Green gringo fate?

Can anyone tell me what's up with this quote in this Express-News story?

San Antonio businessman Laurent Perron started the Margarita Man business in 1984 with the idea of rescuing the drink from the "insipid, green gringo fate to which she has all too often been subjected."

Maybe I'm missing something here since I don't drink alcohol, but does this strike anyone else as being just a bit offensive? The Express-News apparently thought the quote was cute enough to put in the lead of the story and it apparently inspired the headline for the story - "Margarita rescue".

Rescued from what? Those insipid green gringos? Does one have to be a member of a particular ethnic group in order to make a proper margarita? That would seem to be the implication of this quote, although the story kind of drops the matter and does not explain it further.

And The Party Never Ends...

From the NY Times:
"Gen. Tommy R. Franks said today that violence and uncertainty in Iraq made it unlikely that troop levels would be reduced "for the foreseeable future," and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld nearly doubled the estimated military costs there to $3.9 billion a month."

The Road Goes On Forever...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Insurgents launched fresh assaults on U.S. soldiers in Iraq, killing at least two servicemen and wounding a third in shootings and rocket-propelled grenade attacks, the military said Thursday.

A soldier was fatally shot Wednesday evening near the city of Mahmudiyah, 15 miles south of Baghdad, said Spc. Nicci Trent, a spokeswoman for the military.

Another soldier was killed and one wounded Wednesday in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a five-vehicle convoy near Baqouba...

Summer Movie Bust

Is it just me or has this been a really disappointing summer for cinema fans? With the exception of "Finding Nemo" there just haven't been a lot of new movies coming out lately that have generated a great deal of interest or enthusiasm. Admittedly, I haven't seen any of these films, but just based on the reviews I've seen and the box office numbers that have come in there have been an inordinate number of stinkers this season.

The Matrix Reloaded was the last film that I got out to see and I liked it OK, but apparently a lot of other people did not and it hasn't made the big splash that Hollywood was anticipating. Then the Hulk came to town with a grandiose marketing campaign and lots of spin-off products in the toy stores, but the movie itself just kind of fizzled.
Charlie's Angels II seemed to be pretty flat as well and now Terminator III had a less than impressive showing over the holiday weekend.

Fortunately, It looks like the new Disney action/comedy "Pirates of the Caribbean" might be pretty good. It has been getting excellent reviews from the New York Times and Salon. And of course there is always Lord of the Rings: Return of the King to look forward to.

Coulter and Weiner get whacked!

Poor Ann Coulter can’t even catch a break on her own turf.
Coulter’s latest published screed against the left entitled “Treason” has been lambasted and ridiculed since its release - all of which she could no doubt explain away as the natural reaction of the treasonous liberals who control the media, but yesterday the other shoe finally dropped when Coulter was taken to task on the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal.

WSJ editorial board member Dorothy Rabinowitz penned a scathing indictment of Coulter’s book and even takes a personal slap at Coulter calling her “the Maureen Dowd of the conservatives” (Ouch! That had to hurt!).

I didn’t think too much of the matter until I found out later in the day that MSNBC had just fired Michael “Savage” Weiner, the right-wing shock jock they hired a few months ago to replace Phil Donohue. That meant that two far-right wingnuts had been slapped down in one day and that is when I became suspicious. I think I see the hand of Karl Rove in all of this.

That’s right. I think Bush has been sitting back like Michael Corleone in Godfather II and surveying the political landscape in preparation for the 2004 election season. Now he has sent out his counseilere (Rove) to whack the uncooperative wingers who might have a tendency to embarrass him during the long campaign. So that just leaves one question. Which rightwingers out there should be looking over their shoulders right now?

Fade to Black

The WSJ has a story today about the decline of “old-style” animated movies prompted by the poor showing over the weekend of DreamWork SKG’s “Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.”
The Sinbad film, which cost $70 million to make, pulled in just $6.8 million during the July 4th weekend and the studio is already preparing to write it off as a $50 million loss. This comes on the heels of Disney’s disasterous “Treasure Planet” which cost $140 million and prompted a $98 million write-off for the Mickey Mouse company.

Now, the WSJ is reporting, Dreamworks is sworn off of the old 2-D animation and has nothing but computer-animated films in the pipeline. Disney still has a few traditional features in the works - including “Brother Bear” and “Home on the Range” - but is increasingly reliant on its relationship with computer animated champ Pixar for box-office hits.
Perhaps this is an inevitability - like color pictures taking over from black and white - but it still seems like a shame. “Aladdin” is still one of my all-time favorite films and I just can’t see it being done with computer animation. I like computer animation just fine - I’m a big Pixar fan - I haven’t even seen “Finding Nemo” yet and I’m already sold on the movie - but why can’t I have both?

In the end, I believe that quality makes more difference than the medium. I can’t really speak about Sinbad and Treasure Planet since I haven’t seen either one, but somehow I think that they just don’t measure up quality-wise to something like Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” which won the Oscar for best animated film this past year. I think Miyazaki demonstrates that there is still life left in the old-style animation as long as you have a powerful story to tell and the talent to pull it off.

Baseball and Robert Earl Keen

As a birthday treat for me (No. 38), my wife got us tickets this weekend to see a San Antonio Missions baseball game. Some friends from Houston drove down for the occasion and we were treated to an outstanding pitching performance by Clint Nageotte who threw a one-hit shutout with 14 strikeouts to lead the Missions to a 3-0 win over the El Paso Diablos. The Missions were the champions of their league last year and look to be on course for a repeat this year.

The highlight of the game for me was getting to meet former Boston Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant who was on hand to sign autographs on behalf of a local insurance company. I dug up one of my 1976 Topps ballcards of his and got him to sign it. He also signed his picture in the new book “The Long Ball: The Summer of ‘75” which was one of my birthday presents. It tells all about the 1975 baseball season which I remember quite vividly as my favorite team the Cinncinnatti Reds went all the way to win the World Series that year.

After the game, there was a Robert Earl Keen concert followed by a fireworks display. Keen is one of those talented Texas-based performers who I am just now beginning to catch up with. I expect that I will find the time to collect more of his music now because it was really good. Most of his songs have a small-town Texas theme and he ends every concert with his biggest hit-to-date “The Road Goes On Forever and The Party Never Ends” (not sure what the actual name of the song is) which turns into an extended jam session at the end.

Haunting Words

I can hardly believe Bush actually said this, but here it is....

"Anybody who wants to harm American troops will be found and brought to justice," Bush said. "There are some that feel like if they attack us that we may decide to leave prematurely. They don't understand what they are talking about if that is the case. Let me finish. There are some who feel like the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, bring them on."

Now one day later it seems Bush
got his answer...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least 10 American soldiers have been wounded in attacks on Thursday in Iraq, according to U.S. military officials.

The attacks came a day after President Bush -- saying he was confident that U.S. forces in Iraq were well-protected -- said to those in Iraq looking to harm American troops, "My answer is, bring them on."

Here is
Adam Felber's satirical take which would be even more funny if it were not so tragic:

Bush Double-Dog Dares Militants to Hurt US Soldiers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush on Wednesday challenged militants who have been killing and injuring U.S. forces in Iraq, saying "bring them on" because American forces were tough enough to deal with their attacks.
"There are some who feel like that conditions are such that they can attack us there," Bush told reporters at the White House. "My answer is bring them on..."


"...in fact," the President continued, "I don't think Iraqi militants have the guts to kill more Americans. I think they're yeller." Bush, who during Vietnam war bravely combatted an extremely inconvenient schedule, made his remarks a mere 6,211 miles from the front lines."

Jobless Rate Hits 9-Year High

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's unemployment rate shot up to 6.4 percent in June, the highest level in more than nine years, in an economic slump that has cost nearly a million jobs in the last three months."

Umm, weren't all those big tax cuts supposed to jump start the economy?

Postwar Blues

The WSJ is reporting today that 63 American troops have died in Iraq in the two months since Bush stood on an aircraft carrier and declared victory. That is nearly as many as died during the three weeks of fighting that led up to the fall of Baghdad.

The other day San Antonio buried its second hometown boy killed during the Iraq war and aftermath. He was a 19-year-old Army private who was killed in a grenade attack. His death did not get a lot of national media attention partly because he did not die immediately. Instead the news was that some soldiers were wounded and by the time he died the next day the grenade attack was old news.

The WSJ goes on to report that the rising casualty figures are causing Bush's poll numbers to decline from a 71 percent approval in April to 61 percent in July.

Those poll numbers are likely to drop further the longer our troops remain in harm's way. And it doesn't look like Iraq is going to embrace a U.S.-style democracy any time soon.

More on the Supremes

The same NYTimes article referred to below has the following observation from former Solicitor General Walter Dellinger:

"This term suggested a split between two kinds of conservative Republicans. (Justices Kennedy and O'Connor) share the sensibilities of corporate Republicans, who often have a bit of a libertarian streak in them, (while on social issues) Scalia and Thomas represent the Moral Majority strain, which is vocal but not necessarily dominant."
"Chief Justice Rehnquist, Dellinger adds, often occupies a middle position between the two groups."

