70s songs from our heads. I myself used it just today to jar a rather incessant chorus of " In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, bay-bee" out of my noggin - okay so that was a '60s song - sue me, I'm a few years older than Steph... Anyway, here's to that lovable little jingle that has become an anthem of sorts to those of us who believe in the power of the Stephanie Miller Show, and I'd like to dedicate that little tune to our commander-in-chief (sic) George W. Bush - hit it, boyz (er, Chris)... "You're a lying sack of crap, you're a lying sack of crap, you're a lyin', smelly, stinkin', nasty sack of liquid crap - bing bing"

David.

Q Mr. President, thank you. I'd like to follow on that. When you talked about Iraq, you and others in the administration talked about a mushroom cloud; then there were no WMD in Iraq. When it came to Iran, you said in October, on October 17th, you warned about the prospect of World War III, when months before you made that statement, this intelligence about them suspending their weapons program back in '03 had already come to light to this administration. So can't you be accused of hyping this threat? And don't you worry that that undermines U.S. credibility?

THE PRESIDENT: David, I don't want to contradict an august reporter such as yourself, but I was made aware of the NIE last week. In August, I think it was Mike McConnell came in and said, we have some new information. He didn't tell me what the information was; he did tell me it was going to take a while to analyze. Why would you take time to analyze new information? One, you want to make sure it's not disinformation. You want to make sure the piece of intelligence you have is real. And secondly, they want to make sure they understand the intelligence they gathered: If they think it's real, then what does it mean? And it wasn't until last week that I was briefed on the NIE that is now public.

And the second part of your question has to do with this. Look, Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous, and Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon. The NIE says that Iran had a hidden -- a covert nuclear weapons program. That's what it said. What's to say they couldn't start another covert nuclear weapons program? And the best way to ensure that the world is peaceful in the future is for the international community to continue to work together to say to the Iranians, we're going to isolate you. However, there is a better way forward for the Iranians.

Now, in 2003, the Iranian government began to come to the table in discussions with the EU-3, facilitated by the United States. In other words, we said to the EU-3, we'll support your efforts to say to the Iranians, you have a choice to make: You can continue to do policy that will isolate you, or there's a better way forward, so that it was the sticks-and-carrots approach.

You might remember the United States said at that point in time, we'll put the WTO on the table for consideration, or we'll help you with spare parts for your airplanes. It was all an attempt to take advantage of what we thought was a more open-minded Iranian regime at the time -- a willingness of this regime to talk about a way forward. And then the Iranians had elections, and Ahmadinejad announced that -- to the IAEA that he was going to -- this is after, by the way, the Iranians had suspended their enrichment program -- he said, we're going to stop the suspension, we'll start up the program again. And that's where we are today.

My point is, is that there is a better way forward for the Iranians. There has been a moment during my presidency in which diplomacy provided a way forward for the Iranians. And our hope is we can get back on that path again. But what is certain is that if Iran ever had the knowledge to develop a nuclear weapon and they passed that knowledge on to a covert program, which at one time in their history has existed, the world would be more dangerous. And now is the time for the international community to work together.

Q Mr. President, thank you. Just to follow, I understand what you're saying about when you were informed about the NIE. Are you saying at no point while the rhetoric was escalating, as "World War III" was making it into conversation, at no point nobody from your intelligence team or your administration was saying, maybe you want to back it down a little bit?

THE PRESIDENT: No, nobody ever told me that. Having said -- having laid that out, I still feel strongly that Iran is a danger. Nothing has changed in this NIE that says, okay, why don't we just stop worrying about it. Quite the contrary. I think the NIE makes it clear that Iran needs to be taken seriously as a threat to peace. My opinion hasn't changed.

And I just explained, Jim, that if you want to avoid a really problematic situation in the Middle East, now is the time to continue to work together. That's our message to our allies, and it's an important message for them to hear. And here's the reason why: In order for a nation to develop a nuclear weapons program they must have the materials from which to make a bomb, the know-how on how to take that material and make it explode, and a delivery system.

Now, the Iranians -- the most difficult aspect of developing a weapons program, or as some would say, the long pole in the tent, is enriching uranium. This is a nation -- Iran is a nation that is testing ballistic missiles. And it is a nation that is trying to enrich uranium. The NIE says this is a country that had a covert nuclear weapons program, which, by the way, they have failed to disclose, even today. They have never admitted the program existed in the first place.

The danger is, is that they can enrich, play like they got a civilian program -- or have a civilian program, or claim it's a civilian program -- and pass the knowledge to a covert military program. And then the danger is, is at some point in the future, they show up with a weapon. And my comments are, now is the time to work together to prevent that scenario from taking place. It's in our interests.

Why I Will NOT Be Endorsing Senator Hillary Clinton

Last night, I was sitting in my living room in Tulsa, OK talking with a friend and the conversation turned to politics (not an unusual turn for talk in my house these days). I asked my friend what her thoughts on Hillary's chances are, and her answer sums up my greatest political fear: she said, "Hillary will come very close to winning the White House, but in the end she will fail." That fear was underscored by a recent Zogby poll that showed Hillary vulnerable if not outright defeated by five of the clowns that currently make up the Republican field of presidential contenders. Sure, I voted for John Kerry in 2004, and I voted for Michael Dukakis in 1988, and I did so with the trepidation that comes with the almost certain knowledge that I was NOT voting for the person who would win the race. Although I have not forgotten about the voting poll shenanigans in Ohio that likely tipped the scales to Dubya in 2004, and of course, I am as convinced as I was that November night in 2000 as I drove home in Albuquerque, NM and cheered out loud into the night when Florida was called for Al Gore, that Mr. Gore's presidency was stolen out from under him and more importantly out from under the American people. But I am worried. In a country that has announced over and over again that they would prefer a Democratic leader over a Republican leader, why is Hillary the name that is on the tip of every wealthy GOPer's tongue as the candidate that they claim to fear the most?

I have suspected that the GOP has been planning a campaign against Ms. Clinton since she began to hint that she might seek the oval office. Karl Rove has already strategerized himself a plan to defeat Hillary, and I don't think that the rhetoric will seem new or fresh. Rove's plan is simply to recycle some old critical lines that will, I fear, appeal to all of those Republicans who hate the Clintons with a passion heretofore reserved for Satan, condoms, and Islamofascists.

I know that I am not pointing out anything that hasn't been whispered in every Democratic Committee Meeting since Hillary threw her hat in the ring, but I am predicting a much closer race if Hillary is the Democratic nominee, and I just don't know how much this tired old political heart of mine can bear. Why don't we nominate somebody like Governor Richardson, whose resume alone would be fun to watch the Republicans try to challenge? Or Barack Obama, who I'd love to see get the nod, just to watch all the redneck Republicans squirm as they try to run against a person of color without playing the race card (and you and I both know that the party of Macaca and Trent Lott and Bob Jones University can't get through an entire election cycle without putting their pale white foot in between their thin little lips =).

