Keeping Up With Li'l G

Brooklyn writer Bruce Kimerer has started a blog called, "The Giuliani Papers." He'll be keeping up with Rudy "Li'l G" Giuliani throughout his campaign for president. Check it out.

Here's a blast from the Giuliani ferret-hating past:

Rudy's Ferret Face-Off

Operation Chickenhawk: Draft College Republicans

Generation Chickenhawk: the Unauthorized College Republican Convention Tour



Untitled from huffpost and Vimeo.

This is a very interesting look into the minds the minds of College Republican, albeit from a very biased Max Blumenthal. I love the bumper sticker at the end!

There Should Be a Table to Put This On

I keep hearing the phrase, "Impeachment is off the table." I say, whose table is it off of? On my table, you'll find a big heaping pile of double impeachment for the man (Cheney) and his puppet (Bush).

Look, I've been warning people about Bush and Co., since 2004, when I joined Billionaires For Bush. I thought to myself, "hey, self, use humor to help the masses understand what this administration is all about." Bush won. I wept at my computer the day he won the second election. When I say wept, I mean wept. Big honking tears poured down my face in an uncontrollable assault. AT WORK. Eventually, I tried to look on the bright side and tried to continue the humor for the 2006 election, but seriously now, the greater majority of the country is ready to break under the facade of a sneering Chief Executive and the obvious breakdown of a coherent strategy in Iraq.

I truly think the breaking point to a lot of things came on July 2, when Bush, two days before the celebration of the founding of this country, commuted the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. To add insult to injury, last Thursday, while opening up the new White House Press Room, Bush nonchalantly brushed off a question regarding the commutation with this:

First of all, the Scooter Libby decision was, I thought, a fair and balanced decision.

Secondly, I haven't spent a lot of time talking about the testimony that people throughout my administration were forced to give as a result of the special prosecutor. I didn't ask them during that time and I haven't asked them since.

I'm aware of the fact that perhaps somebody in the administration did disclose the name of that person. And, you know, I've often thought about what would have happened had that person come forth and said, "I did it." Would we have had this, you know, endless hours of investigation and a lot of money being spent on this matter?

But it has been a tough issue for a lot of people in the White House, and it's run its course, and now we're going to move on.

You may be moving on, Sir, but some of us won't be moving on until you've moved out. Personally, I hope it's before his present term is up.

I have heard people say that we should let the Administration ride on out into the sunset. Well, no. Time and again this President has treated the Constitution like a doormat that's not good enough to wipe his feet on. Consequently, his emboldened assholery has spread to others, who feel as if the Rule of Law is for Thee and Not for Me. This has got to stop. If we let Bush out of office without even so much as a censure, we will have handed the next President a set of Executive Orders and power that the Executive Branch is not entitled to... impeachment must be put back on the table, and soon.

If you don't believe me, then watch and listen to the man who wrote the first article of impeachment against Bill Clinton.

For the love of the Constitution, tell your Representatives, your Senators, your friends, your family, that the honor of the Constitution demands that Bush and Cheney be impeached. It's your country, people. Don't let your leaders lull you into thinking that it's not, don't let your leaders take it away from you either and don't let them make you afraid of your own shadow. Give them one more kit, and they will take the entire kaboodle. Mark my words. Please. I don't want to have to come back in a few years and say, "I told you so."

Disgraceful

I have never been more ashamed and embarrassed at being an American than yesterday, when I came home, and saw a despicable site: a so-called Christian heckling an American Hindu on the floor of the Senate during opening prayer:


First of all, I grew up in a 1/2 Evangelical Christian household. I do not attend church services and barely believe in any type of religion because of it. Second of all, I believe in the Constitution, and I believe that the U.S. may lean toward Christianity because it was the predominant religion at the time of the country's founding, but there is little or no evidence that the Deists that founded this country thought of it as Christian. Thirdly, how dare these "Christians" interrupt this man?