If this analysis is accurate - and I think it is - then how would you classify the four remaining justices on the court? Might we say that Justices Breyer, Ginsburg and Souter represent the "corporate Democrats," while Justice Stevens occupies a middle position between this group and the now vacant far left position once filled by Justices Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan.

This means that we currently have a court that is lopsided to the right. However, social conservatives who still lose out on their pet issues in this case might disagree.

Supreme moderation

The New York Times has a big rundown on the latest Supreme Court session with a great graphic showing how all the judges voted on 13 major cases. The first thing that jumps out at you is that Sandra Day O'Connor was on the winning side of all but one of the decisions, demonstrating in my opinion that she, and not William Rehnquist, is the de facto chief justice on the court.
However, it is also noteworthy that Rehnquist - who normally forms part of the far-right troika on the court along with Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas - broke away from the conservative side on four cases, as did Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Here is the NYTimes breakdown on all of the contested cases (41) decided during this term:

"The voting patterns this term gave Justice Scalia ample cause for disaffection. Thirty of 71 cases decided by published opinions were unanimous, leaving 41 contested cases. In these, Justice Scalia and Clarence Thomas were the court's most frequent dissenters, with 16 and 21 dissenting votes respectively. This was a change from recent terms, when Justice John Paul Stevens, the court's most liberal member, was consistently the most frequent dissenter.

"Justice Stevens dissented 15 times this term as did Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The fewest dissenting votes, as usual, were cast by Justice O'Connor, with eight, followed by Chief Justice Rehnquist, with nine - making the indisputably conservative chief justice appear almost a centrist in the court's current spectrum."

William Rehnquist turning into a moderate after all these years. Imagine that! I guess wisdom really does improve with age.

All-Star Voting

Just cast my vote for the Baseball All Star Game. In the past I had done like everyone else and just voted for the players on my favorite team. This year I took it a bit more serious and actually compared stats before deciding who to vote for (not that it will matter, it is still just a big popularity contest).
So here are my picks for 2003:

American League
1B Carlos Delgado - Blue Jays
2B Alfonso Soriano - Yankees
SS Nomar Garciaparra - Red Sox
3B H. Blalock - Rangers
C Jorge Posada - Yankees
OF Ichiro Suzuki - Mariners
OF Manny Ramirez - Red Sox
OF Garrett Anderson - Angels
DH Edgar Martinez - Mariners

National League
1B Todd Helton - Rockies
2B Jeff Kent - Astros
SS Edgar Renteria - Cardinals
3B Mike Lowell - Marlins
C Javy Lopez - Braves
OF Albert Pujols - Cardinals
OF Gary Sheffield - Braves
OF Barry Bonds - Giants

For the past several years I have been a Yankees fan (long story), but now that they have traded away so many of their players I have begun to lose interest and I am once again looking for a team to support. I am trying to like the Astros again.

Katharine Hepburn 1907 - 2003

I'll always remember Katharine Hepburn as the determined old lady who was a match for John Wayne in "Rooster Cogburn" - the first film I ever saw her in. But I really became a big fan after seeing her in "The Philadelphia Story" some time later.
When I lived in Connecticut in the early '90s, I worked for a weekly newspaper in Old Saybrook where Hepburn lived. I never saw her there, but I talked to townsfolk who would tell stories of running into her in the local grocery stores on ocassion. That was enough to give me a slight feeling of connection with her and made me even more of a fan later on.
The only movie of hers that I have in my video collection right now is "The African Queen," so I will need to remedy that situation. Maybe they will come out with a nice collectors set on DVD soon.

A Zero Sum Game

Affirmative Action is not fair, there is just no way around it. It was and still is a flawed effort to right a wrong brought about by years of racial discrimination. There are two key problem with affirmative action as it relates to university admissions polices. The first is that it places the burden of righting a historical wrong directly onto the backs of students who had nothing to do with it. For every minority student who recieves beneficial treatment to get to the front of the admissions line, there is another student who is pushed back through no fault of their own.

As Michael Kinsley eloquently states in his latest column:

“Admission to a prestige institution like the University of Michigan or its law school is what computer types call a "binary" decision. It's yes or no. You're in, or you're out. There is no partial or halfway admission. The effect of any factor in that decision is also binary. It either changes the result or it doesn't. It makes all the difference, or it makes none at all. Those are the only possibilities.”


The second problem as pointed out by Justice Clarence Thomas in his dissent is that the program leaves all minority students with the stigma that they could not have made it on their own. Did Clarence Thomas need affirmative action in order to be accepted to Yale Law School? I don’t honestly know, but everyone just assumes that he did and I think that is his point. Regardless of whether he benefitted from affirmative action or not, the assumption will always be made that he did.

Express-News columnist Jan Jarboe Russell wrote a column in Thursday’s paper that took Thomas to task for his dissent in the affirmative action case largely because she believes he should be indebted to a “system that allowed him, the grandson of a Georgia sharecropper, to graduate from Yale University Law School and ascend to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

So Russell just automatically assumes that Thomas has had his entire life handed to him on a silver platter by a benevolent government that felt sorry for him and he did not have to do any work on his own to get to where he is. I wonder why this would make him resentful. Personally, I am no fan of Clarence Thomas and I did not support his nomination to the Supreme Court. I believe his rapid rise to the top of the judicial world was due not so much to his race as it was to the combination of his race and his right-wing politics. But this is all beside the point. Attacking Thomas personally is a logical fallacy because it is not addressing his argument, which in this case has some validity.

Russell goes on to make this point about the reverse discrimination that Thomas alludes to in his dissent:

“The discrimination that Thomas is so worried about is against white people, who for generations wrote admission policies that systematically kept minorities out of colleges and law schools. This is a case of Thomas, a victim of racial discrimination, standing by the side of history’s bigots to deny other minorities the same opportunity he has enjoyed.”

History’s bigots? I wasn’t even born when most of this stuff was going on and my children certainly were not. What this reminds me of is those Old Testament stories of condemnations being handed down to people for multiple generations. “You and your children and your children’s children will be cursed and will be forced to wander the world begging for food, etc.” Or in this case my children and grandchildren may be denied admission to a school they would otherwise qualify for because of this generational curse.

I have always been a strong supporter of education and I would gladly pay higher taxes to make colleges more affordable for everyone who wants to go. I would like to see more of our tax dollars spent on improving educational quality in underperforming school districts. I think financial needs should never be a barrier to anyone who wants to continue their education. But race should not be a barrier either and unfortunately it will continue to be one on several fronts.

A little history lesson from the South Plains

Recently the folks up in Lubbock helped to elect Randy Nuegebauer to the 19th District Congressional seat vacated by Larry Combest. This was not welcome news to the folks at Burnt Orange Report and understandably so. However, I thought that a little background on the situation with which I am familiar might demonstrate how things might have been much worse.
To win the seat, Nuegebauer, a real estate developer and former Lubbock city councilman, had to get past a number of other ambitious politicians including a former mayor and a current state representative.
Neugebauer’s victory was essentially a win for the Lubbock business community and the establishment wing of the local Republican Party. One hurdle to his victory was Lubbock State Rep. Carl Isett, a staunch member of the Lubbock Republican Party’s religious conservative or social conservative wing.
Carl Isett’s path to the state legislature seven years ago followed an unusual path that holds a powerful lesson for political enthusiasts today.
It all began when then-State Sen. John Montford, the powerful Democratic lawmaker from Lubbock who chaired the Senate Finance Committee, announced that he would be stepping down in the middle of his term to take the newly created post of chancellor of Texas Tech University. This resulted in what some political observers refer to as a spilled fruit basket with people announcing plans to run for the vacant position and creating new vacancies as a result.
Among the half dozen folks who made a bid for Montford’s seat was the sitting mayor and the sitting state representative. State Rep. Robert Duncan, a fairly moderate Republican, eventually won the seat but his departure from his own seat - District 84 - came too late for the state to set up a primary election before the general election. Therefore, it fell to the executive committees of the two local parties to pick candidates to place on the ballot for the general election.
The executive committees were made up of the precinct chairmen from each party in District 84. Precinct chairmen, who normally have little if any power, are selected in caucus meetings held at each polling location after they close.
For years, those caucus meetings had been poorly attended and paid little heed by the party establishment. But one group had been paying attention to the caucus meetings - the religious conservatives - and when it came time to pick a nominee for state representative in the fall of 1996 they held a 2-1 advantage on the executive committee. As a result, the committee passed over the establishment choice of a candidate - Lubbock school trustee Nancy Neal - and instead selected a little known certified public accountant (Isett) who was best known for his opposition to abortion and his advocacy for home schooling.
Once Isett’s name was on the ballot his victory was pretty much assured. Despite the Lubbock Democratic Party’s selection of a conservative attorney who won the endorsement and financial backing of a large contingent of the business community, Isett won in a walk on the strength of solid straight-ticket voting amongst the electorate.
I guess the moral of the story is that you should never take anything for granted in politics. Even those seemingly insignificant precint chairman positions can pay big dividends down the road.

