Link: As fundamentalism marches on – even Bill Gates seems to have caved to a preacher on gay rights legislation because of fear of a boycott – U.S. conservatives are thrilled about the choice of Cardinal Ratzinger, hoping for an unholy alliance. They hope this pope – who seems to want a smaller, purer church – encourages a militant role for Catholic bishops and priests in the political process. Cardinal Ratzinger did not shrink from advising American bishops in the last presidential election on bringing Catholic elected officials to heel. He warned that Catholics who deliberately voted for a candidate … Continue reading MoDo: Unholy Alliances

From Holden: Despite abundant evidence that Gen. Ricardo Sanchez did indeed authorize interrogators in Iraq to torture detainees, late yesterday the Army reported that it had cleared Sanchez and all other high-ranking officers of any wrongdoing. A high-level Army investigation has cleared four of the five top Army officers overseeing prison policies and operations in Iraq of responsibility for the abuse of detainees there, Congressional and administration officials said Friday. Among the officers was Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, who was the top commander in Iraq from June 2003 to July 2004. He was the highest-ranking officer to face allegations … Continue reading Friday Night Document Dump, And A Saturday Response

I was clicking around over at the journalism crack den, hoping to find a conference I could attend on the questionable credibility and ethics of people who write about stuff on their web pages, but all I could find was this. Dallas County prosecutors are investigating whether criminal charges should be brought in connection with last year’s disclosure of inflated circulation at The Dallas Morning News. Belo Corp., owner of The News, said Thursday that it received a subpoena this week from the Dallas County district attorney’s office. The subpoena seeks “documents related to the previously announced circulation overstatement” at … Continue reading In the cool cool cool of the evening

Today Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid demonstrated the size of the asskicking he laid down on the Bush Administration. A. Continue reading Happy Harry Photo Friday

From Holden: No Little Scottie today, as Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino handled gaggle duty aboard Air Force One. So, how’d she do? Q What was the President’s reaction to former Secretary Powell talking to Republican senators on the Hill about Bolton? MS. PERINO: Scott McClellan addressed this with the pool this morning. We are not going to respond to anonymous sources. I would reiterate, though, that the President said yesterday that the Senate needs to put partisan politics aside and confirm John Bolton to be the U.N. Ambassador. Mr. Bolton is the right person at the right time for … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Jeebus. They way things are going I wonder if John Bolton will secure any yes votes from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. After expressing support for Bolton just yesterday Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski is now moonwalking away from the troubled nominee as fast as she can. A spokeswoman for Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said the senator felt the committee “did the right thing delaying the vote on Bolton in light of the recent information presented to the committee.” Asked if Bolton had Murkowski’s support, spokeswoman Kristin Pugh said, “I can’t speculate on how she would vote.” Continue reading A Fourth Republican Expresses Doubts About Bolton

From Holden: Bavaria, late 1930s… TEEN: Papa, Papa! I have some good news! FATHER: What is it son? TEEN: I just saved a lot of money on my seminary tuition by switching to Hitler Youth! Continue reading Commercials We’d Like To See

From Holden: Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, described by the NYTimes as “a top official of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., in which Dr. Frist is an active member”, has a message for the cat-killer. One of the hallmarks of our denomination is that we are an ecumenical church. Elected officials should not be portraying public policies as being for or against people of faith. Continue reading The Leader of Frist’s Denomination Calls Him Out

From Holden: Former Bush assministration Solicitor General Ted Olsen takes Tom DeLay and John Cornyn to the woodshed in the pages of the Wall Street Journal. Every day, thousands and thousands of judges — jurists whose names we never hear, from our highest court to our most local tribunal — resolve controversies, render justice, and help keep the peace by providing a safe, reliable, efficient and honest dispute resolution process. The pay is modest, the work is frequently quite challenging, and the outcome often controversial. For every winner in these cases, there is a loser. Many disputes are close calls, … Continue reading Have I Mentioned That You Should Shut The Hell Up?