I cannot tolerate such childish displays, such clearly ignorant sentiments, such clear and adamant claims that this country is "Christian." This is America, indivisible, with freedom and liberty FOR ALL.

Go Read This...

... and then Digg It so that others know about it, too!

July 8, 2007 at 19:44:49 Bush justice is a national disgrace by John S. Koppel http://www.opednews.com

Digg this story

As a longtime attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, I can honestly say that I have never been as ashamed of the department and government that I serve as I am at this time.
The public record now plainly demonstrates that both the DOJ and the government as a whole have been thoroughly politicized in a manner that is inappropriate, unethical and indeed unlawful. The unconscionable commutation of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's sentence, the misuse of warrantless investigative powers under the Patriot Act and the deplorable treatment of U.S. attorneys all point to an unmistakable pattern of abuse.

MORE at OP-Ed News Link

Originally published in the Denver Post, July 5, 2007.

The 4th of July

Martha's Vineyard, 2004
Photo by Elderta

On this day of America's Independence, I wish everyone a happy holiday.

Even more so, I wish everyone a knock upside their head to get ya'll out of this damned complacency as your country is being stripped from you by a runaway administration.

Mostly, though, I wish you a good 4th of July. With no rain and plenty of BBQ.

Now, go read about the recent Supreme Court decision regarding Rita v. United States. The case sounds eerily familiar to a certain case that was granted a commutation earlier this week. The lowdown: Victor Rita was convicted of perjury, making false statements to federal agents and obstruction of justice (like Libby) and was sentenced to 33 months in Federal jail (Libby was sented to 30 months). Rita thought the sentence excessive (even though the sentence adhered to DOJ guidelines, like Libby's case did as well) and sued. The case made it to the Supreme Court a few weeks ago and the Court ruled that the sentence was not excessive. There are several similarities between this case and defendant and Libby. The catch: Rita, unlike Libby, is no FOB (Friend of Bush).*

From the Times:

Mr. Rita has performed extensive government service, just as Mr. Libby has. Mr. Rita served in the armed forces for more than 25 years, receiving 35 commendations, awards and medals. Like Mr. Libby, Mr. Rita had no criminal history for purposes of the federal sentencing guidelines.

The judges who sentenced the two men increased their sentences by taking account of the crimes about which they lied. Mr. Rita’s perjury concerned what the court called “a possible violation of a machine-gun registration law,” while Mr. Libby’s of a possible violation of a federal law making it a crime to disclose the identities of undercover intelligence agents in some circumstances.

When Mr. Rita argued that his 33-month sentence had failed adequately to consider his history and circumstances, the Justice Department strenuously disagreed.

Remember also, that Bush seems to have made his "excessive" declaration without consulting the Department of Justice. Maybe then someone would have told him that he was directly going against the third branch of government in his "excessive" commutation. Hmm... who am I kidding? Bush listens to no one but the little God voice in his head.

Now, get up off your butt and do something. Tomorrow, of course. Enjoy your Independence today, while you still can!

*addendum: and he wasn't accused of outing a spy, either!

Motherfucker

So, I'm sitting in the emergency room, waiting to get a CAT scan earlier tonight. This past Friday, I banged my head against a concrete wall while wrestling a kayak off the top of a car, and I developed a headache yesterday that hasn't gone away yet, so I decided to get my head checked out in case of internal injury.

The teevee was on in the waiting room, but I was listening to my Saturday podcast of Seder on Sundays with Sam Seder. I'm listening to Sam talking with Atrios and Glenn Greenwald, and my head is pounding, and I'm a little worried that something may be wrong with my brain, when I look up at the teevee and see the headline, "BREAKING: President Bush pardons I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby."

I couldn't help it. Although I had already broken my brain earlier in the weekend, I do believe that the news of Bush's pardon was the straw that cracked the remainder of my brainstem. The word "MOTHERFUCKER," came loudly from my mouth. Several people in the waiting room turned towards me, many of whom had no clue as to why this expletive would fall so vehemently from my mouth. I was quite surprised at the force of my invective, though I don't know why I'm even surprised that Bush commuted Libby's sentence. I should not be surprised by anything that this horrible administration does anymore.