I have, up to this point, hedged my bets. I have sent checks to Obama, Edwards, Clinton, Richardson and even Dodd, when he stood up in the Senate against the egregious FISA bill that was poised to slip through the Congress and would have undoubtedly been signed by the president. The FISA bill is a horrendous piece of legislation that would have carved up a few more of our ever-shrinking civil liberties. But I vow, as of today, that I will not send another dime to Hillary Clinton - no matter how clever her marketing ploys are. I want a real change in Washington D.C., and as much as I admire Bill Clinton and miss his leadership, Bill is not running again, it is his wife Hillary who would be our nominee and I fear another presidential also-ran.

Those of you who have been reading this blog over the last several months, may wonder if my lack of enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton can be traced to her refusal to attend "Prez on the Rez." I must answer that charge with a Clintonian "yes and no." I understand that campaigns make calculated choices everyday about which events will yield better results, and I also understand that Hillary's choice to not attend "POTR" was made by her and her staff at one time and reflected Hillary's priorities at the moment, which may not be her priorities a few months later. Still, I also know that when Hillary declined our invitation to join "POTR," the event immediately became a lower priority for Obama and John Edwards. She was, afterall, the leader at that point in the race and her choices influenced the choices of the other candidates.

So I, like a dog, do not readily forget slights such as Hillary's cold shoulder toward Indian Country, but that is not the primary reason I am not onboard her wagon. It is her stance on Iraq, her recent vote for the Lieberman/Kyl amendment, her inability to take a stand and then stand her ground, all of these reasons and personality characteristics that Hillary has displayed have me waiting on the sidelines until the Oklahoma primary vote on February 5, 2008, and I'm hoping that at that point in time, my vote will still make a difference.

See Frank Rich's Op-ed Piece in today's NYTimes: Who's Afraid of Barack Obama?

Good Riddance, Trent "Vacant" Lott

Here are a few good reasons why we won't be missing Senator Lott when he retires at the end of the year (so he will be exempt from the new lobbying law that would impose a two year wait before he could start collecting huge bucks from a K Street Lobbying Firm - the dollar signs were just too tempting to Trent.)

Steph read these quotes for Jim Ward to take a stab at guessing the source, on the show on Tuesday (Hours 1 & 3):

"I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years either."
Trent Lott (R - Miss.) at Strom Thurmond's B-day party

"Racial discrimination does not always violate public policy."
Trent Lott (R - Miss.)

"Yesterday in a 25 to 24 vote, Republicans welcomed back Lott back into their leadership and named him minority whip. That is great for Trent. They say minority whip is a stepping stone to Grand Wizard."
Stephen Colbert

"Trent Lott has found himself in a lot of trouble over his comments (about segregation)...Keep in mind Lott only says this kind of stuff once every 22 years. We like to think of him as the Halley's Comet of bigotry."
Jon Stewart

"Last night Trent Lott appeared on the Black Entertainment Network and he apologized. He was sincere about this. He said he no longer feels the bigotry and prejudice that he felt last week."
David Letterman

"One Republican leader said what Trent Lott did was a mistake of the mouth and not of the heart. Today, former President Clinton said, why didn't I think of that?"
Jay Leno

"The Supreme Court is expected to rule this week whether banning cross burning by groups like the Klu Klux Klan violates the first amendment. The outcome could affect the entertainment at Trent Lott's Christmas party."
Tina Fey

From today's Huffington Post:
Trent Lott's Brother-In-Law, Nephew, Indicted On Federal Bribery Charges

Back From the Cruise and Still Listening to SMS

Grand Turks Island on Thanksgiving Day 2007

Well, loyal readers of this blog (yes, both of you =), I'm back from a five-day cruise with all ten members of my immediate family, and I'm happy to report that nobody went overboard - unless you take into account the enormous amount of alkeehaul that my sister Laliqua (AKA Lynnie) downed... We'll see if she is reading my blog!?*#?!! Seriously folks, we had a great time, the weather was fabulous, the ports of call were mahvelous, the food was plentiful, and the sushi was fresh and delicious. The only downside at all (and it is a very minor complaint) is that the internet connection sucked, and was so slow that it was impossible to download Steph and the mooks every day. No biggie, I just waited until I had four hours to kill in the Miami Airport and logged onto to their wi-fi and downloaded the entire week's worth of shows in a few minutes, and, presto, the airport wait immediately became bearable.

Le Beaujolais Nouveau et Arrive

I did however imagine that I was suffering from a few SMS withdrawal symptoms - Steph read them on the air on yesterday's show (top of hour 3). They went something like this:

A Few Symptoms of Stephanie Miller Show Withdrawal (as experienced on a cruise ship with sucky internet access):
--Not being able to walk by the piano bar without thinking "Did Stephanie play that song on her 70s ear worm episodes?"
--Trying to decide when would be the best moment to introduce the Goldwater/Miller campaign as a conversational gambit with my ultra-conservative family.
--Wondering if Stephanie is busy burning the sauerkraut (a Thanksgiving/Holiday tradition at Chez Steph).
--Teaching my nieces and nephew how to sing the "Lying Sack of Crap" song.
--My younger niece kept asking "Why is Auntie Faye making me say 'Charlie Rangel' over and over again?"
--Telling the 57th guy that tried to sell me a coconut monkey adult beverage "The computer says no."

More coming on the recently retiring Trent "Vacant" Lott....Stay tuned...

Note to loyal readers of this blog...

I just wanted to let the cadre of loyal readers (you may be small in number, but you are mighty in spirit =) know that I will be out of the loop for the next seven days. I will be on a big boat floating (hopefully) somewhere in the Caribbean Sea. I will be with all ten members of my immediate family (parents, my brother, both of my sisters, my married sister's husband and their three children - ages 11, 13 & 15). We will be onboard a Carnival cruise ship. I'm not even sure where our ports of call will be, because I figure I'm not responsible for guiding the vessel, so it's not for me to worry where we go. I'm sure that we will all gain a few pounds as cruises have a reputation for being nothing if not floating buffets, but there is also a gym onboard (yeah right - that's where you'll find me =). I will more than likely be lounging on the lido deck with a good book in one hand and an exotic beverage with a tiny umbrella in it in the other. In any case, I will be composing future posts in my mind, I'm sure, and I'll report back how it was to spend turkey day on the high seas. Happy Thnaksgiving to everyone out in the blogosphere. Bon Voyage!

Congratulations, Sherman!!!

Good Morning Folks,

I realize that of late this blog has devolved into a cheering block for people I admire, but it is afterall my blog, and it is afterall a fan-based blog - perhaps I just want to demonstrate to readers that I am not singularly obsessed with Stephanie Miller, so I make no apologies, just an observation. This is another post in the hero-worship vein. This post sings the praises of and offers congratulations to one of my all-time favorite writers, Mr. Sherman Alexie, who last night won a National Book Award for his most recent novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Alexie received the news last night at the awards ceremony in New York. He won for best book in the young people's literature category. In his acceptance speech, Alexie, an author of 19 books of fiction, poetry and essays, quipped, "Wow ... I obviously should have been writing YA [young adult] all along."

