"No Child Left Behind .........errr Held Back............err Held Down"

The dumbya edukashun enishativ: A pat on the head is better than money

THIS JUST IN FROM THE TTLB SHOWCASE:
Rush Limbaughtomy Wins the Showcase


Father for Dean gets my vote for weblog showcase
Many Thanks to the RTB members and others who "voted" on my behalf
Barry B.

This weeks entry from the nomination of TOM at THE FUNNY FARM

Republican Rick Santorum (R-PA) REPUBLICAN ROLE MODEL OF THE DAY # 6
is under fire for likening consensual gay sex with bigamy, polygamy, incest, and adultery. Santorum told the AP, "If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual (gay) sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything." Rick Santorum, the pudgy-faced Pennsylvanian is a hero among social conservatives. He make Trent Lott look like a man of principle, John Warner like a deep thinker, and Newt Gingrich like Miss Manners.
His only exposure to life in the private sector was a brief stint as a lawyer and lobbyist (where his clients included the World Wrestling Federation). Nonetheless, Santorum can sound like a militia member denouncing big government: "I've read the Bible. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that America will be here 100 years from now,"
After he was elected to the House his chief issue was the House Bank scandal and their goal, to force full disclosure of the number of checks bounced by various members. His biggest supporters were the pharmaceutical and medical-insurance industries, impressed with his implacable resistance to health-care reform. In both the House and the Senate, he has remained firm in his doctrinaire opposition to any kind of meaningful campaign-finance reform.
Hepped up on Gingrich's candidate-training tapes, Santorum’s campaign against Sen. Wofford was notable for its uncalled-for personal nastiness. Responding to Wofford's support for national service, Santorum smirked, "Someone's going to pick up trash in a park and sing 'Kumbayah' around a campfire and you're going to give them 90 percent of the benefits of the GI Bill & $30,000 a year” he lied and then accused Wofford of being dishonest. "I have never seen another candidate in my life who would stand up in front of the voters and tell lies, absolute lies, the way he does,"
At 36, Santorum became the youngest member of the Senate and made a name for treating fainthearted older members of his own party with the same boorishness and arrogance he had displayed toward Wofford. Santorum's personal unpleasantness and affinity for injecting religion into politics have led many liberals to cast him as a sort of Jesse Helms of the North. One looks in vain, however, for any thread of consistent belief. Santorum is pro-life, but supports the death penalty; he opposed NAFTA, but favored GATT; he wants to balance the budget while providing more pork for Pennsylvania. Unlike some of his class of '94 comrades in the House, who are principled in their bullheaded way, he never met a principle he wouldn't swap for a few more votes.

NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN FOR FUTURE ENTRIES you can choose from ideas here and here or offer ideas of your own.

This very cool Electoral Map is provided at the Edwards for President site. It is interactive. By clicking on the resized for electoral votes states you can turn them Blue for Democrats, Red for Repulsicons, or white for unsure and total up the 270 needed for election NOT SCOTUS selection for President not Resident of the USA

THINGS ARE TURNING AROUND ON THE WMD DEBATE
75 PERCENT OF AMERICANS NOW SAY IT WOULD MATTER IF THEY WERE MISLED ON WMD.
53 PERCENT SAY IT WOULD MATTER A GREAT DEAL Take a look at W's face upon hearing about this poll


The Residents handlers are said to be quite concerned and taking precautions that
he does not return to his old drinking habits. Concern escalated yesterday when he
purportedly asked Secretary Powell to join him in prayer to ask God to tell
him the location of the WMD
Less than half of Americans said they were confident that U.S. forces would capture
or kill Saddam, down from 70 percent in March. About 45 percent said they lacked confidence
that Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction would be found, up from 15 percent in March.

UPDATE: Maryland poll says majority think Bush STRETCHED THE TRUTH ON WMD

What did George Bush say to PM. Abbas?

Did he say that God had told him to "strike Al Queda and Saddam" as previously revealed?

Should not the press be asking about that report?

According to this report they will have a chance to question Abbas in the US soon.

BILL FRIST THE REPUBLICAN ROLE MODEL of the Day # 4 The shame of Rocky Top
Get ready for the next big FRISTING see skb Frist is pissed because SCOTUS got him out of our bedrooms. So Bill is thinking about a Constitutional Amendment to get back in. This rich Medicaid Fraud already profits by abortions while buying votes opposing them. He's rich because his father founded HCA, the nation's largest hospital company that just agreed to pay $880 million to settle charges of health care fraud the GOP has simply replaced a racist with a corporate crook. Frist was born rich, and got richer - thanks to massive criminal fraud by the family business. the Bush Justice Department suddenly ended a near-decadelong federal investigation into how HCA for years had defrauded Medicaid, Medicare and Tricare (the federal program that covers the military and their families), giving the greedy health-care behemoth's executives a sweetheart settlement that kept them out of the can."
Frist Gets Rich from Abortions While Trying to Outlaw Them
Bill Frist votes to outlaw 99.5% of abortions, good enough to earn him a 100% voting record from the National Right to Life Committee - and 0% from Planned Parenthood and NARAL. But Frist owns at least $5 million worth of HCA, a for-profit hospital chain that provides abortions, thus fattening Frist's own wallet, and that of his brother, HCA's CEO.

