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Cheney's and Rumsfeld's Job Approval

According to the President "Both those men are doing fantastic jobs and I strongly support them."

Leadership

According to the House majority leader, John Boehner, the problems in Iraq are not Rumsfeld's fault but the fault of the generals.

GOP HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER JOHN BOEHNER: Let's not blame what's happening in Iraq on Rumsfeld.

WOLF BLITZER: But he's in charge of the military.

BOEHNER: But the fact is, the generals on the ground are in
charge, and he works closely with them and the president.

Is the Republican leadership's new to blame the military? I guess you don't go to war with the military you want, but only with the military you have.

Of course, the flaw in this argument is that if the Generals are failing, it is precisely Rumsfeld who has the power to replace them, so we find ourselves back in the same Situation. If Rumsfeld refuses to remove those leaders who are failing, then he is not doing his job, and he must be removed by the President. If the President does not, he is failing in his job exactly as Rumsfeld is failing in his own.

Why McCain Doesn't Understand Torture - Because he was Tortured.

On The O'Reilly Factor, former NY Senator Al D'Amato (R) argued that Senator John McCain's insistence that the United States observe the prohibitions against torture in the Geneva Convention results from the fact that McCain was “so traumatized by the events that took place” during his captivity in the Vietnam War (including being tortured), and that McCain "doesn’t even really want to [be] or is in a position to consider the impact of what his restrictions would do.

"To top it off, D'Amato states that observing prohibitions against torture is "not going to make us look any morally better."

Has this country lost its mind?(For the video, see here).

When Perjury Doesn't Matter.

FoxNews favorite, Bill Kristol argued the following:

"Bush should pardon Libby. He should do it now. It would be fantastic. The democrats would go crazy . . . He didn’t lie in any serious meaning of lying before a grand jury."

And yet, lying about one's sexual partners in an investigation into a real estate deal is 'lying in a serious meaning' of the term? Perplexing.

Winning Strategy?

Senator Santorum (R-PA) argues, "how do we cure Iraq? Focus on Iran."

Could that strategy lead this country to victory in Iraq, world opinion, or Iran? And could that argument lead Sentorum to victory in November? I don't think its a stretch that the answer to both questions is no.

The Persistence of Racism

George Allen (R-Va) has been spent much time recently explaining why he called his opponent's campaign worker "macaca" (a type of a monkey). Allen claims it was a mistake. That may very well be true, who knew what "macaca" meant before Allen made it famous. Then of course the question is, why use a term, several times, you don't know the meaning of?

Now it appears that remark may not have been the mistake his campaign claims it was. Allen now finds himself in need of explaining an association with an overtly racist conservative group, the Counsel of Conservative Citizens (CCC).

The 1996 photgraph includes Allen, three CCC members, and Charlton Heston (from left to right: then Gov. George Allen, Fred C. Jennings, Gordon Lee Baum, Tom Dover, and Charlton Heston) . The photograph was taken at Conservative Conference co-sponsored by the CCC.

The conference proudly displayed two large confederate flags, which appear to accurately reflect the group's ideology (the Confederacy of course presented arguably the greatest threat to the perpetuation of the United States - its celebration, in my opinion is antithetical to American patriotism).

Most disturbingly, this group's "Statement of Principles" includes the following ideals:


- "We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called "affirmative action" and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races."

- "We also oppose all such legislation as so-called 'hate crime.'"

- "We believe that the United States of America is a Christian country, that its people are a Christian people, and that its government and public leaders at all levels must reflect Christian beliefs and values."

- "We believe that the United States derives from and is an integral part of European civilization and the European people and that the American people and government should remain European in their composition and character."

- "We therefore oppose the massive immigration of non-European and non-Western peoples into the United States that threatens to transform our nation into a non-European majority in our lifetime."

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It is a good thing that groups like this exist, otherwise we'd never have known the truth about people like George Allen. Howard Dean has previously stated that "I served with George Allen when he was governor. I don‘t think he belongs in public service, to be honest with you." The mounting evidence tends to support Dean's position here.

Who Has a Right to Free Speech?

May a student be punished by a school for speech he makes that is not on school time and not on school property? Conservatives say yes.