Well, Sherman, I beg to differ as many of my favorite stories and longer pieces of fiction that you penned are not for teenage eyes or sensibilities. Aside from the prize-winning book already mentioned, Mr. Alexie is the author of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Reservation Blues, Ten Little Indians and The Toughest Indian in the World. In addition to being a smart, witty writer, Mr. Alexie is also a marvelous poet, and an even better speaker.

Here's a link to a review of Alexie's prize-winning novel and an interview published in the Seattle Times.

If you would like to read more about Sherman Alexie, check out his web site.

A Mighty Voice

“There’s a dangerous culture of obedience throughout much of this country that’s worse in Utah than anywhere."

Hello fellow liberals, progressives, and other readers of this blog,

With this post I am introducing you to a political maverick and a strong voice for change in this country. His name in Ross C. Anderson, but he goes by Rocky Anderson, and he is the outgoing mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah (the mayor-elect of SLC is Ralph Becker, a fellow Democrat, whom Rocky supported). Mr. Anderson announced last July that he would not seek a third term, saying he wanted to devote the rest of his life to grass-roots organizing involving human rights and global warming. Although at the time of his announcement he did not have specific plans.

I know what you all are thinking - isn't Salt Lake City just a right turn away from Colorado Springs, Colorado (home of "Focus on the Family" and other stinky right wing morsels)? Well, yes and no, SLC is the capitol of Utah which is the state among the fifty that lays claim, outloud, to be founded by Mormons, but it also is a city that boasts one of the most progressive mayors on the western side of the Rockies. For evidence I offer up the text of Mr. Anderson's riveting speech that he delivered only a couple weeks ago (October 27, 2007). I defy any of you to read that speech and imagine those words channeling through your ears and into your head, and not agree that Rocky Anderson is a voice that should be heard loudly and proudly across our aching nation.

In the few pages of this amazing speech, he summarizes all of the crimes, lies, deception, greed, arrogance, and sheer incompetence that is and will be the legacy of the Bush/Cheney administration. And he does it eloquently, and in doing so he speaks for the many of us who feel discouraged, spent, and downright impotent to speak truth to power and have it make a lick of difference.

Here's a clip of flip-flopping Mitt Romney singing Rocky's praises.

Here are clips of Rocky Anderson debating Sean Insanity of Faux News:
Part One / Part Two / Part Three / Part Four / Part Five

An Evening Walking the Red Road

Last night a friend and I went to see Arigon Starr in her fabulous one-woman show called The Red Road. It was produced for and staged at the Gilcrease Museum, an institution with a long history of supporting Native efforts in the arts. We walked through a gallery filled with buckskin dresses, beaded mocassins and feathered headdresses on our way to the theater, where we were greeted by Starr's mother who ended up sitting next to my friend. There were few empty seats as the star of the show charged onto the bare bones set (two tables, one covered with a radio microphone and a variety of noise-makers, the other simply covered with a gingham tablecloth, a microphone on a stand, a hat rack with Starr's signature red cowgirl hat - complete with a rhinestone tiara as the hat band - and finally an acoustic guitar). These were all the props that Starr needed to portray eleven characters who all play a role at Verna Yahola's All Nations Cafe, located in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, where the action of one eventful day unfolds. The day is June 4, 1977 when Verna's long-time friend and country music singer Patty Jones (Choctaw) arrives to tape an episode of her country music show and where Verna is dealing with issues familial, financial, romantic, and finally personal. How Verna resolves the issues facing her on this one day reveals her generosity, her humor and her resilience as a Native woman.

In spite of the fact that I am of dubious Native ancestry, I got most of the inside Indian jokes from Verna's Navajo fry cook who pointed to the Red Rocks east of Gallup, New Mexico with his lips to Verna's friend, Etta's (Ojibway) reference to 49ers (a post-powwow party that usually lasts until the wee hours). I've got to hand it to Arigon Starr, her ability to portray a wide variety of characters with humor and accuracy, along with her wonderful musical talent, were the facets that made the show so special and such a treat to watch. Ms. Starr is definitely a rising star in the musical theater arena, and also a great singer/songwriter in her own right. All in all, it was a magnificently entertaining evening that I was happy to enjoy with a good friend. Yakoke, Geo...

Visit Arigon Starr's web site to find out more about this talented Kickapoo/Creek artist.

Criminal Diplomacy

I'm afraid that our diplomatic efforts have moved from being negligent and incompetent to being criminal. I base this statement in part on an article that was sent to me by Martha, the coordinator of a great listserv (Democracy). The article, from Esquire magazine entitled The Secret History of the Impending War with Iran That the White House Doesn't Want You to Know, confirms the base vileness and evil that is embodied in the actions of Bush & Cheney. As reported by two highly reliable sources that both worked inside the Bush administration (Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann), Bush/Cheney have been planning for a war with Iran since before the 2000 election when the Supreme Court chose Bush to be the president (talk about judicial activism). According to both Leverett and Mann, the Iranian government made overtures to assist the U.S. in the fight against terrorism and were rebuked. Moreover these offers of assistance from Iran were ignored by the BushCo administration further insulting a regime that is known for its influencial role in the Middle East.

In direct contradiction to representations made by this administration, we had been purposefully and gainfully talking with Iran throughout the two years that followed 9/11 and were on the verge of a breakthrough with the leadership of Iran when Stephen Hadley called Colin Powell and told him to reject an offer that Iran was dangling before our eyes. Thereby, not only embarrassing Powell, but also setting the stage for a much more antagonistic relationship between BushCo and Iran, one that seems inexorably to be leading us to war. This is the very definition of evil - a person or institution or government that would choose antagonism over cooperation knowing that the results of that choice would lead to untold death and destruction.

That is, I'm sad to report, the criminal state of our foreign policy under the Bush/Cheney administration. We are not seeking to broker peace with the rest of the world (Muslim and otherwise), but instead we are actively looking for ways to thwart any progress that might forestall a rush to war. Please read the article and let me know if you disagree with my assertion.

Also, Mrs. Mann Leverett was on Keith Olbermann's show tonight discussing (as much as she is able) the situation that seems to be leading us into yet another unnecessary and illegal attack on a country that has done nothing to us. I have my own cynical rationale for why an administration would choose war over peace, and it has much to do with GREED, the old profit margin, the bottom line, MONEY. Halliburton, KRB, Blackwater and other defense industries are making huge sums of money off these wars. This is a situation I personally find obscene. The fact that Congress is about to give Bush another blank check to prosecute his occupation of Iraq and all the while keeping his options open for an attack on Iran, I find to be immoral and insane. May I remind readers that one accepted definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting different results each time? According to this definition what Bush/Cheney (for they are one monster in my eyes) are doing is a textbook example of insanity.

To read about other diplomatic crimes, this one concerning Pakistan, please see Fred Kaplan's article in Slate: The Freedom Agenda Fizzles How George Bush and Condoleezza Rice made a mess of Pakistan.

We must as a people find a way to STOP the MADNESS. Bush/Cheney must be impeached or at the very least criminally prosecuted when they leave office. Please visit American Friends Service Committee to find out how you can work for peace. Thank you and good night.

