BBC NEWS | Americas | ‘Freedom fries’ lawmaker’s U-turn Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) has reversed his support for the Iraq war and now wants the troops brought home. He was formerly an adamant supporter of the war who led the whole Congressional “Freedom Fries” campaign to rename fried potatoes to get back at those wimpy peaceloving French bastards. His change of heart took place when he attended the funeral of a US sergeant and listened as the widow read her husband’s last letter home. He’s attended a lot of funerals, actually, and written over 1,300 letters of condolence, and he…
-
-
I see via various blogs (BoingBoing and others) that the Downing Street Memo still hasn’t gotten much mainstream media attention. The new website on the Memo has a lot of information on the issues surrounding the document, and also under the Take Action link, you can sign on to the letter to the President that asks the questions originally asked by Sen. John Conyers and 88 other members of Congress on May 5, 2005. There’s a link to a PDF copy of the actual document, with the signatures in various hands and ink-colors. Then there’s a link to an alphabetized…
-
Father Jake wonders if anyone out there is listening to the “smoking gun” revelations of the Downing Street Memo, which reveals that the decision to go to war in Iraq was a foregone conclusion. Well, as pointed out in his comments, bloggers have been listening all along. In fact, I thought one of the whistle-blowing books that came out last year detailed off-the-cuff comments by Bush in the months following 9/11 that Iraq was on his radar. He reportedly stuck his head in a policy wonk’s office around March, 2002 and said “we’re going” in connection with the Iraq “problem.”…
-
Lately at Holy Moly, we’ve been kicking around the idea of how to welcome people. Do we do it well, or do we do it badly (and risk a snarky write-up in The Ship Of Fools “Mystery Worshipper” annals)? This is something we’ll have to work out in the coming weeks. With that in mind, I was pretty horrified but unfortunately not all that surprised to run across this: WAYNESVILLE, N.C. – The minister of a Haywood County Baptist church is telling members of his congregation that if they’re Democrats, they either need to find another place of worship or…
-
I’ve been getting a number of hits all year on an entry from our Britain trip that tells about visiting Westminster Abbey in London and about the tombs and monuments of various royals, literary figures, and scientists that are found there. In short, I was getting a hell of a lot of hits on the phrase “Isaac Newton Tomb” – famous scientist and historical honorary member of the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. An online chum who claims to be a dead mathematician and philosopher would also qualify if someone would only nominate him. Don’t be fooled by the…
-
Humorist Adam Felbers noted that at the recent commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Vice President Cheney represented this country by dressing for a winter duck hunt in Wyoming. All the other heads of state and dignitaries were wearing somber, dark overcoats suitable for wearing to funerals or other sad memorials. Besides, if those high and mighty mucky-mucks had been suddenly attacked by a flock of particularly ornery ducks, only one amongst ’em would’ve been dressed appropriately to do anything about it. And then who’d be the “embarrassment?” Huh? Are vicious, freedom-hating terrorducks going to wait…
-
Thanks to Joey the Accordion Guy, those of us who don’t watch Faux News can enjoy the fun when one of their less-adept anchors tangles with a person of education, wit, and a sense of historical context. There’s video there, too. In this case, that person would be Judy Quinn, contributing editor of Vanity Fair. She proceeds to take the air out of a hapless Faux News anchor in such a way that the anchor barely feels the needle slipping in and deflating her head. Can you spot it? I did! Here’s the transcript: Fox News: We were noticing all…
-
WASHINGTON — Liberal powerhouse MoveOn has a message for the “professional election losers” who run the Democratic Party: “We bought it, we own it, we’re going to take it back.” A scathing e-mail from the head of MoveOn’s political action committee to the group’s supporters yesterday targets outgoing Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe as a tool of corporate donors who alienated both traditional and progressive Democrats. “For years, the party has been led by elite Washington insiders who are closer to corporate lobbyists than they are to the Democratic base,” said the e-mail from MoveOn PAC’s Eli Pariser. “But…
-
Apparently, that young man that gets such a kick out of politics was an elections official at a Pennsylvania polling place. While there he apparently intimidated a female Democratic poll watcher into keeping silent, successfully challenged a homeless man who attempted to vote but left in frustration, and harangued a woman who asked for information about her ballot. The future of the Republican Party. Believe it. Via Jesus’ General
-
John Perry Barlow’s post election essay helps to put things into perspecitive, post-electionwise: Magnanimous Defeat Meanwhile, Jesus’ General helpfullly passes along a link to the Theocracy Mentorship Program, which puts US Blue bloggers together with Iranian bloggers to get survival tips for living mostly free under a theocracy. For those that feel that living in a theocracy is not worth the trouble, Jahiri has some advice. “The key to self-immolation is location, location, location. I recommend shopping centers or busy open parks. If you intend to go out in flames, make sure people see it.” As for me, I’ve been…