More Here on Bum's Rush

"But, Ann, you're mean -- vicious, really -- which is why we do not believe that you in any way serve the public good. "

THE COULTERGEIST has her own dedicated spot Treason
just to cover the Hate and venom of this Republican savage cruel bigot
Visit Man about Murfreesboro for a Coulter-roast on his June 30 blog
Resonance and South Knox Bubba post great pieces on Chris Matthews in a good old fashioned Horse's Ass Kickin Coulter-roast. Read it and comment

UPDATE: The Coulter roasting continues unabated with numerous cites of the Richard Cohen op-ed trashing of the Coultergeist Atrios, puddingbowl, rhetorica, seetheforest, submeat, fromtheswamp, rub, elevendayempire, hnn, nancynall, dangerousmeta, Buzzflash it is great that the blogosphere is taking this on from the start.

ANNOUNCING REPUBLICAN ROLE MODELS OF THE DAY
Check back daily for details on the who's who of the REPUBLICAN PARTY.
One has to ask oneself, "Are these the people I really want to be associated with?"


Please participate by adding your nominees for REPUBLICAN ROLE MODEL OF THE DAY in the comment section.

As someday it may happen that a victim must be found
I've got a little list, I've got a little list.
Of society offenders who might well be underground
And who never would be missed, they never would be missed.
I'VE GOT A LITTLE LIST The MIKADO Gilbert and Sullivan.

WE ARE KNOWN BY THE COMPANY WE KEEP.
THE FUNNY FARM is a great place to get the lowdown on animals of all breeds. Thanks to Tom for sending contestants to Republican Role Model of the Day.
If the comment section is down please e-mail entries to aurabass-at-hotmail.com

REPUBLICAN ROLE MODEL OF THE DAY # 3
SENATOR JOSEPH McCARTHY After World War II McCarthy ran against Robert La Follette to become Republican candidate for the senate. Campaign posters pictured him in "full fighting gear, with an aviator's cap, and belt upon belt of machine gun ammunition wrapped around his bulky torso." He claimed he had completed thirty-two missions when in fact he had a desk job and only flew in training exercises. Sound familiar?
McCarthy attacked La Follette who was forty-six when Pearl Harbor had been bombed, and was too old to join the armed services for not enlisting. On his first day in the Senate, he proposed a solution to a coal-strike that was taking place. McCarthy called for John L. Lewis and the striking miners to be drafted into the Army. If the men still refused to mine the coal, McCarthy suggested they should be court-martialed for insubordination and shot.
McCarthy's first years in the Senate were unimpressive. People also started coming forward claiming that he had lied about his war record. he was being investigated for tax offences and for taking bribes from the Pepsi-Cola Company. In May, 1950, afraid that he would be defeated in the next election. Edmund Walsh, a Roman Catholics priest, came up with the idea that he should begin a campaign against communist subversives working in the Democratic administration.
McCarthy an alcoholic and Roy Cohen savaged witnesses and misused the investigative power of the Senate until censured by the Senate in 1955. He died of alcoholism shortly thereafter.

REPUBLICAN ROLE MODEL OF THE DAY # 2
Bill Bennett "Where Bush Rewards Terror" Who had accused our president of making "concessions to terrorism" and "ceding ... lands to dictators?"
Indeed it was – "William J. Bennett"! What had the president done to merit Bennett's invoking of Munich and the Holocaust? The president had suggested that Ariel Sharon's rampage through refugee camps with tanks, where hundreds were cut down including women and children, was "not helpful."
The icon of homophobic conservatism. Bill (Virtues) Bennett The pompous scold who can blow $8 million on slot machines while he tells us how to live moral lives.

REPUBLICAN ROLE MODEL OF THE DAY # 1
Antonin Scalia "We are fools for Christ's sake. We must pray for the courage to endure the scorn of the sophisticated world." "Alas being tough and traditional is a heavy cross to bear. Duresse oblige."
He's so Old School, he's Old Testament, misty over the era when military institutes did not have to accept women, when elite schools did not have to make special efforts with blacks, when a gay couple in their own bedroom could be clapped in irons, when women were packed off to Our Lady of Perpetual Abstinence Home for Unwed Mothers.
Justice Anthony Kennedy gave patriotism true meaning in time for the Fourth of July. His ruling eloquently reminded the country, "Liberty presumes an autonomy of self that includes freedom of thought, belief, expression, and certain intimate conduct."
Antonin Scalia is Archie Bunker in a high-backed chair. Like Archie, Nino is the last one to realize that his intolerance is risibly out-of-date.

REPUBLICAN ROLE MODELS OF THE DAY EMERITUS
Tricky Dick Nixon crook and cover up artist
STROM THURMOND Click on this link to hear Strom speak.
Pork Barrel Segregationist
More here

GOD'S OTHER SON GEORGE
UPDATE available here
Palestinian Premier Abbas said that at Aqaba, Bush promised to speak with Sharon about the siege on Arafat. He said nobody can speak to or pressure Sharon except the Americans. He was speaking with factions of the PLO in a post Aqaba meeting.

According to Abbas, immediately thereafter Bush said: "God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them."

And, in what form do you suppose these messages from God come, anyway? Stone tablets? Vivid dreams? Memos from Karl Rove's office? Or perhaps a burning BUSH?


