More good news

As an accompaniment to the last tidbit in my last post, about the congressional race breakdown, here's an "internal document" from the NRCC (the National Republican Congressional Committee) ranking races according to the possibility of holding the seat. In short, it don't look good, and they know it. The document lists four House seats and one senate seat that they now hold as "gone," and estimates that they'll lose an additional 10 House seats and 2 Senate seats. That doesn't even include the races that are "up for grabs."

But it won't matter if the Dems win big unless the votes are actually counted, right? Ha. Yeah. Along those lines, a group called electionline.org has issued a new report pointing to a minimum of 10 states they expect to see serious voting machine problems in, a la Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004. Perhaps not surprisingly, both of those states are still listed as problem states amongst the rest, which are Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington.

So we shall see, I s'pose. Hm.

The sister Newt never wanted

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. First it's Cheney's daughter, then it's Rove's stepfather, and now (not that this has been any secret, apparently), I find out that Newt Gingrich's goddamn SISTER is a lesbian! And not just a quiet, semi-closeted homo hanging out in a trailer in Alabama, but a full-fledged activist, campaigning actively all over the country for gay rights, including right here in Colorado, where there's a ballot initiative that would give gay couples the same legal rights as married couples.

Which, yes, is a good thing, in my estimation. Call homosexuality what you will, condemn it if you wish, but the point is that they should be given the same exact freedom of choice that is accorded to anyone else in this fucked-up society of ours. What I can't get over is how many goddamn "leaders" of the GOP have close, personal ties to open homosexuals! Are they truly that asinine and insensitive, that they wish to oppress the rights of their loved ones? Do they really want to encourage discrimination against their relatives simply because they want to pander to the fucking Christian Coalition?

I guess they do.

You bastards make me sick.

But, hopefully, they won't be in power much longer. The Washington Post has a great breakdown of the various congressional races across the country that look like they're up for grabs, and the total, out of the 35 House races and 9 Senate races that Wapo says are going to be close, is:

House: 5 leaning GOP, 21 tossup, 9 leaning Dem.
Senate: 0 leaning GOP, 4 tossup, 5 leaning Dem.

Just a reminder, but the Dems are only behind in the House by 15 seats and in the Senate by 5 seats. If these numbers hold through election day and the tossups split down the middle, then Congress, my friends, will be blue.

Keep your fingers crossed, guys. Maybe we will be able to turn this shitstorm around, after all.

Adios, Habeas

I'm not sure how much I can actually write about this subject without just devolving into a complete rant, so I'm just going to let the article speak for itself.

From the Washington Post, of course, comes the story of the death of civil liberties.

And let me just say, as solemnly as I possibly can, "Fuck you, Mr. President. Fuck you from the top of my soul and the bottom of my heart."

Toll, please

Even the most meager of estimates for the Iraqi death count reaches into the tens of thousands, but a new report says it may be as high as 900,000.

Yup. That's right. Just under a million. Ironic that it's about the same number by which Americans measure wealth and status- after all, you don't hear people congratulate each other on becoming brand new hundred-thousandaires, do you? Still, even the conservative Brookings Institution puts the death toll at the pretty healthy median income of 62,000, which, though it may not have the same ring to it, is still nothing to sneer at.

So the conservative estimate is 62,000. Just to put that into perspective, that's about the same as the number of Americans who died in the Vietnam War.

Good job, George!

The Final Frontier

Reagan had his Star Wars missile defense program, Bush has his space ownership claim. Yup. Can't you just see it? "I claim this space for Crawford!" Hoo-boy. But unfortunately, it's true. Shrub has just signed a new National Space Policy that rejects future arms-control agreements that might limit U.S. flexibility in space and asserts a right to deny access to space to anyone "hostile to U.S. interests."

Ha. Yeah. He's asserting our "right" to particular areas of the vacuum outside of our atmosphere. So what's next, rocket-propelled claim buoys for each millionaire with his own private spaceship? Hmmm?

Or perhaps just some good, old-fashioned shootouts. According to the Washington Post story (from which I got the above quote), the policy follows other administration statements that appeared to advocate greater military use of space.

Apparently what they've been talking about are potential weapons for protecting and harming satellites, the most common man-made space travelers. Such devices would be lasers that can "blind" or shut down adversary satellites and small, maneuverable satellites that could ram another satellite.

So that means we're going to have satellites playing chicken a few miles above our heads. That's great news, too.

Yeehaw.