After leaving the hospital tonight, I found out that Bush deemed the verdict "excessive" in the sense that Libby should not have been sentenced to 30 months in prison. (Libby still has to pay a fine and faces two years of probation.) NOTE: it's EXCESSIVE to spend time in jail for committing perjury regarding the outing of a CIA agent, according to the President of the United States of America. NOTE again: no matter what right-wing nuts tell you, Valerie Plame was a covert agent at the time of her outing. And once again, NOTE: the judge who sentenced Libby is a Republican (Judge Walton, appointed by Bush in 2001) and the Court that denied Libby's appeal is composed of at least two Republicans. District Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was appointed by a Republican by the name of James Comey. (Read Fitzgerald's comments on this "excessive" pardon here.)

The Washington Post filed a sickly missive yesterday on how Bush is "besieged and isolated, yet at ease" these days. According to the article, Bush has been gathering people together in private meetings to ponder on his Presidential legacy. Really, President Bush, invite me come on over to one of those meetings, because frankly, this one is easy; your legacy is one of incompetence, thievery, unlawful war, spying, the outing of a CIA operative, environmental disaster, and torture. In a word, you are a motherfucker.

May your legacy follow you where ever you may go.

Oh Woe Is Me

Between Dick Cheney's killing all of the fish in Oregon to today's Supreme Court decision on school integration, all I can think is that we're all doomed. And that's not even taking into account twenty bodies found beheaded along the Tigris River or rumors of rioters being killed in Iran.

Doomed, I tells ya. Doomed.

On top of everything else, kayaking was cancelled tonight due to stormy weather.

Maybe tomorrow will be better.

What I Did This Past Saturday

The Mermaid Parade at Coney Island!

Photo by Sarah By

Splash Gordon, Whale Ardin and their cohorts battled the evil Ming the MerSEAless for the soul of Coney Island. Only time will tell if Splash won the war!


The Splash Gordon crew consisted of 13 people including Splash himself, Whale, Ming, the invisible Dr. Zarkov, an evil Mershmaid, three evil condo converters, and several cohorts on the side of good!

Photo by Trena B.

Loving v. Virginia: 40 Years Later

Richard and Mildred Loving
From Freedom to Marry

I meant to post about this earlier, but I've been way busy with the Coney Island Mermaid Parade coming up this weekend. June of this year finds us celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the case of Loving v. Virginia, in which a mixed race couple sued for the right to marry in Virginia. The case was decided on June 12, 1967, exactly three years and three months after this miscegenated and thereby illegally born blogger was birthed.

Here's Mildred Loving's statement from June 12, 2007:

Loving for All

By Mildred Loving*

Prepared for Delivery on June 12, 2007,
The 40th Anniversary of the Loving vs. Virginia Announcement

When my late husband, Richard, and I got married in Washington, DC in 1958, it wasn’t to make a political statement or start a fight. We were in love, and we wanted to be married.

We didn’t get married in Washington because we wanted to marry there. We did it there because the government wouldn’t allow us to marry back home in Virginia where we grew up, where we met, where we fell in love, and where we wanted to be together and build our family. You see, I am a woman of color and Richard was white, and at that time people believed it was okay to keep us from marrying because of their ideas of who should marry whom.

When Richard and I came back to our home in Virginia, happily married, we had no intention of battling over the law. We made a commitment to each other in our love and lives, and now had the legal commitment, called marriage, to match. Isn’t that what marriage is?

Not long after our wedding, we were awakened in the middle of the night in our own bedroom by deputy sheriffs and actually arrested for the “crime” of marrying the wrong kind of person. Our marriage certificate was hanging on the wall above the bed. The state prosecuted Richard and me, and after we were found guilty, the judge declared: “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.” He sentenced us to a year in prison, but offered to suspend the sentence if we left our home in Virginia for 25 years exile.

