Month: May 2007

Democrats failing in legislative role

Over at Daily Kos, there is a good post from late last week on how Democrats are failing in their duties as the legislative branch by not forcing President Bush, via the Iraq war funding bill, to start some actual end-of-war planning in the near future.

There are too many suspects to pin this rap directly on any particular one of them, but there has been no shortage of Democrats who have apparently had great difficulty in finding any other way of framing the Iraq appropriations situation than as a choice between funding or “abandoning” the troops. Specifically, that by not allowing the president to essentially write the legislation himself, Democrats were somehow not living up to the responsibilities of governance.

. . .

But what this says is that today we let Congressional Republicans write our country’s Iraq funding policy. Think about how amazing that is for a moment. This president has already reduced Congress to a cipher. Under Republicans, it became little more than a Politburo, approving only legislation that garnered the support of a majority of its then-majority, and even then suffering to see that legislation negated by signing statements. And now, after the American people stripped the Congressional Republicans of what little power this president permitted them to have, they still are ultimately the authors of the enabling legislation that pretties up Bush’s fiat.

. . .

Consider that the main point of contention — indeed the only point of contention — between what Congress has already passed and what Bush will accept has nothing but nothing but nothing to do with the funding. It’s definitionally impossible for that to be the case, because every version of the supplemental either house has passed has had more funding in it than the president requested. What Bush and his apologists object to is accountability accompanying that funding.

President Bush got the same bill back except for the accountability requirements. The commentary following the article is also interesting. Some point out the failings of Pelosi and crew. Some point out how misleading the story is. Some think the article doesn’t cover deeply enough the failings the Democratic congress have had thus far. It is one story that I think any interested in politics can appreciate.

[tags]Daily Kos on the war-bill failings of the Democrats[/tags]

Free Paris!!!

She shouldn’t be locked up. She’s a role model for young people all around the world! Won’t somebody please think of the children!!!

Celebrity heiress Paris Hilton is backing an online petition seeking a pardon of her 45-day prison sentence because she enlivens “mundane” lives.

The petition to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger also claims she was being used as a scapegoat to highlight the dangers of drink-driving.

Hilton was sentenced after being found guilty of violating her probation for a drink-driving conviction.

And my favorite bit from the story regarding the online petition:

It also draws parallels between other high-profile US figures who were forgiven for their misdeeds.

“If the late former President Gerald Ford could find it in his heart to pardon the late former President Richard Nixon after his mistake(s), we undeniably support Paris Hilton being pardoned for her honest mistake,” it says.

I’d be more critical of media outlets for covering crap like this were it not for the fact that I just wasted 30 seconds out of the lives of every person who reads this here. I’m cognizant of that kind of irony.

[tags]Free Paris, Paris deserves same pardon consideration as Nixon?[/tags]

President Bush declassifies what we already knew as justification for letting more Americans die in Iraq

I suppose realizing that Americans are generally tired of his bad presidency and bad Iraq war handling, President Bush has declassified intelligence stating that terrorists still want to attack America (an unsurprising bit of Intel for us) and that they plan to use Iraq as a haven to plan the attacks.

President Bush, outlining repeated foiled plots by al Qaeda to attack the United States since the terrorism of Sept. 11, 2001, today described a select piece of once-classified information to support his argument that terrorists hope to make Iraq a “safe haven” for planning new attacks on the U.S.

“Al Qaeda leaders have repeatedly made it clear that they intend to strike our country again,” Bush said in a commencement address at the Coast Guard Academy. “There is a reason that these and other plots have thus far not exceeded. Since Sept. 11, we have taken bold action at home and abroad to keep our people safe.

“Now, in 2007, we are in a pivotal moment in this battle,” the president said. “Our security depends on helping the Iraqis succeed in defeating al Qaeda in Iraq.”

Continue reading on for my rant.

Continue reading “President Bush declassifies what we already knew as justification for letting more Americans die in Iraq”

Of course, the nuts are everywhere

Famous person dies. Big funeral is planned. Lots of adoring followers/believers plan to attend. Lots of protesters will also probably attend – most likely with plans to disrupt the funeral – given who the subject in question is. One nut plans to bomb the protesters. Hey, bombing people who disagree with your point of view is a bit stupid. But bombing protesters when the funeral is for well-known, recently deceased Christian Jerry Falwell seems stupid and, well, rather un-Christian. Certainly not the kind of thing you’d expect from a Liberty University student either, is it?