A sad ending to a strange story in today's local paper.
A man who briefly became a local celebrity here in San Antonio for his odd beharior of riding a bicycle around town wearing nothing but a pair of thong underwear was found dead at the bottom of a canyon at Big Bend National Park over the weekend. It appears to have been a suicide, but authorities are still investigating.
Now with perfect 20/20 hindsight, it is apparent that "Thong Man," as he became known, was in need of some help. But at the time it was just an annoyance to keep seeing this 52-year-old man's naked butt in the paper and on the local news every evening.
I can't blame the local paper for doing the initial story on May 5th. It was an obvious story complete with angry neighbors complaining to authorities and legal experts determining that the man was adequately covered by law. But then the story just wouldn't go away as people yakked on and on about it in the letters section and on the local talk radio stations. Pretty soon a local radio station made "Thong Man" the grand marshall in a thong parade as part of a publicity stunt and that led to another round of stories and more TV news updates.
Then last week things seemed to take a turn for the worse when the man started riding his bike without even a thong and ended up in jail for disturbing the peace. Was this a final cry of desperation or just another effort to extend his 15-minutes of fame. Whatever it was that he wanted - attention or psychological help - he obviously was not getting enough of it.
He is back on the front page of the paper again today, possibly for the final time unless the authorites determine that foul play was involved in his death. That appears unlikely at this time.

Those Dixie Chicks just won't back off....

This is from a NYTimes review of the band's recent performance at Madison Square Garden:
"Before the group performed on Friday night, chosen songs were played, among them "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding," "Our Lips Are Sealed," "Band on the Run," "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" and "Born in the U.S.A." During the set Ms. Maines mentioned "the incident" as she introduced "Truth No. 2," which begins, "You don't like the sound of the truth coming from my mouth." She dedicated it to Michael Moore, who made an antiwar speech at the Academy Awards.

"As the Dixie Chicks played "Truth No. 2," video screens showed protest marches for civil rights and abortion rights, followed by book and record burnings and the destruction of Dixie Chicks CD's. Its final image showed the words "Seek the Truth." There were cheers when Ms. Maines sang, "I don't think I'm afraid anymore."

I wonder which is giving right-wingers the worse case of heartburn these days - the Dixie Chicks sold out concert tour or Sen. Hillary Clinton's best-selling book? They just can't stand these women who don't know their place.

Here is an excellent post from Daily Kos that takes to task the Mallard Fillmore comic strip from this past Sunday's paper.

Mallard Fillmore runs on the editorial page of the San Antonio Express-News each day right beneath Doonesbury - I guess to provide "balance." But it is really not a fair fight.

Doonesbury uses a whole host of well developed characters and follows lengthy and complex storylines to make nuanced and often biting political statements that frequently skewer both sides of the political debate.

Mallard Fillmore is a crudely drawn gag strip that has no character development and serves only to take cheap political shots at liberal "strawmen." The stip's modus operandi is not unlike that of your typical junior high school bully and the intellectual level of its arguments rarely even rise to that level.
What is worse, however, is that the assertions made in the strip are often times blatantly false. But for some reason newspapers around the country continue to run the strips everyday without correction. For example, several weeks ago the stip did a series lampooning comedian and liberal activist Janeanne Garafolo because she had at one time promised to apologize to President Bush if weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. The strip showed Mallard the duck waiting impatiently in front of the White House for Garafolo to show up to make her apology - the implication being that the WMDs had already been found. Of course, no WMDs have been found and there has been no retraction from the cartoonist who simply changed the subject and went back to attacking the Clintons once again.

It is really a shame that so many papers waste space on the Mallard strip when there are so many other talented, and yes, conservative cartoonists out there who could do a better job. In San Antonio there is a conservative cartoonist named Leo Garza who does an excellent daily strip for the local paper called Nacho Guarache which is many times superior to the Mallard strip. If conservatives had any sense at all they would be trying to get Mr. Garza's strip a national syndication deal to take the place of the embarrassingly bad Mallard Fillmore.

There's always a first time...

Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn has refused to certify the state budget because it is nearly $200 million out of whack. No state budget has ever failed to meet the state comptroller's certification since it was made a requirement in 1942, according to The Dallas Morning News.

This is also the first year that the Texas GOP has been in charge of every branch of government. I'm sure that is just a coincidence, however. I guess it's a good thing that Gov. Perry has already decided to blow an additional $1.7 million by calling all the lawmakers back at the end of the month for a special session. Maybe they will get it right the second time.

I think I see a pattern here...

The NYTimes is reporting today that the White House has "edited" an EPA report on the state of the environment to remove portions that describe the risks from rising global temperatures. How convenient! When a scientific study does not produce results that match the administration's ideologically-based predetermined conclusions - they just throw them out. I wonder if this was part of the reason that Christie Whitman decided to throw in the towel as Bush's EPA chief last month?

I suspect this same refusal to consider evidence that doesn't match a predetermined conclusion is also at the heart of the missing Weapons of Mass Destruction controversy.

The first two and a half years of the Bush presidency has coincided with what the Wall Street Journal today calls “one of the financial world’s most painful and protracted downturns ever.” I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.

The same story goes on to suggest that there are signs of a recovery - “a 20 percent surge in stocks since March and a flurry of mergers and new intial public offerings” - but notes that Wall Street firms are behaving cautiously after having been burned by other “recovery” stories back in 2002. Securities firms have slashed a record 80,000 jobs since April 2001 as “deals dried up, initial offerings of stock in newly public companies all but vanished and banks turned off the money spigot to major corporations.”

I'm glad I was not downtown last night in the traffic snarl created by the celebrating Spurs fans. Instead, I weathered the game in the relative comfort of my home as the Spurs plodded along through three and a half quarters before finally exploding in the final six minutes to claim their first lead and the National Championship.
The Spurs seem to get only grudging respect from the other big media markets where they treat San Antonio like some kind of backwater hole in the wall rather than one of the Top 10 most populous cities in the nation. In the NY Times today, sports writer William Rhoden admitted that although Tim Duncan may be one of the most consistent and technically flawless players in the game today, he is still not a big fan because Duncan (and the Spurs) lack the "presence and charisma" of Shaquille O'Neal; the "spark" of Kobe Bryant; the "sense of theater" of Kevin Garnett and the "penchant for playing on the edge" of Allen Iverson.
Of course, there is one other descriptive term that matches all of those players -- LOSERS!!! HaHaHa!
Go Spurs!

Today the Washington Post is reporting that retired Gen. Wesley Clark is moving closer to announcing his candidacy for president. I'm not sure how serious Clark is about winning the Democratic nomination or whether this is just a move to build his name identification and make himself more appealing for a VP slot on the ticket. Quite frankly, a Kerry-Clark ticket would be a killer and would go along way towards neutralizing the Republican advantage on military issues. Remember that Sen. John Kerry is a decorated Vietnam veteran.

Welcome to the "New and Improved" Rhetoric & Rhythm now with a 'comments' section!
Now, underneath every post there is a link where readers can post their own comments about my latest rant. So go ahead and comment away!

So many things to be outraged about... so little time to vent..
Here is one buried inside today's NYTimes:

The Organization of American States (OAS), which includes all the nations of North, Central and South America and the surrounding islands, has voted to exclude the United States from representation on its Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for the first time in the body's 44-year history. The reason for this symbolic rebuke is because the U.S. has done nothing but harp about Cuba since the Bush administration took charge.

"In private, several nations were critical of what they characterized as Mr. (Colin) Powell's excessive and narrow focus on Cuba at the expense of other issues."

This one-note focus on Cuba was made even more clear by the Bush administration's choice for its representative on the Human Rights commission - Rafael Martinez, a Cuban-exhile with no experience in human rights issues. But Mr. Martinez is the brother of Mel Martinez, Bush's Secrectary of Housing and Urban Development, and was a leading fund-raiser for the Bush presidential campaign among Cuban-Americans in Florida.

When Bush first took office, he played up his relationship with Mexico President Vicente Fox. But that relationship has since grown cold starting with Bush's refusal to stop the execution of a Mexican national in Texas (Mexico, like most civilized nations around the world, does not have a death penalty). And then when Mexico did not buy into all of Bush's lies about the immiment threat from weapons of mass destruction and thus did not support the U.S. pre-emptive invasion, Bush dropped Fox like a hot potato. His only other venture into foreign policy on this side of the Atlantic was to encourage and support the failed coup of the democratically elected president of Venezuela. Now, Bush's sole focus for the Southern Hemisphere is to vilify Cuba so as to bolster his support among anti-Castro Cubans in Floriday in the hope that he might actually win Florida during the next election rather than having it penciled in to his column by the Republican members of the Supreme Court.

Here is Howard Dean ( via Slate ) making some points that all the Democratic candidates need to pick up on:

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

Here is a graphic illustration to help make that point more clear.
We now have a record $400 billion budget deficit and the job losses keep mounting every week.

Why would anyone want four more years of this?