Illustration inspiration fromHullabaloo

Could it be that George Walker Bush is a present day William Jennings Bryan/ Matthew Harrison Brady? Harken back to the Scopes Trial in Dayton Tennessee where the teaching of EVILoution was on trial and the famous populist Bryan came to defend the Holy Bible and the Creationists. In the movie starring Spencer Tracy as Clarence Darrow, Matthew Harrison Brady is called to the stand as an expert on all things Biblical. "So God speaks to Brady and Brady tells the world" thunders Darrow "Is that the way of it then?" "Perhaps we should have the book of Brady." "We can hex the Pentateuch and slip it in nicely between Numbers and Deuteronomy" "Brady, Brady, Brady, Almighty" Substitute Bush for Brady and forget about Weapons of Mass Destruction and cast a cold clear gaze on this Weapon of Self Delusion.
UPDATE: Last night I sent e-mail to Arnon Regular about the quote in his story for HAARETZ
This is his reply via e-mail this morning:

Dear Mr. Bozeman
The protocols are the official protocols of meetings held last week between mr. Abbas and the palestinian fractions in gaza. mr. abbas speech on GWB was his statement on GWB.no more and no less. its not a proof that mr. bush actually said it but its definite that mr. abbas said it because the protocols are confirmed from his side and the fractions side.

There is no question about what Mr. Abbas said and I have not seen any denial by Bush or his minions.

Interesting that Calpundit in an extremely rare defense of Conservatives has a different take on this event.
Others support my point of view:
Sick of Bush Prometheus Speaks and Hullabaloo each cover this story in a similar manner.

A report this week has Abbas visiting Bush at the White House. It would be interesting to hear Mr. Bush field questions in the Rose Garden upon conclusion of their talks if a reporter in attendance could get Abbas to repeat his claim at that time.

A Little more to the Rights comments on Rush Limbaugh

Rush 'my anal cyst is killing me' Slimeball

3 typical Limbautomized lunacies featured on the ALMTTR blog:
1) “It seems like every time Congress or SCOTUS is in session, our liberties are up for grabs.”
Limbo is of course speaking of the Republican Congress and the Reagan/Bush packed SCOTUS. Has Rush come around to the liberal way of thinking?.

2) On abortion, “The pro-choice people are not pro-choice unless you make the 'right' choice, and every time an abortion is going to take place that doesn't, they feel a setback in their political movement.”
Limbo reverts to his old demonizing ways here claiming that pro-choice people do not want choice but infanticide.

3)"dependents outraged that government won't foot the bill for their antacid, now they won't be able to cram pizza and chorizo down their throats without consequences unless they ante up."
This one is humorous indeed. It draws a mental image of the 'BIG FAT IDIOT' himself bloated and billious stuffed with pepperoni and sausage sitting on that famous ANAL CYST that got this fat CHICKENHAWK his deferment.

"I thank heaven for Rush Limbaugh. Without him I'd be another mind-numbed liberal robot." Jeff
Well congratulations Jeff, you are a mind-numbed LIMBAUGHTOMIZED robot who believes the Republican Congress and the SCOTUS are eroding your liberty. I have to say you are pretty well screwed any way you look at it. Perhaps this site will serve it's purpose with you and break the evil Limbaughtomy spell that you are under. My fervent hope is for your partial recovery. Keep on believing that the Republican Congress and the SCOTUS are eroding your liberty - they are.

JOB CREATION this SKB comment section for a totally unrelated post contains comments about Job Creation.
"Bush hasn't lost jobs nor did clinton add them. The market did. Prove me wrong. " is the verbatim statement by Say Uncle

My position was that during the Clinton tenure a record number of jobs were created and that under the current Resident that jobs will decrease for the first time since Herbert Hoover. Now Say Uncle says that Clinton and Bush were not responsible for this radical swing in the employment outlook. My question to him is why the Residents men are trying to make it appear that his policies do make all the difference. Are they misleading us Uncle?

MORE HERE

We can fully expect that Ann Coulter's TREASON will take up where Ann Coulter's SLANDER concluded. And just how nasty is Coulter’s conclusion? She draws an ugly conclusion indeed. “Except for occasional forays to the Wal-Mart,” she says, “liberals do not know any conservatives.” But conservatives “already know” liberals, she says. Conservatives know liberals as “savagely cruel bigots who hate America and lie for sport.” Incredibly, that is Coulter’s final phrase. It closes her strange, disturbed book.

On the eve of TREASON's release we need to reacquaint ourselves with the LIES of SLANDER and there is no place better to do that than the archives of THE DAILY HOWLER**

Coulter as media whore & Coulter as high heel gunslinger

Bob Somerby meticulously details the misrepresentations and lies in 780 footnotes used in Slander. He proves that Ann Coulter is not to be believed or taken seriously Ann Coulter is a whore in the classic sense. She has sold herself for money instead of truth. If not SLANDER Coulter is LIBEL and her TREASON is against AMERICA for America is not only the self-righteous right. America is all of us. Ann Coulter is dedicated to bringing out the worst in us just like Rush Limbaugh. Ann is waging her own conservative jihad. Draw your own conclusion about who is the "savagely cruel bigot who hates America and lies for sport".
**Scroll to the bottom of the linked page to the entries from July 9, 2002 through July 26, 2002

TBOGG cracks me up

Join the Hullabaloo over at Digbys

For another great take on the dangers of overexposure to Rush
Read this brave and sordid tale about descent into the malestrom of limbaughtomized madness.
Digby Rules.

Mr. Hobbs is wrong again when he states "Al Gore's Liberal News Network is doomed to fail" quoting a source he repeats. Hobbs should check his sources.

Al Gore is not starting a liberal news network

Democratic Veteran and Sick of Bush are new members of the Rocky Top Brigade. HOORAY and WELCOME
We needed the balance after the past few additions we were listing too far to starbord.
The intelligence level of the RTB just increased dramatically

Welcome aboard there Mateys. I look forward to reading you daily.
Be sure to use the RTB Forum when you can

What is a Liberal, a Conservative, a Libertarian, or an Authoritarian
THE POLITICAL COMPASS will let you know where you are.
If you do not know you should read this site and take the test to see where you stand compared to world leaders and historical figures.

