A review of the latest news and weirdness.
There’s a lot of interesting background in this fascinating interview with the gay prostitute (currently unemployed) who outed christofascist homophobe Rev. Ted Haggard.
Q: So no one from the Human Rights Campaign or The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund has even called you? At the very least they could invite you to a chic cocktail party with David Geffen.
A: I’d be happier if they bought me a loaf of bread and some peanut butter.
– Features : Radar Online
Via Wonkette, of course.
Better four years late then never. GOP officials: Rumsfeld stepping down – CNN.com.
Read Stan Goff, et al on why this sick, disgusting, malicious, deathly, and debilitating war must stop now. Yesterday Stan ran a one-man progressive canvass talking to voters in his North Raleigh precinct:
I printed 650 flyers that began with the statements: “I am not a liberal. I am not a Democrat. And I urge you to vote a straight Democratic ticket here today,” then went on to explain why — emphasizing my status as a retired member of the US Armed Forces…
[…]
Note to the Democratic party: We now have you firmly in our sights, exposed. Ain’t gonna be no honeymoon. We’re not hearing that you need time. Not with the bodies piling up every day.
– Feral Scholar » Honeymoon? Ha!
Way to stay the course, Bush.
It’s easy to get excited when we read polls like this, but you have to remember that political views are not evenly distributed across all the states or congressional districts. The country is very stratified into conservative (rural, exurban) and liberal (urban) areas, so the real deciders are the places that are in-between.
A majority of Americans said issues such as the Iraq war, the economy and terrorism would head in the right direction if the Democrats won control of Congress on Tuesday, according to a CNN poll released Monday.
A majority, 58 percent, said that a Democratic Congress would move the economy in the right direction, compared to 43 percent who said a Republican Congress would help the economy…
– Poll: Americans favor Democrats on the issues – CNN.com
Tell the world. Shout it from the rooftops. How many more have to die at the hands of imperialists like Bush and his friends in Latin America before the press (and the communities they serve with vital information) can be free again?
Brad Will, a U.S. journalist and camerman, was shot and killed yesterday in Oaxaca, Mexico, by paramiliaries affiliated with the PRI, the former Mexican ruling party. Will was in Oaxaca covering the continued resistance of teachers and other workers against the PRI-controlled government of the State of Oaxaca. According to reports from New York City Independent Media Center and La Jornada, Will, 36, was shot at the Santa Lucia Barricade from a distance of 30-40 meters in the pit of the stomach by plainclothes paramilitaries and died while enroute to the Red Cross.
– NYC: Indymedia: Bradley Roland Will, U.S. Journalist and Camerman, Killed By Oaxaca Paramiliaries
If you are feeling strong, you can watch the video recovered from his camera. Here’s more good coverage from Democracy Now!:Brad Will 1970-2006: Friends Remember Indymedia Journalist and Activist Killed in Oaxaca.
I just want to make sure this is covered with the necessary shock and indignation in the mainstream media. Please blog this and pass it along.
Goddammit.
… the award for Least Credible Politician ever. Here’s his latest whopper:
Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday the increase of violence in Iraq is linked with efforts to influence the outcome of midterm elections in which Republicans are struggling to keep control of Congress.
[…]
He said al-Qaida and other elements were trying to “break the will of the American people” because “they think we don’t have the stomach for the fight long-term.”
[…]
Cheney, who 17 months ago said the insurgency was in its last throes, said that “there’s going to be probably a continued level of violence for some considerable period of time in Iraq.” He said that unlike other wars, it was unlikely there would be some dramatic turning point that signals progress.
AP: Cheney: Iraq violence linked to election
And in related news, lie-detecting technology is advancing quickly. We just need to get one of those fMRIs in the Whitehouse.
Wonkette has some free advice for the Pentagon (and a really funny picture of Donald Rumsfeld).
The U.S. command in Baghdad is seeking bidders for a two-year, $20 million public relations contract that calls for monitoring the tone of Iraq news stories filed by U.S. and foreign media.
Hey US Command, tell you what: give us, like, one million bucks, and we’ll get ya started with fucking Google news alerts and Bloglines.
No, no — don’t thank us. Thank your own astounding ineptitude.
(note: You may need to figure out how to use email).
–
Pentagon to Spend A Gazillion Dollars on Iraq Equivalent of ‘Slate’ – Wonkette
Oh look the President is at Camp David showing us he is thinking hard about Iraq. No wait! He’s making a surprise trip to Bagdad to show us the power of a Rove-ian Photo-Op ™. Do you feel better yet about the hundreds of thousands dead from Bush’s oil policy? I’ll be surprsed if this moves the polls a single point – if at all.
Maybe it’s because I just read American Gods, but the President is starting to remind me of Loki the trickster god.
Dick Cheney recently visited Russia and complained that they are using their own oil reserves to blackmail the world. In other words, he doesn’t like that they are energy independent and doing the same thing the US does – whatever the hell they want. He also complained that they weren’t doing enough to support democracy. The media called his remarks the beginning of a new cold war.
democracy: 1, diplomacy 0 ? Not exactly…
No doubt democratic reforms would be a good thing for Russia, but Cheney showed that he wouldn’t know democracy if it shot him in the face. On his next stop, Cheney visited oil-rich Kazakhstan and expressed his “admiration for all that’s been accomplished here” on human rights.
What is it has been accomplished? Read on…
In chatting with a lot of lefty politicos last night I was shocked to find that every last adult in the country has not heard about Stepehn Colbert’s performance at the White House Correspondents Association’s fancy annual dinner. Therefore it is my duty as a lover of democracy and free speech to spread the word!
UPDATE 5/8/06: C-SPAN made YouTube.com take the video down, but it’s now available (in better resolution) at Google Video.
There are three parts. You can watch them at YouTube (one, two, three), or watch the first two bits below:
Can you believe this guy? Reuters: Kerry “thinking hard” about 2008 run for president.
Think again, fool! Half of America thinks you’re a loser and the other half falls asleep whenever you open your mouth.
Hmm… then again… a new Kerry nomination could be just the nail in the party’s coffin I’ve been waiting for. This could open the door for massive voter interest in viable third parties! Run, John, run!