talkfreedom

Ebon · Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 5:43 am Post subject: October 9th 2005

News Review Dept
Cancer is God's punishment for pre-marital shagging: In a breakthrough in medical science, a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer is now at the "final testing" stage. Jump for joy, celebrations, buy the doctors a round of drinks, right? Well, not so fast there, young padawan. You see, cervical cancer is triggered by a virus called Human Papiloma Virus (HPV). HPV is a sexually-transmitted virus (anyone who sees where this is going, raise your hands). So far, so froody. However, in order to be effective (because males can carry the virus with no knowledge or effects), girls must be vaccinated before they become sexually active. In one of those "I-wish-I-was-joking" stories, the bugfuck insane Family Research Council are opposing the vaccination because "they may see it as a licence to engage in premarital sex". The FRC naturally favours pushing abstince. So, let's understand this: FRC want lots of people to die. That's really all there is to it. http://www.newscientist.com/channel/sex/mg18624954.500

Bush pledges to veto anti-torture bill: In the latest from an administration rapidly resolving the dispute over whether they were incompetant or outright evil, the Bush Administration has apprently pledged to veto a bill banning the "cruel, inhumane or degrading" treatment of prisoners. Sponsored by former torture victim John McCain and attached to a defence spending bill (clever boy John), the Administration would have to veto the entire bill to kill that ammendment. The ammendment passed with a vote of 90 for, 9 against (is that enough to override a Presidential veto?), there was obviously incredible support for the measure and yet, the Administration is poised to veto it. I thought Bush didn't do vetos? I guess he doesn't do vetos up to the point where he really, really wants to torture some brown people. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/07/wus207.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/10/07/ixworld.html

Bush says God told him to invade Iraq, God refuses to comment: Now, I know that Christians feel that they talk to their god all teh time and by and large, I'm ok with that but a friend of mine has a saying "when you talk to god, it's prayer. When god tells you to kill people, it's schizophrenia". Apparently, in a conversation with Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen, Bush revealed that God had told him to invade Iraq and Afghanistan and to secure a Palestinian state. Now, leaving aside my own views on God, this does beg the worrying question of what God will ask Bush to do next, especially since Bush's God apparently doesn't have a lot of time for Muslims. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/10_october/06/bush.shtml

Bush Back On Bottle: It's now widely suspected that Bush is back on the bottle and just for once, I'm not going to lay into him for that. Addiction is a powerful thing, as any addict (myself included) will tell you. I'm sure he struggled with his addiction and I'm sure he's trying to overcome it now but, such is the nature of addiction, relapse is expected and, to a certain degree, forgiven. It can't be easy for Georgie; in a job with unending stress and pressure, an administration that's rapidly falling apart and that endless monkey on the back of every reformed addict, the knowledge that all those big questions, all those worries, simply resolve themselves into an obsessive interest in where your next fix is coming from. Add all that together and it's easy to understand why that whiskey bottle would look so very inviting to George. At this point, George doesn't need our scorn or derision, he needs treatment, understanding. However, he also does not need to have his finger on the big red button. I'm a supporter of gun rights but you don't give the mentally unstable man the keys to the firearms cabinet and you don't give the most powerful post in the world to an alcoholic who's back on the sauce. Perhaps the Cabinet have already dealt with this, perhaps power has simply shifted a couple of notches down so the Cabinet run everything while George is just there as a figurehead. Other nations have been led by alcoholics (Boris Yeltsin) and Winston Churchill was a former opium fiend so why not teh USA? Well, the problem is that while Boris Yeltsin was an amiable drunk, Bush is a mean drunk or at least, an obnoxious one. It also begs the question of how long Bush has been back on the bottle. If nothing else, an affection for the fire water would explain his notoriously dreadful public speaking ability, that irritating perma-smirk and the overwhelming impression that for most of his presidency, Bush has just failed to understand that his policies actually have effects. George needs treatment, he needs AA or a sponsor or any one of a dozen alcohol rehab services. He shouldn't have any problem getting help, this kind of thing is every therapists mortgage payment and perhaps, when he's gotten sober again, George can come back and complete his term.

Today's Rant
So, Harriet Miers has been nominated to the Supreme Court. Well, given the calibre of John Roberts, it isn't that much of a stretch. Apparently, parts of teh right-wing media are now up in arms about this. They think Harriet isn't far-right enough. Perhaps she isn't. Perhaps Bush, or more likely, those who deal with these things on his behalf thought a moderate nominee was needed. That's unlikely though. The Administration, throughout both terms has shown roughly the same inclination to accomodate the opposition as the lions showed the Christians. Doubtless, a few are offended by the naken cronyism of Miers nomination. A few, like myself, are bluff old traditionalists and believe a Supreme Court nominee shoudl have slightly more judicial experiance than Hillary Clinton's handbag. Mainly though, most are annoyed that, having total power, Bush hasn't chosen to nominate someone from the bugfuck insane right-fringe portion of teh party (a worryingly large percentage of it these days).