A first-year Liberty University student was arrested in what police said was a plot to detonate explosive devices Tuesday, the day of the Rev. Jerry Falwell’s funeral.

Mark David Uhl’s intended target is unknown, authorities said.

ABC News reported the youth told authorities he had made the bombs — which were found in his car — to stop protesters from disrupting Falwell’s funeral. (Read the story about Falwell’s funeral)

Continue reading “Of course, the nuts are everywhere”

Alanis, could you weigh in on this one?

In a “Do as I say and not as I do” display of idiocy, California State Senator Carole Migden was involved in an accident while talking on her cell phone.

We’re sure somewhere Drew Curtis’s head is exploding over this one: submitted for your perusal, one California State Senator Carole Migden — former voter for a state bill that fines people for using their cellphones while driving — rear-ended her state-issued SUV into a Honda sedan on Highway 12 in Solano County, today. While on her phone.

Not the best display of wisdom, but then again – what can one expect from a politician. Asked for a comment, Alanis Morrisette had this to say.

[tags]Senator voted for anti-cellphone driving law – has accident while talking on cell[/tags]

Olbermann explains how our government has failed us

All around, our government has failed us on its handling of the Iraq war according to Keith Olbermann. Of course, many will dismiss him as a left-wing nut spouting nonsense. Given Gallup polling that shows roughly 60% of Americans want a deadline set for withdrawal from Iraq, it’s hard to legitimately dismiss this rant as not representative of a large and growing portion of the American public’s beliefs. And while I’ve supported President Bush’s troop surge plan (although I’ve called it insufficient in scope), I’m losing faith in the situation, too. To me, Olbermann’s rant hits dead-on the reality of how Democrats have failed us on our involvement with Iraq by backing down on the troop withdrawal requirement in funding continued war efforts.

A Special Comment about the Democrats’ deal with President Bush to continue financing this unspeakable war in Iraq-and to do so on his terms:

This is, in fact, a comment about… betrayal.

Few men or women elected in our history-whether executive or legislative, state or national-have been sent into office with a mandate more obvious, nor instructions more clear:

Get us out of Iraq.

Yet after six months of preparation and execution-half a year gathering the strands of public support; translating into action, the collective will of the nearly 70 percent of Americans who reject this War of Lies, the Democrats have managed only this:

  • The Democratic leadership has surrendered to a president-if not the worst president, then easily the most selfish, in our history-who happily blackmails his own people, and uses his own military personnel as hostages to his asinine demand, that the Democrats “give the troops their money”;
  • The Democratic leadership has agreed to finance the deaths of Americans in a war that has only reduced the security of Americans;
  • The Democratic leadership has given Mr. Bush all that he wanted, with the only caveat being, not merely meaningless symbolism about benchmarks for the Iraqi government, but optional meaningless symbolism about benchmarks for the Iraqi government.
  • The Democratic leadership has, in sum, claimed a compromise with the Administration, in which the only things truly compromised, are the trust of the voters, the ethics of the Democrats, and the lives of our brave, and doomed, friends, and family, in Iraq.

You, the men and women elected with the simplest of directions-Stop The War-have traded your strength, your bargaining position, and the uniform support of those who elected you… for a handful of magic beans.

Olbermann’s rant goes on far beyond what I have quoted above, and it is one of the best monologues on our government’s failures of late that I have seen. This story is one of my most highly recommended reads that I’ve ever taken the time to post.  The link includes a video to go with the transcript.
President Bush has decided to keep letting Americans die in Iraq, and rather than taking control and righting this executive abuse, our Congress has folded. I’m sure fear of losing votes motivated this for the Democrats, which is exactly why they deserve to lose our votes – we need purposeful leadership in our Federal government right now, and it is nowhere to be seen. The sad reality is, though, the current Republicans in office have mostly lost any right to our votes as well by supporting President Bush’s ongoing removal of freedoms in America, meaning we are left with few or no incumbents who deserve to remain in office.