Certainly when a public school punishes a student for their speech, that is a government body imposing limitations on what speech can be freely made.

A high school student in Alaska held up a banner stating "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" during an Olympic Torch relay in 2002. He was suspended from school for this action.

The student sued the school and the 9th Circuit court of appeals held that the school had improperly infringed upon his right to free speech.

Now, Ken Starr (yes, that Ken Starr) has taken up the case, on behalf of the school, for free. Apparently believing so strongly that a school district's interest in punishing undesirable actions outweighs the Constitutional rights of students.

The logical conclusion would also be that the district would have a right to take action against staff and faculty for their off duty actions as well, whether or not the Constitution protects those actions.

Does the Constitution only protect us from being imprisoned for our speech but allow the government to punish us by other means for exercising those rights? I would doubt that the founders had such intent.

Development of Democracy

"On average, nearly 80 Iraqis were killed or wounded every day from mid-February through mid-May, up from the previous quarter's 60 per day. At least 92 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Al Anbar since the start of the year" the LA Times reports.

"Democracy is on the march in Iraq." George W. Bush.

Taking A Stand

Brave Move by FoxNews's John Gibson!

Credibility

FoxNews analyst, Jonathan Hoenig asserts, "Theres no scientific proof that global warming even exists. To be honest, its a bogus consensus dreamed up by Greens because they hate industry. They hate advancement. They hate technologyGreens will lead us back to the stone ages."

ThinkProgress.org properly points out that "A big part of the solution to global warming, of course, is technology more efficient cars, renewable energy, cleaner production methods."

To Hoenig, Global Warming is nothing more than a vast left wing conspiracy. Does this strengthen FoxNews's credibility in your minds?

The Argument Against Global Warming

The right wing rebuttal to Gore's film on Global Warming: "An Inconvenient Truth"

1) Sterling Burnett a senior fellow at the Exxon-backed National Center for Policy Analysis, argued against the film with this comparison of Gore to a Nazi propagandist: "You dont go see Joseph Goebbels films to see the truth about Nazi Germany. You dont go see Al Gores films to see the truth about global warming."

2) Now, Bill Gray from the Washington Post magazine states: "Gore believed in global warming almost as much as Hitler believed there was something wrong with the Jews."

How about a scientific rebuttal to the points made in Gore's movie, if those points are so far off base?

Remember Republican responses to comparisons of Bush and his policies to Nazi Germany? Republicans have declared that any comparisons made to Nazis are "hateful, vitriolic rhetoric," "despicable,"and "deplorable, desparate tactics."

The Most Important Issues Facing America?

When asked what the most important issues this country faces right now Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist says flag burning and gay marriage.

Is this political pandering and manipulation by Frist and his fellow republicans attempting to dictate what the election year issues will be? It seems clear to me.

Incidentally, the only countries that now ban flag burning are Cuba, Iran, and China.
Would an anti-flag burning Constitutional Amendment ban only burning the American flag?

Should it be criminal if Americans are insulted but acceptible for Americans to impart precisely the same insult against others, even to foreigners who live in America - is that consitent with the principles of the founding fathers? Or, would it be illegal to burn any country's flag? Is the activity so inherently dangerous that peace cannot be maintained without imposing criminal sanctions against all who perform it?

These two Constitutional Amendments are improper, in my view, because the Constitution is a document that 1) limits the power of government and 2) elaborates the rights of the people that cannot be infringed by the government. Both of these Proposed Amendments seek to place limitations of the rights of the people.

Gov't Interest in Your Internet Habits

Imagine if the entire history of your internet viewing on your computer were retained and turned over to the government? Does that seem, to you, like a "Big Brother" scenario?

Not to the Bush administration who hopes to see it become business as usual.

"U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller on Friday urged telecommunications officials to record their customers' Internet activities."

"The Bush administration had generally opposed laws requiring data retention, saying it had 'serious reservations' about them. But after the European Parliament last December approved such a requirement for Internet, telephone and voice over Internet Protocol providers, top administration officials began talking about the practice more favorably."

When did the Bush Administration decided to begin adopting policies favored by Europe? Clearly the US is inherently behind the times with regard to restricting the freedoms of its own citizens.