Waaaaah. Baby needs a bottle.

Bushplomacy 2004. Petulant barely begins to describe this sort of juvenile behavior.

Bush Snubs Spanish Leader Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who pulled his country's troops out of Iraq, has been having difficulty getting through to President Bush to congratulate him on his reelection, Reuters reports. White House spokesman Scott McClellan explains that "calls are scheduled at times that are mutually convenient. Some calls are able to be scheduled quicker than others." However, the president did have a "private meeting" with former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, a conservative, on Tuesday.

Bush is still smarting that the Spanish voters had the audacity to elect an anti-war candidate in a democratic election that was held in a country that was a fascist dictatorship a mere 29 years ago. He's a baby. Waa waa. Poor baby.

Well, why didn't you say so?

This explains everything!

Jesus speaks through the Republicans I hope the election of George W. Bush is seen as a wake-up call to all the liberal Democrats who oppose God's will. It is His doing that George W. Bush is still our president. Millions of born-again Christians helped win this election through our prayers and votes. Jesus speaks through the Republicans. The Democrats will not be able to win elections until they renounce their sinful ways and stop encouraging abortions, gayness, and trying to take away our guns. Earl Balboa Washington Township

Red State values, comin' atcha.

Secretary of State under GWB part 2

There has been much talk about Colin Powell and battles that he may or may not have had to fight as a relatively moderate and fiercely principled member of the most extreme and unprincipled presidential administration in US history. The scuttlebutt is that Powell will not choose to endure another four years of having his portfolio appropriated by the State Department or the AEI. Michael Ledeen of the National Review, a neoconservative rag, has a recommendation for Secretary of State. The Sec of State is the nation's top diplomat. You need someone with a cool head, who can bring people together to find common ground. Someone who will vigorously defend America's interests, while promoting them to our friends and foes alike by using the carrot and the stick. Someone who will be respected and respectable; someone who will represent America as an optimistic place of hope, freedom and democracy. Someone like, apparently. Zell Miller. You cannot make this stuff up, folks.

State: I have just returned from a couple of weeks in Europe, and was very surprised to hear diplomats complaining bitterly that they felt abandoned by Powell. 'Where is he?' they lamented, 'we supported him and he left us to fend entirely for ourselves.' The proper care of allies is right up near the top of a secretary of State's mission, and the allies don't give Colin Powell a passing grade. For that alone, he needs to go. There are other reasons, too, above all his weasely performance on Iran (every strong presidential statement was instantly followed by leaks from State undercutting the president's words; the secretary's deputy - and best friend - Richard Armitage called Iran 'a democracy,' which may be the great mal mot of this administration). Finally, there's Powell supine acceptance of Foggy Bottom's conventional wisdom on every subject, forgetting that the foreign service isn't supposed to make our foreign policy; it's supposed to carry out the president's policies. Who should replace him? Zell Miller.

Hi. Welcome to Bizarro America.

Red State "values" for November 10th.

Because there is apparently a verse in the Bible where Jesus or someone else specifically prohibits the use of contraceptives, a 33-year old adult female was unable to refill her prescription for birth control pills at a Texas CVS because the pharmacist doesn't believe in birth control.

I was shocked," says Lacey, 33, who was not able to get her prescription until the next day and missed taking one of her pills. "Their job is not to regulate what people take or do. It's just to fill the prescription that was ordered by my physician." Some pharmacists, however, disagree and refuse on moral grounds to fill prescriptions for contraceptives. And states from Rhode Island to Washington have proposed laws that would protect such decisions. Mississippi enacted a sweeping statute that went into effect in July that allows health care providers, including pharmacists, to not participate in procedures that go against their conscience. South Dakota and Arkansas already had laws that protect a pharmacist's right to refuse to dispense medicines. Ten other states considered similar bills this year

Just so you know, they're not just Christian/red state values anymore. Soon, they're going to be all of our values. Welcome to fucking goddamn conditioning. Paging Mr. Huxley.

Example of overstating one's case

Adam Yoshida again. This time, he laments that Belgium has banned a separatist Flemish (Dutch) party. Apparently, the best this party could accomplish was 24% of the minority Flemish vote in Northern Belgium. The party platform calls for the abolition of Belgium. Yoshida writes:

Don't think that the same thing isn't coming to Canada and to the rest of Europe.

Awkward sentence structure aside, I can't imagine Canada banning the provincial PQ or federal BQ, which are separatist. I also can't think of any other serious political party that calls for separatism. The funny thing is that national citizenship in Europe has become an anachronism. In the EU, any Flanders resident can move to Holland as easily as someone from New York can move to Connecticut. So what's the big hubbub?