I’m afraid the Democrats have just cost themselves the majority in the next election. The Republicans have spent six years supporting the Executive office in stripping away so much of what makes America great and a world leader, therefore proving they should not hold a majority. This means that I can already see the next election will absolutely suck for Congressional positions and for the President. There is no worthy leadership right now in the White House nor Congress. Our politicians have failed us far more than normal, and have done so for varying reasons – incapacity to see anything other than a moronic “Stay the course” farce, unwillingness to stand up to an abusive President, fear of losing personal and party power, lack of understanding of what constituency wants, and so on. I honestly pray that in the next year, some actual leadership emerges in either party and we start seeing a way to a more sane nation. And I thank Keith Olbermann for his rant that got me to open and make my own mini-rant.

[tags]Keith Olbermann calls out Democrats for failing America, Olbermann rant on Iraq war failures by Executive and Legislative branches[/tags]

Offensive line coach in more than one way?

When using email, remember that it is so important to check the To line before sending.

The Steelers confirmed yesterday that one of their employees sent an “inappropriate e-mail” message from the club office to “unintended recipients” last week, violating club and NFL policy.

ProFootballTalk.com, an online blog written by Mike Florio, first reported that Steelers line coach Larry Zierlein inadvertently forwarded an e-mail he received from Doug Whaley, the Steelers’ pro personnel coordinator, to multiple high-level team employees and their secretaries throughout the NFL, including commissioner Roger Goodell.

Oooops.

[tags]Check your email recipients before sending[/tags]

Happy 300th, Carl

Happy 300th Carl Linnaeus! Of course, you have no idea who Carl Linnaeus is, but you are a Homo because of Carl – a Homo sapiens, that is.

wikipedia-CarlLinnaeus.jpgCarl Linnaeus, also known as Carl von Linné or Carolus Linnaeus, is often called the Father of Taxonomy. His system for naming, ranking, and classifying organisms is still in wide use today (with many changes). His ideas on classification have influenced generations of biologists during and after his own lifetime, even those opposed to the philosophical and theological roots of his work.

. . .

For Linnaeus, species of organisms were real entities, which could be grouped into higher categories called genera (singular, genus). By itself, this was nothing new; since Aristotle, biologists had used the word genus for a group of similar organisms, and then sought to define the differentio specifica — the specific difference of each type of organism. But opinion varied on how genera should be grouped. Naturalists of the day often used arbitrary criteria to group organisms, placing all domestic animals or all water animals together. Part of Linnaeus’ innovation was the grouping of genera into higher taxa that were also based on shared similarities. In Linnaeus’s original system, genera were grouped into orders, orders into classes, and classes into kingdoms. Thus the kingdom Animalia contained the class Vertebrata, which contained the order Primates, which contained the genus Homo with the species sapiens — humanity. Later biologists added additional ranks between these to express additional levels of similarity.

Before Linnaeus, species naming practices varied. Many biologists gave the species they described long, unwieldy Latin names, which could be altered at will; a scientist comparing two descriptions of species might not be able to tell which organisms were being referred to. For instance, the common wild briar rose was referred to by different botanists as Rosa sylvestris inodora seu canina and as Rosa sylvestris alba cum rubore, folio glabro. The need for a workable naming system was made even greater by the huge number of plants and animals that were being brought back to Europe from Asia, Africa, and the Americas. After experimenting with various alternatives, Linnaeus simplified naming immensely by designating one Latin name to indicate the genus, and one as a “shorthand” name for the species. The two names make up the binomial (“two names”) species name. For instance, in his two-volume work Species Plantarum (The Species of Plants), Linnaeus renamed the briar rose Rosa canina. This binomial system rapidly became the standard system for naming species. Zoological and most botanical taxonomic priority begin with Linnaeus: the oldest plant names accepted as valid today are those published in Species Plantarum, in 1753, while the oldest animal names are those in the tenth edition of Systema Naturae (1758), the first edition to use the binomial system consistently throughout. Although Linnaeus was not the first to use binomials, he was the first to use them consistently, and for this reason, Latin names that naturalists used before Linnaeus are not usually considered valid under the rules of nomenclature.

Now you know where the name comes from. So celebrate your taxonomy today.

[tags]Happy Birthday Carl Linnaeus, The origins of modern taxonomy[/tags]