-2.2 to the West and -6.9 to the South is where I am. How about you?

Use the RTB Forum for comments

Sunday browsing brought a perfect find
LIBERALS LIKE CHRIST
It is an epiphany for the religious right.
Would Jesus be a Democrat or a Republican?
This is an extensive site with detailed scripture references and it makes a strong case.
Can you refute it?

Make your comments on the RTB Forum

Forked Tongue

The old indian adage "Rich white man speaks with forked tongue" is true.

When speaking with Forked Tongue one uses the NEWSPEAK DICTIONARY

The belief in the supremacy of law is the defining characteristic of our country, and what has made America the strongest and most successful democracy in human history. Now we’ve made an international spectacle of our disregard for the principles of law in the single-minded pursuit of our narrowly-defined (and, in my view, poorly-defined) interests.
What's rotten here has nothing to do with the criminal and everything to do with the cop. If our cause against Iraq was just, we should have taken the time to make the case, and should have appeared willing to accept a different outcome if the facts were against us. Some would call that weakness. Others would say that real weakness is giving in to the passions of the moment, without regard to the larger good that is being destroyed by our righteous, arrogant rage.

The Rush Limbaugh Show is like VIDEODROME or The RING once you are exposed enough there is a point of no return. Like a bad trip on LSD - you believe in your paranoid delusion that you have come down and re-entered reality, while in fact you are sitting in a padded room in a straight jacket. It is a pathological state of mass psychosis.*

This leads to the question: HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE BEEN LIMBAUGHTOMIZED?

There is this simple test:

You may be a LIMBAUGHTOMIZED LUNATIC if:

1) You believe you found WMDs instead of British artillery balloon trailers.
2) You believe more tax cuts for the rich will restore a robust economy.
3) You believe Nation Building is not the job of US troops when you are Governor candidate Bush and you believe nation building is the job of the US troops when you are Resident Bush.
4) You believe lying about sex is worse that lying about the reasons for war but nobody died in a stained blue dress.
5) You believe Halliburton & KBR have the nations best interest at heart instead of VP. Cheney’s best interest at heart.
6) You believe that W had no ‘insider’ knowledge before he dumped his Harken Energy stock
7) You believe W was a great businessman who made money in the oil business.
8) You believe there are liberal fans** of the Rush Limbaugh Show
9) You believe you are safer now than during the Clinton administration
10) You believe you are financially better off now (and you make less than $140,000 a year) than you were during the Clinton Administration.
11) You believe the economy is better with a 5 Trillion Dollar deficit.
12) You believe in Right to Life from conception to birth AND the DEATH penalty.

If you answered yes to any 7 of the 12 beliefs above You have entered the Bushie Twilight Zone a dimension where there is only a Right wing and right turns and right to life and rightwingnuts.


**"Liberal fans of the Rush Limbaugh show" LMAO And I thought compassionate conservative was the best oxymoron.

FAQ SECTION: If you cannot find the answer you seek below please join the discussion on the RTB Forum

QUESTION: “Am I Limbaughtomized since I don't listen to the show?”

ANSWER: Although it is extremely rare there have been recognized cases of Limbaughtomy by proxy. These cases occur when the victim is in close contact with Limbaughtomy sufferers who carry the airborne infection and pass it on by word of mouth. This is sometimes known as Contact Limbaughtomy.

QUESTION: How frustrated do Democrats get because they can't figure out how Rush's show is so successful.

ANSWER: Einstein is credited with the following gem of wisdom: “Only two things in my experience are infinite: 1) is the Universe 2) is human stupidity. And sometimes I am not sure about the universe.” P T. Barnam once opined that “ Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American Public. TEST: Take one of the many I Q Tests available on the web (if you can locate one ) and see if you can beat Forest Gump at a score of 42.

QUESTION: No matter how hard they try or how much money they throw at it, they can't duplicate it or make it go away. Poor little Algore is rumored to be trying to counter it now, I'm sure he'll fail miserably too. Do you disagree?

ANSWER: Beginning with part 2, Former Vice-President Al Gore who garnered 550,000 more votes in the Presidential election than the current Resident is said to be advocating the creation of a Liberal News Network on Television to counter the influence of CNN (the Conservative News Network) FOX ( the Fascist News Notwork) and MSNBC (Mindless Sycophant News By Conservatives) Al Gores comments have nothing to do with Radio. The answer to part one is: I know of nobody who is spending a dime to make Rush Limbaughtomy go away. Rush Limbaughtomy is a valued tool of the liberal left. There is no clearer indication of Rightwingnut status than those who listen to the Limbaughtomy. Know thine enemy. Gore Reportedly Has Set Sights on Creation of a Cable Network

QUESTION: So now any of us on the right who have an opinion are obviously "limbaughtomized" because everybody knows we're too stupid to come up with our ideas on our own, right?

ANSWER: How would one know if they were “able to come up with” the same twisted dumb “answers on their own?” RIGHT? Of course you are RIGHT that is what this is about.

QUESTION: Aren’t there are many, many diehard liberal fans of Rush? I work for some. I know many others. And they're all as vehemently liberal as many of you.