Giambra & his red & green budget

I used to think Giambra could be the savior of this region. Now I know he's just a political hack. How do I know? He's blaming Medicaid (and nothing else) for the county's fiscal crisis. We are facing a complete withdrawal of funding for every quality of life issue in Erie County so we can pay Albany's medicaid bill. I think the Medicaid problem is a very serious one, and needs to be addressed by Albany immediately. But here's a question: The leader of FixAlbany, Tom Suozzi, is Nassau County's county legislator. He's held taxes steady, and Nassau County just saw its bond rating improve. He shares Erie County's Medicaid burden, and yet runs a fiscally tight ship. The problem here? Patronage and stubbornness. So, can someone explain to me why we need a county government at all? I mean, what are they good for? What does county government do that can't be done by Albany and the municipalities? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. County government is nothing but a graft machine. I would abolish everything except the County Clerk's office. Each legislature we answer to exists to tax us. At least we get some servcies for our tax dollars. That's about to change. The fewer legislatures above us, the less we're getting taxed. While we're at it, Albany itself needs some fundamental change so that it can become the democratic legislature we're taught about at school, rather than the triumverate we're stuck with now. Nice to see three downstate guys telling upstate what's good for it. We all get pacified by visits from Pataki opening one thing or another. We need fundamental change, and they give us photo ops. Giambra's a hack. Masiello's a hack. They're all hacks. This region and this state need to learn some new tricks before they tax us all out of the area.

Magnanimous victory

They sure turn 'em out in Florida, don't they? Wackos, I mean. Here's a gentle screed, a portion of which I've translated from its original crayon scribblings. (Note to the author: there are synonyms for "vital". It's called a Thesaurus. Use it & love it). Basically, a fine American by the name of Mike Thompson (a Florida conservative), recommends expulsion of the blue states from the USA.

"BUSH USA is predominantly white; devoutly Christian (mostly Protestant); openly, vigorously heterosexual; an open land of single-family homes and ranches; economically sound (except for a few farms), but not drunk with cyberworld business development, and mainly English-speaking, with a predilection for respectfully uttering 'yes, ma'am' and 'yes, sir.' GORE/KERRY USA is ethnically diverse; multi-religious, irreligious or nastily antireligious; more sexually liberated (if not in actual practice, certainly in attitude); awash with condo canyons and other high-end real estate bordered by sprawling, squalid public housing or neglected private homes, decidedly short of middle-class neighborhoods; both high tech and oddly primitive in its commerce; very artsy, and Babelesque, with abnormally loud speakers."

For every person who unfairly denigrates the Christian right, there's a right-wing wackjob like this.

How do you say Kristallnacht in Portuguese?

You know the country's doing just swell when a Portuguese guy gets the shit beat out of him by some ignorant, racist mutants because he "looked Middle Eastern." Between the quaint 30's era eliminationism of Adam Yoshida, LGF and others, and the astonishing racist ignorance of some people, I can't help but think we're sliding towards a distinctly American brand of fascism. And that's not just because I watched a few Hitler documentaries yesterday on the History channel. Nosir.

Hmm. More election.

I know, I know. I promised that I'd stop with the election, but this story, which I found via Drudge (of all places) made me physically ill. Also: I'm going to start a new abbreviation: JIWTWHDIIWAD "Just imagine what they would have done if it was a Democrat."

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus, elections officials said. Franklin County's unofficial results had Bush receiving 4,258 votes to Democrat John Kerry's 260 votes in a precinct in Gahanna. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct. Bush actually received 365 votes in the precinct, Matthew Damschroder, director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, told The Columbus Dispatch. State and county election officials did not immediately respond to requests by The Associated Press for more details about the voting system and its vendor, and whether the error, if repeated elsewhere in Ohio, could have affected the outcome. Bush won the state by more than 136,000 votes, according to unofficial results, and Kerry conceded the election on Wednesday after acknowledging that 155,000 provisional ballots yet to be counted in Ohio would not change the result. The Secretary of State's Office said Friday it could not revise Bush's total until the county reported the error. The Ohio glitch is among a handful of computer troubles that have emerged since Tuesday's elections. In one North Carolina county, more than 4,500 votes were lost because officials mistakenly believed a computer that stored ballots electronically could hold more data than it did. And in San Francisco, a malfunction with custom voting software could delay efforts to declare the winners of four races for county supervisor. In the Ohio precinct in question, the votes are recorded onto a cartridge. On one of the three machines at that precinct, a malfunction occurred in the recording process, Damschroder said. He could not explain how the malfunction occurred. Damschroder said people who had seen poll results on the election board's Web site called to point out the discrepancy. The error would have been discovered when the official count for the election is performed later this month, he said. The reader also recorded zero votes in a county commissioner race on the machine. Workers checked the cartridge against memory banks in the voting machine and each showed that 115 people voted for Bush on that machine. With the other machines, the total for Bush in the precinct added up to 365 votes.