Oh goody! More song lists! This one is from VH-1 and purports to be the Top 100 songs of the past 25 years. I guess that means songs that go back to 1978 are included such as "Who Are You" by The Who and "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones. Well, here is the complete list along with my additions at the bottom (an X means I agree with the VH1 selection although not necessarily the placement) :

X1. Nirvana, "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
X2. Michael Jackson, "Billie Jean"
X3. Guns N' Roses, "Sweet Child O' Mine"
X4. Eminem, "Lose Yourself"
X5. U2, "One"
6. Run-D.M.C., "Walk This Way"
X7. Prince, "When Doves Cry"
8. Whitney Houston, "I Will Always Love You"
X9. The Police, "Every Breath You Take"
X10. Madonna, "Like a Virgin"
X11. Van Halen, "Jump"
12. Alanis Morissette, "You Oughta Know"
13. TLC, "Waterfalls"
14. Sinead O'Connor, "Nothing Compares 2 U"
X15. Pink Floyd, "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)"
16. No Doubt, "Don't Speak"
X17. Def Leppard, "Photograph"
X18. R.E.M., "Losing My Religion"
X19. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"
X20. AC/DC, "You Shook Me All Night Long"
X21. U2, "With or Without You"
22. Cyndi Lauper, "Time After Time"
X23. Prince, "Little Red Corvette"
24. Celine Dion, "My Heart Will Go On"
25. Rick James, "Super Freak"
X26. Bon Jovi, "Livin' on a Prayer"
27. Grandmaster Flash, "The Message"
28. Britney Spears, "... Baby One More Time"
X29. Bruce Springsteen, "Born in the U.S.A."
30. Janet Jackson, "Nasty"
31. Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg, "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang"
X32. Pearl Jam, "Jeremy"
X33. Tina Turner, "What's Love Got to do With It"
X34. Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes"
35. The Sugarhill Gang, "Rapper's Delight"
X36. Joan Jett, "I Love Rock 'n Roll"
37. Alicia Keys, "Fallin'"
X38. The Clash, "London Calling"
X39. Tom Petty, "Free Fallin'"
X40. Michael Jackson, "Beat It"
X41. Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Under the Bridge"
42. Blondie, "Heart of Glass"
X43. The Go-Go's, "Our Lips Are Sealed"
44. Gloria Gaynor, "I Will Survive"
45. Aerosmith, "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"
X46. Queen and David Bowie, "Under Pressure"
47. Shania Twain, "You're Still the One"
48. Naughty By Nature, "O.P.P."
49. Journey, "Don't Stop Believin'"
50. Lenny Kravitz, "Are You Gonna Go My Way?"
51. George Michael, "Faith"
X52. The Rolling Stones, "Start Me Up"
53. Marvin Gaye, "Sexual Healing"
54. Goo Goo Dolls, "Iris"
X55. Talking Heads, "Once in a Lifetime"
56. Sheryl Crow, "All I Wanna Do"
57. Eric Clapton, "Tears in Heaven"
58. The Notorious B.I.G. feat. Puff Daddy & Mase, "Mo Money Mo Problems"
59. Meat Loaf "Paradise By the Dashboard Light"
X60. Santana feat. Rob Thomas, "Smooth"
61. Backstreet Boys, "I Want It That Way"
X62. Pretenders, "Brass in Pocket"
X63. Beck, "Loser"
64. The Knack, "My Sharona"
65. Nelly, "Hot in Herre"
X66. Squeeze, "Tempted"
X67. John Cougar Mellencamp, "Jack and Diane"
68. Chic, "Good Times"
69. Mary J. Blige, "Real Love"
X70. Culture Club, "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me"
71. Dave Matthews Band, "Crash Into Me"
X72. John Lennon, "(Just Like) Starting Over"
73. LL Cool J, "Mama Said Knock You Out"
X74. Hall & Oates, "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)"
75. The Ramones, "I Wanna Be Sedated"
X76. Eurythmics, "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)"
77. Missy Elliott, "Work It"
78. Green Day, "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"
79. Destiny's Child, "Say My Name"
X80. Duran Duran, "Hungry Like the Wolf"
81. OutKast, "Ms. Jackson"
X82. Soft Cell, "Tainted Love"
83. Band Aid, "Do They Know It's Christmas"
84. Radiohead, "Creep"
85. Eminem, "My Name Is"
X86. Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car"
X87. The Who, "Who Are You"
X88. Metallica, "Enter Sandman"
89. Pat Benatar, "Hit Me With Your Best Shot"
X90. The Police, "Roxanne"
91. Melissa Etheridge, "Come to My Window"
92. Salt-N-Pepa, "Push It"
93. Nine Inch Nails, "Closer"
X94. Cheap Trick, "Surrender"
95. Oasis, "Wonderwall"
X96. Beastie Boys, "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)"
X97. Devo, "Whip It"
98. Hanson, "MMMBop"
99. Norah Jones, "Don't Know Why"
100. Madonna, "Ray of Light"

Songs that did not make the list that should have include:

The Police, "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"
Van Halen, "Running With the Devil"
Paul Simon, "You Can Call Me Al"
David Bowie, "Let's Dance"
J. Geils Band, "Centerfold"
Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust"
Asia, "Heat of the Moment"
ZZ Top, "Legs"
Loverboy, "Get Lucky"
Tears For Fears, "Sowing the Seeds of Love"
Peter Gabriel, "Sledgehammer"
Rush, "Tom Sawyer"
Foreigner, "Juke Box Hero"
Smashing Pumpkins, "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
Stone Temple Pilots, "Vaseline"
Tom Petty, "You Got Lucky"
The Black Crowes, "Remedy"
Billy Joel, "Allentown"
Cheap Trick, "She's Tight"


That is just a sampling. I could come up with many more. I won't even comment on the order of the songs other than to say that placing "Born in the USA" out of the Top 10 is an unforgivable sin.

The Associated Press has determined that 3,240 Iraqi civilians were killed during the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Or perhaps we should say that they were "liberated." Oh well, it was obviously unavoidable considering that Saddam Hussein was sitting on this huge stockpile of chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction that posed an imminent threat to the security of the United States. At least, that's what the Bush folks claimed before the war...

From the NYTimes: "President Bush said today that he was "absolutely convinced" that the United States would find proof that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons programs."

We will find weapons! We will! We will! We will! We will! Bush said stamping his feet.

Meanwhile, according to the New York Times, 138 U.S. soldiers were killed during the war and, more disturbingly, 41 have been killed since May 1 when runner-up for President Bush declared the military action had ended. So what is going on?
Now the AP is also reporting that Saddam Hussein is rumored to still be alive and well in Iraq and paying a bounty for every U.S. soldier killed with the billion or so that he looted from the Iraq treasury prior to the U.S. invasion.

No WMDs, No Saddam Hussein, the Oil Ministry looted and in ruins (according to today's NYTimes). Can things get any worse in Iraq? They're not getting any better at home. Maybe Bush can start another war somewhere else to distract us from all of these problems.

While on the topic of Republican senators from tiny states like Idaho there is this fresh outrage from today's New York Times (Still the best newspaper in the country, hands down).

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, is blocking the promotion of more than 850 Air Force officers, including young pilots who fought in Iraq and the general nominated to bail out the scandal-plagued U.S. Air Force Academy. His price to free the frozen promotions? Four C-150 cargo planes for the Idaho Air National Guard.

Senate rules give its members the power to hold up federal nominations and promotions, but no one has been stupid enough by my recollection to use this power to hold up military promotions which are typically whisked through the approval process. I would be just as upset with Sen. Craig if he were a Democrat and I would expect his fellow senators and party officials to knock him upside the head. But Sen. Craig is one of those politicos whose radical right views make it difficult to justify labeling him a "conservative." I guarantee that Craig voted for each and every one of Bush's budget-busting tax cuts, and now he turns around and demands a bigger piece of federal pork for his state. This is a fine example of why I often refer to the Republican Party as the Hypocricy Party.

I just wonder how many of my old Corps buddies in the Air Force are caught up in this mess that Sen. Craig has created. It's bad enough that the Bush administration is slashing veteran's benefits for the military personnel coming back from Iraq, but now they have to sit around and wait for their promotions while this Republican senator tries to blackmail the Air Force into giving his state more federal largesse. Never mind whether it is necessary for the security of our nation or even if the military can afford it today with all the pending budget cuts coming down the pike. The NY Times article spells it out pretty clearly that Craig is trying to bulk up the military base in Idaho with more aircraft so it will not be a target for closure during the next round of base closings gearing up for 2005.
I hope the Air Force officers don't have to wait much longer and I hope that the voters in Idaho will find a more honorable person to represent them in the near future.

Here is an interesting observation from blogger Nathan Newman about the U.S. Senate.

"If Senators had voting power proportionate to their state's populations, Democrats would have a significant majority in the Senate. Assuming that each Senator got one vote for every person in their state (as of 2000), the totals would be as follows (remembering each state has two Senators):
Democratic Votes: 301.5 million
Republican Votes: 246.8 million "

But Republicans control the Senate by a 51 to 48 margin (and 1 Independent) because tiny little states like Wyoming, Utah and Idaho with a combined population of slightly more than 4 million can send 2 Republicans each giving them the same voting power as California, Florida and New York whose Democratic senators represent states with a combined population of nearly 70 million people.

So what's going on in Bush's America today? Let's see....

Unemployment hits a 9-year high

Polluters get away with murder while toothless EPA does nothing

Republicans try to eliminate the filibuster rule in the Senate because 2 of Bush's 128 judicial nominees were not approved and Bush demands 100 pecent compliance from a rubber-stamp Congress.