Short-sightedness affects even politicians it seems. In reality, this is Rove's master manipulation. Even loathing Rove and everything he stands for, I must concede the man's skill as a political chessmaster. A while back, Rove, with the media in his pocket, Bush's ear and the knowledge that he could do exactly as he liked, started plotting to remove the filibuster. A few Republicans opposed him, a very few out of honour (in the knowledge that they had done teh exact thing they were criticising Democrats for to Clinton), the majority just because thy thought there was a chance that they would be in opposition sometime and need the filibuster but Rove, who understand's that if you control the media, you control the people and if you don't, well, there's always Diebold, pushed forward anyway. Having carefully framed the arguement in terms that favoured him (filibustering was obstructionist and unconstitutional, despite Republicans doing the exact same thing to Clinton in greater numbers) and pushed his version of teh facts to his talking heads in the media (Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity, O'Lielly, Faux "News"), the public (easily led as publics often are) was on his side. Then everything went wrong. A bunch of Republicans who weren't in on Rove's masterplan to secure a single-party state met with Democrats and hammered out a compromise.

It took Rove a while but he's realised that the compromise actually works to his advantage. Since the Democrats agreed to only filibuster in the most extreme circumstances, Bush could count on having most of his judicial nominations (including Priscilla "Scumbag" Owens) approved and should they ever decide to filibuster a candidate, Rove could spin it as a matter of a broken agreement, that the Republicans tried to compromise but the Democrats wouldn't let them and then Congress would be back on course for the Rove's preferred nuclear option, eliminating the filibuster altogether. Still, the fact that the Democrats retained even the tiniest bit of power was anathema to Rove, he wanted them crushed entirely, if not gone then at least subserviant so he started trying to pick nominees who would provoke a showdown with the Democrats and enable his nuclear option.

Probably, Rove thought he had his showdown when Roberts refused to say anything at all to his committee and seemed to be patronising them in teh process but how frustrating must it have been for Rove that the Democrats wouldn't even block him? And here is where Miers enters the story. The naked nepotism of Miers nomination and her inexperiance should be enough, he thinks and if it isn't, well, Miers is a good little puppet, they know what her decision will be on everything that matters to them.

Suddenly, a spanner is thrown in good old Turd Blossom's works. The extreme-right-fringe (most of teh Republican Party these days) are up in arms that Miers isn't far right enough. She hasn't gone on record as saying abortion is a terrible evil that should be banned, she hasn't gone on record as saying gays should be exterminated (best case) or made to feel like second class citizens (worst case). The Religious Reich don't feel that she's one of them. Disaster! Indictments are already flying around Congress, Rove knows that it will take a deal with the devil for him to avoid jail time unless he gets this nomination through, George is back to being bottle-fed (to Karl's relief, George showed a horrible tendancy to try and contribute when he was sober) and suddenly, moderate Republicans are waking up to the fact that there is a real chance to reclaim their party from the religious zealots and far-right merceneries who've taken control. There's a tiny chance that impeachment could be on the horizon, what is Karl to do?

Then reality dawns, Karl knows he can spin his way out of the indictments, he can spin away the moderates especially since there aren't many left. With a Congress and judiciary dominated by the hard-right zealots who believe Bush to be the Second Coming, there's no real chance of impeachment, well-deserved as it may be.

There Rove sits, spinning as always, wondering what terribel catastrophe can be turned to his advantage next. America spins with him or rather twists. Like the medieval corpse in it's gibbet, America remains twisting in the wind.
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5150: I'm crazy, what's your excuse?

If you're not paranoid, you're not paying attention.

Waiting on the ghost of Tom Joad...

themann1086 · Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 9:36 am Post subject:

The funny part of all this? Some right-wingers have called for... ready... wait for it.....

a filibuster of the Miers nomination.

IOKIYAR!

My choice on the poll: "Would need a lot more solid evidence, Democratic control of both chambers, and public support". Most people didn't want Clinton impeached, and it "hurt" the Repubs in the 00 elections [to quote Lewis Black: "We didn't want him impeached! We wanted him punished... like a spanking or something... but not impeached!"].
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Political Games: Where the fuck's the reset button?!

"Should we remain in [Iraq]? If you answer 'yes,' then you must accept all the necessary consequences."

"Everyone believes in the atrocities of the enemy and disbelieves in those of his own side, without ever bothering to examine the evidence." -George Orwell

"Good ideas do not need lots of lies told about them in order to gain public acceptance" -Daniel Davies

"Atheists believe that humans are enough, that our lives are worth something by themselves and that we have the power and freedom to invest value in ourselves and others. [Religion teaches] that humans are fundamentally small and weak and have no ability to invest in themselves and others without making up a Sky Fairy to pass out those judgments." -Amanda Marcotte