From Holden: No, it’s not Benedict XVI, it’s the lovely and talented Pius XII. Why do you ask? Continue reading Just A Random Image

A. Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging

From Holden: Former ambassador to South Korea Thomas Hubbard speaks out on John Bolton. Hubbard told a reporter that Bolton berated him for failing two years ago to arrange a meeting with the president-elect of South Korea, Roh Moo-Hyun. “He hung up on me,” Hubbard said. “He was very angry.” Also, Hubbard said, Bolton refused to attend a dinner the ambassador had arranged with senior South Koreans. “It was undiplomatic behavior,” he said. [snip] Hubbard challenged Bolton’s testimony to the committee that he had praised Bolton for a speech that year denouncing Kim Jong Il, the leader of North Korea, … Continue reading Another Bolton Blast

From Holden: Roofies and vodka don’t mix. Continue reading As Seen Through Laura’s Eyes

From Holden: Freedom is on the march, but it keeps stepping in pools of blood. Between 500 and 1000 Iraqis would be killed each month in the war-torn country, the Washington-based The Brookings Institution foreign policy expert Michael O’Hanlon said. “Unfortunately, things have not yet gotten much better for the Iraqi population either in terms of car bombings or general casualties from crime or from the ongoing civil conflict,” Dr O’Hanlon told ABC radio. [snip] The economic conditions in the country, although gradually improving, were no better than under the leadership of Saddam Hussein. “I think that the progress here … Continue reading 500 to 1,000 Iraqis Per Month Would Have Been Better Off Under Sadam

From Holden: Bush’s latest Job Approval Rating as measured by CBS News: Approve: 44% Disapprove: 51% Continue reading The Increasingly Unpopular President

From Holden: Here’s an idea: as the last Space Shuttle mission was such a fabulous success… ..why don’te we chuck some of those boring old safety standards and start launching shuttles like bottle rockets? NASA officials have loosened the standards for what constitutes an acceptable risk of damage from the kind of debris that led to the disintegration of the shuttle Columbia as it was returning from space two years ago, internal documents show. The move has set off a debate within the agency about whether the changes are a reasonable reassessment of the hazards of flight or whether they … Continue reading Fabulous Idea

From Holden: Colin Powell is passing out coffin nails with John Bolton written on them. President Bush on Thursday issued a strong new defense of John R. Bolton, his nominee as ambassador to the United Nations. But associates of Colin L. Powell, the former secretary of state, said he had expressed reservations about Mr. Bolton in conversations with at least two wavering Republican senators. The associates said Mr. Powell, in private telephone conversations, had made clear his concerns about Mr. Bolton on several fronts, including his harsh treatment of subordinates. [snip] Mr. Powell has not spoken publicly about the Bolton … Continue reading Et Tu, Colin?

From Holden: Today’s gagglers took a Bolt-on to Scottie’s ass over the failing nominee to be our next UN ambassador. Scottie’s talking points remain: bad Democrats are lodging unsubstantiated accusations against a experienced guy we think will be confirmed. The press corps would have none of it. Q You said the President was 100 percent in his backing of Bolton today. Can we infer from that, that the President simply doesn’t believe these allegations that have been made about Bolton, including the one from this woman who was an associate of Bolton? She claims he chased her around the hotel, … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Les Kinsolving is still riding Scottie for Dear Leader’s characterization of the “Minutemen” as vigialantes. For Scottie it may be a welcome diversion from the John Bolton questions, but the topic is still a pain in the ass. Q Scott, WorldNet Daily quotes the largest local union of U.S. Border Patrol agents, Local 2544 in Tucson section, as saying this: “We have not had one single complaint from a rank-and-file agent in this sector about the Minutemen, many of whom are retired firefighters, cops and other professionals. Sensors have been set off by the ACLU sneaking around.” If … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with Les

From Holden: Here we have your president today ridiculing the American people for their belief that U.S. Treasury Bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States of America, speaking to of his buddies at a meeting of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America in DC. First, as I travel the country, I find out some people think there’s such thing as a Social Security trust. By that I mean we collect your money through the payroll tax, and we hold your money for you, and then when you retire, we give you your … Continue reading He’s Laughing At You

Ok, so David Brooks, a/k/a Bobo, has the most egregious editorial yet in today’s NYTimes, here. I think he should be buried in irate email. I’ve written to him, and I probably could have done better if I hadn’t been so damned mad when I wrote. But for better or worse, here’s what I have said: Mr. Brooks: Justice Blackmun damaged our democracy? Could you possibly be any more wrong? You assert all kinds of conclusions about what “America” wants, and you do not back them up with any facts or evidence at all. What you are is the mouthpiece … Continue reading To Bobo – and Not With Any Love