Inhofe Has Got to Go!!!

"I have been called -- my kids are all aware of this -- dumb, crazy man, science abuser, Holocaust denier, villain of the month, hate-filled, warmonger, Neanderthal, Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun, and I can just tell you that I wear some of those titles proudly."
Senator James Inhofe, March 3, 2007


This post introduces readers to a fabulous new web site:
LayOffInhofe.com
Jim Inhofe: Uncaring, Unethical, and...Our Senator?

Here is the introduction taken directly from the web site:
"The goal of this website is, first and foremost, to demonstrate the failings of Sen. James Inhofe as a representative of the people of Oklahoma. You will see, mostly through known facts and his own words, that as a senator, James Inhofe is unkind, unethical, and simply not right for Oklahoma. Whether you are a student trying to pay for college, a person working for an honest days wage to provide for your family, or a senior attempting to enjoy your retirement, Jim Inhofe is not working for you."

Here is one of Mr. Inhofe's more embarrassing public statements:
"As you see here, and I think this is maybe the most important prop we’ll have during the entire debate, my wife and I have been married 47 years. We have 20 kids and grandkids. I'm really proud to say that in the recorded history of our family, we've never had a divorce or any kind of homosexual relationship."
Jim Inhofe on the Senate Floor, June 8, 2006

Need any more evidence that Inhofe is a dangerous, wrong-headed politician? Check this out:
Inhofe slams DiCaprio for scaring kids in two-hour Senate speech

What can you do to help send this despicable character back to pasture in Oklahoma where he can pass his final days? You can support - financially, publicly, and proudly - Andrew Rice's campaign for the Senate seat now being held by Inhofe. Please visit Mr. Rice's web site and get behind a person who will act in Oklahoma's best interest and will truly represent you and your concerns in Washington D.C.

See the following article that appeared on CounterPunch.org back in May 2004:
The Deranged Mind of James Inhofe - Maybe the Dumbest US Senator of Them All

Happy Halloweenie!!!

Here are a few images that I thought might make you chuckle just a little bit or alternatively scare the bejesus out of you.

If the image above doesn't scare you half to death, then the following article certainly should:
White House Leak: Cheney's Plan for Iran Attack Starts With Israeli Missile Strike

Steph read this e-mail at the top of hour one today (10/31/07) in honor of Halloween.
From Roseanne's Blog:
October 29, 2007 - Monday
Trick-or-Treating is Better than Sex
Top 10 reasons why trick-or-treating is better than sex:
10. You are guaranteed to get at least a little something in the sack.
9. If you get tired, you can wait 10 minutes and go at it again.
8. The uglier you look, the easier it is to get some.
7. You don't have to compliment the person who gives you some.
6. It's ok when the person you're with fantasizes you're someone else, because you are.
5. Forty years from now you'll still enjoy candy.
4. If you don't like what you get, you can always go next door.
3. It doesn't matter if the kids hear you moaning and groaning.
2. Less guilt the morning after.
1. You can do the whole neighborhood!

Goldwater/Miller 2008 Rally in Phoenix

CC Goldwater & Stephanie Miller, Phoenix Oct. 2007

Goldwater/Miller 2008 Rally in Phoenix and I Will Not Be There - blah, blah, blah...
Loyal fans of this blog are probably expecting me to endorse the Goldwater/Miller 2008 ticket, but I warn you, I will disappoint your expectations. I cannot in good conscience endorse a phony, promotional ticket, not when the stakes are as high as they are in the upcoming election. Call me a stick up the butt liberal if you must, but I just cannot waste my time creating a MySpace page for fake candidates - much as I know that would please both Steph and her running mate CC. Even though I'm sure that it would get me a mention, however fleeting, on Steph's morning radio show. I will not support a ticket that is in the race to make only one point - a point that Stephanie has made ad nauseum on her radio show - the point being that "The current Republican party bears little resemblance to her father's, William Miller, and Barry Goldwater's party." A point that is true as far as it goes, but being a radical militant librarian and a naturally curious grrrl - I did a little bit of research and unearthed the platform on which Mr. Goldwater and Mr. Miller ran (see Rebuplican Platform 1964 - warning dull, repetitive reading ahead - perfect cure for insomnia). In summation, the platform talks a lot about the evils of Communism and the wonders of freedom, it speaks loudly about shrinking the federal government and keeping said government out of people's lives and keeping regulation of business to a minimum. It does promise to honor the Civil Rights Act and to provide equal opportunity for all, but there are troubling parts in the platform, too - a mention of exempting the minimum wage laws for teenage workers, a remark about keeping the United Nations in its place, a clear vision of a world in which the United States is the most militarily powerful nation on the planet, where natural resources are there for our exploitation - without government protection or "interference" (as the Republicans would term it). There are plenty of seeds in the '64 Republican platform from which one can see the GOP plants that have blossomed today. It was not, as Stephanie would have us see it now, a party that would have left us all alone to be gay, or bi-sexual, or atheist, or agnostic, or, gasp, even communist (Not communist, just ask Joe McCarthy about that).

Stephanie was on Dan Abrams Show the other night talking about the phenomenon of phony candidates, namely Stephen Colbert, who has apparently drawn even more attention than the Goldwater/Miller 2008 ticket (surprise, surprise!). It struck me as a telling moment in media history when a real news program spent part of its show discussing the impact that fake candidates are having on a very real election. Even in good fun, it strikes me as odd that Stephen Colbert is currently polling higher than Governor Bill Richardson and Representative Dennis Kucinich and is tied with Senator Joe Biden (I can't say that I'm surprised that Colbert is beating former Senator Mike Gravel). Still, I appreciate a good joke as much as the next grrrl, but I must say that I am having a hard time finding the humor in an election that has the potential to restore the Constitution, end an illegal and immoral war, and generally bring America back to the people who make this such a great country. Sorry folks, the joke's over - now get back to making us laugh about really funny stuff - like Larry Craig or Mitt Romney....

Goldwater-Miller back on the campaign trail (Arizona Republic, Oct. 27, 2007)

Steph on Roseanne

Back on June 5th of this year, Stephanie Miller made an appearance on Roseanne Barr's Radio Show on KCAA - just click on this link to listen to Stephanie converse with Roseanne. They dish about radio shows, Ann Coulter, Paris Hilton, Sarah Silverman, politics, and making your/their voice(s) heard. It is loads of fun and pretty darn funny, too.
Check it out....

Remind Me, Why Is Impeachment Off the Table?