A Pentagon spokesman explains that a DOD intelligence report issued prior to the war that said "there is no reliable information on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons" was actually consistent with the administration's claims that Iraq had huge piles of Weapons of Mass Destruction that required an immediate, pre-emptive invasion to eliminate. The spokesman also goes on to explain that black is white, up is down and yesterday is tomorrow.

I'm a real sucker for lists. This one is from Country Music Television and purports to be the Top 100 Country songs of all time.
Lots of good ones on the list, but also some filler. I don't see "Luchenbach, Texas" anywhere.

Seeing as how the flag buring issue is bound to keep resurfacing every few years like some kind of zombie horror show I decided to dig up this old Letter to the Editor on that subject that I wrote during the first Bush presidency. This was published in the Bryan-College Station Eagle on July 13, 1989.

“The hysterical wave of nationalism that has swept across our country has encouraged our President to propose an amendment to our Constitution that would put a serious dent in the Bill of Rights. No, even worse than a dent, it would be a wedge that future leaders could use to pressure in even broader restrictions on our freedom of expression.
Some people seem to be surprised that the First Amendment protects more than just the spoken word. The Surpreme Court has consistently held that symbolic actions are protected as free expression as long as they are conducted peacefully. This is nothing new. What is new is this near idolatry of the flag. Having respect for what the flag stands for is one thing, worshipping the flag itself is something else.
Chief Justice Rehnquist was wrong in trying to compare flag burning to defacing a public monument. A protester cannot purchase a monument, but they can go to any store and buy their own flag. If they burn someone else’s flag then they should be tried for theft and destruction of another’s property. But they should not be penalized for expressing anger and resentment against the government in the most dramatic and shocking way - burning a symbol of that government. What if they fire up a copy of the Constitution or hang an effigy of the President? Would this not be equally offensive? Our founding fathers believed that goodness and righteousness would always prevail through forces of reason and therefore were not afraid to allow a free flow of ideas. Why are we afraid today?”

With folks like John Ashcroft and Tom Delay in charge of things these days maybe we should be afraid!

"Sen. Clinton calls husband a liar"
That is the screaming Page 1, top of the fold, banner headline in today's San Antonio Express-News. One would think, from the way the newspaper is playing the story, that Sen. Clinton had denounced her husband, the former president, just yesterday from the floor of the Senate. But the story is actually an Associated Press review of Hilary Clinton's new book "Living History" which is a memoir of her 8 years as First Lady. Sure, it reveals for the first time the pain she felt when her husband's infidelity was exposed during the Monica Lewinsky/Ken Starr debacle in the late 1990s. And I suppose that even makes it somewhat newsworthy. I could even see a newspaper teasing the story on its front page and then running it inside somewhere. But treating it like the major news of the day in such tabloid fashion is something I thought was beneath my local newspaper. It certainly helps to make the point that Eric Alterman makes in his book "What Liberal Media?" which is that there is no liberal bias in the news media, especially when it concerns the Clintons.

Meanwhile, runner-up for President George W. Bush has told one of the biggest lies in modern political history when he claimed repeatedly that Iraq was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction. So where are these tons of biological and chemical agents that Bush detailed in his State of the Union address and in multiple speeches leading up to our pre-emptive military invasion? If he was so concerned that they were there back then, why isn't he more concerned that they are missing now? Did they really end up in Syria or Iran or in the hands of Al Quaeda terrorists? Or is it more likely that these weapons were destroyed long ago and Bush purposely misread intelligence reports to make his case for a military confrontation?

I saw this quote floating around on the Internet and it is particularly apt to think about right now. "Nobody Died When Clinton Lied" Yeah, and nobody lost their job either.

Interestingly enough, the AP story is not really that sensational. It is just the headline writers and editors at the Express-News whose bias is showing in this case. For example, inside on the jump page the story has the following statement "She (Hilary) concludes that what her husband did was morally wrong, but not a betrayal of the public." And what is the subhead for the story as it continues on Page 4A? "Sen. Clinton tells of betrayal"

I noticed on C-SPAN today that in the House they are debating a flag burning amendment once again. This is amazing. It is like an annual ritual that the Republican right must go through every year. They have been debating this thing since I was in college in the mid-1980s and they just keep bringing it back over and over again. I guess I should dig up the old letters to the editor I wrote about this issue back in College Station (where I was probably the only member of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets who was also active with Students Against Apartheid).

I guess it's not like we have anything more important to concern ourselves with. Like maybe these missing Weapons of Mass Destruction that we went to war over just a few months ago that nobody seems to care about anymore. Or how about the stagnant economy and the 2 million jobs lost since runner-up W. took office? No, the flag debate is a great distraction. Funny how I haven't noticed any flag burning during the past 15 years while our national symbol has remained unprotected by a Constitutional amendment. But I have noticed lots of people wrapping themselves in the flag on a regular basis.

I got to see the big dust-up between right-wing talkmeister Bill O'Reilly and liberal comedian/author Al Franken that was televized on C-SPAN today. I have to admit that it was never as nasty an exchange as I was led to believe. I thought that O'Reilly was pompous and kind of dry. Franken was just flat-out funny. I loved the way he kicked off his talk about his new book "Lies and the Lying Liers Who Tell Them" (with a picture of O'Reilly on the cover, by the way) by announcing that God had told him to write the book to correct the assertion by Bush that he had been chosen by God to be president. No, actually it was Clarence Thomas who chose him to be president, Franken says.

Molly Ivins was also on the bill with Franken and O'Reilly and it was wonderful to see her looking so well and nice to know that she is coming out with her own new book "Bushwhacked." I remember seeing Molly many years ago in College Station when she gave a talk at a local Unitarian Church. Back then, Bush Jr. was just a failed businessman who kept getting one incredible break after another eventually leading up to partial ownership of the Texas Rangers baseball team.

Today, Bush Jr. is our president despite the fact that myself and a majority of American voters (even in Florida) did not vote for him. And so far, his presidency has been an unmitigated disaster. Josh Marshall today talks about a new poll out that shows how America's image with other countries has plummeted since the war with Iraq began. And that image will only get more tarnished if it turns out that Iraq never had the WMDs that we used to justify a pre-emptive military invasion.

This is pretty neat! I'm a "Crunchy Crustacean" in the Blogosphere Ecosystem over at The Truth Laid Bear. The site uses a special program to track the number of inbound links to weblogs registered at the site and then ranks them accordingly.

So far I'm ranked at No. 2076 out of about 2612 web logs tracked on the site. I have 2 inbound links thanks to Off the Kuff and Easter Lemming - Liberal News which both were good enough to link to my May 20th rant about the sparcity of liberal voices in the national media.

Now all I need to do is get blogrolled by a couple more web sites and I can evolve up through the blogosphere food chain to become a "Lowly Insect"!

Today is Bob Hope's 100th Birthday!!! I'm glad to see that he made it this far, same as George Burns a few years ago. I just started reading his memoir called "Don't Shoot! It's Just Me!" but I need to finish reading my Bing Crosby biography first.
Maybe they will play some old Bob Hope movies tonight to celebrate. I can hope, anyway.
Check out the Official Bob Hope web site.

The administration's lies from the Iraq war are finally starting to catch up with them. Now it is just a question as to whether anyone will notice or even care.

The Washington Post reports here that Bush officials are starting to "hedge" on their certainty that Saddam ever had any weapons of mass destruction.

Oh, and remember at the beginning of the war when we bombed that underground bunker in the hopes of killing Saddam? Well, now it turns out that there was no bunker there.

And remember the story of Pfc. Jessica Lynch's heroic rescue after being held as a POW in Iraq? Yeah, that's right, more lies. Read about it here.

Here is report today from the Financial Times in London about the economic disaster that Bush is creating for the country:

"The Bush administration has shelved a report commissioned by the Treasury that shows the US currently faces a future of chronic federal budget deficits totalling at least $44.2 trillion in current US dollars.

The study, the most comprehensive assessment of how the US government is at risk of being overwhelmed by the "baby boom" generation's future healthcare and retirement costs, was commissioned by then-Treasury secretary Paul O'Neill.


But the Bush administration chose to keep the findings out of the annual budget report for fiscal year 2004, published in February, as the White House campaigned for a tax-cut package that critics claim will expand future deficits.

The study asserts that sharp tax increases, massive spending cuts or a painful mix of both are unavoidable if the US is to meet benefit promises to future generations. It estimates that closing the gap would require the equivalent of an immediate and permanent 66 per cent across-the-board income tax increase."

Saw X-Men II over the weekend and also saw Matrix Reloaded the week before that. So I guess I'm all caught up on my summer movie watching for awhile, at least until Finding Nemo comes out next week.
I give both movies a thumbs up. The Matrix sequel did not disappoint on the special effects action sequences and I thought the story line was advanced in an interesting direction with a particularly enticing tease at the end of the film that should be resolved in the final chapter.
Don't listen to the movie critics who are panning this film. Most of them probably panned the first film when it came out, but now hold it up as the gold standard and bash the sequel by comparison. I don't think you need to compare the two films any more than you need to compare two chapters of the same book. Which one did you like better? What does it matter? The only thing that matters is whether or not you like the book.

