Royally Kranked

Friday, March 31, 2006

Finding a target to ridicule and bash away on is always much easier to accomplish if the day's already going badly and you haven't even left the house yet

In my case, I had a bastard of a headache when I went online

And when I saw two stories in particular, the headache got much worse

They hit the absolute wrong buttons, as I grew angrier at the willful ignorance & arrogant self-delusion on the part of those who claim only the purest of virtues and complete, unquestioning faith towards supposed religious authorities

As a result of that anger, this bizzaro world idea that supposed "Christians" are being persecuted in this country for their supposed “faith” has intruded upon me at a bad time, thus causing me to flail back in disgust at the sheer stupidity of that concept

Unlike Christ-except for one VERY notable exception he set by getting righteously angry-I’m NOT turning the other cheek to these theologically-bankrupt “Eager To Inflict Misery On Unwilling Others”-pimps like those on public display at the THE WAR ON CHRISTIANS AND THE VALUES VOTER

So I’m aiming this blast/rant DIRECTLY at the people taking part in, and running, this Hatefest called Vision America, reminiscent of nothing so much as a literal freakshow

And guess what else?

Even though I’m no fucking bible expert, I’m doing this in Jesus’ Name

But first, the two articles needed to give this some context

bypass registration with this Bug Me Not link-good for both articles, so each excerpt will feature the reporters initials to differentiate the two

Redemption Among the Faithful

Written by Dana Milbank

And

'War' on Christians Is Alleged
Conference Depicts a Culture Hostile to Evangelical Beliefs


Written by Alan Cooperman

The "War on Christmas" has morphed into a "War on Christians."

Last December, some evangelical Christian groups declared that the religious celebration of Christmas -- and even the phrase "Merry Christmas" -- was under attack by the forces of secularism.

This week, radio commentator Rick Scarborough convened a two-day conference in Washington on the "War on Christians and the Values Voters in 2006." The opening session was devoted to "reports from the frontlines" on "persecution" of Christians in the United States and Canada, including an artist whose paintings were barred from a municipal art show in Deltona, Fla., because they contained religious themes.

"It doesn't rise to the level of persecution that we would see in China or North Korea," said Tristan Emmanuel, a Canadian activist. "But let's not pretend that it's okay."(AC)

Not Pretend, that’s all you’re fucking DOING is pretending

Pretending you & your ilk are in ANY way under sanctioned, Government approved harassment that’s resulted in substantial losses of physical property, lives or limbs is an absolute lie, and I say “Prove It”

And I mean prove it with facts, names, dates, financial amounts of seized property, and transcripts for trials of those locked up because of their conservative religious beliefs as either the only, or main, reason

I want to see how nonviolent expression supposedly gets religious believers of only one mindset persecuted & sanctioned, and how that nonviolent expression had food taken off the table and out of the mouths of their children

As the “Law & Order” character McCoy best put it

“People who wrap themselves up in the flag or the cloth piss me off no end”

And in this case, these Taliban Rejects wrap themselves in both as tightly as possible

And BTW Vision America, when you honor a pure scumbag like this jackoff, you’re just BEGGING for a Christian BitchSlapping from the Deity YOU claim to profess & honor

There are those who would say Tom DeLay lost his job as House majority leader because he was indicted by a Texas grand jury on charges of money laundering and conspiracy, or because of his extensive ties to lawbreaking lobbyist Jack Abramoff. But they would be wrong....."I believe the most damaging thing that Tom DeLay has done in his life is take his faith seriously into public office, which made him a target for all those who despise the cause of Christ," Scarborough said, introducing DeLay yesterday. When DeLay finished, the host reminded the politician: "God always does his best work right after a crucifixion."(DM)

Wow

Delay=Christ to this fucktard Scarborough, I must have missed the part where Christ approved of killing off worker protections in the Sweatshop industry, as DeLay did when he’d help Jack Abramoff kill off increased legislation mandating better working conditions for those who worked in the Northern Marianas islands sweatshops

Somehow, the impression I get from DeLay-and this goes double for the rest of DeLay’s whiney Amen-Corner-is of someone who would have enthusiastically scourged Christ, bound Christ’s wrists to crucifix with spikes, joyfully tugged the Crown of Thorns into Jesus’ scalp as hard as possible, mocked Christ further, pierced the side of Christ and then cast lots for Christ’s garments

Interestingly, it appears US Talibantard Scarborough has more than one interest when it comes to his agenda, which is literally banking on the dull-witted natures and fears of his fervent followers-And yes, phrases like “Goose that laid the golden eggs” and “cash cow” do spring immediately to mind

But, as Scarborough knows, believers will be more motivated to go to the polls in November (and to contribute money to his group) if they feel threatened. And so his forum offered all sorts of books and pamphlets proclaiming dire warnings: "The Criminalization of Christianity," "Liberalism Kills Kids" and "Same-Sex Marriage: Putting Every Household at Risk."(DM)

And then there’s this bit of DeLay's “O’ Woe Is Me” canard that never passes the reality test in the least

White evangelicals make up about one-quarter of the U.S. population, and 85 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christians. But three-quarters of evangelicals believe they are a minority under siege and nearly half believe they are looked down upon by most of their fellow citizens, according to a 2004 poll.

In a luncheon speech yesterday, DeLay took issue with the "chattering classes" who think there is no war on Christians.

"We are after all a society that abides abortion on demand, that has killed millions of innocent children, that degrades the institution of marriage and often treats Christianity like some second-rate superstition. Seen from this perspective, of course there is a war on Christianity," he said.(AC)

No Tom, you’re no “Christian”, not in any New Testament version of “Christ” that I’ve read, and what you call "War On Christianity", I call, "refusing to asskiss religious hypocrites of the highest order"

To be a fundamentalist Christian, one would constantly give all their material goods to those less economically fortunate than themselves, after all, their faith in the Deity they claim to worship IS shown or disproved by their examples

To be a fundamentalist Christian requires sticking up for groups & individuals shunned & condemned by the larger society

“Comfort the afflicted & afflict the comfortable”

There’s no way Jesus would ever be on the same side of the abortion or same-sex marriage issues as those doing the condemning at Vision America, no bigger hypocrites than these moral & ethical hypocrites who claim they act in the spirit of “righteousness” by being so against the lessons Christ taught

Something else here too

I defy Scarborough or ANY of his followers to point out-in the New Testament-where in the Bible Jesus ever agreed with the Pharisees in terms of shunning those already unpopular with the larger society

The bile and anger rise even higher with this next bit of both overwrought hyperbole & rhetoric of the most hypocritical kind brayed jackass style by Pastor Scarborough

"This is a man that I believe God has appointed," Scarborough said, a view that might surprise the voters of the 22nd District of Texas. Scarborough, in his introduction, said DeLay had been "virtually destroyed in the press," and he urged the crowd to campaign for DeLay -- though he said nonprofit tax rules prevented him from actually "endorsing" DeLay.

The congressman started with a profession of faith, then went on a tour of the religious views of great presidents. He seemed to be on the verge of discussing his own troubles when he recalled Lincoln's view that men should "confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow."

But this was not the time for a DeLay confessional. Instead, he gave his view on the War on Christians. "Sides are being chosen, and the future of man hangs in the balance!" he warned. "The enemies of virtue may be on the march, but they have not won, and if we put our trust in Christ, they never will. . . . It is for us then to do as our heroes have always done and put our faith in the perfect redeeming love of Jesus Christ."

DeLay basked in the rapturous ovation that followed. "Keep your eyes on Jesus," Scarborough called after the fallen leader as he departed the stage.(DM)

You’re absolutely right Scarborough, SOMEONE needs to think of Christ, as it’s obviously not the worthless hypocrite of the First Order DeLay so clearly is, and it sure as hell isn't yourself either

There’s only one part of the Bible that I’ve ever read and gobbled up, and that would be where Christ excoriated the Pharisees in the temple, and I can’t think of a better retort to the above infuriating and smug warped theology, or one that’s transcended time with its fury intact

King James Version of the Bible
Book of Matthew
Chapter 23

23:1
Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,

23:2
Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:


23:3
All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

23:4
For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

23:5
But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

23:6
And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,


23:7
And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

23:8
But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.

23:9
And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

23:10
Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

23:11
But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

23:12
And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

23:13
But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

23:14
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

23:15
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

23:16
Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!

23:17
Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?

23:18
And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

23:19
Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?

23:20
Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.

23:21
And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.

23:22
And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

23:23
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.


23:24
Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

23:25
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

23:26
Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

23:27
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.


23:28
Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

23:29
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

23:30
And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

23:31
Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.


23:32
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

23:33
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

That’s a really good question anyone who took part at Vision America’s HypocrisyFest 2006 should try and spin away

Jesus BitchSlapping of the Pharisees is even more applicable today to the US Talibantards who aim to turn the US into a country where only Whites have real political power, although a few crumbs will be tossed the way of minorities willing to sell out their people for a seat at the GOP’s golden edged table

As I said, these blowhards aren’t Christian in any New Testament understanding of Jesus, they’re not real “Christians”

Real Christians try and relieve real-world suffering on the part of those already born, they don’t limit their worries or efforts to fetuses alone

Real Christians don’t preach a message of “Prosperity Gospel” that’s in complete contradiction to what Christ taught-a message of giving away all one owns in order to follow Jesus, and a message of ministering to the physical needs of the lowest of the low, the most powerless classes & groups in our society, namely the poor and the homeless

Real Christians don’t whine about how socially marginalized & permanently disenfranchised liberals are somehow able to overcome their complete lack of political power & massive societal rejection and successfully persecute “Christians” to the point of financial and personal ruin

In short, these theologically deluded fucktards who organized and ran the Vision America Hatefest are NOT real “Christians”, they’re more properly labeled as “Old Testamentalists”

And in part II of this rant, we’ll see more interesting items from some of those at the Vision America conference

Saturday, March 25, 2006

OUCH!!!

When George Bush shreds the Constitution, when he all but orders people to be tortured, when Republicans accept millions of dollars in bribes, the American people are not impressed when the Democratic Party says in response, as it has said for six years now: “We want to shred the Constitution too, but we won’t shred quite as much of it. We want to torture people too, but we won’t torture them as badly. We want to accept bribes too, but we won’t take quite as much money.”

Can you understand, you dolts in the Democratic Party, you cowards and morons in the U.S. Congress, that this does not impress anyone?

Can you understand what sniveling, willful impotence it is?

Bingo & Amen!

