http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Fri, 1 Jul 2005 01:30:39 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/01/013039.php Big Time Patriot"Kyoto would have wrecked our economy. I couldn't in good faith have signed Kyoto," Bush said (from: Bush: Kyoto treaty would have hurt economy) Well, I guess that treaty is pretty bad stuff, eh? Only a guy like Bush could save us from such an ominous wreck as the Kyoto treaty while simultaneously running up record deficits that are apparently no problem at all for our economy. The Kyoto treaty is bad news and we can thank President Bush for helping us win this war against our environment.But it turns out that the CITY of Kyoto has another ominous side...Consider the reason we attacked Iraq, as revealed recently by our President: "Bush insisted the decision to invade Iraq was right. 'Because Saddam Hussein was not only a tyrant, he was a threat to world peace. ... Even though we have haven't found the weapons themselves, we certainly know he had the capacity' to make them." from: Bush: Kyoto treaty would have hurt economy.Well, it turns out that the CITY of Kyoto ALSO has the "capacity" to make weapons of mass destruction. Kyoto has a University with a Nuclear Reactor Research Institute, you can bet there is nuclear material in plenty supply. Scary. Terrifying.But, it gets worse, Kyoto's University ALSO has an Institute for Viral Research: can you get more ominous than that? Some of the faculty of Kyoto University have even served on Viral Disease Panels! Horrifying. Threatening.Do I need to spell this out for you? Even if we have not found weapons of mass destruction in Kyoto; Kyoto obviously has the capacity to create weapons of mass destruction. We must act immediately to bring down the cunning regime of Kyoto Mayor Yorikane Masumoto before he bombs us back into the stone ages!! President Bush has convinced me, the capacity to build weapons of mass destruction is sufficient cause for any war...Big Time Patriot Politics31865@blogcritics.org Fri, 1 Jul 2005 01:30:39 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/06/25/154407.php Big Time PatriotIn a selfless act - putting his money where his mouth has been for some time - George Bush has announced that he will donate the thousands of dollars that his tax cuts have put into his own pocket towards better supplies of equipment to troops in Iraq. When President Bush learned that insufficient resources were available to properly supply the troops on the front lines of the war for democracy ("the Pentagon announced last week that it missed its self-imposed deadline of April 1st for fielding adequate numbers of uparmored Humvees to protect all U.S. troops"), he realized that tax cuts during war time were the goals of a party that favored money over freedom and did NOT share the values of the average American.In a surprising and stirring announcement befitting a War Time President, George Bush made the following announcement:"It's time for all who benefit from high oil prices and no-bid defense contracts brought about by the Iraq war to contribute that money back to support the troops. That' what it's all about isn't it? Supporting the troops? How does cutting taxes during war time help our troops get the equipment they still don't have after all these years of war? How come we still can't budget this war into the yearly budget process? It's because we always have to blur the costs to keep up these tax cuts. This fiscal and moral insanity has to end. The country must decide if our foremost goal is supporting the troops and spreading democracy OR to cut taxes for the oppressed and deprived rich people of America. WE CAN'T DO BOTH"This is the first time President Bush has announced any personal sacrifice on his own part for the war on Iraq (other than thinking about it every day). The galvanizing effect of the President actually making a sacrifice himself is expected to have a tremendous effect on uniting America.George Bush had a follow-up statement: "I am proud to announce that both my daughters have signed up to join our troops and will be deployed to Iraq at the soonest possible time after training. I am a proud father today and proud that my family is ready to contribute OUR efforts alongside so many working class Americans who have already sacrificed so much for my war in Iraq."Big Time Patriot Politics31589@blogcritics.org Sat, 25 Jun 2005 15:44:07 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/06/17/024814.php Big Time Patriot''These guys are terrorists who would sooner cut your head off than follow Geneva! They don't deserve a trial!'' Does this sound like a likely conservative answer to complaints about abuse of prisoners in American custody?In some cases this is absolutely true, some of the people we have in custody ARE terrorists. The question is, which of the people we are holding ARE terrorists; which are even insurgents at all? Without using any of the accepted processes such as hearings, legal framework or due process, the determination of who is a ''terrorist'' is just a government employee applying a LABEL.Most people don't trust government employees to reliably write out traffic tickets without being able to appeal and argue them. Why on earth would a real American think we can throw away our American values based on a LABEL applied by some poor soldier in the middle of a war?''Trust, but verify'' was a saying by someone sometimes considered a conservative: Ronald Reagan. What about a new saying for conservatives, ''Mistrust, but verify''? It's the process of actually making people prove the LABELS applied to people are accurate that separates a prison run by a proud democratic country and a gulag or hell hole prison run by Saddam and Sons.If we don't make the vital distinction between right and wrong, between justice and terrorism, then we are just fighting for territory, not for ideals. We can't put people away forever just before because George Bush tells us these people are bad. We don't need to trust these prisoners, but we do need to get to the truth of whether they really ARE guilty or dangerous.Mistrust, but verify...Big Time Patriot Politics31157@blogcritics.org Fri, 17 Jun 2005 02:48:14 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/06/10/152707.php Big Time PatriotWow, how surprising. The Justice Department releases info on a Terrorist Threat To