Peace Encampment by Midwest Youth (Mostly)

Just picked up news of Falwell's death.

His legacy will endure. It's common "wisdom" in SoCal's evangelical ethnic communities that homos and feminists are, indeed, responsible for 9/11.

Now, I need to hear about Moon's passing. He's well into his late 80s...

President George W. Bush met privately with Focus on the Family Founder and Chairman James Dobson and approximately a dozen Christian right leaders last week to rally support for his policies on Iraq, Iran and the so-called "war on terror."

“I was invited to go to Washington DC to meet with President Bush in the White House along with 12 or 13 other leaders of the pro-family movement," Dobson disclosed on his radio program Monday. “And the topic of the discussion that day was Iraq, Iran and international terrorism. And we were together for 90 minutes and it was very enlightening and in some ways disturbing too."

Details of the meeting were disclosed by Dobson during Monday's edition of his Focus on the Family radio program.

Dobson described Bush as “upbeat and determined and convinced, adding, “I wish the American people could have sat in on that meeting we had.”

Dobson went on to enumerate a series of meetings convened by Christian right leaders in Washington to discuss the supposedly existential threat to the United States from a nuclear Iran.

“I heard about this danger [from Iran] not only at the White House but from other pro-family leaders that I met during that week in Washington," he said. “Many people in a position to know are talking about the possibility of losing a city to nuclear or biological or chemical attack. And if we can lose one we can lose ten.

"If we can lose ten we can lose a hundred," he added, “especially if North Korea and Russia and China pile on.”

Later in his broadcast, during a discussion about Iran with author and self-proclaimed “prophecy expert” Joel Rosenberg, Dobson drew a parallel between current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and Adolf Hitler.

“The world looked at Hitler and just didn't believe him and tried to appease him the way we're hearing in Washington today,” Dobson remarked. “You know, the President seems to me does understand this, as I told you from that meeting I had with him the other day, but even there it feels like somebody ought to be standing up and saying, ‘We are being threatened and we are going to meet this with force -- whatever's necessary.’”

Dobson continued, “Some of our listeners might not like that but I tell you, if we didn't stand up to Hitler, we'd be speaking German today.”

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Bush_meets_with_Dobson_Christian_right_0514.html

Oy vey.

Sometimes I don't know wether to laugh or cry.

Robert Charles Browne is a Killer Con Man

This cover story in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine is a lengthy but surprisingly slipshod examination of the Robert Charles Browne case, the former tree farmer who claims to be one of the most prolific serial killers in history, with 48 victims scattered across the country. The piece, by Chip Brown, can be found here (registration required).

At close to 10,000 words, the article is largely a legend-building profile of Charlie Hess, the retired CIA agent who started corresponding with Browne (already doing life in a Colorado prison for one murder) and eventually persuaded him to cooperate with El Paso County authorities investigating other unsolved homicides. It's a nice pump-up for the inevitable book Hess is writing — but the writer displays little journalistic skepticism about Browne's grandiose confessions, which appear to be motivated by Hess's promises to get him better medical care and a transfer to a different prison system.

As the Denver Post reported last month, detectives still haven't found any physical evidence, such as a body, to link Browne to any of the crimes he's claimed. In only seven cases has his information been detailed enough to match up with a known murder case; the rest are too vague to even identify a victim. And, while El Paso County Sheriff's Office investigators have refused to admit they might have been had, insisting that Browne has provided details only the killer would know, other agencies have suggested Browne's kill count relies heavily on details already available in news accounts.

There's a strong precedent of phony confessions by cons doing long stretches and looking to break up the boredom; the Henry Lee Lucas hoax of the 1980s remains the goofiest example of law enforcement's eagerness to clear cases by turning a disturbed drifter into a prodigious mass murderer. But the Times doesn't hint at any of this. Instead, it lionizes Hess, who got Browne to plead to a second killing in Colorado Springs he surely did commit, and Hess's buddy Lou Smit, whose own legendary rep as a sleuth was established by putting Browne away in the first place for the murder of 13-year-old Heather Dawn Church, based on a routine fingerprint check. Never mind that Smit went on to sully that rep by getting mixed up with bogus confessor John Mark Karr and nutty professor Michael Tracey, the odd couple reinventing the Ramsey case, as detailed in our article, "Made For Each Other."

Confessions are easy. Evidence is hard. But when the facts conflict with legend, the Times, of all places, has decided to print the legend. –

Alan Prendergast

http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2007/04/robert_charles_browne_is_a_kil.php

"El Paso County Sheriff's Office investigators have refused to admit they might have been had"

They certainly do not like the idea being mentioned, fo sho.

"There's a strong precedent of phony confessions by cons doing long stretches and looking to break up the boredom; the Henry Lee Lucas hoax of the 1980s remains the goofiest example of law enforcement's eagerness to clear cases by turning a disturbed drifter into a prodigious mass murderer. But the Times doesn't hint at any of this. Instead, it lionizes Hess, who got Browne to plead to a second killing in Colorado Springs he surely did commit"

And no one ever mentions that Browne and Lucas both confessed to the same murder of...

Faye Aline Self.

Is it just me or does the lack of attention to that detail seem very off...?