ANSWER Let us agree on one thing . You decide who the conservatives are since it takes one to know one. And We will decide who passes muster as a liberal. A few clues:
Just because you
1) Favor life in a hellhole prison over the death penalty it does not make you a liberal
2) Favor the right of a woman to choose in cases of rape or incest it does not make you a liberal
3) Favor the simple registration of assault weapons or handguns – it does not make you a liberal.
4) Know a conservative that thinks you are a liberal it does not make you a liberal.
5) Make the statement that “some of my best friends or employers are liberal” and you are a Limbaughtomized Rightwingnut it does not make them liberals.
AN INTERESTING TEST

QUESTION: So, I can't know a liberal when I see one, but you can know a conservative when you see one?

ANSWER: In using the pejorative form of sarcasm it is often found that the user emulates the untenable aspects of the opponents’ line of reasoning (or lack thereof). Hence the sarcasm involved in my use of “all of my conservative friends” ---

QUESTION: Sheesh, Barry B, I sure wish I had your towering intellect, so I could learn to insult liberals with such gusto as your crazed insults of those of us on the right, and so I could learn to properly distinguish liberals from conservatives.

ANSWER: Personally I think you do an adequate job of insulting liberals and I wish you could learn to properly distinguish as well.

QUESTION: Do you realize with your rants you sound just like a liberal version of Rush, except not as entertaining or as humourous (sic)?

ANSWER: Why thank you. I will take the “liberal version of Rush comment” as a compliment since that is exactly what I was shooting for. As to you feeling that I am not as entertaining or humorous – I will say that I would not expect you to be entertained or humored. My aim is to anger and outrage because that is what Rush does to liberals.

NOTE TO MY READERS: In case you are suffering from the same problem that some of those who take exception to my remarks let me make this abundantly clear. THE PURPOSE OF RUSH LIMBAUGHTOMY (my blogspot and nom de plume) is to poke fun at Crush Slimeball and his listeners. I believe them to be mindless sycophants and intellectual dullards who have the moral conscience of gutter dwellers and pond scum hence the name Rush Limbaughtomy – get it. I would not cross the street to excrete bodily fluids on Rush if he were on fire. I think Rush is doing and has done irreparable harm to the political environment in America and I believe him to be a menace to society and to America. I enjoy writing these replies just like Al Franken enjoyed writing Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot. And all of my conservative friends and employers agree with me that Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot. And many Conservatives who are disgusted by the lies and vituperation of Rush Limbaugh have written to me in support of my efforts to take the debate to his level and meet the Limbaughtomized on their own terms. I hope you enjoy it because it is meant to be enjoyed. and not taken literally.

Barry Bozeman is the author of Rush Limbaughtomy and solely responsible for it’s content.
Thanks and a tip of the hat to Bjorn Again for the questions in the FAQ
*Visit Emphasis Added for a beautifully intellectual view of "the pathological state of mass psychosis this country finds itself in following 9/11, including a devastating analysis of the appeal of Bush’s simplicity, sentimentality, and boundless capacity for self-delusion."

LIFE AND DEATH for Conservatives

Richard Cohen raised an interesting question today. Why do "political conservatives, who don't think the government can do anything right, trust it to take a life?" Only when it comes to capital punishment does the system operate perfectly. Such is the thinking, if it can be called that, of George Bush himself. No one has presided over as many executions as he did as governor of Texas -- and with as little doubt about guilt and as much faith in his own righteousness.

Prosecutors as a rule are politicians. Their aim is conviction and strong sentences to make their record shine as tough on crime. Can no one see the conflict of interest in this? Using the power of the police and the money of the State they promote their careers (often to the detriment of justice). This is part of the Conservative Paradox. They love less government at a smaller cost except for courts, police, and prisons. This is the opposite end of their "The State has the right to Choose" support of "life" from conception to birth - but not beyond.

There is little reason to suspect that conservatives are rational when they mistrust government in everything but the two most important decisions - life and death.

US forces are waging a "guerrilla war" in Iraq where elements of the former regime inflict casualties almost daily, Paul Wolfowitz, deputy defence secretary said on Wednesday.

However his boss, Donald Rumsfeld, said the the American public was prepared to accept the mounting death toll.

"Who said these people were allowed to speak", screamed Dick Cheney

Donald Rumsfeld is now speaking for the American Public?
Did somebody elect Don to something while we were sleeping?

This Bush adminstration is coming apart at the seams.
And not a moment too soon.

US prepares to move troops to Azerbaijan

The United States will ensure political stability and continuity of power in Azerbaijan. Azeris base this conclusion on reports in the Western and Turkish media that the US is going to move about 15,000 of its troops from Germany to Azerbaijan, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports.

Well that figures folks. No oil in Germany - Lots of oil in Azerbaijan
These Bushies sure have the geology and geography right don't they.

MoveOn does real politics

Last Thursday MoveOn.org sent out an e-mail to its members -- all 1.4 million of them -- asking if they'd like to take part in an online Democratic presidential primary later this month. Candidates would answer questions that MoveOn put to them, and if one of them managed to pull a majority of the members' votes, the organization would endorse him.

This is no straw poll In most presidential primary processes, pundits, pollsters and wealthy donors determine the outcome long before the actual primaries. By the time the rest of us cast our ballots, the nomination is typically a done deal. The MoveOn.org PAC Primary will allow hundreds of thousands of voters to speak out now, adding their weight to the campaigns of their choice

Join MoveOn

RED WHITE AND BLUE the Bush American Flag

RED is for the money and the blood that we have lost
WHITE hot is our anger and our pain
BLUE is how we feel about the lives his war has cost
When Bush is gone life will be good again

Republicans will raise 200 million Dollars for the 2004 campaign

Clinton was the previous high since donation limits at 42 Million.