America. But later the case falls apart (without press releases or press conferences). The only surprising thing about this incident is how quickly the Terrorist Threat proved to be hyped. When the Alleged Terrorists were actually charged, the terrorist allegations were already dropped in the affidavit supporting those charges.''The first version of the affidavit released to media organizations by the Justice Department in Washington said potential terrorist targets included hospitals and groceries, and contained names of key individuals and statements about the international origins of ''hundreds'' of participants in alleged al-Qaida terrorist training camps in Pakistan.These details - among the most alarming in the case - were widely reported in the news media, but then deleted in the final version filed with the federal court in Sacramento on Wednesday......Sacramento FBI spokesman John Cauthen said the deletions in the document were made because the original details were ''not relevant or not accurate in context'' for the purpose of proving a probable cause to arrest Hamid Hayat and his father.'' from: Terror allegations vanish in affidavitI think this could be a new catch phrase for almost all of the Bush administrations announcements, ''not relevant or not accurate in context''. Politics30844@blogcritics.org Fri, 10 Jun 2005 15:27:07 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/28/030325.php Big Time Patriot"Would you vote for a candidate who would support the killing of 5 year old boys and girls whose parents no longer wanted them? Would it matter whether or not you agreed with that politician on economic matters or other issues? Would you get under a 'big tent' with a party that had this one teeny weeny flaw which they might call 'pro-choice on child eradication' within its platform? I pray not." (Dr. James Dobson, Focus on the Family) But I guess Mr. Dobson's 'big tent' just happens to hold a man who let 150 people die that he could have saved with a simple signature?`Is Mr. Dobson okay with what we might call the 'pro-choice on adult eradication' platform? Or is George Bush's embrace of the death penalty okay with James Dobson because those people were "guilty"?Who said all those people executed in Texas while Bush was Governor were guilty? Why, it was those same horrible judges that Mr.Dobson hates so much. So, judges have perfectly sound judgment on death penalties, but are totally untrustworthy on abortion issues? The same judges? OR, did some of these untrustworthy judges perhaps let a few innocent people get the death penalty?I guess a few innocent deaths really are okay with Mr.Dobson after all. The Dobson tent just happens to allow George Bush in. Surprising just how Mr. Dobson's absolutism on life and death is just flexible enough to be meaningless.Big Time Patriot Politics30255@blogcritics.org Sat, 28 May 2005 03:03:25 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/25/234804.php Big Time PatriotStay the Course in Iraq, or Cut and Run?The whole argument whether to "cut and run" is interesting and complex. For liberals and Democrats it is a big problem. If Democrats regain power, how long do they have to keep trying to fix Bush's mistakes? Do they get blamed if they just can't fix the mistake in Iraq? One consideration is that perhaps Iraq is unfixable. At times I think that we should just pull out of Iraq right now and just try and provide some humanitarian aid (or war reparations, but not military aid) to whomever takes power after the brutal year or two that would follow. It would be hard on the Iraqi people, but it will be hard not matter what we do and some mistakes just can't be fixed. George Bush has broken the egg of Iraq and all his horses and all his men may not be able to put that egg together again.I myself have never totally understood the argument of why Iraq can't be allowed to divide itself into two or three separate countries (I know the Oil Companies oppose this because it would increase their costs to negotiate oil deals with more than one country). It seems that three countries, Kurd, Shiite and Sunni Iraq, would at least reduce the fighting to border fighting instead of block-to-block fighting.Iraq is one tough conundrum brought to us courtesy of Mr. Bush, but I guess I do lean towards "cut and run". George Bush has screwed the pooch in Iraq and no amount of 'abstinence only' sex-ed will make that dog a virgin again...Big Time Patriot Politics30148@blogcritics.org Wed, 25 May 2005 23:48:04 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/19/015146.php Big Time Patriot"From the time I became mayor of the City of Seattle, I have directed constantly that in the making of arrests without warrant no person shall be thus arrested unless the officer making the arrest has information of his own knowledge or evidence from some other person upon which to base a definite charge for the violation of some law or ordinance.So far as I have controlling influence, there has been and shall be no dragging of people to jail for detention and release without charge, or for nominal charge unsustained by evidence or expecting dismissal by the police judge." - Seattle Mayor George Cotterill, 1913 (George Cotterill, Hiram Gill and the Potlatch Riots)This is a great quote from a time in Seattle's past when the rainbow of political beliefs seemed to be a little wider than it is now. I recommend that you follow the link and read the whole article. At the time Mr. Cotterill was Mayor of Seattle, people held wildly different beliefs and some people were afraid of it. Those people wanted to suppress those different beliefs through any means, even if they had to stretch the laws and the Constitution, others (such as Mayor Cotterill) believed America could handle different beliefs. He believed (and I believe) that we already have laws that cover almost any situation and we don't need to start ignoring those laws just because some people are scared.I believe it takes a lot more than even 3,000 dead in a terrorist attack (a tragedy to be sure) to start disregarding Constitutional principles like the rights of everyone to fair and open trials, and disregarding other legal and moral principles that forbid torture of any prisoners.Big Time Patriot Politics29735@blogcritics.org Thu, 19 May 2005 01:51:46 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/16/010017.php Big Time PatriotGeorge