You folks sure go off topic fast! LOL

Posted by: monkey at May 15, 2007 05:39 PM

On the other hand, if Hitler took us over and made us speak German, Dobson would've been glad that he would've exterminated homosexuals and Jews.

The only difference would've been Hitler's coddling of non-Christian, non-white Japanese race, for Japan's help in the Nazi war efforts.

But then, the Christian Right coddles its Koreans and Nicaraguans, so there is no difference after all...

Thanks for posting a story about the youth encampment. I like the part at the end about having a draft age son. Of course, that's part of my motivation as well. But I can have empathy for others and don't need to have a personal stake in matters to feel compelled to act.

Angry Wolfowitz in Four-Letter Tirade
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2079878,00.html

This comb-licking, holey-socked loser is psycho.
Used the Cheney-word multiple times in a threatening & deranged context. Unfit.

MORE GONZO TROUBLE:

Gonzales Pressured Ashcroft on Program, Comey Says (Update5)

By Laurie Asseo

May 15 (Bloomberg) -- Alberto Gonzales pressured then- Attorney General John Ashcroft while he was hospitalized in 2004 to recertify a classified program whose legality was questioned by the Justice Department, the agency's former No. 2 official told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey testified that he and other Justice Department officials planned to resign after the visit to Ashcroft's hospital bed by Gonzales, then White House counsel, and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card. Comey was acting attorney general because of Ashcroft's illness. He wouldn't specify the program at issue, though panel members said it apparently was secret wiretapping of suspected terrorists.

``I was concerned

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a_3OvQ.5CsLs&refer=home

Posted by: monkey at May 15, 2007 05:39 PM

Er.... What on earth does the "threat" (coming from Herr Boosh, it's a propaganda lie) of any country maybe, potentially, able to get nuclear power (power plants, not necessarily a bomb) have to do with the alleged "pro-[potential]-life" objectives of Dobson & his crowd of morons who have never studied history in any depth?

Aside from the fact it's easy to brainwash those who never ask questions of their fearless leader but start salivating when anyone mentions the word 'values' or 'christian values' - I don't get it.

Stand up to "threats?" Threats are only words. Sticks and stones and all that. What does Dobbie think Iraqis are doing with the actual "threat" of US forces in Iraq who are killing people daily (many innocent people, not just the ones who make IEDs)...? Ditto Afghanistan. The US is the biggest threat to world peace going today, and the Bu$hCo administration and their corporate masters are the biggest bullies, spewing propaganda 'threats' left and right to whip the ignorant sheeple into fomenting war against mere "threats" (the word 'diplomacy' is apparently not in their dictionaries). Doesn't Dobson ever put himself in the position of 'walking a mile in someone else's shoes?'

We all know Dobson and his ilk are incapable of rational thinking processes, incapable of deconstructing the propaganda to see the lies and almost-half-truths for what they are..., but they're certainly good at repeating Bu$hCo corporate propaganda. It just shows me how far the dumbing-down processes have progressed in this country since 2000, in particular (with the help of Lamestream Media).

Oy Vey. Indeed.

On this, day of the passing of Falwell, we have downloaded the podcast of NPR's "This American Life," about the story of how homosexuality was stricken as a pathology from the pages of the DSM of psychiatry. Highly recommended.

Yolanda King, daughter of MLK, dies at 51
May 16, 2007

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Yolanda Denise King, daughter and eldest child of civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., has died, said Steve Klein, a spokesman for the King Center.

King died late Tuesday in Santa Monica, California, at age 51. Klein said the family did not know the cause of death but that relatives think it might have been a heart problem.

The actor, speaker and producer was the founder and head of Higher Ground Productions, billed as a "gateway for inner peace, unity and global transformation." On her company's Web site, King described her mission as encouraging personal growth and positive social change.

King was also an author and advocate for peace and nonviolence, and held memberships in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference -- which her father co-founded in 1957 -- and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Her death comes more than a year after the death of her mother, Coretta Scott King.

She appeared in numerous films and played Rosa Parks in the 1978 miniseries "King." She also appeared in "Ghosts of Mississippi" and founded a production company called Higher Ground Productions.

Born in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, King was just an infant when her home was bombed during the turbulent civil rights era.

She was the most visible and outspoken among the Kings' four children during activities honoring this year's Martin Luther King Day in January, the first since Coretta Scott King's death.

At her father's former Atlanta church, Ebenezer Baptist, she performed a series of one-actor skits on King Day this year that told stories including a girl's first ride on a desegregated bus and a college student's recollection of the 1963 desegregation of Birmingham, Alabama.

She also urged the audience at Ebenezer to be a force for peace and love, and to use the King holiday each year to ask tough questions about their own beliefs on prejudice.

"We must keep reaching across the table and, in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, feed each other," King said.

more... http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/16/obit.king.ap/index.html

I thought long and hard about what I could say about the passing of Falwell, but everytime I think about it, I get that song stuck in my head.

You know...

'Ding Dong the witch is dead.

Which old witch? The Wicked Witch.

Ding Dong The Wicked Witch is dead!"

Maybe I will think of something more appropriate today, but I doubt it.

I can't get that stupid song out of my head.