We left, and got a lawyer. Richard and I had to fight, but still were not fighting for a cause. We were fighting for our love.

Though it turned out we had to fight, happily Richard and I didn’t have to fight alone. Thanks to groups like the ACLU and the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, and so many good people around the country willing to speak up, we took our case for the freedom to marry all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And on June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that, “The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men,” a “basic civil right.”

My generation was bitterly divided over something that should have been so clear and right. The majority believed that what the judge said, that it was God’s plan to keep people apart, and that government should discriminate against people in love. But I have lived long enough now to see big changes. The older generation’s fears and prejudices have given way, and today’s young people realize that if someone loves someone they have a right to marry.

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the “wrong kind of person” for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.

Here's the verdict.
Here's the Wiki.

Here's the place to go to help in the fight for marriage for all: Freedom to Marry. (Though why ANYONE would want to be married is still beyond my perception to understand! ;) )
h/t to the Daily Dish's link through Positive Liberty.

Headlines Change When You Use the Word "Nazi" for Christians

So earlier I was listening to my daily podcast of the Rachel Maddow Show when she mentions the story of Liberty University student, Mark Uhl. You may remember that Uhl alledgedly wanted to set off some bombs at the funeral of Jerry Falwell; he may have been aiming at a group of protestors who were going to stake out the funeral. Well, the planned threat never came about because one of Uhl's relatives called the police on him when he told the relative about the bombs he was making. (Nobody said these would be terrorists were smart.)

Well, Maddow floored me when she reported (unlike any other national news source that I've seen), that Uhl had a cache of Nazi images stored on his computer.

In fact, one of the few news sources that I could find regarding this story is from the Roanoke Times, whose headline on May 31st read, "Prosecutor: Nazi, gang ties to Falwell funeral bomb case." The headline to the now updated story reads, "Liberty student denied bond in explosives case; Mark Uhl told investigators he was going to detonate the bombs in a field and didn't plan to hurt anyone."

So, here's a freshman student at a Christian college who threatened to throw bombs, "not to hurt anyone," and yet he's got a massive amount of material on his computer that would get him thrown into jail for a very long time in Germany. I can only imagine what would have happened if Uhl had been a student at Yale. This story would have been splashed over every television station in America. "Look at those Godless liberal heathen with their bombs and their crazy stuff!" Since it's a nice Christian boy at Falwell's school... almost nothing. Expect this story to fade into the night.

Anyway, the two Roanoke Times stories are basically the same, but here's the bit about the computer images:

Davidson said a search of Uhl's computer found 25,000 stored images, about half of them pornographic. He said there were pictures of Adolf Hitler, photos of young people giving Nazi salutes, a picture of Hitler with a gun in his mouth and the caption "Follow the leader," and another simply captioned "I love Hitler."
Liberty student denied bond in explosives case
Mark Uhl told investigators he was going to detonate the bombs in a field and didn't plan to hurt anyone.

What a nice Christian fellow.

Mr. Doggity Blogs...

... and it's about time. Go and visit him and say "Howdy."

Who's Been Knocking at Cheney's Door?

CREW would like to find out.

O Rly? Valerie Plame a Covert Agent

"At the time of the initial unauthorized disclosure in the media of Ms. Wilson's employment relationship with the CIA on 14 July 2003, Ms. Wilson was a covert CIA employee for whom the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States."

So sayeth Exhibit A of the "Unclassified Summary of Valerie Wilson's CIA Employment and Cover History." More at MSNBC.com.

Memorial Day

Thanks Dad and Grandad.

Surviving Cancer

Photos by Jason Schmidt

New York Magazine gets a lot of flack* about its format and seeming lack of content, but as a subscriber, I find the magazine fun and informative (though sometimes the reviews make me wanna gag). One of the reasons I enjoy the magazine is because of articles like the one in this week's issue called, "The Survivor Monologues."