On the terrestrial front, one rather amusing bit of political news is the campaign of Michele Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican who's running for Congress. Bachmann is one crazy ass honky, but she sure does love those fish and loaves.

Bachmann... told parishioners at the church on Saturday that God had called on her to run for Congress, according to a video of her appearance posted on YouTube by "Dump Bachmann Blog." She also said that God is now specifically focused on her race.

In her remarks, Bachmann said that she and her husband prayed and fasted for three days after God called upon her to run for Congress.

Bachmann said they asked God, "Lord, is this what you want? Is this your will?" On the afternoon of the second day, God "made that calling sure," she said.

Bachmann added that someone would have to be a fool to spend two years running for a seat that lasts just two years.

"You are now looking at a fool for Christ. This is a fool for Christ," she said to laughter and applause.

God, she said, "has focused like a laser beam in his reasoning on this race."

But that's not all. Thanks to Youtube and Wonkette, we've got some film of Bachmann telling the congregation how she's "hot for God."

This is great stuff, people. So good that it makes me want some fish and loaves. Extra tartar sauce, please.

Cutting and Running

The RNC is abandoning a whole batch of Congressional races that they don't see as winnable, says the New York Times. The Times pointed to incumbent Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, who had previously appeared quite safe, but now is trailing his opponent seriously in internal polls. The RNC has pulled funding from his campaign and is pouring it into other races.

The decision involving Mr. DeWine offers the most compelling evidence so far that Republicans are circling their wagons around a smaller group of races, effectively conceding some Senate and House seats with the goal of retaining at least a thin margin of control when the 110th Congress is seated next January. Democrats need to win 6 seats to capture the Senate and 15 seats to win the House on Nov. 7...

In interviews, Republican strategists said that the flow of bad news out of Iraq and the resignation of Representative Mark Foley after admitting he had sent sexually suggestive messages to teenage Congressional pages had soured the environment for incumbents and blunted the impact of a long-planned crush of negative advertisements Republicans had prepared to undercut Democratic challengers this month.

In one sign of the shifting political environment, as of this weekend, national Republicans were running advertisements in 29 districts; of those, 26 are held by Republicans and 3 by Democrats, though Republicans plan to begin running advertisements this week against an Illinois Democrat, Representative Melissa Bean. National Democrats are on the air in 30 districts, and defending Democrats in just 3 races.

The shitstorm is coming, fellas. Watch out. The only worry I have is that this might slow the momentum for 2008. Any thoughts on that?

Weedwackers

This just in! The Taliban are- ha, ha, um, sorry- the Taliban are hiding out in- hoo hoo hoo!- ahem. The Taliban, it seems, are using- pffgnk... HA! GIANT MARIJUANA PLANTS FOR COVER!

Seriously! This is from Reuters, people! It's not a gag! Although, if it was, it'd be a damn good one.

The story:

Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy -- almost impenetrable forests of 10-feet-high marijuana plants.

General Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defense staff, said on Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana.

"The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy, heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices ... and as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don't dodge in and out of those marijuana forests," he said in a speech in Ottawa.

"We tried burning them with white phosphorous -- it didn't work. We tried burning them with diesel -- it didn't work. The plants are so full of water right now ... that we simply couldn't burn them," he said.

Even successful incineration had its drawbacks.

"A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those (forests) did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action," Hillier said dryly.

One soldier told him later: "Sir, three years ago before I joined the army, I never thought I'd say 'That damn marijuana'."

Does this remind anyone else of the scene in "Scary Movie 2" where the giant pot plant rolls up one of the Wayans brothers and starts smoking him?

Those crafty Afghans.

Tasers are fun!

Perhaps too much fun.

Here's a pick-me-up for anyone who needs it.

A-Rod is next

Oh! Oh! This just in! Al Qaeda has infiltrated the New York Yankees!

Cigars and brandy, anyone?

Is anyone else sick of Mark Foley yet?

I'm a bit pissed off today, for no real particular reason, so I'm not going to say too much. Unfortunately, though, there were a number of stories that caught my eye that I couldn't let go.

Cuba has found oil in its portion of the Gulf, but what exactly this means for the trade embargo is still yet to be determined. Its impacts, however, could be quite significant when coupled with Castro's recent decline in health. Weirdly, however, the US has decided to clamp down on trade regulations with them. Go figger.

Somehow I've missed this before, but Rummy was the director of a company which sold nuclear reactor parts to North Korea six years ago, before he was offered that other job. Wonkette has some additional perspective, of course.