I find it unbelievably ironic that both Falwell and the daughter of Martin Luther King would both catch the 5/15 Express.

It perfectly contrasts left and right faith ideologies, and should (thankfully) dilute the "Falwell" revisionist history lessons sure to be broadcast on the boobtube the next few days ...

Yolando King: "She also urged the audience at Ebenezer to be a force for peace and love, and to use the King holiday each year to ask tough questions about their own beliefs on prejudice."

Falwell: "..in 1999, his house organ the National Liberty Journal warned parents that the Tinky Winky TV character was secretly gay and morally dangerous; in 2001, he blamed the September 11 terrorist attack on "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."

Christy
That is the first thing that popped into my head and same with my friend in OR, & we're both stuck with that "ear worm" too!

Monkey
There were people running around yesterday in SF wearing Tinky Winky costumes. & click on my name.

George Bush to replace Will Shortz as NYT Crossword Puzzle Editor:

http://www.avantnews.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=339

Monkey--watch the coffee before clicking the link.

Posted by: monkey at May 16, 2007 08:56 AM

That's wierd. I was about to post a similar thought. (minus the quotes of course)

'Ding Dong the witch is dead.

Posted by: Christy at May 16, 2007 08:25 AM

With all due respect, that tune is saved in my jukebrain for the day Darth Cheney bites it.

I love Tinky Winky.

I just giggle thinking Falwell is even now being forced to confess at the foot of GOD HIMSELF!

AMEN and HELL YES.

No lie can be laid upon that alter.

I find the timing of his death VERY interesting.

You know... in a political way.

Very interesting timing indeed.

God works in mysterious ways, that is ost certain.

I love Tinky Winky. I think Falwell was gay. His hair certainly was.

'Ding Dong The witch is dead!'.

HAHAHAHA!

... used to have a tshirt I would wear to gigs in the late 80's that said...

"The Moral Majority Is Neither"

Yolanda King, founder and CEO of Higher Ground Productions is the first-born daughter of Coretta Scott King and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is Yolanda King's mission to encourage personal growth and positive social change through her work as an actor, speaker and producer and led to her founding Higher Ground Productions.

Yolanda King's innovative lecture-performances have been experienced throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Africa and Asia. She is co-creator of a book entitled Open My Eyes, Open My Soul, demonstrating her commitment to raise awareness and enhance understanding about the importance of diversity. Her commitment to personal empowerment is evidenced in the Higher Ground Productions publishing of Embracing Your Power in 30 Days, a step by step, daily tool for personal growth based on her very personal experiences, co-authored by Ms. King and Wanda Marie.

After receiving a B.A. degree with honors from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, King moved to New York to earn her Masters degree in Theatre at New York University. During this time, she directed and performed in productions in New York and the Tri-State area. She honed her teaching skills while working with young people at the King Center for Non-Violent Social Change. Ms. King premiered her theatrical production "Achieving the Dream" where she portrays several characters in the movement for civil rights during the Olympics in Atlanta. As a seasoned and respected actor, many of King's stage, television and film credits reflect her commitment to social change and include portrayals of Rosa Parks in the NBC-TV movie "King," Dr. Betty Shabazz in the film "Death of a Prophet" with Morgan Freeman, and Medgar Ever's daughter, Reena, in "Ghosts of Mississippi" directed by Rob Reiner.

King's speaking accomplishments include presentations at Fortune 500 corporations; religious and civic events; educational and professional conferences, and universities. Sharing her message on the importance of embracing diversity and our common humanity, she has sounded the call from the halls of the United Nations to venues in Moscow and Munich. King has been acclaimed for her ability to inspire people from all walks of life to reach higher ground; to motivate people to move forward, and to empower people to make a difference.

King has been honored with numerous presentations, awards and citations by organizations around the country and was named one of the Outstanding Young Women of America. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc. (the official national memorial to Dr. King) and was founding Director of the King Center's Cultural Affairs Program. She serves on the Partnership Council of Habitat for Humanity, is a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a sponsor of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and holds a lifetime membership in the N.A.A.C.P. She is the recipient of two Honorary Doctorial degrees.

http://www.highergroundproductions.com/Yolanda-King.htm

FORT DRUM, N.Y. - Fort Drum soldiers said an ambush in Iraq that left four of their comrades dead and three missing will only work to unite America and strengthen the military's determination.

"If this is a scare tactic to undermine our resolve, they need to realize our soldiers are trained killers and don't scare," said Spc. Dorothy Drake, of Los Angeles, Calif.

"This is more incentive to finish the job. The Army is family. This will bring us together. It will bring the country together," said Drake.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18695899/

Christy
Ding Dong Falwell's Dead
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/16/83844/0128

There's also a very good John Kerry diary over at Kos, about Iraq - worth recommending

Nice article on Barbara Lee here

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/09/AR2007050902562_2.html

CNN QuickVote
Will the White House's newly hired war manager have a positive impact in Afghanistan and Iraq?

Yes 15% 7796 votes
No 85% 43170 votes
Total: 50966 votes

Next question: Has the CIC position been outsourced due to being in way over ones effing head?

Posted by: non ma presidente at May 16, 2007 12:32 AM

DSM needs to now stop identifying transgenderism as a "disorder."