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
(attributed to) Sinclair Lewis

Stephanie,
I'm not sure what the members of Congress think that they are doing, but why do they think that they can ignore the very people that they are supposed to be representing? We DO NOT want any more wars - we want the war in Iraq to end, we DO WANT children to receive health care coverage, we are sick and tired of the hypocrisy and appalling corruption that seems to be business as usual inside the beltway, and we DO NOT want the government in our personal lives - listening to our phone calls, tracing our e-mails or the web sites that we choose to visit. We want a government that provides for us in old age, that does not leave us destitute if we are struck by cancer or some other life-threatening illness, a government that provides safe and educational schools that will prepare our children for good jobs in the 21st century. We are sick and tired of paying billions and billions of dollars for a war that is not getting us anywhere in the struggle against terrorism (sic), but rather is merely making the terrorist situation worse. I read Frank Rich's column this morning and felt an overwhelming sense of despair at the entrenched corruption and cronyism that has become the true legacy of this Bush/Cheney administration. We are mad as hell and we wonder what we can do to express our outrage in a meaningful way, a way that will be heard, a way that will make a difference in our lives and in our world. Remind me again, why is impeachment off the table???
Later,
Faye

Impeachment Is Not Off the Table
http://www.projectcensored.org/newsflash/impeachment.htm
By Peter Phillips

October 21, 2007
NYTimes Op-Ed Columnist
Suicide Is Not Painless
By FRANK RICH

Rep. Stark & Sen. Dodd Find Spines, Feinstein Loses Hers

NOTE: This post does not constitute an endorsement of Senator Dodd for president, rather it is just a round of applause from this blogger for Chris Dodd's courageous stand against the erosion of our Constitutionally-enshrined rights.

Stephanie,
Please get on the horn and ask the Matron Saint of the Stephanie Miller Show (Senator Barbara Boxer) what's up with Sister Feinstein? What WAS she thinking? Southwick is a known racist, homophobic SOB and Dianne should realize by now that the republicans aren't playing, you can't give them an inch, or they'll be taking a mile soon enough =(

Thank you so much for speaking out tonight on Dan Abrams show although the blowhole that you were up against tried to hammer his question down your throat "Define torture, Stephanie..." What an idiot - the issue is not whether you or Dan Abrams can define torture, but rather the point is that torture is defined and spelled out in documents (treaties, laws, cases) that the Bush administration is ignoring. What a toooooolie toooolie toooolie tool...

ENOUGH is ENOUGH - we have got to stand up and say NO MORE! I think that Representative Stark (13th District CA) is correct - I support what he had to say, the emotion that he expressed, the frustration that was captured by his words - I HOPE that he DOES NOT APOLOGIZE or back down. You should be proud of Peter Stark, please call him or e-mail him and tell him thank you for finally speaking out and announcing what is obvious to a strong majority of the American people - the emperor has no clothes. Thank God for Rep. Stark, and Senator Chris Dodd who has put a hold on the terrible piece of legistation that is making its way through the Congress - the most recent incarnation of the FISA bill.

Here is Senator Dodd's letter explaining his position - I sincerely hope that Harry Reid thinks twice before he attempts to go around this wise and long-overdue stand against the assault on our civil liberties:

The Military Commissions Act. Warrantless wiretapping. Shredding of Habeas Corpus. Torture. Extraordinary Rendition. Secret Prisons.

No more. I have decided to place a "hold" on the latest FISA bill that would have included amnesty for telecommunications companies that enabled the President's assault on the Constitution by illegally providing personal information on their customers without judicial authorization.

I said that I would do everything I could to stop this bill from passing, and I have. It's about delivering results -- and as I've said before, the FIRST thing I will do after being sworn into office is restore the Constitution. But we shouldn't have to wait until then to prevent the further erosion of our country's most treasured document. That's why I am stopping this bill today.

From Senator Dodd's Web Site: http://action.chrisdodd.com/signUp.jsp?key=1570


Here's the announcement that demonstrates that Senator Dianne Feinstein has lost her flipping mind:

Alarming Anti-Gay Vote - From a Democrat
By Jennifer Vanasco
The Visible Vote '08
October 16, 2007

File under "What was she thinking?"

Dianne Feinstein, who represents San Francisco, voted to support Mississippi Judge Leslie Southwick for appointment to the powerful New Orleans-based United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Southwick is known for anti-gay and racist opinions.

For example: Judge Southwick also joined another decision taking a child away from a mother because she was bisexual. Adding insult to injury in that case, he signed a concurring opinion that attacked the mother for her "decision to participate in a homosexual relationship" and told her that losing her baby was one of the possible consequences of her "exertion of her perceived right." Democrats were going to kill his nomination in committee - but no, Feinstein sided with Republican colleagues to bring his nomination to the House floor.

Something is very wrong when a Democratic senator representing San Francisco is A-OK with a judge who will take a child away from its mother because she's gay.

UPDATE: Randi Rhodes Was NOT Mugged

Stephanie & Randi in NYC

UPDATE: Apparently Randi Rhodes wasn't mugged, thank god, but something happened to her when she was out walking her dog, Simon, on Sunday night, and Randi is in pain, so we send our best thoughts to her and wish her relief from her injuries. We all look forward to hearing the real story of what happened to Randi when she returns to the air on Thursday. Meantime, rest, relax and heal Randi - we love you!!!

This is a very quickly composed post as I am at work and technically shouldn't be messing with my personal blog, but I wanted to get this up and send my very best wishes to Randi for a speedy recovery and to let her know that our best thoughts go out to her in this time of pain. Go Randi - we all love you and know that you'll pull through this horrible experience...

If you'd like to send a card or get well note to Randi, please send it to:
The Randi Rhodes Show
641 Sixth Avenue, 4th floor
New York, New York 10019

His High Holiness the Dalai Lama

"We are all human beings on this planet, and we are all dependent on each other. It benefits no one to create barriers and division. All human beings are like brothers and sisters, and must realize our common interests."
The Dalai Lama, October 18, 2007

In the summer of 1987 I was fortunate enough to make a trip to Asia. Specifically, I travelled to Hong Kong, Thailand, Nepal and from Kathmandu, I went overland into Tibet. It was a two-day trip because heavy summer rains had washed out the road to the Nepal/Tibet border. In my second attempt to get to Tibet, I had pared my travel parcel down to what fit into my day pack. I knew from a previous attempt to make it to the border that a 40 kilometer hike awaited me when I got off the bus at the end of the road, and I knew that the hike would not be easy. It might involve jumping over fast-flowing water rushing down a ravine recently carved through the trail that I would be taking, and with that in mind, it behooved me to travel as light as I possibly could. After a long first day on the trail in which I followed in line with amazing sherpas who carried huge loads on their small backs, I found a bed in a house in Tatopani (means "hot water" in Nepali). The woman who ran the road house motioned me up a flight of wooden stairs with a candle as her light and pointed to a narrow spot in a long row of wooden planks - that would be my bed for a night through which I remember sleeping fairly well. The next morning I fell back in line with the sherpas who turned out to be my bed mates from the night before and we hiked on to the Tibetan border. I remember passing quickly through customs which was nothing more than a shack in the middle of a bridge that crossed a river. On the other side, in Tibet, there were three seemingly insurmountable cliffs of rock - the remains of what had apparently been a hairpin road that was washed away by recent storms. I began the arduous climb, glad again that I had nothing but my small day pack on my back. I was much younger then (28 years old to be exact) and hopped over the early rocks with ease, only stumbling a few times, glad also for the high-topped sneakers that I had chosen for the trip when it was in its planning stages back in Albuquerque, NM. I remember pausing briefly and taking a long draw from my iodine treated water bottle at the top of each heap of rubble. When I reached the top of the pile of washed out hillside and was back on what appeared to be a road, I saw ahead of me what turned out to be an encampment of Chinese soldiers. I was so weary that I don't think it even occurred to me to look for a way around the camp, I just kept walking into what was apparently the midst of the soldiers' outpost. I was quickly surrounded by a group of soldiers - what struck me about them was that they all appeared to be so young, boys really, teenagers definitely, a hardship post most assuredly. They surrounded me, and one of the boys pulled a gun out of his belt and aimed it directly at my forehead and proceeded to pull the trigger - a dead clunk - nothing happened, but even with my exhausted and delayed reaction, I mustered a show of terror on my face and the boy-soldiers broke into a fit of laughter. I kept on walking until the encampment faded behind me.

