Proving that he is as incapable of parsing a sentence as he is of extending the "civil rights" to anyone other than the 350,000 members of his organization, Bill Donohue referred to Keith Olbermann as a "smear merchant." (Well, at least he didn't call him a "smear merchant of Venice". And in one of those great ironies that provokes in me that great Australian bit of profanity fuck me dead, Donohue agreed with Bill "Loofah-up-your-hoohaw" O'Reilly that Olbermann was a smear merchant. I fucking kid you not.

From dated today, Donohue says:

O’REILLY IS RIGHT:
OLBERMANN IS A “SMEAR MERCHANT”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded to MSNBC talk-show host Keith Olbermann’s comment last night that Donohue made a bigoted statement when he once said, “Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular.” Here is Donohue’s rejoinder:

“Bill O’Reilly was right when he referred to Keith Olbermann as a ‘notorious smear merchant.’ Here’s why.

Okay. Here comes the part where those proverbial apples get equated with matzoh.

“On July 31, 2006, Olbermann interviewed Tom O’Neil, a Hollywood observer, and in the course of discussing Mel Gibson’s drunken anti-Semitic rant, O’Neil wondered aloud whether Mel could come back from this incident: ‘I don’t see how Mel rallies from this, especially in Jewish Hollywood.’ A few seconds later, Olbermann said, ‘And let’s clarify so nobody puts you on that list of folks who said things. When you said Jewish Hollywood, you meant the Jewish community in Hollywood, not Jewish Hollywood.’ O’Neil answered affirmatively.

continue reading "Donohue Goes After Olbermann"

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What is it the Testament teaches us? — to believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married, and the belief of this debauchery is called faith.
Thomas Paine, Age of Reason, Part II, Section 20

Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet, Common Sense that is taught to us as school children as having roused those citizens who read it to throw off the shackles of British oppression and establish these United States of America. Thomas Paine would not have been a friend of Bill Donohue, or Pat Robertson, or Jerry Falwell, or the Taliban, or an UltraOrthodox Rebbe.

And yet, Thomas Paine, had he lived now, would undoubtedly have been a blogger, a Rude Pundit perhaps, or anAmanda Marcotte, a Melissa McEwan, a BitchPhd, a Liza Sabater, a Caliberal. Thomas Paine saw a world, manipulated into obedience by religion(s) that told them that humans were nothing, only God's grace could redeem them. Furthermore, believers have been told repeatedly that their beliefs, their faith, was worth killing non-believers over. God willed it.

continue reading "A Paine in the Ass"

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For the first time a frank and open debate about our involvement in the Iraq Quagmire and the need to get out of the mess Bush made has occurred on the floor of Congress. Republicans tried hard to prevent this debate, prevent the public from hearing exactly where people stand. Democrats insisted on the debate. Here are some excerpts from that Debate from Salon.com [with my commentary, of course]:

"We have to get out now, not two years from now, after a new president takes office. We're killing them and they're killing us and nothing is getting better and the reasons we started this turned out to be false. The American people know this and today they are watching our debate. They will judge us by our actions."
-- Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash.

[BINGO!!! McDemott is the one who gets it the most and states it the best. So I put his quote first.]

"In order to succeed in Iraq, there must be diplomatic and political initiatives. There has been no sustained and effective effort to engage Iraq's neighbors diplomatically and there has been no sustained and effective effort to engage Iraqi factions politically. ... President Bush's escalation proposal will not make America safer, will not make our military stronger and will not make the region more stable. And it will not have my support."

continue reading "Quotes From the Iraq War Debate"

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Back in November there was a blatant case of a defective election. Without accusing anyone of wrongdoing, SOMEHOW 18,000 votes for Congress were missing (an unprecedented "undervote") the vast majority of them coming from Democratic leaning districts. This loss of 18,000 votes almost certainly altered the result of the election, depriving Democrat Christine Jennings a win. This particularly bothers me since Christine was one of the candidates I raised the most money for last year and I was very impressed with her as a candidate. But partisanship aside, the loss of 18,000 votes is just plain unacceptable. Yet the Republicans in Florida did all they could to prevent an analysis of this problem and Florida remains one of the states with the most dubious of elections. Remember, the Carter Center, which monitors elections all over the world and is one of the most respected election monitoring organization in the world, refused to monitor Florida elections because Florida did not meet their minimum requirement for fair elections.

