My latest Sirens story’s up: Look at what are traditionally classified as “women’s issues:” Birth control. Abortion. Child care. Breast cancer treatment. As though all we are in the public sphere is boobies and babies. It’s insulting. As though in a time when women are earning more than ever before, fiscal policy isn’t of interest to us. As though in a time when more single women are owning homes, issues of taxation aren’t “women’s issues.” Family and medical leave, when more women (and men) are caring for their elderly parents than ever before, are critical to us now. Labor laws, … Continue reading Obey the Hive Vagina

Rain, rain, go away. When I was little, rainy days were taken up with endless games of Candyland and viewings of “Mr. Mom.” What do you do when bad weather chases you inside? A. Continue reading Come Again Some Other Day

That’s it. I give up. God is a Republican: The national anthem should be sung in English — not Spanish — President Bush declared Friday, amid growing restlessness over the millions of immigrants here illegally. “One of the things that’s very important is, when we debate this issue, that we not lose our national soul,” the president exclaimed. “One of the great things about America is that we’ve been able to take people from all walks of life bound as one nation under God. And that’s the challenge ahead of us.” A Spanish language version of the national anthem was … Continue reading The Dawnzer

From Scout: Maybe it’s just me but I was laughing out loud reading this article…. “He’s Back Again” from the Sun Herald: BILOXI – President Bush stopped in at a volunteer base camp Thursday, played with puppies and shook hands with some of those who have been working in the community since Hurricane Katrina hit. A security threat was also quickly extinguished by the Secret Service SNIP The president’s remarks were brief, and he congratulated several volunteers in front of the tool shed. “I have come to the conclusion that I am at an incredible place,” Bush said, standing among … Continue reading Puppies, Batteries and Onions…Oh My.

Non-video-gamers, here’s the situation. Nintendo’s next game system was going to be called Revolution. Then Nintendo announced it would not be called Revolution, but would in fact be called “Wii.” Pronounced “we.” That sound you heard? Yeah, that was the Internet breaking. I haven’t seen a meltdown this extensive since the latest Harry Potter book came out. This is my favorite thread: If Nintendo said the name would be “Bowl of Dicks” that sure wouldn’t stop me from buying what is a very cool system. I don’t have a cat in the console fight. I don’t play video games because … Continue reading Late Night Dorkblogging

Though she is a fan of the hateful Yankees, Sars reminds us that baseball season is above all announcer-mocking season: But at least baseball is back, and one of my favorite things about a new baseball season is renewing my love-hate relationship with Bill Simmons’s columns on ESPN.com. I yaw back and forth all year between wanting to buy the guy a beer and wanting to stuff the guy into a beehive, and his Opening Day column did not disappoint in the schizo department. For your reading pleasure, please direct your Intarwebs to Shut UP, Tim McCarver: McCarver on Yankees … Continue reading As Wily As A Wolverine

From Holden: When was the last time you recall a Republikkkan doing anything like this? Five Congress members were willingly arrested and led away from the Sudanese Embassy in plastic handcuffs Friday in protest of the Sudanese government’s role in atrocities in the Darfur region. “The slaughter of the people of Darfur must end,” Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., a Holocaust survivor who founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, said from the embassy steps before his arrest. Four other Democratic Congress members — James McGovern and John Olver of Massachusetts, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Jim Moran of Virginia — … Continue reading Leadership

Thanks, Pope-a-ratzi. Seriously, smooth move: ROME (Reuters) – The Vatican stepped up its offensive against “The Da Vinci Code” on Friday when a top official close to Pope Benedict blasted the book as full of anti-Christian lies and urged Catholics to boycott the film. The latest broadside came from Archbishop Angelo Amato, the number two official in the Vatican doctrinal office which was headed by Pope Benedict until his election last year. Amato, addressing a Catholic conference in Rome, called the book “stridently anti-Christian .. full of calumnies, offences and historical and theological errors regarding Jesus, the Gospels and the … Continue reading For Christ’s Sake

From Holden: Dan Froomkin: Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts write in The Washington Post about the “Fox News Sunday” 10th anniversary bash Wednesday night where Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes was joined by “most of the Bush administration, including Karl Rove, Josh Bolten, Karen Hughes, Dan Bartlett and former Fox host Tony Snow, just hours after he was named the new Bush spokesman. ‘Ten years ago we could have never gotten the White House press secretary to come to this party,’ joked Ailes.” Also in attendance: Cheney, who, as the Smoking Gun Web site illustrated last month, requires all televisions … Continue reading Partying With The Foxes