MFH in Tibet 1987

Forgive this 20 year old flash back - I guess I am feeling a bit nostalgic today. This post was inspired by a piece I read today on HuffPo about a visit that The Dalai Lama recently made to Radio City Music Hall. Of course, I didn't meet The Dalai Lama when I was in Tibet - His Holiness had long ago left his home in Lhasa for another home in exile in Dharamsala in Northern India. I did visit the Potala Palace when I was in Lhasa, and all along my travels I was struck by the calm kindness of the Tibetan people, who always had a smile and a nod for my feeble attempts to speak a phrase or two of their language, and who always welcomed me to join them in their current pilgrimage to the next monastery or temple. Om Mani Padme Hum....

See NYTimes article (October 17, 2007) - Dalai Lama Is Honored on Capitol Hill

SMS Wins "Liberal Laugh of the Year" Award

Chris Lavoie, Rebekah Baker, Jim Ward & Steph at BLLOTY 2007

Yes, SMS fans and loyal readers of this blog, I am pleased to announce that last night in beautiful downtown Burbank, California, our fearless radio heads (Stephanie Miller, Chris Lavoie, Jim Ward and the lovely Rebekah Baker) were awarded a BLLOTY (Best Liberal Laugh of the Year)! The award was bestowed on the SMS crew by the Burbank Democratic Club. Here's a link to more photos of the event.

Goodbye Columbus

Today was Columbus Day here in the United States of America. To mark the occasion I am reproducing in its entirety a marvelous essay by Thom Hartmann, whose radio show follows Stephanie Miller on KTLK 1150AM and of which I have lately become a fan.



Columbus Day - As Rape Rules Africa and American Churches Embrace Violent "Christian" Video Games
by Thom Hartmann

"Gold is most excellent; gold constitutes treasure; and he who has it does all he wants in the world, and can even lift souls up to Paradise."
Christopher Columbus, 1503 letter to the king and queen of Spain.

"Christopher Columbus not only opened the door to a New World, but also set an example for us all by showing what monumental feats can be accomplished through perseverance and faith."
George H.W. Bush, 1989 speech

If you fly over the country of Haiti on the island of Hispaniola, the island on which Columbus landed, it looks like somebody took a blowtorch and burned away anything green. Even the ocean around the port capital of Port au Prince is choked for miles with the brown of human sewage and eroded topsoil. From the air, it looks like a lava flow spilling out into the sea.

The history of this small island is, in many ways, a microcosm for what's happening in the whole world. When Columbus first landed on Hispaniola in 1492, virtually the entire island was covered by lush forest. The Taino "Indians" who loved there had an apparently idyllic life prior to Columbus, from the reports left to us by literate members of Columbus's crew such as Miguel Cuneo.

When Columbus and his crew arrived on their second visit to Hispaniola, however, they took captive about two thousand local villagers who had come out to greet them. Cuneo wrote: "When our caravels. where to leave for Spain, we gathered one thousand six hundred male and female persons of those Indians, and these we embarked in our caravels on February 17, 1495. For those who remained, we let it be known (to the Spaniards who manned the island's fort) in the vicinity that anyone who wanted to take some of them could do so, to the amount desired, which was done."

Cuneo further notes that he himself took a beautiful teenage Carib girl as his personal slave, a gift from Columbus himself, but that when he attempted to have sex with her, she "resisted with all her strength." So, in his own words, he "thrashed her mercilessly and raped her."

While Columbus once referred to the Taino Indians as cannibals, a story made up by Columbus - which is to this day still taught in some US schools - to help justify his slaughter and enslavement of these people. He wrote to the Spanish monarchs in 1493: "It is possible, with the name of the Holy Trinity, to sell all the slaves which it is possible to sell. Here there are so many of these slaves, and also brazilwood, that although they are living things they are as good as gold."

Columbus and his men also used the Taino as sex slaves: it was a common reward for Columbus' men for him to present them with local women to rape. As he began exporting Taino as slaves to other parts of the world, the sex-slave trade became an important part of the business, as Columbus wrote to a friend in 1500: "A hundred castellanoes (a Spanish coin) are as easily obtained for a woman as for a farm, and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten (years old) are now in demand."

However, the Taino turned out not to be particularly good workers in the plantations that the Spaniards and later the French established on Hispaniola: they resented their lands and children being taken, and attempted to fight back against the invaders. Since the Taino where obviously standing in the way of Spain's progress, Columbus sought to impose discipline on them. For even a minor offense, an Indian's nose or ear was cut off, se he could go back to his village to impress the people with the brutality the Spanish were capable of. Columbus attacked them with dogs, skewered them with pikes, and shot them.

Eventually, life for the Taino became so unbearable that, as Pedro de Cordoba wrote to King Ferdinand in a 1517 letter, "As a result of the sufferings and hard labor they endured, the Indians choose and have chosen suicide. Occasionally a hundred have committed mass suicide.

The women, exhausted by labor, have shunned conception and childbirth. Many, when pregnant, have taken something to abort and have aborted. Others after delivery have killed their children with their own hands, so as not to leave them in such oppressive slavery."

Eventually, Columbus and later his brother Bartholomew Columbus who he left in charge of the island, simply resorted to wiping out the Taino altogether. Prior to Columbus' arrival, some scholars place the population of Haiti/Hispaniola (now at 16 million) at around 1.5 to 3 million people. By 1496, it was down to 1.1 million, according to a census done by Bartholomew Columbus. By 1516, the indigenous population was 12,000, and according to Las Casas (who were there) by 1542 fewer than 200 natives were alive. By 1555, every single one was dead.

This wasn't just the story of Hispaniola; the same has been done to indigenous peoples worldwide. Slavery, apartheid, and the entire concept of conservative Darwinian Economics, have been used to justify continued suffering by masses of human beings.

Dr. Jack Forbes, Professor of Native American Studies at the University of California at Davis and author of the brilliant book "Columbus and Other Cannibals," uses the Native American word wétiko (pronounced WET-ee-ko) to describe the collection of beliefs that would produce behavior like that of Columbus. Wétiko literally means "cannibal," and Forbes uses it quite intentionally to describe these standards of culture: we "eat" (consume) other humans by destroying them, destroying their lands, taking their natural resources, and consuming their life-force by enslaving them either physically or economically. The story of Columbus and the Taino is just one example.