Bush gave America's fallen police officers a nice speech..."President Bush paid tribute on Sunday to 156 law enforcement officers killed last year while making traffic stops, arresting criminals, investigating crimes and performing other duties......"All of these men and women served the cause of justice," Bush said at a memorial service on the Capitol lawn. "Our nation stands in admiration and gratitude for their service, and we ask God's blessings for the families and friends they have left behind." from: Bush honors slain police officers - 156 officers died in line of duty in 2004.Ahhh, the police officers get God's blessings (and don't get me wrong, they deserve them). But who gets George Bush's obedience? The NRA and its fellow "any gun is a good gun" followers. I don't claim to be an expert on the gun control issue, however I believe the police officers who have to face guns everyday on the streets are experts..."Law enforcement officers visiting Washington for National Police Week sent a message to Congress today: It's getting more dangerous for police on America's streets, not safer, because of new, deadlier firearms......Two police officers who have been victims - one who was shot and nearly killed, another whose police officer son was murdered - joined representatives of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the National Black Police Association and the National Latino Peace Officers Association in urging Congress to restrict weapons like the 50 caliber sniper rifle and the Five-Seven "Cop Killer" handgun. They were joined by Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), whose husband and son were victims of gun violence. "Congress should help the police, by keeping guns like 50 caliber sniper rifles and the Five-Seven handgun out of the hands of criminals and terrorists," said Ken McGuire, a former officer who retired after being nearly fatally shot." from: POLICE URGE CONGRESSIONAL ACTION AGAINST DEADLY NEW GUNS.Tell me, do you think the man who would rather "err on the side of life" is going to even question the need for guns with the advertised ability to shoot through the bullet proof vests commonly worn by policemen? I bet the NRA will get more than a nice speech, I bet they will get complete obedience from George Bush on this issue no matter what the cost to police officer safety. The NRA tells George that the Second Amendment somehow says that EVERY SINGLE TYPE OF GUN must be available to everyone with the absolute minimum of registration. Congress can try and demand more national security with standards for getting drivers licenses, but apparently selling guns made for shooting through cops police vests is just not a concern...Police officers will just have to settle for the empty words...Big Time Patriot Politics29535@blogcritics.org Mon, 16 May 2005 01:00:17 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/07/202821.php Big Time Patriot''Capping a two-week brouhaha over Microsoft's fluid position on a state gay-rights bill, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer yesterday reversed course and said the company will support the legislation in the future.'' from: Microsoft decides to back gay-rights bill.Speaking through a spokesperson, Saint Isidore of Seville (patron saint of computers and computer users), God announced that due to recent actions by the Microsoft Corporation to support the rights of their workers, he would no longer be issuing Christianity on Windows. The next full release of Christianity will only be running on Linux.Several born-again Christian groups agreed (although they mentioned they didn't recognize the standing of Saint Isidore or other such Papist tripe). Many people cited this reported passage from a new 2.0 version of the Bible, mysteriously (as in an Act of God) leaked to the press:''And God created the Open Source Programming Community, and it was good. Satan retaliated with its evil twin, Windows and thus the battle for good and evil was joined'' (Torvald 2:17) More developments are expected as the new release date approaches...Big Time Patriot Politics29151@blogcritics.org Sat, 7 May 2005 20:28:21 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/03/161653.php Big Time PatriotIf man on animal sex (horse masturbation) jokes on a public CSPAN broadcast aren't indecency, what is?(UPDATE) It has been pointed out to me that the FCC might not cover this because CSPAN is a cable channel. So be sure and include in your complaints that the FCC should expand its mandate to cover these types of outrages whether they are on broadcast OR cable TV. (END OF UPDATE).Here is where to find out information about how to make a complaint http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/obscene.htmlMaybe we should be alerting the American Family Association (AFA) for their aid in fighting this case of broadcast obscenity? http://www.afa.net/entertainment/ In fact, following the AFA's lead, perhaps we can adapt the form letter they suggested for the Janet Jackson incident? Feel free to use this language to write an FCC complaint protesting the evil Republican filth machine that IS Laura Bush:Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau Investigation and Hearings Division 445 12th Street, S.W. Rm. 3B443 Washington, DC 20554Dear Sir or Madam:The Communications Act states, Whoever utters any obscene, indecent, or profane language by means of radio communication shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.In addition, the FCC has defined broadcast indecency as language or material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory organs or activities.On the evening of April 30, 2004, CSPAN broadcast the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner Saturday night. This broadcast featured a perfectly obvious reference by the First Lady, Laura Bush, to man on animal sex, specifically a human manually manipulating a horse's penis. This broadcast was patently offensive and violated contemporary community broadcast standards. I demand that CSPAN be fined the maximum amount for each indecency violation.I hereby request the Federal Communications Commission conduct an official investigation of CSPAN for broadcast indecency.Please notify me of the action taken regarding this complaint.Sincerely, (put your name here)Big Time Patriot Politics28993@blogcritics.org Tue, 3 May 2005 16:16:53 EDT