A medical diagnosis is needed in order to start the hormonal and surgical procedures, but this is NOT a disorder.

Will the White House's newly hired war manager have a positive impact in Afghanistan and Iraq?

Next question: Has the CIC position been outsourced due to being in way over ones effing head?
Posted by: monkey at May 16, 2007 11:52 AM

"Positive impact"...??? Huh? "Positive?!?" War is always a "negative." What's not to understand about that? The poll question makes no sense. The 'war czar' position makes no sense. He'll be the person to blame for the failure of a war (war crime) based on lies for oil that started long before the position was created when pundits and politicians start pointing fingers of blame in years to come. All the FUBAR failures since the SCOTUS decision of 2000 have been blamed on anyone and everyone except Georgie and Dickie.

We all know the answer to your question... unfortunately.

"I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!"
"Textbooks are Soviet propaganda."
Posted by: madame defarge at May 15, 2007 02:13 PM

Just shows me how abysmally stupid (wilfully ignorant) Falwell was, how little knowledge he had of history. With sweeping general statements like the above quote, Falwell showed his ignorance about the history of this country and the first white colonists, and his further ignorance about specific communities and the people who inhabited them, and he revised history to suit his megalomaniacal xenophobic religious dogma. He advocated brainwashing the masses to adopt his bigotry and prejudice, not to educate anyone in any school. (How could textbooks be Soviet propaganda on one hand, and yet not Soviet propaganda if they are used in classrooms at his university? That statement makes no sense whatsoever.) He bilked millions from poor misguided people. Shame on him and those like him!

I have the wording from a town hall meeting in 1645 at Marshfield, Massachusetts that lists the names of men and how much money each donated to start the first PUBLIC school in that community (some of my ancestors are on that list, so it's in my genealogy data) - the actual quote is that it was 'the first public school in New England,' but since I know other communities were founded between 1620 and 1645, I'm not so sure it was the first public school started by the colonists - for that specific town, however, yes, it was their first public school. It was not a private school and it was not connected to any religion. It was a public school! Not all of the people who came to this country on the Mayflower or slightly later with the Winthrop fleet and the like arrived for 'religious freedom.' Some had no religion at all, and they came here to try to make a profit in business or otherwise. (Studying history in grade school and high school would have been ever so much more interesting if I had known my family's history in those days!)

I read the Comments section of the C&L section announcing Falwell's death. Caveat: if you read any of that, put food and drink away. I spluttered stuff all over my computer monitor. The death of a bigoted old fart elicits some really funny satirical comments!

Hey Ally, totally serious....

What do you think causes it..?

Genetic, enviormental, DNA, maybe the impulse to desire gender change is something in our hearts, female vs male emotion.

?

I agree it is not a 'disorder', atleast not as they classify it, but what does cause it to happen?

How should we classify it?

I think we spend a lot of time trying to convince ourselves that there is a 'normal' aspect to human sexuality that does not exist.

Even someone totally straight can get totally freaky behind closed doors.

Human sexuality is too complex to maintain a 'normal' standard. Normal is a matter of what is popular or socially acceptable.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2007/05/16/notes051607.DTL&nl=fix
Mark Morford
Oh Right, We're Still At War
How horrifying is it when Bush's unwinnable disaster becomes so dreary and forgettable?

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/15/jon-stewart-exposes-the-bullht-ongoing-investigation-excuse/
Jon Stewart Exposes the Bull$h*t “Ongoing Investigation” Excuse

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/15/colbert-explains-tony-blairs-true-legacy/
Colbert Explains Tony Blair’s True Legacy

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/15/ron-paul-vs-giuliani-on-the-root-causes-of-terrorism/
Ron Paul vs. Giuliani on the Root Causes of Terrorism
{{{Sounds, to me, like the 'Publicans need to pay attention to what Ron Paul said. The others are just repeating slogans. Interesting sound byte!}}}

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/15/gop-debate-ii-fox-goes-after-ron-paul/
GOP Debate II: Fox Goes After Ron Paul

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/15/gop-debate-ii-romney-double-guantanamo/
GOP Debate II: Romney - “Double Guantanamo”
{The people applauding the answers by Ghoul and Romney are nuts! Stop serving the kool aid already!}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8zqrBolJnA
Falwell & Robertson love fest. I've seen this one before.

War czar? Don’t we already have one or two?
Commanders need clear orders from the president, not a 'war czar'

By Lt. Col. Rick Francona
Military analyst
MSNBC

President Bush has named the Joint Chiefs of Staff Director of Operations to a newly created position innocuously titled the “assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan policy and implementation.” The more popular moniker for this position is the “war czar.”

This is not about Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute; by all accounts, he is a fine officer. This is about the need—or perhaps more importantly the wisdom—of creating such a position. We already have a czar for America’s wars – he’s called the Secretary of Defense. And we already have a war czar for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan – he’s called the Commander, U.S. Central Command (COMCENT).

Okay, I can hear the arguments already. The new position is in charge of not only the military aspects of our operations, but the civilian effort as well – the “hearts and minds” – in both countries. In other words, it spans the purview of both the Defense and State departments and requires a coordinator. Well, that’s part of the problem with the administration’s handling of the wars thus far. They need to realize that these are still wars and wars require a combat commander to run the show, not an “advisor.”