Friday, March 24, 2006

The arrogance, the unbridled, true imperious nature of this President grows more swollen by the day

Two stories show that for President Bush Jr, there are NO laws or Constitutional requirements he feels bound by

BUT

The President is so overcome with his own myth & his own selfishness, that he fails to see a BIG problem coming his way

bypass registration with this Bug Me Not link

DOJ: NSA Could've Monitored Doctor's Calls

And

bypass the registration for the next article with this Bug Me Not link

Bush shuns Patriot Act requirement
In addendum to law, he says oversight rules are not binding


Let's look at the warrantless wiretapping & eavesdropping on purely domestic communications the President claims he can order anytime he likes

The National Security Agency could have legally monitored ordinarily confidential communications between doctors and patients or attorneys and their clients, the Justice Department said Friday of its controversial warrantless surveillance program.

Responding to questions from Congress, the department also said that it sees no prohibition to using information collected under the NSA's program in court.

''Because collecting foreign intelligence information without a warrant does not violate the Fourth Amendment and because the Terrorist Surveillance Program is lawful, there appears to be no legal barrier against introducing this evidence in a criminal prosecution,'' the department said in responses to questions from lawmakers released Friday evening.

The department said that considerations, including whether classified information could be disclosed, must be weighed.(NYT)

Let's think about that

This President is actually claiming he can violate the privilege between Dr & Patient, Lawyer & Client, and further, that any information received is legally allowable in a trial/legal proceeding with NO search warrant needed in the least

If that's the case, then what's the point of any confidentiality for anyone at anytime?

Even better, since there's no way in hell I'd ever trust ANY faith-based intelligence/information disseminated by this Administration, I'm wondering just where is the Constitutional Authority for the President to violate the same Constitution he's sworn to uphold?

And I want specifics, lines, articles, clauses, etc, as this Administration's justification of "because we say so" is NOT any kind of factual basis for any Constitutional violations it commits on an active & ongoing basis

At this point, the President is making a grab for as much power as possible, and foolishly spoiling for a fight with the Dems, although the issues that worked for the President in the past, National/Homeland Security, no longer holds true for him

More on that in a bit, but back to the legal, ethical & moral outrage that deigns to call itself the President of The United States

The bill contained several oversight provisions intended to make sure the FBI did not abuse the special terrorism-related powers to search homes and secretly seize papers. The provisions require Justice Department officials to keep closer track of how often the FBI uses the new powers and in what type of situations. Under the law, the administration would have to provide the information to Congress by certain dates.

Bush signed the bill with fanfare at a White House ceremony March 9, calling it ''a piece of legislation that's vital to win the war on terror and to protect the American people." But after the reporters and guests had left, the White House quietly issued a ''signing statement," an official document in which a president lays out his interpretation of a new law.

In the statement, Bush said that he did not consider himself bound to tell Congress how the Patriot Act powers were being used and that, despite the law's requirements, he could withhold the information if he decided that disclosure would ''impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative process of the executive, or the performance of the executive's constitutional duties."

Bush wrote: ''The executive branch shall construe the provisions . . . that call for furnishing information to entities outside the executive branch . . . in a manner consistent with the president's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and to withhold information . . . "

The statement represented the latest in a string of high-profile instances in which Bush has cited his constitutional authority to bypass a law.(BG)

This President is a miserable scumbag and a lying jackoff, and I'll repeat again, where EXACTLY does the Constitution give the President the right to violate the same Constitution he's required & sworn to uphold?

And if he's so confident he's right, then why doesn't this coward & cravenly imbecilic, blue-blooded Connecticut Cowboy make these signing statements for the whole world to see?

Of, that's right, because as shown by his willingness to let others be sent to Vietnam in his place, President Bush Jr doesn't have a brave bone in his body, nor does he have a clue what it's like to be under the helmet & behind the trigger, and deliberately sent into battle without enough effective body & vehicle armor by a complete venal moron

That's why this lying, thieving bastard deserves all the problems he's going through right now, because once again, for President Bush Jr, society must placate his every childish whim, his every self-centered desire

For this President, every citizen's life must be as open a book as the Administration demands at the most minute level, while of course, the Administration has an obsession with keeping all Administrative manners, policies & implementations as quiet & shrouded in secrecy as possible, and all in the absurd claim that cutting back on our Constitutional Protections & Freedoms is necessary to keep us safe from "Freedom Hating Terrorists"

How is this President's attempts to override both the Legislative & Judicial branches with just his say-so alone keeping ANY terrorist at bay, how does the President claiming Imperial Powers serve our Constitutional Democracy in the least?

How is spreading "Democracy" & "Freedom" overseas easier accomplished by cutting back on those same qualities here at home?

Okay, lets shoot this next one down

The department said the same general criteria for the surveillance program would also apply to doctors' and lawyers' calls: one party must be outside the United States and there must be reason to believe one party is linked to al-Qaida. The department's written response also said that these communications aren't specifically targeted and safeguards are in place to protect privacy rights.(NYT)

There's only one obvious reason why the Administration ignored the very easy guidelines of the FISA law regarding warrantless wiretaps

Because this Administration is monitoring communications completely based in the US

The department also avoided questions on whether the administration believes it is legal to wiretap purely domestic calls without a warrant, when al-Qaida activity is suspected. The department wouldn't say specifically that it hasn't been done.(NYT)

There's no other logical reason for this Administration to ignore clear & bright guidelines when it comes to getting search warrants from the FISA judges

It's obvious the President considers the US public as his sworn enemies, that's the only reason he rapes the Constitution on an hourly basis, because everyone who doesn't flatter & praise him immensely, anyone not showing President Bush Jr complete & unflinching loyalty-even though that loyalty is NEVER returned-is out to sabotage his glorious reign, himself, and his loyal retinue/lackeys

President Bush's lifelong sense of unearned entitlement is on full display here with his claims of imperial power & unchecked authority

After The New York Times disclosed in December that Bush had authorized the military to conduct electronic surveillance of Americans' international phone calls and e-mails without obtaining warrants, as required by law, Bush said his wartime powers gave him the right to ignore the warrant law.

And when Congress passed a law forbidding the torture of any detainee in US custody, Bush signed the bill but issued a signing statement declaring that he could bypass the law if he believed using harsh interrogation techniques was necessary to protect national security.

Past presidents occasionally used such signing statements to describe their interpretations of laws, but Bush has expanded the practice. He has also been more assertive in claiming the authority to override provisions he thinks intrude on his power, legal scholars said.(BG)

Time to look at this from a different perspective, that of the November elections

And it's amazing that as much of a political-campaign genius Karl Rove is, governing is completely beyond him, as it appears his formerly Golden touch turned to lead immediately following the very zenith of Rove's power & crowning glory, the 2005 State Of The Union Address

President Bush Jr had won a 2nd term, the GOP increased it's turnout in both the House and Senate, and with the Dems marginalized even further, there was absolutely nothing standing in the way of Karl Rove's wet-dream-a permanent one-party state, rewarding his political operatives & cronies and dismantling as much of the social safety net as possible at the same time

Ironically enough, all that "Political Capital" President Bush Jr bragged about
earning on Election Night 2004 ended up giving him delusions of grandeur

The war in Iraq kept grinding forward

The campaign to kill off Social Security never got anywhere, with the end result being that the President blew a large amount of that "Political Capital" on an issue-Social Security Reform/Privatization-that became increasingly unpopular the more the public learned about it

And then Katrina hit the Gulf Coast & New Orleans, and while a strong leader could have helped lead the charge on a federal rescue & relief operation, this President instead squandered another 3 days on vacation while New Orleans drowned & people died

The image of this President as capable & competent in a crisis was completely shattered for all the world to see

The Iraq War grinds on still, and the President claims increasing powers for himself, and we're just supposed to take his word that he has our best interests at heart

As I said earlier, if the President feels so strongly that he's not bound by any law he doesn't feel like obeying, then let him make his signing statements in front of cameras & microphones instead of this spineless, cowardly "quiet" bs

And here's the big problem for the President in playing these imperial claims now

Your political capital is all gone President Bush Jr, you spent it quicker than a horny sailor with a fistful of cash on shore leave who blows it on the first skanky, gap-toothed whore he sees on the dock

And lets not forget how the rabid right US Taliban retards/retreads got smacked down hard by the overwhelming majority of the US Public regarding keeping Terri Schiavo alive against the wishes of her & her husband

Put all that together with a suddenly scared GOP, and the picture that emerges is not reassuring

For the President

And the GOP

With the President's plummeting approval ratings, it's becoming easier for various GOP Reps & Senators to publicly repudiate this most arrogant of Presidents'

With the party looking to distance itself from an unpopular President at every opportunity, it becomes less likely that his claims of untrammelled power as Commander In Chief will stay unchallenged by both parties

This President is asserting unchecked Executive Power at precisely the time he's least likely to get it or remain unchallenged on his imperious claims

And the more the GOP tries to distance itself from the President, the more it cuts its own political throat, the more the GOP undercuts the President's Authority, the more likely it is the GOP will damage itself as badly as the President is damaged now

The President and the arrogant style of his staff when it comes to working with, and listening to, members of both the House & the Senate, has rankled those outside the White House since W's crew came to town

It seems an obvious lesson

If you wish to assert claims of Executive Privilege, you don't do it when the public is abandoning you and your own party can't flee from your presence quick enough

You don't claim unfettered authority when your allies are shrinking in numbers

This election is going to be one of the ugliest in memory for both the GOP and President Bush Jr, and the damage done to both by each other is going to be at least as severe as Watergate was politically for the GOP & Nixon

Think of what happened the last time an unpopular GOP President had to deal with an extremely unpopular war that drained the US of both blood, life, limb & treasure

President Bush wants to follow Nixon's example regarding claims of "Executive Privilege"

If he's not careful, President Bush Jr will follow Nixon's example of impeachment as well

Thursday, March 23, 2006

For the mining industry, nothing says safety more than tax breaks & lobbying against laws which mandate changes to protect miners from deadly disasters like that which recently afflicted the Sago mine in West Virginia

Two articles are examined here, and both will be annotated, KR for the Knight Ridder Article, TH for The Hill article

And for the search results of the now archived KR article

Under Bush, mine-safety enforcement eased-KR

And

Mining industry poised to win tax breaks on safety measures-TH

After fatal mining accidents this year, the mining industry is on the verge of winning tax breaks to help pay for new safety technologies as it lobbies against government-imposed safety requirements.