I think Bush should feel slighted. Afterall his tax cuts saved his fatcat friends 900 Billion.
200 Million is chicken feed given that amount. Heck Halliburton has gotten 216 million in no bid contracts alone.

Bush is getting stiffed and should demand a bigger cut.

BILL HOBBS acknowledges me as "another blogger"

"Another blogger, who I'll link to when he posts something worth linking too,"
worthy of comment but unworthy of linking to HMMMM
MAKES ONE WONDER WHAT MR. HOBBS IS AFRAID OF

BILL HOBBS NOMINEE FOR RTB A LITTLE MORE TO THE RIGHT should be schooled in BILL HOBBS favorite subject of JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY prior to acceptance.

It really sucks that on the day we add a new member to the Rocky Top Brigade that member posts a LIE about a fellow Tennessean. And I quote (Al "I Invented The Internet" Gore.)

Now I really don't give a damn who you vote for or support but to repeat the lie told so often three years ago is low and classless.

Al Gore is not a candidate.
Al Gore received a half million more votes for the Presidency than George Bush in 2000
He gracefully withdrew his name from consideration for 2004.
He is a Tennessean and deserves the truth if not your respect.
He never said "I invented the internet."
You are the liar in this case and you should post an apology and a retraction.
The Rocky Top Brigade does not need a member from outside the state who posts lies about Tennesseans who are not candidates for public office. We at the RTB should back up our posts with facts and references and require it of our members.

This addition has been made to the offending site:
"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the internet.." ~Al Gore

You'll of course notice that his exact word is "create", not "invent". Dictionary.com states that the definition of "invent" is "create".

This post was intended to be a humorous jab at the supporters, not Mr. Gore himself. A fellow blogger has taken exception to this post as though it were detrimental to Mr. Gore. An apology has been demanded. Since no foul has been issued an apology will not be forthcoming.

A Little More to the Right is quite aware of the nature of his comment. He is now aware that he was incorrect. The Al "I invented the Internet" Gore label was meant as a slur the same way that Bush and the Republicans used it to question Gore's honesty. Everyone that reads it knows that is the truth. A Little More to the Right has proven himself incapable of retracting a comment that is proven erroneous as a quote and erroneous in it's intent. A Little More to the Right is unworthy of being taken seriously.


The true story about Al Gore and the Internet

BILL HOBBS SOBS AGAIN

Now I know that I don't hold a small match to shine against the Bill Hobbs floodlight Still I will continue to illuminate the little darkness I can when he behaves like a small minded hypocrite. Today's post is another in a recent spate of bad offerings by Hobbs. Bill fumes and flames against Bill Clinton's receiving a nice payday for a speech in Japan. Of course Bill never knew about Reagans big Japanese payday following his term.
In Hobbs America it seems only Republicans are allowed paydays although this one for Clinton involved no US Taxpayer dollars.

That doesn't stop Bill from applauding big no bid contracts to convicted felon Republican interests like KBR and Halliburton paid for by American Taxpayers. Bill still hasn't responded to my proof of his LACK OF JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY shown by his TCS article post in the comments on SKB (read the comments) while he blindly supported the felons of Halliburton and their no bid open ended contract. Bill loves to sqawk about inaccurate journalism and the retractions he has caused. But he cannot even reply when his gaffes are revealed.

For more on that just scroll down to my Saturday June 14 item on Halliburton
Don't hold your breath waiting for Mr. Hobbs correction he is too busy bragging about how rapidy the blogs respond to correct his own mistakes.

Bill Hobbs added the following after reading my comments: Of course Bill just refers to me as "another blogger" worthy of comment but unworthy of linking to. What is Hobbs afraid of? Is that one of those Chickenhawk yellow streaks I see running down his back?
UPDATE: Another blogger, who I'll link to when he posts something worth linking too, sez I wuz wrong to criticize Clinton and that I "never knew about Reagans big Japanese payday following his term." You mean the one where Reagan was paid $1 million? Yeah, I never knew about that. Puhleeze. Of course I knew about that. It's why I joked about Clinton being a "money-grubbing ex-president cashing in," which was the basic charge the liberal media leveled at Reagan -
You see it is the fault of the LIBERAL MEDIA that Bill did not refer to the million dollar Reagan payday. What a crock Bill.
Whatsa matta Bill - can't take a little of what you like to dish out.?

Fibbing It Up at Fox

Flat out lies should be confronted ~ Bill O'Reilly; Fox News Channel; May 22, 2003

Since the Iraq conflict began on March 20, Fox News has been on a mission to legitimize it. One problem for Fox's protracted apologia is that despite promises of evidence of current weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) by the Bush Administration, the evidence has been ambiguous at best. Unfortunately for the network, Lew Rockwell has been keeping a scratch diary of their reports since the war began.

Foe's of Fox Spews should enjoy this take down of the enemy of the right to know and the purveyor of the Right is Right.

Iraqi mobile labs nothing to do with germ warfare, report finds

George W. Bush told reporters in Poland that we had found the 'weapons of mass destruction' in the form of these two trailers. U got some splainin to do Georgie.

An official British investigation into two trailers found in northern Iraq has concluded they are not mobile germ warfare labs, as was claimed by Tony Blair and President George Bush, but were for the production of hydrogen to fill artillery balloons, as the Iraqis have continued to insist.
The conclusion by biological weapons experts working for the British Government is an embarrassment for the Prime Minister, who has claimed that the discovery of the labs proved that Iraq retained weapons of mass destruction and justified the case for going to war against Saddam Hussein.

