I hate forwards. And I don't send them on to other people when I get them. But some are decent enough that I don't want to just delete them and never see them again. And since no one reads this anyway, it's safe to post them here, right?
What You Need To Believe To Be A Republican:
Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney and Rumsfeld did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush couldn't find Bin Laden.
Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals, Arabs, and Hillary Clinton.
Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.
The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.
A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.
The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.
If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.
A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle and antagonize our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.
Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism; HMOs and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.
Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.
A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense, but a president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.
Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.
The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's and Dick Cheney's driving records are none of our business.
Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.
Supporting "Executive Privilege" is imperative for every Republican ever born, who will be born or who might be born (in perpetuity).
What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.
There's nothing wrong with supporting drunken hunters who shoot their friends and blaming the friends for looking too much like quail.
Let's not get stuck with more Republicans in '06 and '08: Friends don't let friends vote Republican!
Friday, March 31, 2006
This article strikes me as important. It feels like a corner is being turned, and I don't think it's a good road we're taking. By all means, read the full article yourself, but here a couple things that I pulled out.
1) " U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conceded Friday that the United States probably has made thousands of 'tactical errors' in Iraq and elsewhere".
I've never heard that sort of admission before. Is that a new stance? I'm more than a little curious now to see if that statement is ever repeated in the U.S.
2) "...but said it will be judged by its larger aims of peace and democracy in the Middle East."
Is this the "you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet" argument? I thought that speech was reserved for idealogical villians.
3) "Rice replied that leaders would be "brain-dead" if they did not absorb the lessons of their times."
That doesn't even really need comment, does it?
4) "But when you look back in history, what will be judged will be, did you make the right strategic decisions."
Something about that statement just gives me the shivers. Partly that it's the break some eggs to make an omelet thing again. But on a bigger scale, the notion that you can't be judged by your peers but only by the long lense of history is disturbing. It can be used to justify just about anything. It's a mindset adopted by some of the worst individuals that the human cesspool has ever birthed.
5) "She said she remains firmly convinced that it was the right strategic decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq three years ago, and that it required an invasion to do it. Saddam 'wasn't going anywhere without military intervention,' she said."
Really? I looked back over some of the speeches from that time, and I know that the speeches that we the public received are different than the ones given on the senate floors, or behind closed doors, but I couldn't find anything about going into Iraq to remove Suddam. I found references to the notion that an invasion was NOT inevitable as long as Suddam cooperated with inspectors. I found the "we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud" quote at least twice.
6) "'People have the right to protest. That's what democracy is all about,' Rice told reporters at a British aerospace plant. 'I would say to those who wish to protest, by all means.'."
As long as we don't do it too loudly, and as long as it we keep it within the "free speech zones", nowhere near a political rally, and not within view of the current administration. And I think Denise Grier would find that comment interesting (go ahead and google her)
Anti-war demonstrations greet Rice during visit to Britain
Anne Gearan
Canadian Press
Friday, March 31, 2006
BLACKBURN, England (AP) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conceded Friday that the United States probably has made thousands of "tactical errors" in Iraq and elsewhere, but said it will be judged by its larger aims of peace and democracy in the Middle East.
The U.S. diplomat met loud anti-war protests in the streets and skeptical questions about U.S. involvement in Iraq at a foreign policy salon Friday, including one about whether Washington had learned from its "mistakes over the past three years."
Rice replied that leaders would be "brain-dead" if they did not absorb the lessons of their times.
"I know we've made tactical errors, thousands of them I'm sure," Rice told an audience gathered by the British foreign policy think tank Chatham House. "But when you look back in history, what will be judged will be, did you make the right strategic decisions."
She said she remains firmly convinced that it was the right strategic decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq three years ago, and that it required an invasion to do it.
Saddam "wasn't going anywhere without military intervention," she said.
Demonstrators organized marches to call America's top diplomat a war criminal and human-rights abuser as she joined British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on a tour of his adopted northern England working-class home.
Rice said she was not surprised by the depth of opposition in Britain, President Bush's strongest ally in Iraq, to the war and other American policies.
"I've seen it in every city I've visited in the United States," Rice said earlier Friday. "People have strong views."
"People have the right to protest. That's what democracy is all about," Rice told reporters at a British aerospace plant. "I would say to those who wish to protest, by all means."
Rice also said the United States was ready to send humanitarian assistance to Iran following deadly earthquakes there on Friday, but she made it clear there would be no accompanying U.S. diplomatic overture to Tehran.