X-Men II on the other hand was not like the next chapter of a book so much as the latest issue of a comic book series and for my money it was a better movie than the first. Perhaps that is because the characters were already established for me and they could dive straight into the narrative of the story without any long detours to flesh out background details. Whatever the reason, I was entertained by the film and look forward to No. 3 which is undoubtedly in the works.

Some instructive reading in the Wall Street Journal today concerning Bush’s latest multi-billion dollar tax cut package.
The lead story makes the point that the tax cut “will likely provide a significant boost to the tepid U.S. economy, but at a potentially significant long-term cost.”
So short-term gain and long-term pain. So what exactly does that mean?
“It should boost consumer incomes and thus spending, encourage business investment and could lift stock prices...” but at the cost of “... driving up deficits and therefore long-term interest rates, and widening the gap between rich and poor.”

So Bush is willing to sacrifice the long-term health of our country in order to gain a temporary short-term boost to help with his re-election effort.

But there is more... The $350 billion price tag on the tax package is really an illusion pieced together with smoke and mirror accounting gimmicks...

“The true price tag would balloon to more than $800 billion if various temporary provisions are extended...”

The article goes on to spell out in very blatant terms about Bush’s true intentions for the tax cut...

“Mr. Bush is particularly eager to lift the economy and investors’ spirits before he has to face the voters in November 2004 — and avoid the election result his father suffered after winning a war with Iraq but letting the economy slide.”

Ah, but the difference here is that the economy has already slid long before the most recent Iraq war. Bush lied about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein (his elusive weapons of mass destruction and non-existent nukes) in order to distract the public’s attention away from the economic mess on the homefront. His first big tax cut a year ago failed to provide any economic relief or job growth and instead served to sap away the budget surplus built up over the Clinton years and return the nation to huge deficits and a mounting debt burden.

A separate story on the front the the WSJ today makes this intriguing statement...

“As a former business executive, (Bush’s) instincts told him the economy needed some aid and he resolved to give it the largest dose possible.”

They failed to mention that Bush, the former business executive, ran each and every one of his companies into the ground and had to be bailed out each time by his Daddy’s wealthy friends. Please note that these wealthy friends did not bail out George’s companies necessarily, just George himself.
And now the process is repeating itself. Bush has effectively run the nation’s economy into the ground and now these same wealthy individuals are trying to bail him out - not by helping the country, but by helping Bush. Bush just the other day raised another $22 million at a campaign fund raiser.

By the way, aren’t Bush’s instincts a little dull if he is just now figuring out that the economy needs some aid?

There is more good stuff inside the WSJ today... In particular an article headlined “Get Ready for Era of Budget Deficits”

“The compromise 2003 tax bill would usher in a new era of federal budget deficits as far as the eye can see - especially if politicians, as expected, ultimately refuse to go along with an accounting gimmick that calls on key provisions to expire after a few years.”
“Even without the proposed tax cut, the Treasury’s ledgers would have been written in red ink through at least 2007, according to government estimates, thanks to the slowing economy, the war against terrorism and the first two tax cuts under President Bush.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety is not helping its reputation with this latest news of document and records destruction. The DPS has apparently destroyed all of its records
of its actions in trying to hunt down Democratic lawmakers who broke the Texas House quorum last week by absconding to Ardmore, Okla.

This is an incredible story. The DPS would seem to have ripped a page straight out of the Enron/Arthur Andersen playbook here. The only question is whether the agency did it on its own, as is being claimed, or were there behind-the-scenes political machinations involved? I suspect the latter and I want to know whether Tom Delay or Tom Craddick’s fingerprints are on this mess. I don’t like the fact that are state funded law enforcement agency was turned into a politcal tool by the Texas Republican Party last week and it outrageous that someone thinks they can just sweep it all away by pulling off some cheap Nixonian coverup operation now.

Josh Marshall has a good column this week in The Hill about Tom Delay’s involvement in trying to sic federal agents on the Killer D’s who screwed up his political powerplay last week.

There is a new book out that purports to list the Top 500 Country songs called "Heartaches By The Number" by David Cantwell and Bill Friskics-Warren. It looks to be very entertaining and interesting with the authors contributing essays for each of their chosen songs. But what caught my attention is that the book gives a nod to Bing Crosby for his influence on Country music:

"One of the looming presences in the book is Bing Crosby, rarely identified with country but actually one of the genre's most important practitioners.
"He's one of the heroes of the book," Cantwell says. "He was a huge influence on any number of country singers, and he also listened to country music. ... He played a big part in popularizing country songs." Crosby is represented by two tunes -- "Pistol Packin' Mama" (his version of the Al Dexter hit, which reshaped the song considerably) and "Don't Fence Me In" (written by, of all people, the urbane Cole Porter)"

Always good to see Bing getting some long overdue credit now and then. As with Bob Hope, this year is also the 100th anniversary of his birth, but I doubt there will be any TV specials to commemorate that fact, unfortunately.





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So who serves as the “Voice of the Left” today (see post below)? When liberal commentators started to fade off of the TV screens during the 1990s it was largely attributed to the simple give and take of political power shifting. While the Democrats remained in power through President Clinton, the right wing commentators would take the forefront in the media to harp at and criticize the administration. But now that Bush has been in office for more than two years, the liberal commentators have not come back. In fact, the number of conservative commentators just continues to multiply. Fox News has become the leading cable news channel by offering a steady stream of Republican propaganda and right-wing commentary without even the pretense of trying to be fair or balanced. CNN has abandoned most commentary shows in an effort to avoid being labled “liberal.” Even, the old workhorse “Crossfire” has been cut back and stuck in a poorly watched time slot so as to attract as little notice as possible. I haven’t watched the show in a while, but I believe it is currently one of the only shows where you can hear an unapologetic liberal voice -- James Carville or Paul Begala -- balanced of course by two or three conservative voices. And over at MSNBC, the lone liberal commentator Phil Donohue saw his show canned in favor of a slew of new shows for right-wing talkers including Dan Savage and Joe Scarborough.
The best chance for hearing a liberal perspective on TV these days resides with PBS (which Newt Gingrich and the Republican’s in Congress failed to shut down a few years ago) especially with Bill Moyers’ NOW program. But like CNN, PBS and its radio counterpart NPR have felt pressure to “balance” every liberal voice with a conservative one - something that the other networks and radio shows fail to do in reverse.
For people looking for a left perspective today one is practically forced to turn to the Internet where you can track a few liberal columnists at major newspapers like Paul Krugman and Frank Rich at the New York Times, E.J. Dionne at the Washington Post, Robert Scheer at the Los Angeles Times and Molly Ivins at the Fort Worth Star Telegram. Another powerful voice from the left is Michael Kinsley, the former editor of the online Slate Magazine, whose columns appear regularly in Slate and the WashPo.
Next, one must turn to the blogosphere to find leading voices from the left. Joshua Marshall has become very influential with his Talking Points blog as has Eric Alertman’s Altercation hosted by MSNBC.com. Then there is the anonymous Atrios who runs the Eschaton blog. Also, look for Joe Conason’s regular journal entries at the online Salon magazine.
It is a pretty thin list today, especially when compared to the number of folks lining up to pontificate the right-wing perspective over the corporate-controlled airwaves.
One problem for the left today is the continuing scourge that is Ralph Nader and the Green Party which drove a split through the Democratic Party and handed the presidency to George W. Bush during the 2000 election. A number of left leaders became caught up in the Nader charade including Michael Moore, Jim Hightower and to some extent even Molly Ivins. Today, some though not all of these people have returned to their senses. But it still remains to be seen whether the left can rally around a Democratic candidate be it Howard Dean, John Kerry or someone else.

The Faint, Fading Voice of the Left
Tuesday May 20, 8:41 am ET
By Thane Peterson

Here's a quiz for you: Name the best-known and most influential conservative commentators in America? Rush Limbaugh? George F. Will? Bill O'Reilly? Now, quick, who are their liberal counterparts?

If you can't think of any, you're not alone. Conservatives love to rant that liberals dominate the news media. Trouble is, it's just not true. In fact, I'd argue that the biggest problem with America's public discourse today is that the left is barely represented at all on mainstream TV and radio talk shows and in major newspapers and magazines.
Read the rest here.

I'm a little disturbed by some of the reports I've read of the overzealous efforts of law enforcement officials in trying to track down the Democratic lawmakers who broke the legislative quorum this week. Perhaps most disturbing is a report from the Fort Worth Star Telegram about Rebublicans using part of our new Homeland Defense Anti-Terrorist operations to track down Rep. Pete Laney's Piper airplane. We are spending billions to set up this new Homeland Defense operation and Texas Republicans are using them like their personal stormtroopers to enforce their political dictates.
Then there has been the shameful and excessive use of DPS troopers and Texas Rangers to harass the lawmakers families. One report has a trooper entering a lawmakers home after his daughter left the door open.. Another trooper staked out the hospital where a lawmaker's newborn twins are being treated in intensive care.
Quite frankly these law enforcement officials should get out of this political fight and go back to hunting down real bad guys like we pay them to do. I fully support my lawmakers decision to break the quorum. My interests are not being represented by the group that is left behind in Austin right now and they should not have the power to sick law officers on their political counterparts. It's disgraceful and deeply disturbing.
I understand that some Republicans are upset because they have a majority and feel that therefore they should be able to push through whatever legislation they please, but that is not how our government was set up to work. Our government only works when we are willing to compromise and so far House Speaker Tom Craddick has made it clear that compromise is the furthest thing from his mind.