Michael Peelish, a senior vice president for safety and human resources at Foundation Coal Corp., told a Senate panel earlier this month that tax breaks would help companies invest in new equipment and training for enhanced mine safety and rescue capabilities.(TH)

Nice, so for the mining industry, the only way to protect minors is NOT by tougher workplace-safety regulations, but by getting tax breaks to do the right thing

Of course, it's not like this Administration had been cracking down hard on the more flagrant abuses in the mining industry to begin with

Since the Bush administration took office in 2001, it has been more lenient than its predecessors toward mining companies facing serious safety violations, issuing fewer and smaller major fines and collecting less than half of the money that violators owed, a Knight Ridder investigation has found.

At one point last year, the Mine Safety and Health Administration fined a coal company $440 for a "significant and substantial" violation that ended in the death of a Kentucky man. The firm, International Coal Group Inc., is the same company that owns the Sago mine in West Virginia, where 12 workers died last week.

The $440 fine remains unpaid.(KR)

For this Administration, life is definitely cheap, but maybe I'm being too harsh, and that the Administration will get around to collecting that still-unpaid $44o fine before the next President's 2009 inauguration

So, of course, the way to beef up oversight is NOT heavier fines or tougher enforcement to ensure the industry is doing right by the very people who make all that money for the owners, the employees

Instead, tax breaks are pushed as the ticket to keep miners safe

There appears to be bipartisan support for the tax breaks, which were included in the Senate tax package now being negotiated with House tax writers, who did not include similar breaks in their budget reconciliation bill. The breaks include a 50 percent tax credit to buy and install communications systems and safety equipment, and a 20 percent credit for the cost of training rescue teams.....Mining executives have lobbied against bills introduced by Rep. Nick Rahall in the House and Sen. Robert Byrd in the Senate, both West Virginia Democrats. The measures would direct the Labor Department to adopt new regulations to require each coal mine to maintain at “strategic locations” sufficient supplies of air and self-contained breathing equipment, provide a means of communicating with people on the surface and ensure that each miner has a tracking device to improve the chances that rescuers will be able to find them.(TH)

Heaven forfend that the good times stop rolling for this Administration's oversight of the mining industry, as safety upgrades & requirements cost money, and Lord knows, we wouldn't want those poor, put-upon mine owners to suffer financially or legally in the least

Thankfully for the mining industry, its CEOs & Boards of Directors, this Administration's got their back

The number of major fines over $10,000 has dropped by nearly 10 percent since 2001. The dollar amount of those penalties, when adjusted for inflation, has plummeted 43 percent to a median of $27,584.

Fewer than half of the fines levied between 2001 and 2003 - about $3 million - have been paid.

The budget and staff for the enforcement office also have declined, forcing the agency to make do with about 100 fewer coal-mine-enforcement personnel, a cut of about 9 percent.

In serious criminal cases, the number of guilty pleas and convictions have fallen 54.8 percent since 2001. In the first four years of the Bush administration, the federal government averaged 3.5 criminal convictions a year; in the four years before that, the average was 7.75 per year.(KR)

Yep, nothing shows the Administration's commitment to safety issues like cutting fines and reducing prosecutions against corner-cutting CEO's

Thank God there's an industry backed "Set Of Principles" to set us whiney, workers rights advocates straight, I mean, what ARE we thinking in demanding tougher fines & sharper legal oversight of the mining industry?

In response to accidents at the Sago and Alma mines, which left 14 West Virginia miners dead, and the subsequent push in Congress to adopt new regulations, the mining industry has adopted a “set of principles” that it carried to dozens of Capitol Hill offices during two days of lobbying visits two weeks ago. The National Mining Association has also formed a commission of industry experts to review safety technologies and training. It is expected to release a draft report this July.(TH)

And that's a message the mining industry felt needed lots of word-of-mouth to achieve

In the meantime, a dozen industry executives were scheduled to visit nearly 80 offices of members with oversight responsibilities during a March 7-8 fly-in.(TH)

But lets look at this from the Mine Safety and Helath Administration, no doubt a vociferous advocate of the miners they represent

The mine-safety agency touts on its Web site statistics showing the agency's "overall record of increased enforcement against mine operators during this Administration."

Those statistics show that in 2005, the agency issued 4 percent more violation notices for all mines than it did in 2000 and that the number of coal-mine violations issued increased by 18 percent. The agency also touted a 13 percent increase in "significant and substantial" violations.(KR)

Well, I'm convinced, there's no doubt the MSHA is one the job and on it's toes

Or maybe not

But those numbers hide the fact that most of the fines were so small that they were meaningless to big mining companies, said Dennis O'Dell, a health and safety administrator for the United Mine Workers of America union.

"It's not enough to scare the companies to take care of business," O'Dell said. "A $55 fine for a coal company means nothing when they're making millions upon millions of dollars."(KR)

And thankfully, the mining industry knows just how to overcome that lack of stringent enforcement on the part of the MSHA-free the mining industry from legal actions and drug-test the miners

The industry wants Congress to provide liability shields for mine rescue teams. It would also like an OK to require drug testing of miners and supports the tax breaks.(TH)

And an even bigger "Thank God" for the mining industry referring to Rahall's proposal as nothing more than a flight of fancy on the part of misguided anti-capitalists

The Rahall bill, in contrast, is more “wish fulfillment than a realistic assessment of what is required to make mines safer,” said National Mining Association spokesman Luke Popovich.(TH)

Absolutely, why the very idea that more stringently-enforced laws might make mines safer is laughably absurd.

As best shown by this example of fines not being an accurate indicator-according to the mining industry anyways

Earnie Williams, 65, was killed when a chunk of frozen coal slurry rocketed out of a clogged pipe, ricocheted and hit him in the head. The company, ICG, was faulted for not having procedures for unclogging frozen pipes and was fined $440.

"The $440 fine charged to the company is a ridiculous figure to compare to someone's life or to deter the company from future unsafe practices," Williams' daughter, Karla Smith of Hindman, Ky., wrote in an e-mail to Knight Ridder. "How does anyone expect ICG to correct hazardous and potentially deadly practices when a pocket-change fine is issued after such an occurrence?"(KR)

And far be it from us lowly workers rights peons to think that this Administration-the most big-business friendly and consumer/employee unfriendly group in the White House since the age of the Robber Barons-had anything to do with the drop in fines & legal actions, after all, who are you going to believe, the mining industry or your lyin' eyes?

David Gooch, president of Coal Operators and Associates in Pikeville, Ky., which has 200 members, said the size of the fines had nothing to do with who was in power in Washington.

"It doesn't have anything to do with who's the president because, actually, the people who are doing those fines are apolitical," Gooch said. "They're employees that are covered by the federal civil service, and their own union, by the way, so they compute the fines the way they come out."

Mining industry officials defended the Bush administration and pointed to recent years of record low deaths and injuries in mining as the most important numbers.

For coal mining, 2005 and 2002 were record low years for fatalities. Twenty-two people were killed last year in coal-mining incidents - down from 47 in 1995. There were 27 fatalities in 2002. The number of workers killed in all mines hit consecutive record lows of 56 and 55 in 2003 and 2004, respectively, but increased slightly to 57 in 2005.

"Within the last five years, the number of fatalities have been cut in half," said National Mining Association spokeswoman Carol Raulston. "From our perspective, that's where we ought to be focused. It is what is happening to the absolute number of injuries - and the rate of injuries - that has gone down. Mining is no longer the most dangerous industry in the United States."(KR)

Of course that's where attention should be focused, and why would anyone think tougher laws & higher fines have ANYTHING to do with miners safety in the least is a puzzle I can't quite comprehend

Tony Oppegard, a Lexington, Ky., lawyer who was a top mine-safety agency official during the Clinton administration and later general counsel for the Kentucky Department of Mines and Minerals, said there were problems with that philosophy.

"The philosophy is all coal operators are good guys and if you just tell them what to do, they'll be more than willing to do it and they'll do a good job," he said. "We know from history that's not true. Not all coal operators are good guys. There are some outlaws out there. And when you have an outlaw operator, you need to use your enforcement tools."

In 2001, the mine-safety agency had 1,181 coal-mine-enforcement workers. This year, the agency had about 1,080. And President Bush has proposed a further cut to 1,043 in the current fiscal budget.

Cutbacks in enforcement officials mean that specialists who could concentrate on the most pressing safety issues - ventilation and roof cave-ins - have been pressed into service for the routine and mandatory inspections, former officials say.(KR)

And the whining from those concerned with miner safety doesn't end with the above, check out this gem

An even bigger worry, McAteer noted, is the lack of timely follow-up inspections. The problem was highlighted by a 2003 Government Accountability Office study that found that 48 percent of all citations - including the most serious ones - were not followed up by the mandated deadline.

"It is a very severe problem," McAteer said. "In human terms, if you don't follow that up, you can send all the enforcement people you want... . There's less incentive to fix" the problem.(KR)

I mean, really, what's next, demands for better communications and refuge areas where miners could gather in the event of a disaster?

Well, ummm, yeah

Two-way communications that can provide uninterruptible service at all mine depths are not available, Popovich said. And the industry fears the legislation could lead to the requirement that “refuges” where miners could retreat in an emergency to await rescue be constructed. Such refuges are impractical in coal mines with relatively narrow seams, the veins of coal that miners ply, Popovich said.

The bills would require the Labor Department to review the efficacy of refuge chambers but would not require their construction. They would require some sort of two-way communications be installed in the mine. Such systems would make it easier for rescue teams to find trapped miners.

The House source said that at a minimum mine operators should be required to provide their workers with one-way communications links to the surface. A study by the Mine Safety and Health Administration found such systems to be 90 percent effective. Miners could at least be told which way to head to escape a fire, for example, if they had a one-way communications system linking them to the surface, the House source said.(TH)

What, only 90% effective, then what's the point of these onerous regulations since there's not going to be a 100% success rate?

I mean really, talk about regulations that tie the mining industry's clean, pure hands behind its righteous back when it comes to deciding the best way to keep it's moneymaking employees-the miners-safe

To avoid onerous new regulations, the industry has pointed out that the number of fatalities each year from mining has dropped 90 percent from 1970 even as production has increased 80 percent.

But critics note that the number of miners who have died in the first two months of 2006 is more than half the number of miners who died in all of 2005, a record year in terms of fewest mining deaths.(TH)

Damn, there the miner-safety advocates go again, introducing facts into this issue, why the very nerve!!!