Straw, Rice's host for her two-day visit, said Britain would send a condolence letter to the Tehran government.
The United States has no diplomatic relations with Iran.
At a high school visited by Rice and Straw, about 200 protesters stood across the street with banners and signs, chanting "Condoleezza Rice, Go Home!" One demonstrator held a yellow hand-lettered sign that read, How Many Lives Per Gallon?
Rice toured a high-school math class and visited Ewood Park, the home stadium of Straw's favoured soccer team, Blackburn Rovers.
About 50 of Pleckgate School's students "skived off" their classes Friday to protest Rice's visit, said student Jabbar Khan, 16, who shook Rice's hand as she entered.
The protests awaiting Rice on Friday were the reverse of the warm reception she received last fall when Straw accompanied her on a down-home tour of her native Alabama. Then, elderly white women lined up to shake the hand of a black native daughter made good, football fans cheered and the tantalizing possibility of a run for president - something she discounts - surrounded Rice.
"It's one thing to say this is a cultural visit, but others see it as a council of war," said Carmel Brown, an anti-war protester in Liverpool.
Rice's planned visit to a mosque in Blackburn was cancelled Thursday after anti-war protesters planned to heckle her during prayer time, a mosque leader said. A prominent poet and actress pulled out of planned appearances at a Liverpool Philharmonic concert Rice was attending Friday in protest of U.S. policies.
Straw's Blackburn district has the country's third highest Muslim population. Rice also is to meet Muslim leaders and the town's mayor, Ugandan immigrant Yusuf Jan-Virmani, on Saturday.
Straw's visit to Alabama was intended to show a different side of America to a visiting foreign leader and friend. Many people he met in Alabama, and a few who introduced him at events, had never heard of the British diplomat.
Rice is far better known, as the two days of protests planned over U.S. policies in Iraq, Iran and the war on terrorism attest.
Opponents of the Iraq war set up a website, condiwatch.co.uk, that listed times and locations for marches and gatherings. Protesters planned to distribute T-shirts that read, "Fab Four, Not War," in reference to Liverpool's most famous export, The Beatles.
The Canadian Press 2006
Copyright 2006 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
1) " U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conceded Friday that the United States probably has made thousands of 'tactical errors' in Iraq and elsewhere".
I've never heard that sort of admission before. Is that a new stance? I'm more than a little curious now to see if that statement is ever repeated in the U.S.
2) "...but said it will be judged by its larger aims of peace and democracy in the Middle East."
Is this the "you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet" argument? I thought that speech was reserved for idealogical villians.
3) "Rice replied that leaders would be "brain-dead" if they did not absorb the lessons of their times."
That doesn't even really need comment, does it?
4) "But when you look back in history, what will be judged will be, did you make the right strategic decisions."
Something about that statement just gives me the shivers. Partly that it's the break some eggs to make an omelet thing again. But on a bigger scale, the notion that you can't be judged by your peers but only by the long lense of history is disturbing. It can be used to justify just about anything. It's a mindset adopted by some of the worst individuals that the human cesspool has ever birthed.
5) "She said she remains firmly convinced that it was the right strategic decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq three years ago, and that it required an invasion to do it. Saddam 'wasn't going anywhere without military intervention,' she said."
Really? I looked back over some of the speeches from that time, and I know that the speeches that we the public received are different than the ones given on the senate floors, or behind closed doors, but I couldn't find anything about going into Iraq to remove Suddam. I found references to the notion that an invasion was NOT inevitable as long as Suddam cooperated with inspectors. I found the "we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud" quote at least twice.
6) "'People have the right to protest. That's what democracy is all about,' Rice told reporters at a British aerospace plant. 'I would say to those who wish to protest, by all means.'."
As long as we don't do it too loudly, and as long as it we keep it within the "free speech zones", nowhere near a political rally, and not within view of the current administration. And I think Denise Grier would find that comment interesting (go ahead and google her)
Anti-war demonstrations greet Rice during visit to Britain
Anne Gearan
Canadian Press
Friday, March 31, 2006
BLACKBURN, England (AP) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conceded Friday that the United States probably has made thousands of "tactical errors" in Iraq and elsewhere, but said it will be judged by its larger aims of peace and democracy in the Middle East.
The U.S. diplomat met loud anti-war protests in the streets and skeptical questions about U.S. involvement in Iraq at a foreign policy salon Friday, including one about whether Washington had learned from its "mistakes over the past three years."
Rice replied that leaders would be "brain-dead" if they did not absorb the lessons of their times.