We live in a culture that includes the principle that if somebody else has something we need, and they won't give it to us, and we have the means to kill them to get it, it's not unreasonable to go get it, using whatever force we need to.

In the United States, the first "Indian war" in New England was the "Pequot War of 1636," in which colonists surrounded the largest of the Pequot villages, set it afire as the sun began to rise, and then performed their duty: they shot everybody - men, women, children, and the elderly -who tried to escape. As Puritan colonist William Bradford described the scene: "It was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in the fire and the streams of blood quenching the same, and horrible was the stink and scent thereof; but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and they [the colonists] gave praise therof to God, who had wrought so wonderfully..."

The Narragansetts, up to that point "friends" of the colonists, were so shocked by this example of European-style warfare that they refused further alliances with the whites. Captain John Underhill ridiculed the Narragansetts for their unwillingness to engage in genocide, saying Narragansett wars with other tribes were "more for pastime, than to conquer and subdue enemies."

In that, Underhill was correct: the Narragansett form of war, like that of most indigenous Older Culture peoples, and almost all Native American tribes, does not have extermination of the opponent as a goal. After all, neighbors are necessary to trade with, to maintain a strong gene pool through intermarriage, and to insure cultural diversity. Most tribes wouldn't even want the lands of others, because they would have concerns about violating or entering the sacred or spirit-filled areas of the other tribes. Even the killing of "enemies" is not most often the goal of tribal "wars": It's most often to fight to some pre-determined measure of "victory" such as seizing a staff, crossing a particular line, or the first wounding or surrender of the opponent.

This wétiko type of theft and warfare is practiced daily by farmers and ranchers worldwide against wolves, coyotes, insects, animals and trees of the rainforest; and against indigenous tribes living in the jungles and rainforests. It is our way of life. It comes out of our foundational cultural notions.

So it should not surprise us that with the doubling of the world's population over the past 37 years has come an explosion of violence and brutality, and as the United States runs low on oil, we are now fighting wars in oil-rich parts of the world. It shouldn't surprise us that our churches are using violent "kill the infidels" video games to lure in children, while in parts of Africa contaminated by our culture and rich in oil (Congo) rape has become so widespread as to make the front page of yesterday's New York Times.

These are all dimensions, after all, our history, which we celebrate on Columbus Day. But if we wake up, and we help the world wake up, it need not be our future.

Excerpted and slightly edited from "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It's Too Late." Hartmann's most recent book is Cracking The Code: How to Win Hearts, Change Minds, and Restore America's Original Vision.

Amy Does Martha

Here's a heelarious video clip of the delightful Amy Sedaris who visits Martha Stewart and introduces Martha to the idea of cooking with bong water. Amy goes on to skewer Martha in other subtle little ways. I have nothing against Martha (in fact, I admire her for doing her time like a man, unlike many men who have whimped out on serving their just due). I just love Amy Sedaris and thought loyal readers of this blog deserved a laugh after another dreadful week of war in Iraq, torture memos, and incredible incompetence. Enjoy!

A Week's Worth of "Guess the Quotes"

Well, after taking a brief hiatus from the SMS (due in part to a dreadful case of insomnia and an equally dreadful case of autumn blues), I started sending in e-mails to Steph again, and as has been the practice in the past, Steph often turns to my submissions as sources for "Guess the Quote." For those not familiar with the show, (and I must ask, "Why the heck have you not been listening to Steph and the mooks? If I can listen from my computer here in Tulsa, OK, there is absolutely no excuse for you, no matter where you live, to not tune into the Stephanie Miller Show every morning!") "Guess the Quote" is a game played between Steph and Jim "Voice Deity" Ward. Steph reads a quote and then Jim makes a wildly inaccurate and improbable guess as to who is responsible for the quote. Jim typically has a sub-theme in his answers and I enjoy trying to discern Jim's sub-theme almost as much as Chris "Boy Toy" Lavoie does. Anyway, it was a banner week for "Guess the Quotes" from Faye.
Here they are:

Monday, October 1, Hour 1 & Hour 3:

"Christ would not vote for Barack Obama, because Barack Obama has voted to behave in a way that it is inconceivable for Christ to have behaved."
Alan Keyes, Religious Fanatic, GOP Presidential Candidate and former Radio Talk Show Host

"It's about time we all faced up to the truth. If we accept the radical homosexual agenda, be it in the military or in marriage or in other areas of our lives, we are utterly destroying the concept of family."
Alan Keyes, Religious Fanatic

"When we, through our educational culture, through the media, through the entertainment culture, give our children the impression that human beings cannot control their passions, we are telling them, in effect, that human beings cannot be trusted with freedom."
Alan Keyes, Religious Fanatic

"On all the matters that touch upon the critical moral issues, Arnold Schwarzenegger is on the evil side."
Alan Keyes, Religious Fanatic

"Hitler and his supporters were Satanists and homosexuals. That's just a true statement. The notion that is involved in homosexuality, the unbridled sort of satisfaction of human passions" leads to "'totalitarianism,' 'Nazism,' and 'communism.'"
Alan Keyes, Religious Fanatic

Wednesday, October 3, Hour 1:

"Senator Larry Craig is attempting to withdraw his guilty plea. Wonder if his new defense has anything to do with Restless Leg Syndrome?"
Will Durst

"I admire the Islam. There's a lot of good principles in it. But I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles, personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith."
Senator John McCain (R - AZ)

"Each nation will design its own separate strategies for making progress toward achieving this long-term goal. These strategies will reflect each country's different energy resources, different stages of development and different economic needs."
George W. Bush

Thurdsday, October 4, Hour 1:

"What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne."
Barack Obama, October 2, 2002

"Some seek to rewrite history. They argue that they weren't really voting for war, they were voting for inspectors, or for diplomacy. But the Congress, the Administration, the media, and the American people all understood what we were debating in the fall of 2002."
Barack Obama, October 2, 2007

"This was a vote about whether or not to go to war. That's the truth as we all understood it then, and as we need to understand it now. And we need to ask those who voted for the war: how can you give the President a blank check and then act surprised when he cashes it?" Barack Obama, October 2, 2007

Friday, October 5, Hour 2:

"Focus on the children. Their plight is our shame, I told him, and their promise is our future. Reach them and you reach our soul."
Reverend Jim Wallis, Author of God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It

"I don't understand poor people. I've never lived with poor people or been around poor people much. I don't understand what they think and feel about a lot of things. I'm just a white Republican guy who doesn't get it."
George W. Bush, after the election of 2000 was decided, but before his inauguration

"The money needed for expanding health care to poor children in America is far less than the money that has been lost and wasted on corruption in Iraq. How have the priorities strayed so far from those children, whom he once agreed were so central to the soul of the nation?"
Reverend Jim Wallis

"If he knows his Bible, the President should remember that Jesus said to suffer the little children. This, however, isn't exactly what he meant."
Reverend Jim Wallis

Like a Serpent's Egg

And therefore think him as a serpent's egg
Which hatch'd, would, as his kind grow mischievous;
And kill him in the shell.
Brutus in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

"Anybody who makes the slightest effort can see what is waiting in the future. It's like a serpent's egg: through the thin membranes, you can clearly discern the already perfect reptile."