This is exactly how we got into the situation we now face in Iraq. The administration was so anxious to put a civilian face on the invasion of Iraq that it appointed a civilian administrator before the bullets stopped flying. We all know how well that turned out – Ambassador Jerry Bremer disbanded the Iraqi army and botched the security situation so badly that we are still there four years later fighting an insurgency that threatens to erupt into a full-scale civil war. Maybe if we had let the generals prosecute a war instead of letting an administrator manage the “transition” prematurely, it might have been over by now.

So, to continue the failed policy of portraying this as a political effort rather than the war that it is, the president appoints an Army general to the National Security Council to oversee the efforts of the Defense and State departments.

For those of us who served at the Pentagon in the late 1980’s, this is reminiscent of the tyranny of the National Security Council when field-grade military officers assigned to the White House dictated “policy and implementation” to the generals. We all know how that worked out. Anyone remember Iran-Contra?

We are fighting a war and we have a defined chain of command. The Constitution establishes the president as the commander in chief. The Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 establishes the military chain of command from the president (the commander in chief) to the Secretary of Defense, to the combatant commander, in this case COMCENT.

What happens when LTG Lute calls the Secretary of Defense (or State) and directs something be done and the Secretary disagrees? This sets up confusion and confrontation inside the administration. Then it has to go to the president for resolution.

Instead of creating yet another layer of authority between the president and troops in the field, how about some clear unambiguous direction to the Secretary of Defense and the field commander? The commander of the Central Command and the commander of Multinational Forces-Iraq need to hear orders loud and clear directly from the president and the Secretary of Defense, not guidance from an advisor.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18700530/

Posted by: Ally McRepuke at May 16, 2007 02:08 PM

You might want to go to "This American Life" and listen to the podcast about how the DSM-IV was changed with respect to homosexuality. Alot of it had to do with gay psychiatrists examining their own internalized homophobia. Essentially, it was like someone realizing the earth was round not flat and stating it. Re transgender, it will depend on the psychiatrists, that is, who they are and their level of activism.

I doubt there is any "it" that causes alot of things in the world. Nature is multifactorial and there is always an interaction between genetics and environment.

Christy,

If someone gets freaky enough, even behind closed doors, they might not really be 100% straight. According to Kinsey, only the far ends of the scale (Kinsey +/- 7) were strongly gay or straight. It was a scale or spectrum, like with autism, not a binary system. The data on farmboys and animals, for instance, was pretty phenomenal!

I heard that portion of the "This American Life" episode. It was really interesting.

Wolfowitz supposed to step down (was about to leave for Europe)

Guy can't even replace his socks
http://wonkette.com/politics/paul-wolfowitz/paul-wolfowitz-too-busy-ruining-world-to-buy-socks-232624.php

Karen,

Check your email here. Or if someone knows where she is, please tell her to check her email here. I nominated her for a Take Back America award, and they need her to fill out a questionaire by Friday! I don't have access to her other email address right now.

thanks!

Posted by: Christy at May 16, 2007 02:41 PM
Posted by: not my president at May 16, 2007 03:10 PM

Christy,

Nobody knows for sure, but likely culprits are hormonal ("wrong" hormones at crucial stages of pregnancy) and genetic. Upbringing also plays some role in anyone's gender identity.

NMP,

Good points made. Even I may not be as hardcore a lesbian as I would like everyone to believe about me (my old nick and all). :)

VA Bonus Winners Sat on Own Pay Review Boards
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051607H.shtml
Nearly two dozen officials who received hefty performance bonuses last year at the Veterans Affairs Department also sat on the boards charged with recommending the payments.

{{{Aren't Veterans Affairs Dept. people government employees paid by US taxpayer dollars...? WHY are they getting "bonuses" for doing their salaried jobs...?!?}}}

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/16/hitchens-slams-falwells-life/
Hitchens slams Falwell’s life

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/16/jon-stewart-grills-tim-russert-on-rove-and-gonzo/
Jon Stewart Grills Tim Russert on Rove and Gonzo

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/16/white-house-censors-internal-civil-liberties-watchdog-board/
White House Censors Internal Civil Liberties Watchdog Board

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/16/ron-paul-schools-hannity-on-blowback/
Ron Paul Schools Hannity on “Blowback”
{{{Huh? Unless I missed something in the cross-talk, Ron Paul's position on abortion won't get him support from women, even if what he says about Bush's war is accurate.}}}

Warrantless Eavesdropping Was Deemed Illegal by Department of Justice
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051607A.shtml
The Bush administration ran its warrantless eavesdropping program without the Justice Department's approval for up to three weeks in 2004, nearly triggering a mass resignation of the nation's top law enforcement officials, the former No. 2 official disclosed on Tuesday.

Jeff Cohen | Falwell and Me
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051607C.shtml
Jeff Cohen writes: "In FAIR's exhaustive study of ABC's 'Nightline' guest list during the mid-1980s, Falwell was one of the show's most frequent guests; he offered his expertise about homosexuality on one episode, and about AIDS on another. (Falwell saw AIDS as a holy punishment of gays, and once asked why people with AIDS were not quarantined like infected cattle.)"

