Blog: SHEER GOLDEN HOOKS

Well worth seeing if you haven't already.

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"Frosty Hardison, the father whose objection to the film triggered a moratorium on the movie until someone could scrape up "a credible opposing view," now claims he was only after some healthy classroom debate. Back when the Seattle P-I first wrote about him and the district's response to his complaint Jan. 11, the father of seven -- who also opposes sex education and supports public school teaching of creationism -- sang from a slightly different hymnal. "Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He's not a schoolteacher," he [...]

No matter what you think of Joe Biden, I personally don't think much of him, he certainly nails Dick Cheney about Iraq. Talk about an easy thing to do. Cheney has zero credibility about Iraq, or for that matter, just about any other subject one can think of. Except, of course, when it comes to shooting someone in the face with a shotgun while hunting. Then he is very, very credible.

It appears, from the evidence that is coming in, that global warming, the "hoax" according to Republican Sen. James Inhofe , is happening at a much faster rate than scientists believed . "Carbon dioxide is accumulating in the atmosphere much faster than scientists expected, raising fears that humankind may have less time to tackle climate change than previously thought. New figures from dozens of measuring stations across the world reveal that concentrations of CO2, the main greenhouse gas, rose at record levels during 2006 - the [...]

"Pundits and news analysts are employed to expose this sort of nonsense so that our democratic discourse -- and the policy choices that come out of it -- are grounded in fact. But that has not happened. Instead, we have seen a furious stampede by the most prominent media figures to cover their own hides with either more lies, or more out-of-the mainstream bluster. Time Magazine's Joe Klein, for instance, last week claimed he has "been opposed to the Iraq war ever since 2002." Readers were expected to forget about his nationally televised declaration [...]

" An Iranian offer to help the United States stabilize Iraq and end its military support for Hezbollah and Hamas was rejected by Vice President Dick Cheney in 2003, a former top State Department official told the British Broadcasting Corp . The U.S. State Department was open to the offer, which came in an unsigned letter sent shortly after the American invasion of Iraq, Lawrence Wilkerson, former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff, told BBC's Newsnight in a program broadcast Wednesday night. But, Wilkerson said, Cheney vetoed the deal. [...]

Actually, Howard is both, as you can see by reading what this guy apparently gets paid much more than you or me to write: "You knew Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in high school. At least I did. They were candidates in the student senate election. She was the worthy but puffed-up Miss Perfect, all poodle skirts and multicolored binders clutched to her chest. He was the lanky, mysterious transfer student—from Hawaii by way of Indonesia no less—who Knew Things and was way too cool to carry more than one book at a time. Who [...]

"A comedy about life in the corporate offices of God. What if all the problems on earth were not caused by a spiteful deity, or karma, or fate, but just office politics and the Peter Principle?" Written and directed by Francis Stokes . Quite funny stuff and very well done.

" I had a heretical thought for a conservative - that I have got to teach my kids that they must never, ever take Presidents and Generals at their word - that their government will send them to kill and die for noble-sounding rot - that they have to question authority . On the walk to the parking garage, it hit me. Hadn't the hippies tried to tell my generation that? Why had we scorned them so blithely?" This is an excerpt from an commentary by a conservative author named [...]

"Added to the previously known allegations of Voter Fraud when Coulter used her realtor's address instead of her own on her Voter Registration Application, is the allegation by the Palm Beach Police Department that Coulter seems also to have given that same, incorrect address when applying for a drivers license after moving to the tony Sunshine 'hood where her fellow GOP propagandist, Rush Limbaugh, has recently had his own troubles following the rule of law." Only conservative, Republican fanatics are above the law. Didn't you know?

Absolutely loved the first season of Rome, which I watched on dvd and no, I don't have HBO, but I just read a great article by Tim Goodman of the SF Chronicle about the second season which starts this Sunday. "Few television series have benefited from a handy Web site, timely reruns and even Google searches more than "Rome," HBO's ambitious, sometimes untidy but superbly nuanced epic. Given that Season 1 aired in 2005, that should hardly come as a surprise -- it's hard enough mentally [...]

A completely rearranged version of Holes, off the brilliant Deserter's Songs album, due to not having a string section. Still great though.

I have read a couple of articles by George Monbiot and now he has a book out called Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning . Here is an article talking about his book, Al Gore and what needs to be done to combat global warming. "We wish our governments to pretend to act," he writes. "We get the moral satisfaction of saying what we know to be right, without the discomfort of doing it. My fear is that the political parties in most rich nations have already [...]

This Modern World has an excellent cartoon on the subject of healthcare, which is a personal crusade for me, due to a major health issue I had ten years ago. While I was going through my treatment for this illness the business I worked for was basically going bankrupt and in fact closed down during this time. So I had to do a couple of months of Cobra and pay a large amount of money that I really didn't have while being on disability and feeling like crap most of the time just so I could keep my insurance [...]

When it comes to a minimum wage hike he has this to say: "During the House debate, Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., said Democrats would celebrate the bill's passage because " it's going to be good politics for them ." But he warned that people would not escape poverty through mandated wage hikes. If, instead, people would marry and work longer hours, "they would be out of poverty," he said. "It is an economic fact ." When it comes to Congress being in session five days a week he has this [...]

Another brilliant Special Comment by Keith Olbermann , concerning Bush's speech last night, is posted over at Crooks and Liars. Do yourself a favor and check it out. Can you imagine what the impact would be if Keith could do this on the NBC Nightly News?

"When President George W. Bush's unveils his long-awaited new strategy on Iraq Wednesday night, he will be relying heavily on the counsel of one J.D. Crouch II, perhaps the most hard line -- if most obscure -- of his hawkish advisers. Over the past 15 years, the generally low-profile Crouch has taken any number of controversial positions, from advocating military action against Cuba and North Korea to blaming the 1999 Columbine High School student massacre in Colorado on "30 years of liberal social policy ". [...]

"President Bush promised on Thursday to veto Democratic-drafted legislation requiring the government to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices under Medicare. The House is to debate and vote Friday on the bill, which is one of a handful of priority items for Democrats who gained control of Congress in last fall's elections. " Government interference impedes competition, limits access to lifesaving drugs, reduces convenience for beneficiaries and ultimately increases costs to taxpayers, beneficiaries and all American citizens alike ," the administration said in a written statement. [...]

In case you didn't get the message last night, I know I did, George Bush wants war with Iran and Syria.....now. Talking Points Memo has more.