I loved the response today of New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid when asked by Gov. Rick Perry to track down the missing Texas House Democrats:

"I don't think they are in Santa Fe now. Nevertheless, I have put out an all-points bulletin for law enforcement to be on the look out for politicians in favor of health care for the needy and against tax cuts for the wealthy."

And here is the response of Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry:

"Our position is that, without a warrant signed by a judge, we have no authority. Even under those circumstances, we are hesitant to get pulled into a Texas political battle. If we're going to do battle with Texas, we prefer that it be on the football field," Mr. Henry said through his spokesman.

HaHaHa

Hooray for the Killer Bees!
59 of the 62 Democrats in the Texas House have left the state in a bid to break the quorum and kill legislation that the new Republican majority has been cramming through the Lege in a one-sided, partisan fashion. Here are the latest details.
I'm glad to see that the Texas Democrats are finally showing some backbone! We are going to be bombarded for the rest of the week by Republican namecalling, but these lawmakers should be applauded for standing up for their constituents. Republicans are complaining that they never used these extreme tactics when they were in the minority, but what they don't admit is that they still managed to get much of what they wanted while the House was controlled by Democrats. When the Republicans took over earlier this year they made many of the same mistakes as their counterparts at the federal level did 8 years ago under Newt Gingrich. Rather than working with the minority party to reach a bi-partisan consensus on major legislation the way Democrats did for years - they have plowed ahead in a power-hungry bid to get everything they want all at once without compromise. Republicans never opted for the Killer Bee tactic because they were never driven to it the way Democrats have been this year. Conservative Democrats like former House Speaker Pete Laney always gave the Republicans plenty of leeway to keep them happy over the years. Now, the fact that Pete Laney is among the missing is very instructive in how harsh and partisan the House has become under Tom Craddick.

It looks like Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers has passed up Forrest Gump to take the No. 7 spot on the All-Time Domestic Box Office list.

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-Va., says much of what needs to be said about Bush's campaign speech aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln the other day....

" I was deeply troubled by both the content and the context of President Bush's remarks to the American people last week marking the end of the combat phase of the war in Iraq.  As I watched the President's fighter jet swoop down onto the deck of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, I could not help but contrast the reported simple dignity of President Lincoln at Gettysburg with the flamboyant showmanship of President Bush aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. 

"President Bush's address to the American people announcing combat victory in Iraq deserved to be marked with solemnity, not extravagance; with gratitude to God, not self-congratulatory gestures.  American blood has been shed on foreign soil in defense of the President's policies.  This is not some made-for-TV backdrop for a campaign commercial.  This is real life, and real lives have been lost.  To me, it is an affront to the Americans killed or injured in Iraq for the President to exploit the trappings of war for the momentary spectacle of a speech. I do not begrudge his salute to America's warriors aboard the carrier Lincoln, for they have performed bravely and skillfully, as have their countrymen still in Iraq, but I do question the motives of a deskbound President who assumes the garb of a warrior for the purposes of a speech.
War is not theater, and victory is not a campaign slogan. I join with the President and all Americans in expressing heartfelt thanks and gratitude to our men and women in uniform for their service to our country, and for the sacrifices that they have made on our behalf.  But on this point I differ with the President: I believe that our military forces deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, and not used as stage props to embellish a presidential speech."

The entire Iraq war, I'm afraid, was part of Bush's 2004 re-election strategy.



 

Time to catch up on a few movie reviews....
First up is “Evelyn,” the film that Pierce Brosnan made while he was waiting to do his latest James Bond caper. It is a shame that the film did not recieve more attention than it did because it is really excellent with an outstanding cast. It is directed by Bruce Beresford, the Oscar-winning director of “Driving Miss Daisy” and the supporting cast includes Steven Rea, Julianne Marguiles and Aidan Quinn. It is nice to see Brosnan going out of his way to show off his acting ability rather than resting on his laurels with his cushy Bond gig. In the film, we get to see Brosnan portray a working-class Irishman in the 1950s who struggles to keep his family together after his wife abandons him and the Church steps in and removes his children. Brosnan’s acting ability is most striking when you see him contrasted against Rea who plays an upperclass barrister who steps in to help him battle the legal bureacracy. It is a wonderful film.

Next up is “The Transporter,” a Hong-Kong style action movie featuring British newcomer Jason Stratham as the latest incarnation of Jean Claude Van Dam. It is a fun movie with a lot of potential that is unfortunately spoiled by the sloppy and cliched ending. The film has a fun car chase sequence at the beginning and several good fight scenes. But even more promising is that Stratham’s character is interesting in the beginning. You want to know more about who he is and how he got to this point. Although the film does not deliver on these points, the very fact that you care in the beginning is a testament to the way Stratham projects a quietly dignified demeanor to his character. Hopefully he will be presented with better material in the future.

“Maid in Manhattan” and “Two Weeks Notice” are both typical Hollywood fare and decent rentals. Maid is actually better than I expected with a good performance from Ralph Feines. Two Weeks is mostly enjoyable because of Hugh Grant’s whimsical performance.

And so another right-wing scold has been revealed to be a hypocrite. This time it is the nation's "Morality Czar" William Bennett, author of "The Book of Virtues," "The Moral Compass," and "The Death of Outrage," and many others, who we now know is a huge gambling addict thanks to this expose in The Washington Monthly.
As the article details, Bennett has lost more than $8 million during the past 10 years playing the high-dollar slot machines in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Now we finally know what he has been doing with all the money he makes going around the country giving lectures at $50,000 a pop scolding "liberals" for their supposed failure to live up to his high moral standards. He takes all the money he makes and blows it all in "Sin City."

One big problem I have with this is the current proliferation of gambling, especially among Republican anti-tax lawmakers, as a way for state and local governments to make up budget shortfalls during the current Bush recession. Rather than raising government revenue through means that are legitimate and fair, they continue to push for expansions of casinos, slot machines, race tracks, lotteries and so forth.

So gambling isn't really all that bad, Bennett's conservative apologists argue. After all, they argue, it's his own money and he isn't hurting anyone else. It should be something between himself, his wife and his accountant, or so the argument goes. Of course, the same argument could be made on behalf of Bill Clinton and his sexual derilections, but that never stopped these same conservatives - Bill Bennett chief among them - from demanding Clinton's scalp on a stick.
The list of right-wing hypocrites continues to grow.... Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Baker, Newt Gingrich, Henry Hyde, Dan Burton, Bob Livingstone, and on, and on....

My wife and I have been caring for three baby bunnies for the past week ever since a neighbor accidently disturbed their nest with his lawn mower. The little guys seemed too young to be on their own, but after just a week of bottle feeding and giving them handfuls of grass, clover and dandelions twice a day they look like they are ready to go back on their own. I bought a wire critter cage but one of the bunnies that we now call Houdini manages to slip out whenever he wants. We will probably let them go this weekend.

Found a new CD at the library the other day which is causing me to hum and whistle its catchy tunes all day long. I'm talking about none other than "Silly Songs With Larry," the new collection from the VeggieTales show.
I've been a big fan of Veggie Tales since my sister began purchasing the tapes several years ago for my nieces and nephew. The computer animated vegetables that populate the show and sing the songs are a combination of The Muppet Show and Sesame Street with a little Wierd Al Yankovic thrown in for good measure.
I especially like the Song of the Cebu and I Love My Lips. Great stuff. The Cheeseburger song sounds so much like a Wierd Al tune I could have sworn he wrote it, but not so. They should at least credit him as an influence on that particular song.
The good news is they are coming out with more music soon. Check it out at BigIdea.com - Music.

State lawmakers have approved competing budgets for the 2004-2005 biennium that would deny government assistance and medical care to hundreds of thousands of children and low-income adults.
Here are the figures from the Center for Public Policy Priorities (a radical group that thinks public policy priorities should be about helping people in need):

"The Senate Finance budget in 2005 would eliminate Medicaid or CHIP coverage completely for over 211,000 persons; cut benefits (e.g., Medicaid drug coverage; HIV drugs; community care for aged, disabled, mentally ill, and mentally retarded persons) for more than 398,000 Texans, and reduce projected enrollment growth in children’s Medicaid by over 298,000. "

Our lawmakers are willing to put up with these draconian cutbacks all because they refuse to even consider raising taxes to cover shortfalls in government revenue.

I don't resent paying taxes like many people do. I just resent the way the government chooses to spend most of it. The Pentagon budget is above $400 billion a year and continuing to rise 10 percent every year. If we funded education like we fund our military - as if that would ever happen - well it just boggles the mind to think about it, but if we did I bet that our students wouldn't be constantly falling behind other nations when it comes to basic math and science skills.