Some Supposedly Green Products Are Not
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051607G.shtml
Busted! Le Monde reveals the manufacturing process of an "ecological" bioplastic produced by a Cargill subsidiary.

Chalmers Johnson | Evil Empire
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051607D.shtml
Chalmers Johnson writes: "In politics, as in medicine, a cure based on a false diagnosis is almost always worthless, often worsening the condition that is supposed to be healed. The United States, today, suffers from a plethora of public ills. Most of them can be traced to the militarism and imperialism that have led to the near-collapse of our constitutional system of checks and balances. Unfortunately, none of the remedies proposed so far by American politicians or analysts addresses the root causes of the problem."

Excerpt:
America's massive "military" budgets, still on the rise, are beginning to threaten the U.S. with bankruptcy, given that its trade and fiscal deficits already easily make it the world's largest net debtor nation. Spending on the military establishment - sometimes mislabeled "defense spending" - has soared to the highest levels since World War II, exceeding the budgets of the Korean and Vietnam War eras as well as President Ronald Reagan's weapons-buying binge in the 1980s. According to calculations by the National Priorities Project, a non-profit research organization that examines the local impact of federal spending policies, military spending today consumes 40% of every tax dollar.

Equally alarming, it is virtually impossible for a member of Congress or an ordinary citizen to obtain even a modest handle on the actual size of military spending or its impact on the structure and functioning of our economic system. Some $30 billion of the official Defense Department (DoD) appropriation in the current fiscal year is "black," meaning that it is allegedly going for highly classified projects. Even the open DoD budget receives only perfunctory scrutiny because members of Congress, seeking lucrative defense contracts for their districts, have mutually beneficial relationships with defense contractors and the Pentagon. President Dwight D. Eisenhower identified this phenomenon, in the draft version of his 1961 farewell address, as the "military-industrial-congressional complex." Forty-six years later, in a way even Eisenhower probably couldn't have imagined, the defense budget is beyond serious congressional oversight or control.

[Itemized list.]

Totaled, the sum is larger than the combined sum spent by all other nations on military security.

"If someone gets freaky enough, even behind closed doors, they might not really be 100% straight."

No, I was meaning how a straight person can perform a perfectly straight sexual act, and still be considered a 'freak' or 'not normal'.

My point was this, we all have heard the comments about how gays are not 'normal'. Of course they are perfectly normal as we have always had a large homosexual population among our species since the beginning of time.

To the Romans, homosexual acts were perfectly 'normal' and even EXPECTED by the population in general.

To define transgederism as a 'disorder' is not fair because again, there have always been this segment of our race that cross dress and feel trapped in the wrong body.

Our society tells us both homosexuality and transgenders are not 'normal' but I think the very idea that there is a 'normal' range of sexual behavior is misleading.

The desire to change gender, to me, is no more strange than a straight chick that likes being spanked by a man.

All human sexual behavior is deviant, unless it is an act explicitly to concieve a child.

But even that would be hard to accomplish without atleast one of them thinking 'naughty' thoughts.

Christy
Got ya! I really think those who believe only in procreation, to be consistent, should not be driving cars and definitely not using computers.

Ally

If it is hormonal, that again brings up the question...

If hormones control emotion, maybe the difference between a transgender and straight person is less about the brain and sexuality, and more about emotion.

The funny thing is, the only other noticeable difference between a male and female, besides our wee-wees, is emotional.

Emotions and how they effect us is probably the biggest difference between the sexes.

Transgenders fascinate me. What a complex life it must be. It lays bare all the most basic and important questions about our own sexual understanding and evolution.

I think if I had that 'feeling trapped in the wrong body' sensation, I think it would literally drive me insane. I can not imagine how uncomfortable and distracting that must be.

I like showtunes...

Sue Me.

Ron Paul vs. Giuliani on the Root Causes of Terrorism

Posted by: NonnyO at May 16, 2007 02:43 PM

The sad part here NonnyO was the cheer that Guliani got re 7/11. It reminded me of the silence that greeted Paul's statements.

Posted by: Carol at May 16, 2007 04:25 PM

Got it and how sweet of you, Carol!

So many are deserving of such an award. I can think of several who post here!

We shall see....

Posted by: monkey at May 16, 2007 08:45 PM

The night they invented champagne I could have danced all night, defying gravity. I remember it well. I'm glad I'm not young anymore.

Some enchanted evening I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair. That'll show him. Just you wait. It only takes a moment. Then you may take me to the fair. Put on your sunday clothes. Wouldn't it be loverly? Don't tell Mama...

Posted by: karen at May 16, 2007 09:14 PM

You most definitely deserve that award. No doubt about it.

(Please check your email for another message.)

Ellen has another great essay up.

No Bush is an Island

http://ellenofthetenth.blogspot.com/2007/05/no-bush-is-island.html

Christy
I think the nervous and endocrine systems are linked so it's all connected. There are some gender differences such as broader corpus callosum for females so brain hemisphere more connected and that also allows more transmitting between the more logical left brain and more synthetic right brain. Women have a more complex hormonal system. I think there are studies that shed light on homosexuality and transexuality both, in terms of what hormones wash over the fetal developing nervous system. Then add the environment.