My dad, whose 77th birthday would have occurred earlier this week, died of cancer in August. His battle was pretty short and way painful. The monologues in this week's New York Magazine brought home to me how much he went through in the last five months of his life. The words of the survivors (and one lady moving to a hospice to die) are all in all very moving and encouraging, despite what every one of them faced and continues to face, whether in remission or in the middle of treatment. Godspeed to all of those who appear in this issue, and to everyone who suffers through the agony of cancer.

*who cares whether John McCain spells it with a c or not.

Happy Birthday, Dad

I miss you.

Li'l G for 9/11

What more can really be said about the man? Oh wait, he's nutso.
Even the resident Republican at work said so.

h/t Daily Dish

Cyberwar!

Of all the things that could happen right now, this happens!

From the Guardian UK:

Russia accused of unleashing cyberwar to disable Estonia

· Russia accused of unleashing cyberwar
· Parliament, ministries, banks, media targeted
· Nato experts sent in to strengthen defences

Ian Traynor in Brussels
Thursday May 17, 2007
The Guardian

A three-week wave of massive cyber-attacks on the small Baltic country of Estonia, the first known incidence of such an assault on a state, is causing alarm across the western alliance, with Nato urgently examining the offensive and its implications.

While Russia and Estonia are embroiled in their worst dispute since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a row that erupted at the end of last month over the Estonians' removal of the Bronze Soldier Soviet war memorial in central Tallinn, the country has been subjected to a barrage of cyber warfare, disabling the websites of government ministries, political parties, newspapers, banks, and companies.

[snip]

If it were established that Russia is behind the attacks, it would be the first known case of one state targeting another by cyber-warfare.

Russia opens up an unexpected front. Round and round we go. Where it stops, goodness only knows.

Modern Estonia is known for its cyber network and as a hub of technology for Europe. Having constant "Denial of Service" disruptions would wreck havoc on the economy. The country, traditionally tied to Russia and the Soviet Union as a satellite state, entered the European Union in 2004.

Hopefully the dispute between the two countries will resolve itself without escalation. What's the next step in a cyberwar, I wonder?

Jerry Falwell, 1933 - 2007

Jerry Falwell, preacher, founder of the Moral Majority and Liberty University, head of the PTL Club after the fall of Jim Bakker, opposer of the abolishment of aparthied in South Africa, and cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis, died today at his office at Liberty University.

I heard Falwell one too many times while growing up. He's one of the prime reasons that I am no longer a somewhat devoted churchgoer. My mother would make me watch him when I was younger. I'm still scarred from the experience of growing up in the Evangelical / Pentacostal Church in America. When I was growing up, I went to an Apostolic church, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith, in Detroit, MI. What is the Apostolic Church? Well, take the most rigid teachings of evangelicalism and triple them. That would pretty much sum up the church of my childhood. At least the choir was always good.

It's so sad cause I really wanted to believe in God.

I cannot mourn Falwell's death. As far as I'm concerned, he's one of the forces in the United States that have made us not united, but grabbing for each other's throats. Political power and religion do not mix. I will stay out of your church if you stay out of my life, is my basic premise. Falwell couldn't honor that. He demanded that I attend his church and he insisted on telling me that my life was wrong, perverse, wicked and demented. Let me tell you, I haven't even been kissed since 2001. I'm as chaste as the driven snow. I'm also straight, but happen to believe in gay rights. Oh boy, I'm a baaaadddd girrrlll.

So, while I say to his family and friends that I am sorry for your personal loss, I can say for myself that I cannot mourn him and will not miss him. If you think that is harsh, just remember, it's people like Jerry Falwell who helped me become the person I am today.

On top of it all, Falwell said these words after September 11, 2001 struck the city in which I live and it is these words that forever closed the door to religion for me:

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'" (a sentiment with which Pat Robertson concurred). ^[29]

I believe it's people like Falwell, who "know" that we are all going to hell and deserve it, who are the real culprits. If God is anything like I was told by the likes of Falwell (and my own mother), I have no need of God. And I have no need need of Jerry Falwell. Though I think I'll keep my mom.