Bill Hobbs comments on SKB Comments include a link to this article

The article on Tech Central Station by Hillery Kramer includes the following:
What is the bill so far for this expedient work by Halliburton (subcontracted out to two different firms, I might add)? A mere $50.3 million-a fraction of the $7 billion we keep hearing about.

Well according to Congressman Waxman's Letter dated May 29, 2003 71.3 million dollars have been spent and another $425 Million in work orders under a second Iraq contract for a total near 500 Million is the accurate figure. The Toronto Star Article linked below makes the figure 187 million on the no bid contract now. But HOBBS choose to post a link to an April 25th TCS article to prove his point.

This would appear to bring the JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY of Mr. Hobbs into question (a subject near and dear to Mr. Hobbs heart) I am waiting to see if he will print a retraction.

An additional story of 187 Million in billing from Halliburton

Be sure to comment on the RTB Forum - the Halliburton and Cheney Thread

Underground Church - It CAN Happen Here

"Your kids first task of the evening event is to elude the secret police of a corrupt, anti‑Christian government, and locate safe houses run by the Christian underground." Secret Police - corrupt anti-Christian government - in the USA? What better way to teach kids fear and hate of anyone who does not share the misguided zeal of the leaders of a fundamentalist Rightwing church.

Read SouthKnoxBubba and participate in the comments

Tax cut estimator
Give the TAX CUT Estimator a try and see how your cut compares with others.

STATE OF THE UNION a William Kristof take on the yellow cake uranium story

George W. Bush's words "The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, had a design for a nuclear weapon, and was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb. The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production." January 28, 2003
In February 2002 Dick Cheney dispatched a former Ambassador to Niger to check on a document that indicated Saddam was attempting to purchase uranium. In March of 2002 that envoy reported back that the document was beyond doubt a forgery. Ten months later the President of the United States is telling the nation that Saddam had recently sought uranium from Africa.
Every word of a President is studied and vetted, particularly those used in the most important annual address to the Nation. It strains all credulity to think that the President was unaware of the findings of Cheney's envoy and 2 other investigations that arrived at the same conclusion.
We also know that the aluminum tubes in question are unsuitable for nuclear weapons production as alleged.
You got some splaning to do Georgie!!!

Congressional letter from Congressman Waxman on this State of the Union issue.

13 MYTHS

A factsheet was produced using this web site to organize the research. See the factsheet and all the feedback received on it, here or in PDF form (ready to print and hand out). It is documented with over 120 references, mostly from mainstream and primary sources.
This "13 Myths" web site was conceived after activists involved in Organizers' Collaborative used the Internet to research and distribute a comprehensive flyer detailing distortion of the truth in the battle for the White House in the aftermath of the 2000 election. This is a very comprehensive data base for specific references on the WMD controversy and other key issues. Check it out.

Please post comments to the RTB Forum

Bush V. Bush
If you have not seen the Bush V Bush video by Jon Stewart follow this link
and click play da video.
This is the funniest thing I have seen in weeks and it features a debate between the Governor and the Resident.
Talk about Flip/Flop - you remember the thing Republicans accuse Clinton of mastering?
Just listen to Bush in his own words - you can even understand most of these.

SAVAGE Michael Savage Day is June 26th
Everyone should join in

Has Bill Hobbs seen these examples of Lack of Journalistic Integrity?
Thank goodness Hobbs got those NYT editors fired.
Take SKB's link to the Expose' - It is well worth the trip

Wow - slipping down the internet poll

IF YOU FEEL A NEED TO PROJECTILE VOMIT READ THIS
Hannity tells Pat Robertson what Evil Is.

Charlie Daniels pushing his Soapbox Rightwing Tapes MTB members with Jimmy Carter in 76

The opening concert of the Dixie Chicks Tour was the focal point of a rightwing attempt to dent the DC's popularity. Rightwingnuts promoted a concert by the Marshall Tucker Band - a very popular all ex-marine band from Spartanburg-Greenville SC where the DC concert was taking place. Now we are talking Strom Thurmonds South Carolina here folks - where Paris Island leathernecks rule. I worked on the road with the MTB for my sound company Mountain Sound of Knoxville during their heyday from 1979 and 1982 (The CDB was also a Mountain Sound act but don't hold that against me). There were a total of 31 Dixie Chicks tickets traded for MTB tickets in the highly promoted and well organized protest in this bastion of Bush Marine Corps Military Strom Thurmond stronghold. People on the radio actually threatened physical violence and mayhem if people attended the concert. Only 31 people were swayed to stay away. The Dixie Chicks will be my favorite band for a long time. I just ordered another 10 copies of Home to give away to friends. I suggest we all do what we can to stop the Dixie Chick bashing. I bet they all look better than Bill Hobbs. 8^) Former Roadie who knows the truth that the MTB and the CDB got Jimmy Carter elected President before the hard life on the road killed all of Charlie Daniels brain cells and hardened his heart.
Actually it is amazing given the current situation that the Dixie Chicks sales did not plummet like a rock. With Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity, Coulter, Liddy, North, Scarborough, Savage, Robertson, Fallwell, Carlson, Novak, and the entire rightwing spin machine taking time off from Clinton Crushing and Bush Boosting to chew on the Chicks. Since Sony Music and Francis Preston and the CMA heirarchy made Nashville the land of the RICH and Republican instead of the home of the Coal Miners Daughters the politics of country music have become the politics of fear. Country artists who hold Democratic views are afraid to perform on behalf of Democratic candidates for fear of reprisal by BMI ASCAP and Record Companies and Publishers. Prior to Reagan any Democrat could depend on a number of CMA artists to help but now only Steve Earle and very few others will stick their necks out. Nashville's once very cool and poetic music scene has become a bastion of plastic Lee Greenwood money for pseudo-patriotism. And regretfully I have a connection there in a brother who owns 25% of the former Lee Greenwood Theater in Sevierville. Bush one and Swartzkoff attended the grand opening.