From Holden: You may have already heard about the latest flub with the Russains that our Sovietologist Secretary of State managed to walk into regarding Belarus: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Thursday with seven Belarusian dissidents and expressed admiration for their courage as they seek an end to what she has called “the last dictatorship in the center of Europe.” Following democratic successes in Georgia and Ukraine, Rice said, “it’s time for a change in Belarus.” An authoritarian pro-Russian president, Alexander Lukashenko, has led Belarus for 11 years. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, here for talks on NATO-Russian ties, … Continue reading Weaker in the World

From Holden: Check out the opening of today’s contribution from Dan Froomkin. Dan discusses Chimpy’s professed impotence regarding prices at the pump and recommends a variety of aphrodisiacs to help the old boy out. Continue reading Froomkin on Bush on Gas

Today’s Action comes�via pflag: dear friends and colleagues, a judge is being followed 24/7 by bodyguards to protect him against death threats and hate mail that he has been receiving. you might think this story comes from iraq, but it’s happening in san francisco right now. it’s happening to judge richard kramer, who recently issued a historic decision that determined it is against california’s state constitution to deny civil marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. according to a good friend of mine who speaks with judge kramer regularly, judge kramer is depressed that mail against his decision outnumbers mail … Continue reading Action Alert – Thursday, April 21

From Holden: Mr. Andrea Mitchell issues a warning about Chimpy’s drunken-sailor spending while calling for a cautious approach to privatization. Bloated budget deficits pose a danger to the nation’s long-term economic health, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned anew Thursday. He issued a fresh call to policy-makers to move swiftly to get the government’s fiscal house in order. [snip] ”The federal budget is on an unsustainable path, in which large deficits result in rising interest rates and ever-growing interest payments that augment deficits in future years,” Greenspan said. [snip] While Greenspan has endorsed President Bush’s move to let workers set … Continue reading Trouble At The Mill

from Stranger at Blah3 we get this statement from John Kerry: Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday attacked Republicans for having an “orthodoxy of view” and overly inserting religion into politics, accusing them of using God as a justification for appointing conservative judges. “I am sick and tired of a bunch of people trying to tell me that God wants a bunch of conservative judges on the court and that’s why we have to change the rules of the United States Senate,” Kerry told a group of Bay State residents who traveled to Capitol Hill for U.S. Rep. Martin Meehan’s annual … Continue reading Now the Table, Senator – Pick it up and Hit them with it

From Holden: After declaring he would vote in favor of John Bolton’s nomination to be our next UN ambassador, Sen. Lincoln Chafee is now leaning towards a No vote. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee (R-R.I.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee that is weighing the nomination, “is less likely right now” to vote to confirm Bolton, his spokesman Stephen Hourahan said in an interview. The senator, he said, “wants to get to the bottom” of new allegations about Bolton’s dealings with subordinates and classified information. Until Tuesday, when committee Democrats attacked Bolton’s record and won a three-week extension to investigate … Continue reading How Will Linc Chafee Vote on Bolton? Which Way Is The Wind Blowing?

Let’s get the easy stuff about this story out of the wayt: Jamison Liang came out to his family members one at a time. A Homewood-Flossmoor High School senior, varsity tennis player and the youngest of four children, he told them each he has known he was gay “forever.” On Tuesday Liang comes out to a much wider audience: the Homewood-Flossmoor community. As part of a daylong awareness campaign, he and as many as 225 other students could wear T-shirts to school that say: “gay? fine by me.” “I feel like I’m ready for it,” said Liang, who will enter … Continue reading White Christian Suburban Kids: Where’s Mine?

“So I put Lugar’s brain, right here, and this is what I did to it.” A. Continue reading Happy Democrat Photo: Joe Biden Edition

Equal protection under the law is an American value: Connecticut on Wednesday became the second state to recognize same-sex civil unions, and the first to do so without court pressure. About an hour after the state Senate sent the legislation to her desk, Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed a bill that will allow thousands of gay and lesbian couples in Connecticut to be given the same rights and obligations as heterosexual couples, but not an actual marriage license. “The vote we cast today will reverberate around the country and it will send a wave of hope to many people, to … Continue reading Connecticut!