"I know we've made tactical errors, thousands of them I'm sure," Rice told an audience gathered by the British foreign policy think tank Chatham House. "But when you look back in history, what will be judged will be, did you make the right strategic decisions."
She said she remains firmly convinced that it was the right strategic decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq three years ago, and that it required an invasion to do it.
Saddam "wasn't going anywhere without military intervention," she said.
Demonstrators organized marches to call America's top diplomat a war criminal and human-rights abuser as she joined British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on a tour of his adopted northern England working-class home.
Rice said she was not surprised by the depth of opposition in Britain, President Bush's strongest ally in Iraq, to the war and other American policies.
"I've seen it in every city I've visited in the United States," Rice said earlier Friday. "People have strong views."
"People have the right to protest. That's what democracy is all about," Rice told reporters at a British aerospace plant. "I would say to those who wish to protest, by all means."
Rice also said the United States was ready to send humanitarian assistance to Iran following deadly earthquakes there on Friday, but she made it clear there would be no accompanying U.S. diplomatic overture to Tehran.
Straw, Rice's host for her two-day visit, said Britain would send a condolence letter to the Tehran government.
The United States has no diplomatic relations with Iran.
At a high school visited by Rice and Straw, about 200 protesters stood across the street with banners and signs, chanting "Condoleezza Rice, Go Home!" One demonstrator held a yellow hand-lettered sign that read, How Many Lives Per Gallon?
Rice toured a high-school math class and visited Ewood Park, the home stadium of Straw's favoured soccer team, Blackburn Rovers.
About 50 of Pleckgate School's students "skived off" their classes Friday to protest Rice's visit, said student Jabbar Khan, 16, who shook Rice's hand as she entered.
The protests awaiting Rice on Friday were the reverse of the warm reception she received last fall when Straw accompanied her on a down-home tour of her native Alabama. Then, elderly white women lined up to shake the hand of a black native daughter made good, football fans cheered and the tantalizing possibility of a run for president - something she discounts - surrounded Rice.
"It's one thing to say this is a cultural visit, but others see it as a council of war," said Carmel Brown, an anti-war protester in Liverpool.
Rice's planned visit to a mosque in Blackburn was cancelled Thursday after anti-war protesters planned to heckle her during prayer time, a mosque leader said. A prominent poet and actress pulled out of planned appearances at a Liverpool Philharmonic concert Rice was attending Friday in protest of U.S. policies.
Straw's Blackburn district has the country's third highest Muslim population. Rice also is to meet Muslim leaders and the town's mayor, Ugandan immigrant Yusuf Jan-Virmani, on Saturday.
Straw's visit to Alabama was intended to show a different side of America to a visiting foreign leader and friend. Many people he met in Alabama, and a few who introduced him at events, had never heard of the British diplomat.
Rice is far better known, as the two days of protests planned over U.S. policies in Iraq, Iran and the war on terrorism attest.
Opponents of the Iraq war set up a website, condiwatch.co.uk, that listed times and locations for marches and gatherings. Protesters planned to distribute T-shirts that read, "Fab Four, Not War," in reference to Liverpool's most famous export, The Beatles.
The Canadian Press 2006
Copyright 2006 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Get on Herb
Both Sarah and I have written to Herb Kohl.
He needs to feel some pressure right now.
Here's Sarah's letter,
Dear Senator Kohl,
I wanted to let you know that I am disappointed that you are not backing Senator Feingold on his call to censure President Bush. I have voted for you in the past, but I don't feel that I can again unless I fell that you are representing the people on this matter. It seems obvious that the President broke a law, and he should be held responsible. I am not talking about an impeachment or an attempt to take him out of office, simply the censure that Senator Feingold called for.
It seems fair, and from all I have heard from my fellow Wisconsinites, it is what the people want. Please stand behind Senator Feingold and the people of Wisconsin and this country. I would be happy to continue to give you my vote if I feel that you are listening to your constituents. Thank you for your time and consideration,
Sarah
Here's mine
Dear Senator Kohl,
As a constituent I would ask that you please support the call to censure President Bush. I find it disturbing that on this issue the opinion of the public can be so overwhelmingly in favor of censure, and yet you have not represented this desire fairly.
In the past I have felt that your voting record has not matched the general desires of your constituency.
For me, this is the deal breaker. If the people of Wisconsin are sending a clear message that they want to see the President Censured, and yet you do not back this move, I will not be able to vote for you in the coming elections.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Christopher
You can write him online at http://kohl.senate.gov/
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