Thankfully, from the industry's point of view, it's considered more important for the MSHA to play nice with the mine owners, than it is to hold them accountable for their lack of actions in making the mines safer places to work, especially since there's a growing demand for what the mining industry produces

The industry and the regulatory body in charge of overseeing it have become complacent, the House source said. That’s especially dangerous now that coal use is again rising, the source said, adding, however, that the Rahall bill faces an uphill battle in the House.(TH)

Of course, even if the Dems take back the House in the November elections, it's a toss up as to whether the legislation would have an easier time passing, seeing as how so many of the Dems seem to lack a spine & heart to fight

But the mine owners can't be sure that lack of backbone would continue if the dems get control of the House, and it's a bet they're not willing to make, not when the paychecks of CEOs and Boards of Directors could get cut in the rush to legislate and implement improved communications and safe areas inside the mines themselves to give the miners a better shot at survival

In other words, the politicians need to hear from the people, and they need to get pushed-HARD-to pass these much needed laws, increase fines and much more aggressively prosecute the scofflaws who all too often run this industry

Start holding companies more accountable with heavy fines and increased jail time for wayward CEOs & Boards of Directors, and watch how quick the problems clear up

The dead miners deserve no less to honor their memories & lives, they made money for their industry, and they died for that same industry's profits

Their lives should mean much more than kowtowing and kissing up to the same industry greed which got them killed

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Well, isn't this special, the Dems have less spine than the GOP, but apparently fatter wallets for Senate Campaigns

The National Republican Senatorial Committee raised $5.5 million in February, while the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised $3.8 million.

Democrats still hold a big advantage on money in the bank with $27.4 million, while Republicans have $14.5 million.

Forgive me for living up to my last name, but I fail to see this enormous backwash of cash as a good thing when it comes to free & fair elections

The Dems think big money=big ideas and a sure fire winning ticket at the voting booth

The Dems have become GOP lite in more ways than one, as they sell out their liberal base-except when it comes to pleading for campaign contributions from the same liberals they run away from instead of aggressively pursuing a progressive/liberal agenda

The Dems think this money-edge makes up for their lack of courage and spine

And there's the biggest difference between the Dems & the GOP when it comes to electoral strategy

The GOP plays to its base, the Dems-except for begging for campaign contributions-run away from their base

So, I make a modest series of proposals to suck the money out of our electoral system

Good for democracy, bad for those who profit so mightily from the current, corrupt system of financially rewarded cronies on both sides of the political aisle

1. Free TV & Radio air time for candidates on an election ballot-The airwaves belong to the taxpayers, NOT the media corporations, and as such, the people can insist on just such an option

2. No out of state funds & campaign contributions when it comes to US Senate races-ALL funds raised in-state only

3. No out of district funds & campaign contributions when it comes to US House races-ALL funds raised in-district only

I'm sure there are other ways to cut down on the corrosive influence these massive amounts of campaign-geld have on our system, but these three seem, to me, an eminently reasonable place to start sucking the money out of politics

Apparently, the term "Privacy Rights" means about as much to the IRS as it does to Dear Leader W & his warrantless spying on purely domestic communications

Just when it seems the IRS can't get more negative publicity for itself, it does THIS

IRS plan would allow sale of tax data to marketers

If it succeeds, accountants and other tax-return preparers for the first time would be able to sell information from individual returns -- or even entire returns -- to marketers and data brokers.

And then, the IRS pulls an even more infuriating move via linguistic Jedi Mind Trickery

The change is in a set of proposed rules the Treasury Department and the IRS published in the Dec. 8 Federal Register, where the official notice labeled them "not a significant regulatory action."

Only with this Administration could letting the IRS sell taxpayers info & complete returns be considered as "not a significant regulatory action"

And really, if it's such a peachy fucking keen idea, why is the IRS doing this quietly, and why are they pushing the hackneyed "updating old & inefficient rules" blather if this proposal is so above board?

IRS officials portray the changes as housecleaning needed to update outmoded regulations adopted before it began accepting returns electronically. The proposed rules, which would become effective 30 days after a final version is published, would require a tax preparer to obtain written consent before selling tax information.

Critics call the changes a dangerous breach in personal and financial privacy. They say the requirement for signed consent would prove meaningless for many taxpayers, especially those hurriedly reviewing stacks of documents before a filing deadline.

And once the IRS sells the info, there are no restrictions on how that info is used or disseminated

In other words, like Pontius Pilate's freeing of Barabas & condemning of Christ to death, the IRS washes it's hands of the info once they sell it

And even more "1984" style propoganda claiming the info sold is somehow a good deal for taxpayers, especially note the date the regulation-change was proposed

The IRS announced the proposal in a news release the day before the notice was published, headlined: "IRS Issues Proposed Regulations to Safeguard Taxpayer Information."

Just one little trifling matter about that desire to "Safeguard Taxpayer Information"

The announcement did not mention potential sales of tax information.

Lastly, it seems that the taxpayer's right to safeguard the information is already at a higher level than what the IRS wants

IRS spokesman William M. Cressman said, "The heart of this proposed regulation is about the right of taxpayers to control their tax return information. The idea is to emphasize taxpayer consent and set clear boundaries on how tax return preparers can use or disclose tax return information."

I would say that a better way to set clear boundaries on this issue is to leave the system just the way it is already

And I thought this kind of thing only happened in Chicago

Monday, March 20, 2006

Working on a heartbreaking story, that's why there's been no updates since last week

But, for now, Dear Leader W gets some rather unflattering comments thrown his way by a still seemingly upset Trent Lott, not forgetting that he was forced out of the Senate Majority Leader spot in 2003 after making a rather foolish remark at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party

Lott might run for majority leader post

First, let's see the warm feelings Lott has for the guy who replaced him as Senate Majority Leader, Terri Schavo's Video Diagnostician Extraordinaire, Bill "Quacky" Frist

A newcomer to the Senate, Frist was widely seen as Bush’s pick to be majority leader. Lott said Frist didn’t have the experience to lead a political body as fractious as the Senate.

“I don’t think he’ll go down in history as one of the greats,” Lott said Saturday.

I think that's a very safe assumption, especially seeing as how Frist is nothing more than an amateurish political opportunist, most recently shown by his giving the White House no more than an hour's notice that he would publicly oppose the Dubai Ports Deal

And the Frist-hits keep on coming from Lott

Frist, who is dogged by questions about stock transactions involving the family company, plans to step down next year as majority leader to make a run for the presidency. It’s a run that Lott doesn’t think much of.

“I don’t think he has a shot at that,” Lott said.

On that front, I completely agree with Lott, in spite of the fact that Frist won the first straw poll regarding the GOP's 2008 Presidential Primary nomination-Of course, Frist DID bus in lots of supporters to vote in that Straw Poll, but that's a trifling matter

As it turns out though, Lott's main comments were directed at President Jr and the Administration

Did I say "comments"?

I meant "Attacks"

As in Dear Leader now gets to consider what happens if Lott is re-elected to his Senate seat, then runs & regains the Senate Majority Leader's spot

It's called political payback, and it's a REAL bitch

And if he’s successful, Lott said, he’d like to see the Senate pass fewer, bigger pieces of legislation and spend more time overseeing the White House. He said that if better oversight had been exercised — and better legislation had been passed — the government’s response to Katrina would have been better and the Dubai Ports World debacle could have been avoided.

Just what W, Rove & Cheney DON'T want, oversight of any kind

And after losing property thanks to Katrina, Lott shot on other Administration's bungles

If the Federal Emergency Management Agency hadn’t been rolled into the mammoth bureaucracy of the Department of Homeland Security, it would have been better manned and better funded, Lott said.

If the Defense Department had been included in a review of a deal for a Dubai company to run six U.S. ports, security concerns could have been raised earlier, Lott said.

But the senator gave Bush himself low marks for his handling of the controversy. In the face of a congressional revolt, the president threatened to use his veto pen for the first time in his presidency.

“He did really bungle that,” Lott said.

And if threatened oversight of the Imperial Presidency wasn't enough, Lott had further BitchSlaps to deliver to Dear Leader W, and I'm guessing that he & Bush Jr won't be sitting on that porch after it's been rebuilt

With poll numbers stuck in the 30s and the war in Iraq becoming increasingly unpopular, Bush could hurt the GOP in the November elections, Lott said.

“If he doesn’t manage the perceptions and get his numbers up, he’s going to be a drag in the fall,” Lott said, echoing calls for Bush to bring new blood into the White House the way Ronald Reagan did in the wake of the Iran-Contra scandal.

Now, not only are GOPbots openly calling President Jr "A Drag" on the party, but other GOPbots aren't willing to be seen publicly with President Jr when he's trying to defend his disastrous Iraq Invasion decision

Who won't be there?

When a president's popularity plummets as Bush's has, other politicians often avoid public appearances with them. Prominent Ohio Republicans including Sen. Mike DeWine, Sen. George Voinovich and Rep. Steve LaTourette say they're skipping Bush's speech because of prior commitments.....Gov. Bob Taft, whose popularity is even lower than Bush's, isn't expected to attend, either. Taft noted that he attended Bush's speech last month outside Columbus, as did Voinovich. Today's event isn't on the schedules of either Jim Petro or Ken Blackwell, the GOP candidates to replace Taft, their spokesmen said.

Nothing like politicians with even lower approval ratings avoiding the President like the worst & most pestilent of plaques

"Mission Accomplished" Indeed!

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

From Mia Culpa, Desi has the goods on this latest Wartard Jedi Mind Trick that attempts to shut up all us anti-war Bush Bashers

Enter the 'Midwest Heroes.'

We should all just respectfully, and dutifully shut up since they have loved ones in harm's way, or have lost family members in the war, right? That's what they hope, and perhaps might even be worthy of a bit of respect . . . if they were being honest in their ad campaign.

Ad No. 2 began airing Wednesday and features the mothers and fathers of four dead soldiers. The final mother figure in the ad tells the camera: "We have to finish this job to remember Erik's sacrifice, and all of the other fallen heroes." She is identified as M. J. Kesterson, and many viewers will assume she is the mother of Chief Warrant Officer Erik Kesterson, 29, a helicopter pilot killed in 2003 who figures prominently in the ad.

But she's not his mom.

M.J. Kesterson is married to Erik's father, who also appears in the ad, and she's Erik's stepmother. His mother is Dolores Kesterson, and the distinction is important because Dolores Kesterson is opposed to a war in which she believes her son died to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction that did not exist and to avenge 9/11, which was not connected to Iraq.

Dolores, who is a member of Gold Star Families for Peace, voiced her opposition when she was granted a brief meeting with President Bush in 2004 and gave Bush a letter in which she wrote: "The label 'Iraqi Freedom' doesn't work for me. Iraq is not free. It is occupied, and now, after all the loss of life on both sides, they don't want us there."