From Holden: Quick: How many grammatical errors can you find in this statement made by the Chimpster in the Rose Garden this morning? “I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English, and I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English.” UPDATE: From the man who thinks anyone who would like to be an American citizen should speak English, we have this. And part of the reason why gas is up demand larger than supply. Continue reading I Agree, Let’s Start With The President

From Holden: CNN International has an enticing story synopsis about the State Department’s annual report on terrorism, which is supposed to be released today. Report says Iraq becoming terrorist safe haven (28.04.2006) The State Department’s annual terrorism report finds that Iraq is becoming a safe haven for terrorists and has attracted a “foreign fighter pipeline” linked to terrorist plots, cells and attacks throughout the world, a senior State Department official involved in the preparation of the report told CNN. So the State Department says the War on Iraq has transformed the beleaguered country into a safe haven for terrorists? That’s … Continue reading What’s The Deal With The Terrorism Report?

From Holden: What follows is a limited list of the current job approval ratings for George W. Bush that happen to be his all-time low ratings for the respective polls. There may be other current all-time lows out there that I’m missing, but here are the six I can verify. Rasmussen: 38% American Research Group (ARG): 34% NBC/Wall Street Journal: 36% CNN: 32% Fox News: 33% Gallup: 36% Continue reading All-Time Lows

From Holden: Sounds like the Odd Couple are at odds. A full 10 seconds of silence passed after a reporter asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld what the intense secrecy and security surrounding their visit to Iraq signified about the stability of the country three years after the U.S.-led invasion. Rice turned to Rumsfeld to provide the answer. Rumsfeld glared at the reporter. “I guess I don’t think it says anything about it,” he snapped. He went on to say that President Bush had directed him and Rice to go to Iraq to “meet … Continue reading Trouble In Paradise

Joey hasn’t been bad (yet, it’s early). He’s just peering out from behind the baby gate we have set up to keep his destruction confined to one room. A. Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging: Attica! Edition

From Holden: Our current high gasoline prices are not due to those whacko environmentalists who won’t let the oil companies build refineries. We’ve got a problem because we’re dependent on oil from overseas. And oil is the main reason — the price of oil is the main thing that drives the cost of gasoline. Continue reading Chimpy Sez…

From Holden: Other obsessites (obsessors?) have already covered the little dust-up yesterday aboard Air Force One over the White House staff’s refusal to change the AF1 teevees from Fox News to CNN as requested by the press corps, but they missed this addendum to the gaggle transcript. MR. McCLELLAN: We just called up. They’re going to be changing it, at your all’s request, to the channel that you requested, which is CNN — from the press corps. Q Thanks, Scott. Happy landings, Pony Blow. Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession [Yesterday’s] with the Gaggle

From Holden: With American consumers getting unmercifully gouged at the pump Democrats should demand that the Bush Assministration release the records of Dick Cheney’s energy task force. Yes, I know the demand will be refused outright, and the Supreme Court has already sided with Cheney on this in the Judicial Watch suit. All that doesn’t matter, Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid should demand that they release the records anyway and let the Assministration publicly turn them down now when the country is up in arms over the ongoing gasoline rip-off. Continue reading Show Us The Records!

Mr. A alerted me to this: NEW YORK—SCI FI Channel announced the development of Caprica, a spinoff prequel of its hit Battlestar Galactica, in presentations to advertisers in New York on April 26. Caprica would come from Galactica executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, writer Remi Aubuchon (24) and NBC Universal Television Studio. Caprica would take place more than half a century before the events that play out in Battlestar Galactica. The people of the Twelve Colonies are at peace and living in a society not unlike our own, but where high technology has changed the lives of … Continue reading For Those Galactica-Hungry First Drafters Out There

From Holden: Today it’s the right-leaning Rasmussen poll: Thursday April 27, 2006–Thirty-eight percent (38%) of American adults approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. That’s the lowest level of support ever measured by Rasmussen Reports. Sixty-one percent (61%) disapprove, including 45% who Strongly Disapprove. One additional sign of the President’s weakness is that Democrats lead by twelve percentage points on a generic 2008 Presidential Ballot. The President earns approval from 66% of Republicans, 13% of Democrats, and 33% of those not affiliated with either major party. I believe the 66% approval among Republikkkans is … Continue reading Another New Low

From Holden:

Two Thumbs Down for The Condi and Rummy Show.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld paid a surprise visit to Baghdad on Wednesday to express support for Iraq’s new leaders, but drew criticism from Iraqi politicians who said they feared the unannounced visit might do more harm than good.