Meanwhile, here in Texas, our legislators have voted to toss out our "Robin Hood" school funding system without having anything ready to replace it with. But our Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is ready with a plan that would, he says, cut property taxes in half and make up the difference by jacking up sales taxes and expanding them to cover everything from child care to media advertising. Good news for those wealthy enough to own substantial amounts of property, but if you are renting and apartment don't expect your rent to go down anytime soon.

I have a new program on my computer - an iMac - called iTunes that allows me to load up CDs onto my hard drive to listen to at my convenience. This is great because now I don't have to leave CDs lying around my desk at work all the time just to have something to tune out the rest of the noise. But the first question was which CDs to load up, assuming I have a limited amount of space on the hard drive.
I started with my Bing Crosby records, of course, and my Bix Biederbecke music. Then I added all of my Ken Burns Jazz and Smithsonian Jazz compilations. Next came all of my Bob Dylan, Beatles, Elvis Presley and Rolling Stones CDs. By that point I had used up nearly 3 Gigs of space but I still had about 4 Gigs to spare.
So I continued adding music, picking and choosing: Bruce Springsteen GH (greatest hits) and Born in the USA; Neil Young - Decade; Buddy Holly GH; The Beach Boys GH Vols. 1 & 2; The Bee Gees GH; Simon & Garfunkel GH; David Bowie GH; Led Zepplin I; Boston; The Band GH; The Who GH; The Doors (only have first album on CD right now); Peter Frampton Live; ELO GH; and Stevie Wonder GH.

Now I'm up to 4.3 gigabytes, with 2.9 gigs left available. I wonder how much free space I really need after all?

Someone has finally gone to the trouble of mapping out the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (VRWC).
It's all quite simple, isn't it.

Millions of low-income Americans face the loss of health insurance or sharp cuts in benefits, like coverage for prescription drugs and dental care, under proposals now moving through state legislatures around the country. -- New York Times April, 28, 2003.

Sounds like a domestic crisis brewing here with our faltering economy slowly stripping away the basics of a modest, First-World nation. And that is not even mentioning the crisis in education funding. Here in Texas the Lege is cutting millions from the budget for purchasing school textbooks. Universities are announcing layoffs to deal with 10-12 percent cutbacks in state funding. All of this because our Republican-led government does not believe in raising taxes to pay for anything - not healthcare, not education, not veterans benefits, not even to pay for our own wars.
Raising taxes, as best I can tell, is now considered to be immoral, unpatriotic and very possibly against the law. But never mind that. The federal government could bail the states out of a lot of their problems with current revenue projections - but instead the Bush administration is planning to cut taxes by $728 billion - or $500 billion - or $300 billion, whatever they can get away with.
Remember the last Bush tax cut more than a year ago that was supposed to jumpstart the economy? Oh, well, of course, it just wasn't big enough to do the job.
Columnist Paul Krugman recently pointed out that the Bush administration is touting its $500 billion tax cut proposal as a way to create jobs - 1.4 million is the figure they are throwing around! Only problem is that comes to $500,000 per job, when the average job pays just $40,000 a year. And that is assuming of course that cutting all those taxes will create those jobs rather than creating a huge budget deficit that will drive interest rates sky high and drag the economy down further.

On a related note, here is a link to a study that shows that Democratic administrations have been better for the stock market than Republicans dating back to 1928.

In his State of the Union address in January, President Bush alleged that Iraq was concealing the following Weapons of Mass Destruction:
       500 tons of chemical weapons
       25,000 litres of Anthrax
       38,000 litres of botulim toxin

       To date, we have found:
       0 tons of chemical weapons
       0 litres of Anthrax and
0 litres of botulim toxin

I feel so much safer now.







       

Still no weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) found in Iraq and no trace of Saddam either. The Arab media has been speculating that the fall of Baghdad happened so quickly because a secret deal was struck between the Bush administration and the ruling Baath Party and brokered by Saudi Arabia. The collapse was so sudden and the Iraqi leaders vanished in such a coordinated fashion that it makes you wonder whether something wasn't up, whether or not it was done with U.S. involvement.

We supposedly went into Iraq to deal with the WMDs, but once the fighting got started the propaganda quickly changed to "liberating" the Iraqi people. Now that we've won, that seems to be all that matters to most people. It all bears a striking resemblance to a quote credited to Adolph Hitler in William Shirer's book "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich."

"I shall give a propagandist reason for starting the war. Nevermind whether it is plausible or not. The victor will not be asked afterward whether he told the truth or not. In starting and waging a war it is not right that matters, but victory."

Now that the war is essentially over, many of its proponents have been scolding those of us who opposed it for not being compassionate enough to want to bring freedom and liberation to the Iraqi people. But while we like to say we promote democracy in other nations, the truth of the matter is we just want a government that takes our side and does what we tell it to do. Whether that means a democracy, a theocracy or a dictatorship does not matter.

The Dixie Chicks latest album "Home" is back at No. 1 on the Country sales charts and their upcoming U.S. tour is sold out most everywhere, all in spite of this so-called "boycott" of the band by conservatives.
This is all good. I'm sure there will still be organized protests at some of the concerts, but that will just highlight the intolerance and vindictiveness of the protesters. I understood the initial outcry over Natalie Maines' remarks about being embarrassed that Bush is from Texas, but she apologized and that should have been that. It's unfortunate that some folks can be so obstinately unforgiving.
But that aside, the boycott was bound to fall flat mostly because the Dixie Chicks are just too good to be ignored. Maines' is an incredible singer who makes most other country performers today sound bland by comparison.

Why is it that so many far-right wingnuts prefer to vent their anger and frustration at women anyway? First there was Jane Fonda, and then it was Barbara Streistand and Hillary Clinton, and now its Natalie Maines and the Dixie Chicks. Is it because they have a tendency to want to bully folks who are less likely to fight back? Maybe that is why the rightwing is venting so much of its wrath against France - when Germany, China, Russia, and just about every other nation on the planet was equally critical of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Bush recently snubbed Canada by canceling a trip there and then entertained the president of Australia at the same time. But Bush is going to have a difficult time playing those petty games for long because there just aren't that many countries he can count in his "good" list.

The more I read about the looting of the museum and archive library in Baghdad the more disheartening it is. Most disturbing now are the reports that our civilian leaders were repeatedly forewarned about the possibility of looting and destruction of these historical treasures and still they chose to do nothing to protect it. I don't blame our military forces who were simply following their orders and doing their best to keep from being blown away by snipers and suicide bombers. But it would not have taken much to secure the museum the same way that the Bush folks had the Oil Ministry building secured.
I remember reading about the tragic torching of the ancient Greek library in Alexandria many thousands of years ago and of all the original works by Plato, Aristotle and others that were lost forever. I remember being disgusted by the ignorance of the invading armies that destroyed these priceless treasures. Of course, I never thought that such a tragedy would be repeated today.

There was one piece of good news I saw today in the Wall Street Journal - a report that some of the museum's most valuable artifacts had been hidden away in vaults for safekeeping before the bombing started. But the did not expect the rampant looting that occurred, and the damage that was done cannot be overstated. Some comentators have referred to it as a lobotomy of our worldwide cultural heritage.

But then the Bush administration's overriding concern has always been about how to secure money, oil and power and keep it for the privileged few. We are currently undergoing our own "looting" right here in the U.S. with the Bush adminstration trying to give away millions of acres of nationally protected parklands to oil, timber and mining interests and the slashing of federal and state programs for the poor and elderly to pay for massive tax cuts for the rich.

Some good news today! Republican Sen. Pete Fitzgerald of Illinois announced that he is not going to seek re-election in 2004. That should give Democrats a clear shot at another seat and put them a step closer to reclaiming control of the upper body of Congress. Fitzgerald, who is independently wealthy, said he was dissuaded by the amount of money he would need to raise for the race. No doubt he saw the writing on the wall and realized that few people would be willing to invest a great deal in a losing proposition. Illinois has been trending more Democratic lately and Fitzgerald was already at the top of the hit list.

Al Franken has a new book coming out this summer titled "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them," which he describes as "a fair and balanced look at the right," I can't wait.
Some other books on my wish list include:

"What Liberal Media?" by Eric Alterman;
"The Clinton Wars" by Sidney Blumenthal;
"Big Lies: The Right Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth" by Joe Conason;
"Down and Dirty: The Plot to Steal the Presidency" by Jake Tapper.

The Bush administration has just accused Syria of developing "Weapons of Mass Destruction." In Bushspeak that means "prepare to be liberated." We still haven't found those elusive WMDs in Iraq, but it no longer matters. American's now support pre-emptive invasions of other countries by more than 70 percent as long as we can whup up on them real good and declare victory in less than a month. So Iraq wasn't really as big of a threat as we were led to believe, we can still feel good about ourselves for liberating the people from a horrible dictator.
Now that Saddam Hussein has vanished (just like Osama Bin Laden) we have to have a new enemy to focus on so everyone repeat after me --- "Bashar Assad the Demon of Damascus" Hey, that is kind of catchy. Pretty soon more than half the people in the U.S. will be convinced that the very survival of our way of life depends on our taking out Assad.