So, it looks like (as of now) Bush actually won Ohio by about 132,000 votes.

The good news just keeps on rolling

Whee! Yipee! The dollar is in free-fall. Good for whatever manufacturing is left in the US. Bad for American consumers.

Red State Values for 11/5/04

The folks in the Red States voted for Bush because of issues regarding "morals" and "values". From time to time, we'll examine the values and morals as practiced in these Red States. Alabama's Constitution is still segregationist, and doesn't require the state to provide an education to ... children. An amendment to the Alabama Constitution was defeated via referendum on Tuesday.

The amendment calls for the repeal of a legal requirement — made moot by federal law — demanding children of different races attend different schools. The measure also removes language from the Alabama Constitution stating our children have no right to a public education in this state. Opponents to Amendment 2 see the effort as a back-door attempt to raise taxes. They fear if the part of the amendment dealing with the right to public education is enacted, a judge could order the state to spend more money on education. They say Alabama students don’t have the right to a good education.

It's up to you to guess just why that provision exists in Alabama's Constitution. It's up to you to guess which party opposed this Amendment. Also in Alabama: last weekend the Owens Crossroads United Methodist Church in Owens Crossroads, AL had a little scavenger hunt for the kids.

Theft of campaign signs from private property is a misdemeanor. The two ministers were unavailable for comment. Dermody said the incident occurred during a recent youth lock-in in which youngsters were sent on a scavenger hunt. Kerry-Edwards signs were among the list of items to retrieve from area yards. About eight signs were taken and burned that evening at the church, Dermody said he was told. Dermody said the pastor and youth minister apologized. They emphasized in their written apology that the incident was not an attempt to make a political statement, nor necessarily reflected the views of the church, its congregation or its denomination. "It was meant to be harmless fun, but it went too far," Ponder-Twardy wrote, adding that he had no prior knowledge of the plan. The Huntsville district superintendent of the United Methodist Church did not officially comment. The district released an apology from the pastor noting the amends that were made to the congregation and Democratic Party. "I truly regret the actions of my staff and myself regarding the taking and destroying of these signs," Ponder-Twardy said in the letter to the district. "It was a gross error in judgment. We believe lessons have been learned, and we believe similar actions will never happen again."

God Bless Alabama's Red State Values!

AM&A downtown

The deadline to do something with AM&A approaches. A while back, I wrote a LTE to the Buffalo News, suggesting that a complete demolition of the building wasn't necessary, but that instead the facade could be preserved, while the interior was gutted. It looks, based on the article, that this idea is under consideration.

Tax Fairness Act of 2005

The next Congress' Democrats need to make this a big issue. In an earlier post, I mentioned in passing that the blue states subsidize a majority of the red states. In other words, states like New York and California receive fewer federal dollars than they pay to Washington. On the other hand, most of the red states are net recipients of at least 110% of the money they send to Washington. How so? How is it that the gun-lovin', tax-hatin', gay-stoppin' red states are net recipients of ... well, welfare? It's time to stop this. If the red states want to reshape America into a red-white-and-blue caricature of its former self, that's fine, but I don't see why we should subsidize it. Buffalo is already sending many of its people to North Carolina and Florida - is it fair that we send our money there, too? Is it fair that an economically depressed region like upstate New York subsidizes the booming sun/Bible belt? I don't think so, either. These red states are sucking at the blue states' collective teat. The full list is available here. Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas Idaho Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi Missouri Montana North Dakota Oklahoma South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Utah Virginia West Virginia Wyoming Idea courtesy of Atrios.

Bush's "Mandate"

Bush's "mandate":

Hey, Peggy Noonan!

George Soros cannot buy a presidential election. Savor. 'Volunteers' who are bought and paid for cannot beat volunteers who come from the neighborhood, church, workplace and reading group. Savor. The leaders of the Bush effort see it this way: A ragtag band of more than a million Republican volunteers who fought like Washington's troops at Valley Forge beat the paid Hessians of King George III's army. Savor.

Hey, Peggy! I volunteered. No one paid me to do so. I got up at 4 in the morning on Tuesday to work for free. I worked hard. In the rain. In the cold. No one paid me. No one paid thousands more like me. So: hey, Peggy! Fuck you and your 8th grader-style prose.