World's Most Watched Internet Ad?

New Honda commercial in the UK.
There are no computer graphics or digital tricks in the film. The film took 606 takes. On the first 605 takes, something, usually very minor, didn't work. They would then have to set the whole thing up again. The crew spent weeks shooting night and day. By the time it was over, they were ready to change professions. The 2 minutes cost six million dollars and took three months to complete

Why do we wait so long for these reports?
UN Weapons Inspector from Norway in Iraq for 100 days says no way
We received much incomplete and poor intelligence information from the Americans, and our cooperation developed accordingly. Much of what has been claimed about WMDs has proven to be sheer nonsense. From what I have seen they are going to war on very little," Siljeholm told Dagbladet.

After 100 days in Iraq, Siljeholm, is now a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology .

"I strongly doubt that the American will find anything at all. In any case I doubt that they will find WMDs that constitute a military threat," Siljeholm said.

PLEASE POST ALL COMMENTS ON THIS BLOG TO THE RTB FORUM

The Bush administration is like an Eclipse over America
It is blocking the sun and stealing the light of the freedom.

Are these writers twins? Are all redheads liberals?
At least the left has the better looking writers (see AC below with RR)

Why is this man baring his teeth?
Looks like a mouthful of WMD's

Did Ronald Reagan have an Intern with a blue dress too?

.
BUSH AND HIS VERY GOOD AMI JC
Looks like a marriage made in heaven

POST COMMENTS TO THE RTB FORUM

Turning up the heat

"When Ronald Reagan came into office, he cut taxes, we had big deficits, and we lost 2 million jobs. When Bill Clinton came into office, he raised taxes without a single Republican vote; we balanced the budget; we gained 6 and a half million jobs. George Bush has already lost 2 and a half million. I want a balanced budget because that’s how you get jobs in this country is to balance the books. No Republican president has balanced the budget in 34 years. …You had better elect a Democrat, because the Republicans cannot handle money. … We’re the party of responsibility, and they’re not." Candidate Dean

If you watched the Iowa gathering of Democrats on Sunday you got a pretty good dose of what's to come in the year ahead. I heard Graham, Kucinich, and Howard Dean speak and Dean was by far the most relaxed, connected and articulate of the three. Bob Graham closed with a verse of his new campaign song - the man cannot sing. And Kucinich in a Tee shirt gave a more traditional Democratic stump speech that showed nerve and invective. But Dean capitalized on his early opposition to the attack on Iraq to the cheers of the crowd who are invigorated by the WMD damage done to Bush and dubya co.

POST ALL COMMENTS TO THE RTB FORUM

The Man about Murfreesboro thinks Wolfowitz is looking to get fired

He is a puzzled as everyone else about that Bush remark in Poland
Where he told the Polish press that he had found the WMD's
Seems George thought those jokes about Polish intelligence were serious.
Maybe he doesn't know the difference between a joke and the truth.

007 in Revolt --- License to Kill Cancelled

RESONANCE beguiles us with the tale of the JAMES BONDS of the British Isles pulling the plug on the PM. What would M and Money Penny have to say about that.

“Ws” Monstrous Deception

Despite the recent disgrace suffered by the Guardian involving out of context quoting and Paul Wolfowitz, they come back today with two reports:
1) The first is most interesting. Those MOBILE LABS that “W” thought proved that the WMDs were had been found? The Observer has established that it is increasingly likely that the units were designed to be used for hydrogen production to fill artillery balloons, part of a system originally sold to Saddam by Britain in 1987.

Saddam's trucks were for balloons, not germs

2) The second report describes the “ bush fire that refuses to be stamped out, the flames of doubt are still licking around the 'coalition of the willing', drawing in the US, Australia and even Spain. But the way the allegations have caught fire in the US is all the more extraordinary, since the Bush administration - unlike the Government of Tony Blair - has not had to rely on the existence or not of weapons of mass destruction as a casus belli, committed as the US was to a policy of regime change in Iraq.
What is driving them, as much as a desire to find out the truth, is a desire to limit the huge influence and power that has been accumulated by the Pentagon and the coterie of hawks gathered around Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, which many fear is now dominating America's relations with the rest of the world.”
This description portends a rift in the coalition of the willing.

Weapons of self-delusion?

3) These words spell trouble for the WMD witch hunt. It seems the weapons research moved to small houses in 1996 to keep capability alive but no weapons were produced after 1996.
An unnamed general in charge insisted that search teams would find no weapons. "I challenge anyone in Iraq, from north to south, to find anything," he said.
According to the general, a research program was set up in 1996 with members of the Mukhabarat intelligence agency and the Special Security Organization. "The orders came directly from Saddam, what we called a red order, and his words were we must keep the victory going," he said. "We did small trials, experiments in basements or rooms. From the outside nobody would guess. But because of these cells we could start up production again very easily."
The existence of the program was confirmed by Dr Ala Saeed, who was head of quality control at the Al-Muthanna State Establishment, Iraq's main chemical weapons complex.


Saddam's chemical labs 'made no weapons'

Post comments in the RTB Forum