I'm sorry, I have a big problem with the logic that dictates the ONLY way to honor dead, maimed & traumatized US Troops & Iraqi Civilians is to create MORE dead, maimed & traumjatized US Troops & Iraqi Civilians

Top notch blogging, nice find at Mia Culpa

Monday, March 13, 2006

It's really amusing to watch Dear Leader W's former supporters now sprinting away from the clueless putz masquerading as the current US President

With Conservatives like Buckley, and neocons like Fukuyama now turning their backs not only on W, but also the neocon movement in Fukuyama's case, it's as if the rightwing has finally realized just what a horrific anchor President Jr is when it comes to dragging the entire neocon movement under the waves

And in that respect, Melissa SHREDS not only the conservatives, but the Dear Leader at the same time

Just So Brutal

Bush was your Golden Boy—a corporate shill with the demeanor of a country bumpkin, who could hold together the unholy alliance between Big Money and Big Religion, standing at the altar and giving the blessing to the crackpot marriage between the business interests who sought to get rich off the stupid sods who marched in lockstep if only someone would protect the children from radical feminists and kissing boys. He didn’t just give good speech on Neocon dreams and working class nightmares; he believed that shit. And with a GOP-led Congress and a neverending stream of media mouthpieces willing to demonize anyone who dared to dissent, he tumbled headfirst into fulfilling every last one of your wishes, like a demented genie pulled out of a bottle in oil-soaked Texas.

He wrapped himself in the flag and told America to follow him down the Yellow Brick Road. He went to war, and he made you rich. And you cheered him all the way, over every last golden cobblestone. Then America got to Oz, and started getting itchy—and now you want to pretend you never knew what was there. Why, we had no idea there was just some shriveled old man behind the curtain! Please.

Let’s get real for a moment. Conservatives believe the free market and privatization is the solution to all our problems. Conservatives believe in social Darwinism. Conservatives believe in defense, defense, and more defense. And maybe, once upon a time, conservatives believed in privacy rights, but once you invited social retards into your Big Tent to give your corporate agenda the momentum it needed in the voting booths and supported the notion of a unitary executive, you relinquished your claim to that forever and ever, amen. You can’t now try to distance yourself from Bush by retreating to some retro definition of conservatism and accusing him of not meeting it. You championed that redefinition when it suited you, and now you’re stuck with it. You can’t have it both ways.

There are now twice as many billionaires in America as there were four years ago, and in the time of their making, we have seen soldiers die, felt our rights be stripped away, watched an entire American city drown—saw those for whom conservatives have the greatest contempt turn to their government for help in a time of crisis and quite literally be left stranded by the callousness of conservative philosophy. And all the while you wailed about how hard you’ve got it, and now you want to wail some more that your principles have been betrayed by Bush.

Yep, Dear Leader W is ALL yours neocons, now do the right thing and start paying the financial costs endemic for backing such a clearly incompetent hack unable to perform to the effective or efficient manner so clearly above President Jr's natural mental abilities

BTW

Slobodan Milosevic is definitely worth mentioning here, as this is probably the dictator & operatives the Administration most clearly resembles

Milosevic used the Government & his office to run a huge criminal enterprise, which is EXACTLY what the current US Administration is doing as well

Why is it the ONLY thing President Jr's leadership has excelled in is rewarding campaign contributing cronies & industries?

Louts, worthles, vile, looting louts

That pretty much sums up this Administration and anyone still backing it

Sunday, March 12, 2006

In The Snarky Spotlight

Lets check out the goings on over at the Southern Republican Leadership conference, an early look at some of the GOP's major hopefuls for the 2008 Republican Presidential Nomination

If things were this disorganized for what should have been a trouble-free production showcasing the best & brightest of GOP Presidential hopefuls, it's hard to see how the GOP's political woes have been obviated in the least

bypass registration with this Bug Me Not link

At Republican Conference, the Future Is Now

The roster of prospective '08-ers in Memphis included Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sens. McCain, Sam Brownback, George Allen and Bill Frist.

*********************

The Peabody is, of course, a celebrated Memphis landmark, known for the daily spectacle of ducks walking across the lobby, none of them lame. The poultry parade will inevitably cram the immediate area with onlookers to a point where, for hours before, guests can be seen staking out the prime viewing spaces by the elevators (from where the little critters emerge). And one hasn't lived, apparently, until sipping bloodys at the Peabody bar while watching duckies waddle out of the elevator to the rollicking tones of Chris Matthews.

Now, damn it, THAT'S what Snarky's all about,

It took exactly 23 minutes for a speaker -- RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman -- to declare that the next election will be "the most important of our lifetime," one of the great recurring tropes in American politics, though it's unclear if Mehlman was predicting that 2006 or 2008 would be the most important. His speech was a relentless assault on Democrats for what he says is their liberal agenda, their retreat in the war on terror, the taxes-raising, their cutting and running, all that.

Now we come to the ever-humorous "Clusterfuck" portion of the GOP Beauty Pageant

But one of the most stunning scenes of the weekend occurred late Saturday morning, when Allen submitted to a live interview with Fox News in the back of the ballroom while Brownback was in the middle of his speech. As the Kansas senator began a discussion on genocide in Darfur, Allen, who had just finished his own remarks, began gabbing away to Fox -- bathed in distracting TV lights and audible to a significant portion of the room.

The hubbub drew the notice of about 30 reporters, who proceeded to crowd around Allen's riser -- less to hear what he was saying than to marvel at this breach of protocol. At one point, Allen invoked Reagan's "11th Commandment" that Thou Shalt Not Speak Ill of Other Republicans -- though apparently there's no 12th Commandment that Thou Shalt Not Do Live Shots While Other Republicans Are Trying to Speak.

Brownback's speech ended, Sen. Lindsey Graham's began, and Allen was still doing Fox.

Finally done, Allen walked out of the ballroom and complained that "it's impossible to do an interview with all that going on in there."

Why, the very NERVE of those other candidates to actualy give their speeches during Allen's interview time, such perfidy & wickedness indeed!

Why, I'll bet proper GOP Southern Belles suffered fits of Mass-Swooning over such an ungenteel display towards the Courtly & Gentelemanly Senator Allen

And actually, Allen DID apologize, although that's only being mentioned to bring in the next example of said "Clusterfuck"

When a reporter asked if it was proper for Allen to give a TV interview during someone else's speech, Allen said, "I hated doing it," and then suggested that the question might be better put to Fox.

He was more sheepish than defiant. "It was impolite," Allen said, shaking his head. "I'm sorry I did it that way." Later, Allen said he thought others had stood for interviews during speeches also.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, South Carolina's Graham was hoisting himself onto the Fox set while Huckabee was trying to stir the crowd with a line ridiculing Howard Dean.

Please let there be someone who actually has this on video

Please

Saturday, March 11, 2006

"But Not BEST Friends"

In yet another example of how those born at the shallow end of the gene pool so often end up in politics comes this howler of a story

This poor guy has to play the "I can't believe how stupid I was card", which actually comes off only slightly less insulting than the outright hostility in the e-mail he probably wishes now he'd never sent

Step into the well-deserved-yet-publicly-humiliating-media-spotlight Colorado State Representative Jim Welker, R-Loveland

Fair Disclosure-the excerpts are not in the same order they are in the story, as there are two issues to post abou-First, about the e-mail and it's author

A Loveland lawmaker has been blasted by his colleagues for e-mailing an essay written by someone else that accused "welfare-pampered blacks" of waiting for the government to save them from Hurricane Katrina.

******************************

One passage says, "President Bush is not to blame for the rampant immorality of blacks."

******************************

Essay author Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, who is black, is praised on one Web site for taking on the NAACP, a "tool of the largely 'elite, socialist' Democratic Party."

As we'll see with self-described "Reverend" Peterson, he's the type who would have been right at home pounding the spikes binding Christ & Cross together, yanked the Crown of Thorns as deeply onto Christ's scalp as possible, scourging & mocking Christ and piercing Christ's side with the spear, he would have done it ASAP in order to impress his socially economic betters, those calling the shots at the National Leadership of the GOP, and Peterson would have done it without the least hesitation whatsoever

Excerpts from an essay by the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson posted Sept. 21, 2005, on WorldNetDaily.com:

• "Say a hurricane is about to destroy the city you live in. What would you do?

If you're black . . . you'll probably wait for the government to save you."

• "When 75 percent of New Orleans residents had left the city, it was primarily immoral, welfare-pampered blacks that stayed behind and waited for the government to bail them out."

• "About five years ago, in a debate before the National Association of Black Journalists, I stated that if whites were to just leave the United States and let blacks run the country, they would turn America into a ghetto within 10 years. (But) I gave blacks too much credit. It took a mere three days for blacks to turn the Superdome and the convention center into ghettos, rampant with theft, rape and murder."

• "Had New Orleans' black community taken action, most would have been out of harm's way. But most were too lazy, immoral and trifling to do anything productive for themselves."

• "Blacks are obligated to help themselves and not depend on the government to care for them. We are all obligated to tell them so."

Just one question for the Good Reverend Jerkoff here

How does ANY of that hateful vitriol express ANY thing Christian-in the New Testament sense of "Christianity", you know, the only one that actually dealt with Jesus and what he commanded be done in his name?

I'm no biblical expert, but the "Rev" Peterson seems far more interested in imitating the morally & ethically corrupt/bankrupt Pharisees & moneychangers in the temple that Jesus melted down about than he does teaching the word of Christ, with no mention of compassion or mercy anywhere in Peterson's nauseating & enthusiastically hateful diatribe

I challenge, I DEFY Peterson to point out where Jesus EVER sided with the Pharisees in further shunning & stigmatizing an already socially shunned & stigmatized group, ESPECIALLY as it relates to condemning the Poor

Idiocy like that so often gets the Major Karmic Bitchslapping that eventually comes due, especially as it relates to pious frauds calling themselves Men Of God

And all of which brings us to the other dimwit here, Rep Welker

Welker is now backtracking from his endorsement of Peterson's shrill class-based diatribe, and claims it was just an oversight on his part

Rep. Jim Welker, a Republican, said Thursday morning that he forwarded the article because of its message about society victimizing people by making them dependent on government programs.

He said he didn't agree with everything in the essay.

So, how's that message going over now Welker, about as well as you'd hoped?