On a personal level, I always feel female but much more in the middle when it comes to emotional/logical balance and also ability to appreciate both genders.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070517/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_blair
Blair makes farewell visit to White House

{Wouldn'tcha love to be a fly on the wall listening to that 'final chat'?}

At least 26 U.S. prosecutors listed for firing
Justice Department weighed dismissing more than one-quarter of group

By Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein
washingtonpost.com

The Justice Department considered dismissing many more U.S. attorneys than officials have previously acknowledged, with at least 26 prosecutors suggested for termination between February 2005 and December 2006, according to sources familiar with documents withheld from the public.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales testified last week that the effort was limited to eight U.S. attorneys fired since last June, and other administration officials have said that only a few others were suggested for removal.

More U.S. news

In fact, D. Kyle Sampson, then Gonzales's chief of staff, considered more than two dozen U.S. attorneys for termination, according to lists compiled by him and his colleagues, the sources said.

They amounted to more than a quarter of the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys. Thirteen of those known to have been targeted are still in their posts.

It is unclear how many knew they had been considered for removal. When asked yesterday about her inclusion on the lists, U.S. Attorney Paula Silsby of Maine said: "Really? I wasn't aware of that." Silsby's name crops up frequently, first in February 2005 and subsequently three more times, most recently a month before most of the dismissals were carried out last December.

The number of names on the lists demonstrates the breadth of the search for prosecutors to dismiss. The names also hint at a casual process in which the people who were most consistently considered for replacement were not always those ultimately told to leave.

When shown the lists of firing candidates late yesterday, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), perhaps the most outspoken critic of the way Gonzales handled the prosecutor dismissals, said they "show how amok this process was."

"When you start firing people for invalid reasons, just about anyone can end up on a list," he said. "It looks like the process was out of control, and if it hadn't been discovered, more would have been fired."

Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the department would not confirm which U.S. attorneys were included on the lists. He said they "reflect Kyle Sampson's thoughts for discussion during the consultation process" and were often compiled long before the bulk of the firings were carried out.

"Whether they are on any list or not, U.S. attorneys currently serving enjoy the full confidence and support of the attorney general and Department of Justice," Roehrkasse said.

One memo sent to Sampson last November from Michael J. Elston, chief of staff to the deputy attorney general, suggested firing Mary Beth Buchanan, the U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh, who supervised the nation's prosecutors for a year and now heads the Office on Violence Against Women, sources said.

The same e-mail also listed prosecutor Christopher J. Christie in New Jersey, a major GOP donor who has undertaken several high-profile public-corruption probes -- including one into the real estate deals of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) -- and who announced indictments in a terrorism case last week.

‘Completely shocked’
Reached last night, Christie said Elston contacted him in mid-March. Elston told him that he had put Christie's name on a Nov. 1, 2006, list, along with four other U.S. attorneys, and that a redacted copy was being turned over to Congress.

"I was completely shocked. No one had ever told me that my performance had been anything but good," Christie said. "I specifically asked him why he put my name on the list. He said he couldn't give me an explanation."

He added that Elston apologized and that he refused to accept the apology. "I still to this day don't know how I got taken off the list," Christie said.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18689047/

DES MOINES, Iowa - Bo Diddley is in intensive care after suffering a stroke in western Iowa, a publicist said Wednesday.

The 78-year-old singer-songwriter-guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer was listed in guarded condition at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Neb., said Susan Clary, a publicist for the musician’s management team.

Diddley, who has a history of hypertension and diabetes, was hospitalized Sunday following a concert in Council Bluffs in which he acted disoriented, she said.

Tests indicated that the stroke affected the left side of his brain, impairing his speech and speech recognition, Clary said.

Gonzales under renewed attack
New calls for resignation follow word of Ashcroft hospital confrontation

WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is under new political heat after two more Republicans came out against him and Democrats broadened their probe of prosecutor firings to questions of whether he politicized the Justice Department at the White House's behest.

Gonzales, who some believed had survived the furor over the firings, came under new pressure Wednesday when Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., became the fourth Republican senator to urge him to resign. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., also said the attorney general should consider stepping down.

President Bush continued to stand by his longtime friend and adviser.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18716394/

May 17, 2007
Editorial
Mr. Gonzales’s Incredible Adventure
There were many fascinating threads to the testimony on Tuesday by the former deputy attorney general, James Comey, who described the night in March 2004 when two top White House officials tried to pressure an ailing and hospitalized Attorney General John Ashcroft into endorsing President Bush’s illegal wiretapping operation.

But the really big question, an urgent avenue for investigation, is what exactly the National Security Agency was doing before that night, under Mr. Bush’s personal orders. Did Mr. Bush start by authorizing the agency to intercept domestic e-mails and telephone calls without first getting a warrant?

Mr. Bush has acknowledged authorizing surveillance without a court order of communications between people abroad and people in the United States. That alone violates the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Domestic spying without a warrant would be an even more grievous offense.