“We didn’t invite them,” said Kamal Saadi, a Shiite legislator close to the new prime minister-designate, Nouri Maliki.

Saadi said Iraqi leaders had not been given advance notice of the visit, which came just days after Iraqi politicians broke through a months-long impasse on the selection of a prime minister.

“Maybe Rumsfeld’s visit can be justified” because of American troop presence, “but I can’t see a clear reason behind Rice’s visit,” Saadi said. “The crisis is over and negotiations are taking place.”

The carping continues, Read More…

Continue reading ““Let Us Solve Our Problems By Ourselves””

From Holden:

Two Thumbs Down for The Condi and Rummy Show.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld paid a surprise visit to Baghdad on Wednesday to express support for Iraq’s new leaders, but drew criticism from Iraqi politicians who said they feared the unannounced visit might do more harm than good.

“We didn’t invite them,” said Kamal Saadi, a Shiite legislator close to the new prime minister-designate, Nouri Maliki.

Saadi said Iraqi leaders had not been given advance notice of the visit, which came just days after Iraqi politicians broke through a months-long impasse on the selection of a prime minister.

“Maybe Rumsfeld’s visit can be justified” because of American troop presence, “but I can’t see a clear reason behind Rice’s visit,” Saadi said. “The crisis is over and negotiations are taking place.”

The carping continues, Read More…

Continue reading “”Let Us Solve Our Problems By Ourselves””

From Holden: Hearty support for Don Rumsfeld among Republican senators? Eh, not so much. “He still is in the confidence of the president. The president reiterated that the other day, so I’ll continue to try to work with him,” Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., said Wednesday. “There really is only one person he needs to please, and that’s the president,” added Sen. Susan Collins (news, bio, voting record), R-Maine. “The president’s made clear that the secretary is his choice and that really ends it.” “Is he still here?” joked Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record), R-Miss. … Continue reading They’re Not Tammy Fucking Wynette, That’s For Sure

From Scout:

From NYT

The Federal Emergency Management Agency was so fundamentally dysfunctional during Hurricane Katrina that Congress should abolish it and create a new disaster response agency from scratch, according to a draft of bipartisan recommendations proposed by a Senate committee.

Senator Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who is chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said the new agency would be “better equipped with the tools to prepare for and respond to a disaster.”

The committee’s ranking Democrat, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, also endorsed creation of what would be called the National Preparedness and Response Authority. But the full committee has not yet debated or voted on the draft recommendations. FEMA is a broken shell of its former self and something must be done. However Lieberman and Collins “led the effort to create the DHS that swallowed up FEMA.” And it was the Bush administration that began a process shortly after coming to power that eroded FEMA’s capabilities with policy changes and budget cuts …..

In June, [2004] Pleasant Mann, a 16-year FEMA veteran who heads the agency’s government employee union, wrote members of Congress to warn of the agency’s decay. “Over the past three-and-one-half years, FEMA has gone from being a model agency to being one where funds are being misspent, employee morale has fallen, and our nation’s emergency management capability is being eroded,” he wrote. “Our professional staff are being systematically replaced by politically connected novices and contractors.”

Given this bunch ruined FEMA it is now difficult to trust them with fixing FEMA. Yet the state of FEMA now is so bad that for the safety of Americans something must be done. I suggest they follow the 2004 testimony of former FEMA head James Lee Witt who had built the agency up to the success it once was before they got a hold of it.

(click Read More for that testimony)

Continue reading “Fixing FEMA”

From Holden: Must be all those layoffs in the auto industry. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose to the highest level since early March, the government reported Thursday. The Labor Department said that 315,000 newly laid off workers applied for jobless benefits last week, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week. The claims total was the highest since 319,000 laid off workers applied for benefits the week ending March 11. Private economists had been forecasting a much smaller rise of around 2,000 applications last week. Continue reading My Bush Boom Stumbles

From Holden: A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll was released last night. According to the poll, Bush’s approval rating fell by one point from last month to 36 percent, his lowest mark in the survey. But the troubling news for Bush doesn’t stop there: [Democratic pollster Peter D.] Hart explains that Bush has now spent nine consecutive months at 40 percent or below in the poll, a feat exceeded only by Richard Nixon (13 months) and Harry Truman (26 months). [snip] Yet Bush’s approval isn’t the only measure that has declined. In the poll — which was taken April … Continue reading “Exceptionally Worrisome for Republicans”