From Ingmar Bergman's film A Serpent's Egg

It may indeed to be too late to kill the Bush administration in its shell, for what it has unleashed on the world is evil personified. Today's report on torture that has been the practice of this administration since that fateful day in September of 2001 is a horrifying revelation of what many of us have suspected all along. Not only can this administration not be trusted, but it is also perpetrating some of the most vile acts in our name and with our money.

Here's a nice summary from Obsidian Wings:

The techniques in question are repugnant. But in many ways, the administration's disregard for the law is worse. When your policies violate treaties you have signed and laws that are on the books, you are not supposed to come up with some clever way of explaining that appearances to the contrary, what you're doing is not illegal at all. You're supposed to stop doing it. When Congress decides to pass a law banning "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment, you are supposed to stop engaging in such treatment, not to redefine "cruel, inhuman and degrading" so that it doesn't apply to anything you want to do.

If the stories of Blackwater's unchecked action in Iraq aren't enough to make you wonder what ever happened to the rule of law, then I'm not sure there is anything that remains that this administration could do to shock you.

Following are several more telling portions from the article that appears in today's NYTimes:

Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations

"The classified opinions, never previously disclosed, are a hidden legacy of President Bush's second term and Mr. Gonzales's tenure at the Justice Department, where he moved quickly to align it with the White House after a 2004 rebellion by staff lawyers that had thrown policies on surveillance and detention into turmoil."
Scott Shane, David Johnston and James Risen, NYTimes, October 4, 2007

"The interrogation opinions were signed by Steven G. Bradbury, who since 2005 has headed the elite Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department. He has become a frequent public defender of the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program and detention policies at Congressional hearings and press briefings, a role that some legal scholars say is at odds with the office's tradition of avoiding political advocacy."
Scott Shane, David Johnston and James Risen, NYTimes, October 4, 2007

"The debate over how terrorism suspects should be held and questioned began shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when the Bush administration adopted secret detention and coercive interrogation, both practices the United States had previously denounced when used by other countries. It adopted the new measures without public debate or Congressional vote, choosing to rely instead on the confidential legal advice of a handful of appointees."
Scott Shane, David Johnston and James Risen, NYTimes, October 4, 2007

"The office was designed to insulate against any need to be an advocate," said Mr. Kmiec, now a conservative scholar at Pepperdine University law school. But at times in recent years, Mr. Kmiec said, the office, headed by William H. Rehnquist and Antonin Scalia before they served on the Supreme Court, "lost its ability to say no."

"The approach changed dramatically with opinions on the war on terror. The office became an advocate for the president's policies."
Douglas W. Kmiec, who headed the Office of Legal Counsel under President Ronald Reagan and the first President George Bush

"Never in history had the United States authorized such tactics. While President Bush and C.I.A. officials would later insist that the harsh measures produced crucial intelligence, many veteran interrogators, psychologists and other experts say that less coercive methods are equally or more effective."
Scott Shane, David Johnston and James Risen, NYTimes, October 4, 2007

"For government lawyers, the national security issues they were deciding were like working with nuclear waste — extremely hazardous to their health. If you give the administration what it wants, you'll lose credibility in the academic community. But if you hold back, you'll be vilified by conservatives and the administration."
Scott Horton, an attorney affiliated with Human Rights First

"We are likely to hear the words: 'If we don't do this, people will die.' It takes far more than a sharp legal mind to say 'no' when it matters most. It takes moral character. It takes an understanding that in the long run, intelligence under law is the only sustainable intelligence in this country."
James B. Comey, Deputy Attorney General (2003 - 2005)

"In a frequent practice, Mr. Bush attached a statement to the new law when he signed it, declaring his authority to set aside the restrictions if they interfered with his constitutional powers. At the same time, though, the administration responded to pressure from Mr. McCain and other lawmakers by reviewing interrogation policy and giving up several C.I.A. techniques."
Scott Shane, David Johnston, and James Risen, NYTimes, October 4, 2007

"I know from the military that if you tell someone they can do a little of this for the country's good, some people will do a lot of it for the country's better," Mr. Hutson said. Like other military lawyers, he also fears that official American acceptance of such treatment could endanger Americans in the future.

John D. Hutson, who served as the Navy's top lawyer from 1997 to 2000, said he believed that the existence of legal opinions justifying abusive treatment is pernicious, potentially blurring the rules for Americans handling prisoners.

"The problem is, once you've got a legal opinion that says such a technique is O.K., what happens when one of our people is captured and they do it to him? How do we protest then?"
[Indeed, on what ground do we have to stand?]

John D. Hutson

Steph throws her well-worn ball cap into the ring

"Four Boobs - Better Than an Entire Administration of 'em!"That's right folks Stephanie Miller is joining C.C. Goldwater in a bid for the White House. Our only complaint is that Momma is on the bottom of the ticket (just like her Dad was is 1964).

C.C. called in to the show this morning in hour 3 and made the big announcement (surprising - not really, not after all the hints and teases that Momma had hoisted onto her listeners all last week and in hours 1 and 2 of today's show). Nevertheless, they (C.C. and Steph) made it official and launched their fairly content-free web site at the same time. So visit their web site, sign up for their newsletter, and send them stuff to put up on their empty and sad little web site.

Here's the disclaimer that is emblazoned across the bottom of the welcome page: "The information contained herein is fictitious, satirical and intended for promotional and entertainment purposes only." The key word in that phrase is "promotional" - ya think?

Spector Goes Free?

Stephanie (er, Chris Boy-Toy Lavoie) posted my little Phil Spector collage on the SMS web site.

Check it out:

Iraq War Cost = 720 Million a Day

The American Friends Service Committee has been doing some calculations and the results are not encouraging for those of us who value peace over war, health over death, infrastructure over destruction, and education over genocide. AFSC (a Quaker peace organization) has determined that the occupation of Iraq is costing the American taxpayer 720 million dollars each day. That is the equivalent of building 84 new elementary schools or providing 6482 families with new homes or making sure over 423,529 children have health care or outfitting over 1. 2 million homes with energy-efficient renewable electricity. What could you do with 500,000 dollars each minute for the next 24 hours???

I don't know about you all, you are probably making loads more money than I am, but it will likely take me the better part of the next ten years to earn what this country spends in Iraq every damn minute of every day. That's a butt load of cash and I challenge any right-wing Bush/Iraq war supporter to tell me exactly what we are getting for this outrageous price tag. What are we accomplishing over there? The Iraqis don't want us in their country any more (if they ever did). The animosity that we are generating in the Muslim world is unparalleled and certainly counterproductive in our struggle against terrorism.

Please visit the AFSC's web site and sign their petition to end this fiasco in Iraq and redirect our national spending to real things that help real people.