Christine Jennings is fighting back. As I said, I was impressed with her. She is one of only a handful of women who successfully founded her own bank (she gives credit to the Clinton economy for her success!). She reminded both my wife and myself of Ann Richards in a way. So she clearly is not the type to give up easily.

Here is a message from Christine Jennings about her fight to make elections in Florida more reliable:

continue reading "Fighting For Fair Elections in Florida"

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Looks like for one of the first times ever, candidates for President will be meeting with Native American leaders to discuss "Indian Country" and to beg for support. This largely unprecedented event is thanks to the organizing ability of Kalyn Free of the Choctaw Nation and the organization she founded. This comes from the Indiginous Democratic Network (INDN):

INDN's List Education Fund will launch historic Prez on the Rez in Washington, DC, February 26, 2007, 5:00p.m.-7:00p.m. Click here to view invitation.

This August the Democratic candidates for President of the United States will be coming to Indian Country for an unprecedented forum on Indian issues. Prez on the Rez will bring together the Democratic candidates for President to address the future of Indian Country in front of thousands of tribal leaders, elected officials, INDN elected officials, tribal members, and activists. You can learn more by visiting www.prezontherez. org now.

One exciting feature of the website is the ability to submit suggested questions to be asked of the candidates at the forum. We want to ensure tribal leaders and tribal citizens have the chance to ask questions from Indian Country, about the issues that Indian people face.

We expect all the contenders to participate, including: Sens. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joseph Biden, and Christopher Dodd, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, former Sens. John Edwards and Mike Gravel, Govs. Bill Richardson and Tom Vilsack, and Ret. Gen. Wesley Clark.

continue reading "Democratic Presidential Hopefuls to Meet With Indian Country"

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I posted this on Blue House Diaries, in response to a comment Lorraine made. The original comment has been added to here.

Strega, [aka Lorraine], I'm so pissed off about all of this I haven't found the words yet to fully say what is in my heart and in my head, let's just say, for now, I find others to be equally complicit in this.

John Edwards should have refused to accept Amanda's resignation. She could have gone ahead and resigned, of course, but the fact that Edwards accepted it is so in keeping with the Democratic Party leadership not saying a goddamned, fucking word about this war against women for 6+ fuckingass years. Politics above women, campaigns above women, elections above women, they keep resigning us to the back burner, why, could it possibly be because they view our rights, our issues, as too hot to handle, so afraid they will run into the exact shit that the rightwing brought to bear?

My vote, YES, and if that is indeed true, what the fuck does that say about what kind of president he will be? Where the fuck will women's rights play in an administration that does not, forcefully and relentlessly, state that they will not accept a resignation of a woman that is being forced out of the fold of a political campaign by the fuckingass rightwing that has been doing this for decades?

Edwards could have been the person who stood up to them, he should have yelled and screamed from his bloody pulpit, we will not give into such slander. Edwards, and Elizabeth, should have found their convictions and stood solidly behind them.

continue reading "It goes further than just Donohue"

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It's not just the pantsuit.

It's not just the scorch-earth singing.

It's the fact that the Godfather is there, in all his black and white glory behind her, like a guardian angel.

She, octaroon daughter of an Ecuatorian and an American, resplendent in technicolor white.

Before her, a roomful of jaws agape standing, and clapping and testifying; while a Jamie Foxx, one of the true believing fanboys, standing there, stunned and speechless seconds before the closing of the clip.

With just one performance she rises to feminist icon for a whole generation of girls with her possessed, Cassandra-like interpretation ...

This is a man's world
But it would be nothing, nothing
Not one little thing
Without a woman or girl.

Hell yeah, Christina.

PREACH!

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