Seems to me the REAL victimization that happened here was the poor of New Orleans actually thinking they counted as lives worth saving in the eyes of our President & Other Government Officials, both elected & appointed

The Government at ALL levels failed it's end of the social compact, and failed miserably because of rampant corruption, cronyism in rewarding campaign contributors & fundraisers and an arrogant attitude of not caring for those at the very bottom of our society financially, socially & legally

And you know the Public BitchSlapping is even MORE humiliating when administered by a member of your own political party, a righteous smackdown performed by someone-Rep Debbie Stafford-who actually dealt with those Katrina displaced from New Orleans & The Gulf Coast, and who angrily pointed out to Welker just exactly which other group was victimized by a shameful Governmental response to Katrina

House lawmakers - black and white, Republican and Democrat - expressed outrage that Welker would forward such an essay.

Rep. Debbie Stafford, R-Aurora, who worked with Katrina evacuees when they came to Colorado, said she was "appalled and sickened."

"These (were) poor people. Many of them were senior citizens and had no way to escape the hurricane," said Stafford, who is white.

And now, Welker is left to the most pathetic of rhetoric to downplay his completely self-inflicted political damage

"Forwarding this e-mail, particularly without comment, showed poor judgment on my part. I found the opinions expressed by this individual, especially if taken literally, to be offensive and inappropriate. I should not have assumed that this would be clear when received by others."

He earlier said he should have put a disclaimer on the e-mail, and will do so in future e-mails of other writers' material.

Brilliant logic Brainiac, forwarding an e-mail without any kinds of commentary or disclaimers probably IS going to be interpreted as your complete support

Something else comes up in the article, an official tribute to Welker's TRUE political talents, mutlitasking

Welker said he forwarded the e-mail over the weekend on his own computer.

But Democratic lawmakers have asked the legislature's technical staff to determine why copies of the e-mails forwarded to them by people who were upset with the content bear a time stamp of Monday afternoon, when Welker was in a committee hearing with his laptop computer.

Truly, this has the potential to be a spectacular version of "Innocent & Naive Deer Caught In The Politcal Headlights"

And with the "Good" Rep, the fun just never stops, as which card does Welker play which only compounds the negative racial aspect of that hateful e-mail?

Yes, if you guessed the following, you're correct

Welker, who is white, said he wasn't implying anything about blacks by forwarding the essay.

"Some of my best friends are of different skin color, like Ed Jones," said Welker, referring to Sen. Jones, a Colorado Springs Republican who is black.

Now gentle reader, I wish I COULD say that's where it ends, but it doesn't, as Welker still had a few tricks up his sleeves yet

Such as finding a way to make that stupid "Some of my best friends are...." comment even MORE of an idiotic strategy that backfires-BIG TIME-in Welker's face

"Some of my best friends are of different skin color, like Ed Jones," said Welker, referring to Sen. Jones, a Colorado Springs Republican who is black.

Jones said that he and Welker are friends, but not best friends.

D'OH!!!

Perhaps Welker would do well to grab himself a BIG helping of "Shut The Fuck Up", as he has a habit of saying things that get his own party rather grouchy

Welker last year took heat from his own caucus for saying he feared that if gays were allowed to marry, then people might eventually marry their animals. Republicans said they were embarrassed by his comments.

Sure does put a new spin on "Mans' Best Friend", doesn't it?

Friday, March 10, 2006

This story is so wrong on such a fundamental level that lots of negative attention is required ASAP

bypass registration with this Bug Me Not link

GWU Suit Prompts Questions Of Liability

And the subheadline doesn't even begin to adequately hint at the outrage to follow

School Barred Depressed Student

The upshot is that this student had a tough time dealing with the suicide of a close friend, which took place as Jordan Nott was trying to open the door to his friend's room when his friend jumped from his 5th story room

One evening in April, near the end of the semester, a freshman jumped from the fifth floor of a dorm.

He was one of Nott's closest friends; they had planned to room together sophomore year.

When he jumped, the complaint says, Nott and two others were trying to open his locked door to help.

Further context, the kid was a Straight-A student in his freshman year, and considered D.C.'s George Washington University an almost perfect place to study foreign relations

But in the suicide of Nott's friend, the fact that he & Nott were going to be sophomore year roommates, combined with the suicide of another GWU student the next semester started taking a psychological toll on Nott, to the point he started having suicidal thoughts and sought treatment at GWU's counseling center, where he started taking medications to deal with the problem

Nott told the counselors that he would not act on the suicidal thoughts

Now, add this factor to the mix

Late one night, the suicidal thoughts got intense enough for Nott to check himself into George Washington University Hospital

Now is when the outrage begins, so I'd advise having something to bite down on when coming to a particularly "head exploding from sheer fury" moment like those which follow

Within a day and a half of arriving there, he got a letter from a GWU administrator saying his "endangering behavior" violated the code of student conduct. He faced possible suspension and expulsion from school, the letter said, unless he withdrew and deferred the charges while he got treatment.

In the meantime, he was barred from campus.

So because this kid did the right thing by checking into a facility, because Nott didn't harm, or attempt harm to others, via going on a killing spree, somehow he's enough of an amorphous threat to go completely ballistic on at the first possible chance

This reaction, so brutal & out of the blue, just makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever, there's nothing logical about it in the least, especially for a kid who was dealing with his problems in the best, most logical and quickest way available

There's an obvious question here, but we'll get to it in just a bit

"It was like a stab in the back," he said. He felt they were telling him, "We're going to wipe our hands clean of you."

So, Nott sued GWU for violating the Americans With Disabilities Act

The school violated federal law protecting Americans with disabilities, the complaint argues. The law covers mental as well as physical impairments.

So, here's that obvious question

How did GWU learn about Nott's checking into the facility to start with?

In essence, it says the school betrayed him by sharing confidential treatment information and suspending him just when he most needed help.

GWU is damn lucky Nott wasn't as unwound as it claimed, otherwise such bullying could have had disastrous consequences if Nott would have lashed out at others physically

And now GWU is going into full CYA mode, something that is probably going to fail miserably in this case-God I hope so

In court documents filed this week, the university's attorneys defended the actions taken, denied that Nott was disabled and suggested that his conduct might bar his recovery. And they asked that the charges be dismissed for the individuals named -- mostly administrators and counselors. The university policies might seem impersonal, spokeswoman Tracy Schario said, but they are designed to keep both individuals and the community safe.

What follows are other pieces of the general puzzle to consider in this specific case, namely that University's are worried about legal liability when students or staff/personnel are physically harmed or physically attack others

Especially worrisome from the Universities POV, is what legal liability attaches if the attacker had warning signs legally, or psychologically of acting out on suicidal/homicidal thoughts & behaviors

Suicidal students have always forced tough calls. But with shifting legal ground, growing threats of lawsuits and increasing numbers of troubled teenagers entering colleges, many administrators are even more worried about how to handle them.

No doubt, colleges & universities have tough calls to make here, especially considering that various court rulings directly clash opposite each other regarding the proper course of action over suicidal students

And changes started decades ago are having a real-world impact now

Historically, administrators have not been held responsible for student suicides, said Karen-Ann Broe of United Educators, but recent -- and not yet settled -- cases have thrown that in flux.....Until the 1960s and '70s, colleges were expected to take care of students almost as parents would. Then students demanded to be treated as adults. Now Broe sees another shift, with more talk of sharing responsibility.

Also important here is the attitude of universities & colleges, taking a big chance legal-liability wise by letting a suicidal student stay in a dorm or social setting with other students

Unfortunately for the school, Nott's reaction completely undercuts GWU's overblown reaction-he DIDN'T go on a violent rampage or killing spree of any kind against any GWU students or GWU staff

He got counseling, medications and went for further help when the suicidal thoughts got strong

It's worth stating again,

THIS IS THE BEST, MOST POSITIVE & QUICKLY BENEFICIAL COURSE OF ACTION FOR ALL INVOLVED!!!

Now, Nott says that if he had known that the sessions with the counselors weren't completely confidential, but could be accessed by a Dean, he would never have sought counselling to start with

To recap

Nott's done the right thing by seeking counseling instead of giving in to the despair & mental/emotional burdens he was carrying

And GWU, instead of doing the logical thing by not taking any punitive action in this case, rewarded Nott's smart thinking with this

In the hospital, one of the letters he received suggested that he could withdraw to defer the charges. He decided not to argue his case at a school judicial hearing to be held two days after he left the hospital, he said, worried that an effort to fight the charges would fail and leave him with a permanent black mark, an expulsion or suspension, on his transcript.

He withdrew, went home to Upstate New York, he said, missing his friends and worried that he had ruined his education. Weeks later, he waited for his father and friends to lug things down from his dorm because, he said, he had been told he could be arrested for trespassing.

If he had known, he said, he never would have gone to the hospital.

What kind of signal does this send out to the vast majority of other troubled college & university students who deal with suicidal thoughts by getting help instead of physically lashing out at others?

Is this completely idiotic Institutional course of action going to be the norm from now on, and are laws going to be made which make further such Institutional nonsense easier to accomplish on a far-broader social scale?

And how much of this is an Institutional concern for the well being of students & staff vs concern for the well being of the Institution's financial bottom line?

In other words, those psychological meds cost money, and what better way to reign in any pennies possible than by just eliminating from the GWU rolls all those troublesome types who need the meds in the first place

Granted, that's heated rhetoric more than a provable assertion, but considering GWU's heated rhetoric & over-aggressive response to Nott's logic, I stand behind it just as much as GWU does it's claims

An in that regard

The counseling center staff followed ethical and professional guidelines and didn't disclose confidential information, Schario said. She can't discuss specifics of the case but said officials can find out about students through many sources, including roommates and dorm staff.

Okay, fair enough, but what procedures & protocols does GWU have in place to actually CONFIRM any anonymous tips they receive, in this case specifically or in general?

And in another furious head-exploding moment, we learn that Nott's treatment was actually considered "due process"

His suspension is the procedure they use to ensure due process, she said. GWU is considering changes, Schario said, including whether judicial proceedings are the best way to handle such cases.

Wow, judicial proceedings as part of "due process", why, that's so crazy it just might work!!!

Oh, and one more thing GWU point to consider

It takes an extraordinary circumstance for the university to step in, she said. As to whether there needs to be a suicide attempt or violent act, she said, "sometimes yes. There could be words expressing a behavior, a suicide attempt, other potentially endangering behaviors."