On a happier note, however, CNN has found that voter interest and therefore turnout will most likely be the highest this year that it's been in a decade. They credit the trend to "Democratic anger" and a heightened political awareness. Good stuff, whatever's driving it.

More Foley fallout

Hey, hey, hey! Pagefuckergate has almost completely wiped out the GOP moral image, the NY Times has found. The new study came up with an astonishing 79% that believe that the GOP leadership cares more about their own political standing than they do about the safety of Congressional Pages.

How's that for a shocker? Damn! MMM!

But that's not all, folks! Another poll, from CNN, found that fully half of the American public believes House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-IL, should hand in his resignation over the mess, and only about 30% think he should keep his job.

The question, however, is whether they'll continue to slide downhill. Even if they do, will the Dems be able to pick up enough slack and momentum over the next two years to retain control of Congress and win the Presidency? Methinks they'll need more ammo than just a single stupid sex scandal. But that's another story...

Hmmmm. Hot pocket today. Supreme Pizza.

Oh, of course! He must be a Democrat!

Last night, Fox News aired segments about Pagefucker Foley and ran captions underneath that read, D-FL.

Bravo, Rupert! Another stunning move! Simply deny that Foley was a Republican and blame everything on the Dems! Good stuff!

One of my colleagues believes this to be a simple but stupid error, and I might agree with him (after all, the AP made the same mistake, briefly), except for the fact that it's Fox. That's too much of a stretch. And even if it was an honest mistake, Fox should have, as a journalistic institution with integrity (HA!), aired a correction and apologized for the slip-up. No such correction ever appeared. The mistake was simply removed quietly for the re-runs, apparently.

That practically doesn't matter, however. The rest of the Faux News organization has been hard at work finding other people to blame for the scandal aside from Foley and the GOP leadership. They're circling the wagons and firing off volleys in the hope that they can fend off the impending doom brought upon them by Duke Cunningham, Tom DeLay, Bob Ney, and now, la creme de la beau, Mark Foley.

Forbidden love

In order to satisfy the sensationalist hunger of my only repeat visitor, the collection of links below has been assembled to allow for a full picture of just what the hell is going on with Rep. Foley, the gay Republican from Florida who got caught sending vivid IM's to underage boys. Yummy.

A timeline of how the story broke, from Wonkette.

You can read the entire original transcript of Foley's fucked-up emails here, thanks to ABC. The details get a little wacko, though, as Foley and this kid talk about masturbation methods. One excerpt (Foley is Maf54):

Maf54 (8:03:47 PM): what you wearing
Xxxxxxxxx (8:04:04 PM): normal clothes
Xxxxxxxxx (8:04:09 PM): tshirt and shorts Maf54 (8:04:17 PM): um so a big buldge Xxxxxxxxx (8:04:35 PM): ya
Maf54 (8:04:45 PM): um
Maf54 (8:04:58 PM): love to slip them off of you
Xxxxxxxxx (8:05:08 PM): haha
Maf54 (8:05:53 PM): and gram the one eyed snake
Maf54 (8:06:13 PM): grab
Xxxxxxxxx (8:06:53 PM): not tonight...dont get to excited
Maf54 (8:07:12 PM): well your hard
Xxxxxxxxx (8:07:45 PM): that is true
Maf54 (8:08:03 PM): and a little horny
Xxxxxxxxx (8:08:11 PM): and also tru
Maf54 (8:08:31 PM): get a ruler and measure it for me
Xxxxxxxxx (8:08:38 PM): ive already told you that
Maf54 (8:08:47 PM): tell me again
Xxxxxxxxx (8:08:49 PM): 7 and 1/2
Maf54 (8:09:04 PM): ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Maf54 (8:09:08 PM): beautiful
Xxxxxxxxx (8:09:38 PM): lol
Maf54 (8:09:44 PM): thats a great size
Xxxxxxxxx (8:10:00 PM): thank you
Maf54 (8:10:22 PM): still stiff
Xxxxxxxxx (8:10:28 PM): ya
Maf54 (8:10:40 PM): take it out

From the AP, a note about how GOP candidates and incumbents across the country are scrambling to give back money they'd received from Foley's political action committee.

Here's a story about how Congressional Republicans were warning pages as early as 2001 to stay away from Foley.

And now, Republicans are turning on each other in an attempt to salvage their careers before the election. Ha. The jackals. And it's kind of ironic that the House Majority Leader's name looks like "boner."

Satisfied? I hope so. NAMBLA sure is.