The question cannot be answered because Mr. Bush is hiding so much about the program. But whatever was going on, it so alarmed Mr. Comey and F.B.I. Director Robert Mueller that they sped to the hospital, roused the barely conscious Mr. Ashcroft and got him ready to fend off the White House chief of staff, Andrew Card, and Mr. Bush’s counsel, Alberto Gonzales. There are clues in Mr. Comey’s testimony and in earlier testimony by Mr. Gonzales, Mr. Ashcroft’s successor, that suggest that Mr. Bush initially ordered broader surveillance than he and his aides have acknowledged.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/17/opinion/17thu1.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senior World Bank officials told CNN on Thursday that they expect Paul Wolfowitz, the organization's president, to announce his resignation "soon."

Deliberations would continue Thursday morning, the bank's executive directors said in a statement.

On Wednesday they held talks with Wolfowitz and White House officials amid reports they were close to reaching an agreement that would allow him to leave voluntarily in return for the bank admitting some culpability in the handling of his girlfriend's transfer to a State Department job and hefty pay raise.

The White House has concluded that he cannot serve anymore, administration sources familiar with the discussions told CNN.

"We want it over, one way or the other," said a senior administration official, who added that the White House was merely reacting to the "reality" of Wolfowitz's shriveling support on the bank board. "If you can't win, you can't win."

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/17/world.bank.wolfowitz/index.html

The longer George stands by Al, the worse it is for both of them. Maybe we shouldn't rush this. It's a lot of fun to watch...

Stand by your man
And show the world you love him
Keep giving all the love you can
Stand by your man

GOP Senators Call for Gonzales to Resign
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051707J.shtml
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales came under renewed pressure on Wednesday as two more Republican senators came out against him and Democrats challenged his truthfulness about President Bush's no-warrant eavesdropping program. And on Tuesday, a quarter-page open letter was published in the Washington Post by 56 members of Gonzales's graduating class at Harvard Law School, excoriating their former classmate for his "cavalier handling of our freedoms."

Congress Demands Emails; Justice Says Ask Rove Camp
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051707K.shtml
The Justice Department on Wednesday told an angry Senate Judiciary Committee chairman that it does not have the documents described in a subpoena demanding all materials relating to Karl Rove's possible involvement in the US attorney firings. Instead, it said, Rove's lawyer must have them.

{{{Anyone besides me think of the Three Stooges movies as regard this nonsense? Someone asks the one in the middle who did it, the guy in the middle crosses his arms, points to the two on either side of him and says "He did it!" This would be funny if it were not so danged serious.... Still, they each effectively blame the other and none of the $h!t gets blamed on the top two who should be indicted for war crimes, so their butts are still being licked clean by their underlings, and we still have no movement toward impeachment....}}}

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Three U.S. soldiers slaughtered in a grisly kidnapping-murder plot south of Baghdad last June were not properly protected during a mission that was poorly planned or executed, a military investigation has concluded.

Two military officers have been relieved of their commands as a result of the litany of mistakes, but neither face criminal charges, a military official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

A report on the investigation said the platoon leader and company commander -- whose names were not released -- failed to provide proper supervision to the unit or enforce military standards.

A seven-page summary of the investigation provided to the AP also said it appears insurgents may have rehearsed the attack two days earlier, and that Iraqi security forces near the soldiers' outpost probably saw and heard the attack and "chose to not become an active participant in the attack on either side."

"This was an event caused by numerous acts of complacency, and a lack of standards at the platoon level," said the investigating officer, Lt. Col. Timothy Daugherty, in the summary.

Three 101st Airborne Division soldiers were killed in the June 16, 2006, attack. Spc. David J. Babineau, of Springfield, Massachusetts, was found dead at the scene, and two others -- Pfc. Kristian Menchaca of Houston, Texas, and Pfc. Thomas Tucker of Madras, Oregon -- were abducted. Their mutilated bodies were found three days later, tied together and booby-trapped with bombs.

Details of the attack and what led up to it came as thousands of U.S. and Iraqi forces were scouring the same area near Yusufiya, in what's called the Triangle of Death, for three soldiers believed to have been abducted last Saturday by an al Qaeda-related group.

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/17/military.investigation.ap/index.html

MAKE IT STOP!

The longer George stands by Al, the worse it is for both of them. Maybe we shouldn't rush this. It's a lot of fun to watch...

Posted by: madame defarge at May 17, 2007 09:55 AM

It won't be so fun when the Repukes start using Gonzo as a talking point "proving" they are the pro-Latino party.

We've had too many Latinos defect to the Republican camp over gay marriage and abortion already!

Posted by: monkey at May 17, 2007 10:54 AM

Proof that all the talk about "supporting the troops" is at best hogwash.

This is an occupation for oil. Plain and simple.

Bush praises Blair as friend, 'dogged' leader
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/17/blair.bush.ap/index.html

Awww, Georgie's so sad he has to get rid of his poodle...

And poor Gordon Brown...His political career as prime minister is doomed before it even begins...

"Bush, however, acknowledged that he really didn't know Brown, although the two have met. "I hope to help him in office the way Tony Blair helped me," Bush said."

--- new thread ---

(thanks, matthew!)

Posted by: madame defarge at May 17, 2007 12:54 PM

He'll be callin him Brownie before you know it.

Bloody Well Right