So students don't even actually have to attempt suicide, or act out violently against others, or make threats of any kind towards anyone else, to be judged harshly by GWU

GWU sounds like such a perfectly LOVELY institution run by a competent & caring crew indeed

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

God, the absolute vicious, vile crap women have to put up with in this world on a constant basis

Today, we're talking about the most reprehensible thing-short of murder-a woman can go through

Rape-both physical & legal

Not just the physical assault itself, but attacks on the very concept of self-autonomy my gender takes for granted and wouldn't put up with in the least if anti-choice laws were aimed at our bodies & genitals

We'll get to the abortion rant in just a bit, but two VERY disturbing stories show just how women can get raped by various legal systems as surely as the physical attack itself

If you're human in the least, you WILL shake with rage when reading these stories

First, in a story that the true wordsmith Shakespeare's Sister posted on her site today comes this portrait of a clearly misogynistic legal loophole on the part of N.Y. state

Ordeal too short for benefit

CSEA says Camp Cass hostage wasn't held long enough to get captivity compensation

A kitchen worker at a state juvenile detention facility who was raped, beaten and kidnapped by a 16-year-old inmate in 2004 was denied a captivity benefit for union members because she was not held hostage long enough.

The woman escaped from her captor after a six-hour ride at knifepoint around Albany County on Dec. 28, 2004. The union's insurance policy covers only victims held captive for eight hours or more.

**************************

As her work shift in the kitchen was ending, Michael Elston of Buffalo choked her with her scarf, banged her head against a cinder block wall, held a 12-inch knife to her throat and raped her.

He then forced her into her car and drove around the county before she escaped.

Elston pleaded guilty to the rape and kidnapping, which occurred two days after the woman had confiscated his notebook containing gang-related writing and his desire to have sex with her.

Great, the camp knew about this Elston's fantasies involving his eventual victim, but still did nothing to stop the attack

And it gets SO much more anger-inducing We're slightly out of order with the text here, but it makes the point more powerfully

"I feel like I'm being raped all over again," said the woman, now 52. "I feel outraged and so should every woman who works for the state."

And the reason she's justifiably livid about this legalistic BS is because of THIS

A waiver could have been issued if the Civil Service Employees Association's executive board had approved the victim's request. She was a chef at Camp Cass, a minimum-security facility in rural Rensselaerville overseen by the state Office of Children and Family Services.

First off, the CSEA MUST be hammered for not issuing a waiver-just why the living holy FUCK this wasn't done ASAP is something I can't fathom in the least

Second, just what kind of MINIMUM-security camp is this anyway?

Easy, Minimum Security in this case means not enough protection for vulnerable staff members

A 10-month review by the state Department of Labor made public in December revealed that Camp Cass workers are routinely placed in dangerous situations and are not properly trained to handle the youths who are sent there.

And yes, it still gets worse, as the state not only raped the victim again, but then tried to cover it up in the most inept of CYA attempts

She said logbooks were tampered with and false incident reports filed to cover the fact that Elston's escape was facilitated by her co-workers' neglect of their duties.

"Policies weren't followed both before and after this incident," she said, pointing to a subsequent string of escapes. "How can people not be held accountable for not doing their jobs?"

*************************************

In a September 2005 letter to union President Danny Donohue, CSEA Capital Region President Kathy Garrison said the woman's doctor did not believe she would be emotionally or physically able to work again and that JLT Services, the union's insurer, was open to a waiver of the eight-hour limit if the executive board requested it.

"I believe it is in the best interest of our organization and our member do this," Garrison said in the letter obtained by the Times Union.

The next part is SO loathsome that it's hard to find the proper outrage to express just how absolutely revolting this particular bureaucratic mindset gets with this victim

On Monday, CSEA spokesman Steve Madarasz said the incident did not meet the criteria of the hostage insurance policy.

"Obviously, this was a very unfortunate incident," he said, but declined further comment.

The woman received $2,000 in hospital benefits and $8,000 when the captivity waiver was denied. She also is getting workers' compensation payments. Had the waiver been granted, she said, she could have received between and $40,000 and $100,000.

An additional appeal to the Governor's Office of Employee Relations also failed, she said.

A Dec. 29 letter from Assistant Director Charles E. Vejvoda expressed "sorrow, regrets and outrage." But, he said, workers' compensation is the only form of redress for injuries sustained at work. He urged her to seek counseling through her union.

"It may be that the grievant takes no consolation that Michael Elston is serving a 27-year sentence in state prison. However, by contrast, the foregoing is what we are constrained to offer," he said.

Wow, just fucking Wow, I guess the fact she was raped while on the job doesn't equate to being injured on the job when it comes to Workers Comp

I say give ALL these worthless bureaucrats in this case a Major-League Bitchslapping Supreme-Better yet, let these idiots go through EXACTLY what the victim went through in this case, then let them play their legalistic word-parsing of the most empty type

I fail to see much difference between the woman's physical attacker and those who shafted her so badly when they had it in their power to issue a much deserved waiver for the victim in this case

Let's be clear

Because the woman did NOT let herself get attacked for another two hours, her employers end up telling her to get the fuck over it while at the same time blathering about how she's probably not appreciative enough of the prison sentence her physical attacker received

"It may be that the grievant takes no consolation that Michael Elston is serving a 27-year sentence in state prison."

Geez, ya think so Sherlock Brainiac?

Like the victim said, "How can people not be held accountable for not doing their jobs?"

In today's Rape Horror Show, the next example comes from Italy, and it sure raises all sorts of interesting questions-that is if you can get past the anger you're sure to experience when reading this

US soldier's rape sentence cut due to Iraq stress

Yep, now battlefield stress apparently can be an excusing factor when it comes to rape & sexual assault

A U.S. soldier who raped a Nigerian woman in Italy was given a lighter sentence because the court deemed his tour of duty in Iraq had made him less sensitive to the suffering of others.

God, I fucking HATE this moral relativism-the excuse that because this soldier saw horrific suffering he's allowed to claim a diminished capacity to know that rape is NEVER justifiable or acceptable

Rape is about the ONLY major crime where the victim is assigned the majority of the blame-either for her clothing or attitude

The BS about the rape victim "asking for it" somehow is so infuriatingly asinine that there's no way to overstate it

And thanks to this case, now battlefield stress will be a legally accepted precedent when it comes to getting other rapist scumbags off the hook

According to an Italian court document obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, James Michael Brown, a 27-year-old paratrooper from Oregon stationed in northern Italy, was sentenced to five years and eight months for rape in February 2004.

Brown beat and handcuffed the woman, a Nigerian resident in the town of Vicenza. He raped her vaginally and anally and left her to wander the streets naked in search of help.

I'm sure Italians against this war and their military's involvement will no doubt have the utmost empathy for James Michael Brown (And on a side note, you KNOW things are bad when your middle name is used in a news story)

Now, unless Brown had clearly identified psychological issues BEFORE going into combat, I can't see how his claim has as much validity as the Judges in this case felt he did

The crime would have earned him an eight-year sentence, but the judges reduced the penalty due to the "extenuating circumstances" of the psychological effects of Brown's year of service in Iraq, the document said.

****************************

In a detailed explanation of the reasons for the sentence, the judges said U.S. soldiers in Iraq faced "a guerrilla war against an invisible enemy, conducted using all means, to which there is still no end in sight, which is extremely wearing for the occupation troops."

"For about a year, the professional role of parachutist Brown was not just to kill and capture the enemy, but also to avoid unpredictable ambushes set using all kinds of methods."

"The prolonged psychological stress to which the accused was subjected and the lowered importance he ended up giving to the life and wellbeing of those around him can only have influenced the committing of the crimes."

Brown's lawyer, Antonio Marchesini, denied the soldier had used his term in Iraq as an excuse for rape. "Before it was accepted, there was a detailed examination of his personality," he told Reuters.

Good Christ, OF COURSE Brown's using his Iraq tour as "an excuse for rape", if he wasn't, then the military service would NEVER have been used to such devastating effect when it came to Justice for the REAL victim, the woman Brown raped & beat savagely

But one factor to consider is just how good are the mental health services available to US Military personnel both on the field and on the base-And why do we know that this is also an area where Dear Leader W shows his "support" of the US Troops by cutting back badly needed funding & personnel for mental health services that so many vets are currently lacking

And in yet another repugnant example of the US holding itself exempt from the same rules it would insist on if it was a US service member attacked & raped by someone from another country, this last bit must surely be getting the victim and many Italians even madder than they were before

Brown, who is being held at a U.S. military prison in Mannheim, Germany, may never serve his rape sentence as, under Italian law, he may be allowed to return to the United States pending an appeal to the conviction.

There's a personal reason I have absolutely NO patience of any kind when it comes to claims that some worthless scumbag felt entitled to take by force what he couldn't get by words alone

My first sexual experience-in college no less-involved taking a shower with the woman involved-I wanted to go further than oral contact, but she wasn't interested

Guess what?

Even though I was still a virgin, I did NOT force my way, nor did I get angry or frustrated

I kept my cool, and thusly, I have absolutely NO patience with any guy who couldn't hold themselves to the same standard I held myself to

Of course, rape doesn't have to be physical to be dehumanizing and degrading, treating women like nothing but living incubators qualifies as rape as well

Hat tip to Pam's House Blend for putting together an excellent post that shows just how the 3M's, the Modern Misogynists Movement have targeted women all across the country, with new Wingnut Anti-Choice, Pro-Misogynistic laws they hope will kill off the Roe decision

Tennessee

This law REQUIRES women who want an abortion to provide proof that they've told the biological father

The bill provides exceptions if the woman signs a statement saying the pregnancy is a result of rape and has been reported to law enforcement, is unable "after diligent effort" to notify or identify the man (in which case she must file written notice with the Department of Children's Services to be placed on the department's putative father registry), and in the case of medical emergencies when the life of the woman is at risk. Penalties are a Class A misdemeanor punishable by a $5,000 fine for the physician and a $2,000 fine for the woman.

And, of course, there's other unaddressed questions & problems as well

What is not made clear in the proposed legislation is how it will be enforced and monitored. Will physicians contact men listed on women's statements to verify that they have been notified? If so, how does this square with patient privacy laws? Why are there no exceptions for women who are being abused, or who may have been examined by a medical professional in the case of a rape which may not have been reported to law enforcement? What constitutes a "diligent effort," and how will such effort be verified? Will the Dept of Children's Services essentially keep a list of women who have had abortions, and could that affect them in future custody or other legal actions? According to TN code (36-2-318), the Putative (presumed) Father Registry was established primarily to deal with parentage records relevant to adoption procedures and termination of parental rights. How will the following section apply?

"Those persons contained on the registry shall be given notice by the petitioners in proceedings for the adoption of a child or for the termination of parental rights involving a child, and they shall be necessary parties to the proceedings, and, except as they may waive their rights under subsection (f), must have their parental rights to the child terminated prior to entry of an adoption order, as may be required pursuant to chapter 1, part 1, of this title, unless they have executed a surrender, waiver of interest, or parental consent as provided in chapter 1, part 1 of this title."