My last word on the election

Let’s look forward to 2006 when we have another opportunity to reshape our legislatures. Let’s look forward to 2007 when the 2008 Presidential campaigns will begin in earnest. The republicans won through fear. They scared people into thinking that Kerry couldn’t be trusted on the terror war. They scared people into believing that our country would be destroyed by gay people marrying each other. They scared people into believing that a catastrophic terrorist attack was inevitable if Kerry was elected. They scared people into believing that Kerry would take their guns away. Guns, gays and God. Rove’s trinity to electoral success. It’s despicable, but I think it’ll come back to haunt Repubs in the long run. It’s no secret that I’m a centrist – a moderate. I’m socially liberal but fiscally conservative. The Democratic Party is the only home for people like me. The Repubs have been completely transformed into a radical right-wing Christian party of hatred, division, abject incompetence, and cataclysmic fiscal irresponsibility. It’s a cliquey little club of people who long for a one-party state, yet trot out “moderates” like troop-basher Giuliani, and serial harasser and mediocre actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. With the Bush crowd, ideology trumps facts. Remember 10 years ago how the conservative movement found its voice and gained momentum? They organized, they made noise, they gained control of the House and Senate. Tuesday was their greatest victory. Let it be the last. Let’s figure out how to take back the language of values. Let’s figure out how to most effectively expose the right-wing ideologues. My America isn’t one where the religious fundamentalists run the show. Let’s work to take it back. Let the Repubs reap what they’ve sown. Let’s also work to make WNY a better place. We need to bring people back to this area. Did you know that we blue states subsidize the red states?

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Bush gets re-elected, and now we have self-righteous uber-sinner Bill Bennett lecture us on morals and virtue. He also adopts, positively, the Pol Potian language of reeducation. How charming! In between hands of poker, blackjack and intermittent gluttony, apparently.

Bill Bennett on Election 2004 on National Review Online: "The Great Relearning" Let it begin. By Bill Bennett Well, it wasn't the Clinton economy we longed for; and it wasn't just the war on terrorism that occupied us. Ethics and moral values were ascendant last night - on voters minds, in Americans' hearts. To be sure, every anthropologist loves his own tribe, and I have long advocated a stronger tie between politics and the virtues. Last night it was evident that the American people agree. Ohio, which may very well have lost more jobs than any other state, delivered President Bush his electoral victory. West Virginia looks much the same. Alaska, a relatively libertarian state, voted against decriminalizing marijuana - despite the proposition to do so vastly out-funding the movement to keep it criminalized. And the eleven state proposals to ban the redefinition of marriage all succeeded overwhelmingly. On this last point, one veteran political reporter told me, 'I heard again and again from people connected to, and members of, black churches who did not look kindly on gay marriage, and were very motivated against it. They, more than anyone else, did not see it as a civil right - and were angered by those who claimed it was.' The national exit polling conducted by the Los Angeles Times confirms all these findings, showing that '[M]ore than half of Bush's voters cited moral issues as a principal reason for their support � more than any other issue, including even terrorism.' In fact, morals trumped terrorism by seven percentage points in the Los Angeles Times poll. Having restored decency to the White House, President Bush now has a mandate to affect policy that will promote a more decent society, through both politics and law. His supporters want that, and have given him a mandate in their popular and electoral votes to see to it. Now is the time to begin our long, national cultural renewal ("The Great Relearning," as novelist Tom Wolfe calls it) — no less in legislation than in federal court appointments. It is, after all, the main reason George W. Bush was reelected"

Hey! Didn't Mao force China in to a cultural revolution in the 60s? Is that what they have planned? Hey! Isn't it disingenuous to call a 51-48 popular vote a "mandate" for anything? Hey! Isn't it disingenuous to say that Bush has a mandate because he won one state by 1% of the vote? Not in Freeperville. Not in Freeperville. And we're all second-class citizens of the United Christian States of Freeperville.

Good and Bad news in Buffalo

The Good News: The NFTA and the City reach a deal to end an ongoing legal dispute over the waterfront. The Bad News: Here's what Repubublican from NY-26 Tom Reynolds had to say about yesterday's Repub sweep:

"There are green lights in America," Reynolds said about the Republicans' domestic agenda. "It's full speed ahead." The agenda will be set, Reynolds said, during the House GOP's retreat next month. But President Bush has already signaled that he wants Congress to move forward with reform of Social Security and Medicare.

"Reform" means "completely gut".

Hee hee

Need a laugh? Read this utter nonsense.

More Adam Yoshida

That sumbitch is craaaazzzzyy. Even conservatives dismiss his rantings as nothing more than neofascist drivel. What's so great is that the people closest to Yoshida on the political spectrum would actually curb-stomp him for being a Japanese-Canadian immigrant. His like-minded political leanings would not save him from the white power crowd. Anyway, Yoshida's such a wuss that he took the comments off his site. No matter. You can find the comments to his most recent fascistic rantings here. It's interesting that Yoshida is only 20 years old (that figures). It's also interesting that he's a flip-flopper, having banned comments on his blog before, and then rescinded the ban. He also revealed that he's not such a big fan of free speech. Gee, you could have fooled us. I wonder if we can expect our religious conservative masters to start a campaign to repeal the 1st amendment?