Although the proposed law requires 24-hour notice, could this portion be used for additional delays?

A person listed on the registry and entitled to notice of pending adoption or termination proceedings under subdivision (e)(3) shall have thirty (30) days from the receipt of such notice to file a complaint for parentage or to intervene in the adoption proceedings or termination of parental rights proceedings for the purpose of establishing a claim to parentage of the child or to present a defense to the termination or adoption case.

Nothing like Misogynists telling women what's appropriate conduct when it comes to women's self-determination & autonomy, something absolutely NO guy would EVER accept being told concerning his genitals & decisons over his own body

The Modern Misogynists Movement Rolls Over South Dakota's Women

S.D. Governor Signs Abortion Ban Into Law

Gov. Mike (Jerkoff Woman Hater) Rounds on Monday signed legislation banning almost all abortions in South Dakota.

Under the law, doctors in South Dakota will face up to five years in prison for performing an abortion except when the procedure is necessary to save the mother's life.

Apparently, these Modern Misogynist Movement types forgot that a lack of an exception for the health of the mother is EXACTLY why the Nebraska Law was struck down when it hit the Supreme Court some years back

And GREAT job there Gov Ground Round, nothing says consistency & Spine of Iron like doing a flip-flop that's guaranteed to cost the SD taxpayers a ton of money

Rounds issued a technical veto of a similar measure two years ago because it would have wiped out all existing restrictions on abortion while the bill was tied up for years in a court challenge.

Seriously, the term "Fucktarded Blowhard" fits Round perfectly, along with EVERY SD politician who voted for this wretched attempt at controlling women's bodies & self-determination

I'll quote myself from various comments I left at other sites today

Surely, SURELY, there's got to be a female legislator somewhere willing to introduce legislation regulating what men may & may NOT do with their genitals, with infractions punishable by public, anesthesia-less, castration

Assuming there's a big enough microscope & tweezers to find the units of most of these female-hating scumbags

Fucking knuckledragging Modern Misogynist Movement blowhards, their faith is so weak iit's not valid to them unless all nonbelieving others are forced to worship the same way

It's time to start playing the VERY-justified NAZI card against these anti-choice fucktards, and play it at EVERY opportunity

On the plus side, the GOP and the so-called Right To Lifers thought the Terri Schiavo issue was a real winner for them

We all know how that little public bitchslapping they got shut them up REAL quick

Time to slap them down again

HARD

And, as I posted before, New Hampshire's anti-abortion law targets teen females just as much as the SD law does with adult women

And to get an idea of the charming types who love to tell women just what they may & may NOT do with their own bodies, check out this year's "March For Life" in DC this past January, truly loathsome parasites indeed

And a BIG Hat Tip to Adoptee Amy, for pointing out something I hadn't seen anywhere else-and I don't blame her one bit for screaming with all caps here, I would too if I were female

THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN THIS COUNTRY VIOLATED


HAVE WE LOST OUR MINDS? HAVE THE WOMEN IN SOUTH DAKOTA LOST THEIR MINDS? I can't believe no one freaked out about this abortion law in South Dakota. If it happened in South Dakota, it will happen here in Texas. Ladies they are coming after us now. What are we going to do about it? I know what I am going to do about it. WRITE MY CONGRESS AND MY SENATE.

This law prosecutes doctors. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS? IT MEANS OUR RECORDS WILL BECOME OPEN FOR THE COURTS AND THE PUBLIC TO SCRUTINIZE!!!!!! My health records are my business and no one else's. It means if you have had an abortion or birth control the rightwingers will be at your jobs and your homes harassing you. THEY WILL EMBARASS YOU EVERYWHERE YOU GO. ARE YOU OKAY WITH THAT? I AM SURE THE HELL NOT. I am not going to lay down for these idiots to analyze my life and what I have done or not done in it. I DON'T WANT ANY WOMAN'S MEDICAL HISTORY LOOKED AT UNDER THAT KIND OF LIGHT BY ANYONE. I WOULD NOT WISH THIS KIND OF CRAP ON MY WORST ENEMY.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD, ATTORNEYS, ACLU, AND MANY OTHERS BETTER GET ON THE BALL. WOMEN ARE NOT JUST BREEDING MACHINES FOR THE RIGHTWINGERS. WE DESERVE A FULL LIFE JUST AS THE MEN DO. WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE TRYING TO DO? KEEP WOMEN IN THEIR PLACE BY FORCING THEM TO HAVE CHILDREN THAT THEY CAN'T AFFORD? GIVE ME A BREAK. BY FORCING THEM TO HAVE CHILDREN THAT THEY CAN'T AFFORD, ALL WE ARE DOING IS FORCING MORE CHILDREN INTO THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM. WE ARE FORCING MORE WOMEN TO GIVE UP THEIR CHILDREN. WE ARE FORCING WOMEN AND CHILDREN TO BEAR THE BURDEN OF THEIR "DIRTY SECRETS." THEN AT THAT POINT WILL THE ADOPTION RECORDS BE OPEN FOR THE WORLD TO SEE. ARE WE ALWAYS AS A COUNTRY GOING TO EMBARASS AND HUMILIATE WOMEN FOR BEING SEXUAL BEINGS? YES WE ARE SEXUAL BEINGS JUST LIKE MEN ARE. IT IS ALL PART OF HUMAN FUNCTIONING. WHEN WILL WE AS A COUNTRY ACCEPT THAT? YES TODAY I AM PISSED OFF.

I AM SO TIRED OF THE RIGHTWINGERS AND OTHERS LIKE THEM WHO WANT TO SHAME WOMEN EVERY CHANCE THEY GET. LADIES AROUND THIS COUNTRY STAND UP AND FIGHT BACK AGAINST THESE MORONS.

Fucking GrandSlamDunk from Amy, someone to keep an eye on with as powerful & passionate a voice she brings to the abortion & adoption issues

And to see EXACTLY what motherhood & abortion entail, let's excerpt from one of my favorite sites, Shakes Sister, in particular a heartfelt post from Mamasquab

To Be a Mother

On February 24, in a direct attack on Roe v. Wade, the South Dakota House followed the Senate in approving a ban on all abortions except where a woman’s life is at stake. Today, Republican Governor Mike Rounds signed the bill, which is almost identical to the Texas law that Roe overturned in 1973. According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, similar antiabortion proposals are in the works in seven other states: Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee.

The justification for this vicious piece of misogyny seems to be based on the following notions: (a) a woman is a mother from the moment a fertilized egg begins to grow in her body; (b) mothers are morally obliged to take care of their children at any personal cost to themselves; and (c) it is the state’s responsibility to force reluctant mothers to meet their moral duties to their children. I won’t waste my breath upbraiding the South Dakota legislators for their apparent indifference to the social context in which women are assigned these duties--a context where there is unrelenting violence against women, much of it perpetrated by husbands or boyfriends; where rape and lesser forms of sexual coercion are widespread; where mothers, not fathers, are almost solely responsible for hands-on childcare; and where social institutions and practices are systemically rigged to favor the interests of men over those of women. These points have been made many times before and I haven’t the heart to repeat them. Instead, I’m going to plead for a revised understanding of what pregnancy is. It’s when we think of pregnancy as something that happens to a woman rather than something she does – when we think of pregnant bodies as flowerpots, ovens, or incubators – that the awfulness of the particular kind of wrong about to be done to South Dakota women escapes our notice.

As I write this, my daughter is thirty-two weeks pregnant with her very much wanted first child. Like any human pregnancy, hers is not simply a biological process but a purposeful activity in which she is creatively engaged. For starters, she’s had to manage some pretty unrelenting nausea by learning, through trial and error, what foods she can tolerate and how often she needs to eat; this requires her to take packets of cheese, crackers, almonds, and so on to work with her so that food will be available right when she needs it. In her twentieth week she developed high blood pressure, so she bought an exercise machine and has been forcing herself to use it regularly. In her twenty-first week, she also developed gestational diabetes, requiring her to revamp her already restricted diet, prick her finger four times a day to check her glucose levels, and give herself a shot of insulin every night before bedtime. She goes to her doctor every two weeks to be monitored for these and other possible complications.

***************************

Significantly, what antiabortion legislation requires of women is quite different from what child-support legislation requires of delinquent fathers. To be sure, such fathers must pay child support, but they are never forced to what lawyers call “specific performance.” They aren’t required by law to change diapers, give baths, prepare and serve meals, help with homework, or take their children to soccer practice. All unwilling fathers have to do is pay up every month. Specific performance, in fact, is seen as a form of servitude that may lawfully be required only of conscripts when there is a clear and present danger to the state. It may not be imposed even on convicted felons. If a drunk driver smashes into your house, he might have to go to prison or (under certain victim compensation laws) pay for damages, but he doesn’t have to repair your brickwork or replace your broken door with his own hands. If your architect breaks her contract with you by failing to produce the agreed-upon blueprints, the court can impose a fine, but it can’t make her sit down at her drafting table and do the promised work.

An absolutely top-notch piece of writing that should be required reading for EVERY member of the Modern Misogynist Movement, so go check out the rest

And I can't end this post without referencing one of the most disgusting, vile acts of rape & sexual assault I've ever heard of, the Haidl case

Haidl & two friends of his drugged a 16 yr old girl, then videotaped themselves anally sodomizing her unconscious body with a pool cue & a Snapple bottle

Then, the dumbfucks done went and forgot all about the video-that is until someone else found it and turned it over to the cops-The cops were sure they were witnessing gang-necrophilia at first, that's how unconscious the victim was

The first trial ended with 1 juror voting guilty, which was the reason the DA retried the case

This time, the bastards got convicted, and let's hope they go in for a long fucking time, and get done to them what they had no problem doing to someone they drugged up & videotaped

For the Haidl Archives-and the articles are long, detailed and many, go HERE

For the latest updates about the case, go HERE and HERE

The last link has an interview with the Jury Foreman in the retrial, and you have to wonder why the 2nd Jury got it so right when 11 members of the original trial's jurors got it so wrong, easily swayed by Haidl's daddy's megafortune-And on a Sheriff's Deputy's salary no less-and truly loathsome Defense Attorney arguments, chief among them that it was the victim who actually raped the males while she was unconscious, and that she wanted a career in the Porno business

If the judge rules the way he indicated back in October, then there may be some justice after all for the victim, Lord knows with the physical rape on the pool table and the mental rape she endured from Defense Attorney's while on the Witness Stand, this girl was put through the Meatgrinder and deserves complete retribution & satisfaction

My own gender REALLY pisses me off when it comes to raping women, both physically & legally