The Deets

I was just listening to a little Springer on the Radio and heard a caller bring up the fact that Tookie Williams was put to death in 22 minutes, while it took almost a week for Terry Schaivo to die once her feeding tube was removed.

While the circumstances of their deaths have little in common, they way they died was decided by laws we have created. Why the inconsistency? I assume the reason we use lethal injection for death sentences is because it’s one of the less greusome ways to kill someone. Why doesn’t the same thing apply to medical death sentences?

We don’t starve or dehydrate our death row inmates to death, but we so with braindead loved ones.

It’s not every day that I agree with something Bob Barr says, but today’s one of them:

Bob Barr quoted on firedoglake: “A critical component of White House Scandal Defense 101 is rallying the partisan base. This keeps approval ratings in territory where the wheels don’t start falling off. The way to achieve this goal is you go negative and you don’t let up. If you’re always attacking your accusers, the debate becomes one of Democrat vs. Republican, rather than right vs. wrong. Anyone who questions the legality of the decision to wiretap thousands of Americans unlawfully is attacked, as either an enabler of terrorists or a bitter partisan trying to distract a president at war.”

Now that Bush has admitted to an impeachable offense, and showed no remorse, it’s up to the congress to either go home and let the dictator rule, or kick the bum out of office.

Doug Brinkley does a great job explaining the difference between our current president and some previous presidents who knew how to lead:

Doug Brinkley: Bush’s speech in Jackson Square was a phony: “BRINKLEY: It’s about leadership.

When you look at presidents, a Theodore Roosevelt or a Harry Truman or a Ronald Reagan, the great American presidents would not let a region die and suffer. They would have seen this as the bell ringing. This would be the moment that would define their presidency, and it is not too late for President Bush to do that. But he gave a very powerful speech in Jackson Square. The blue lights were behind him, and, if you read that speech, it was wonderful.

But the reality is, the speech is?was phony. And we are not getting the funding. We are not getting the federal attention, and I think that it’s tragic. And if President Bush wants to ignore New Orleans, then just say so. Let us know. Let us know not to come back, there are never going to be levees built, that we are not going to be?there isn’t going to be a massive public works project.

You know, there are people where I’m at, in Houston, that want to work. They are looking to go back to New Orleans. Why not create a WPA, look at the leadership of somebody like Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression? Let’s see a little bit of that out of this president. ”

Another non-review movie review from Power Line Blog:

Power Line: The Last Word on Spielberg’s “Munich”…: “The Last Word on Spielberg’s ‘Munich’…”

I guess you have to break up the time you spend defending wars you’re not fighitng with something, eh?

Via Jane at FireDogLake:

firedoglake: 12/01/2005 - 12/31/2005: “Rush Limbaugh, from his radio show on December 22, 2005:

“Liberals and Democrats,” Limbaugh claimed, “are only opposed to this because they don’t want anyone finding out what they’ve been up to. What have you folks been doing that you so desperately want to keep hidden”

Rush’s attorney Roy Black with Wolf Blitzer on December 15, 2005:

BLITZER: If Rush Limbaugh has nothing to hide and has done nothing wrong, what?s the problem with letting the prosecutor speak to the doctors and go through all the records?

BLACK: Well, Wolf, that’s an excellent question. A lot of people ask this all the time. You know what? We have a right of privacy in this country that I think is important for us to hold onto. I mean, we could let prosecutors and police into our bedrooms, search our computers, watch us having sex. We could let them do all these things, but then we would have a police state. We would no longer have a democracy. I think it’s very important to fight these privacy battles—and Rush Limbaugh has taken on this battle of privacy with your doctor, and I think it has really been a public service for him. Not only for himself but everybody else who wants their medical records and medical treatment kept private and not to be disclosed in the press or with the police or prosecutors or anyone else who has no business being there.

I’ve been trying to figure out what makes many conservative blogs so crappy compared to some of the top liberal blogs. I’ve previously pointed out how right-wing blogs are less likely to allow comments. My theory on that is you need to have your facts straight if you’re going to allow comments. Otherwise, you’ll get shredded by your commenters. If you’re positioning youself as apologists for a pro-torture, pro-spying on Americans administration, you’re going to get some push back if you write long winded and innacurate justifications for something that can be summarized in nine words: You can not spy on Americans without a warrant.

Then it occured to me that some right wing-content is just downright crappy. While I’m not going to defend some of the stranger tendencies of left-wing Orchid or Cat blogging, at least left-wing bloggers don’t review movies they haven’t seen:

Power Line: More on “Munich” by Scott Johnson: “More on ‘Munich’ I haven’t gotten around to seeing the film ‘Munich’ yet, and I’m not sure I will. “

Power Line: Here’s One I Won’t Be Seeing by John Hinderaker:

I shuddered when I heard that a movie called North Country was being made out of the Jenson case, in which a group of female miners sued the owner of a taconite mine in northern Minnesota.

Dear Mr. John Hinderaker,

Using the threat of nuclear attacks to justify shredding the constitution is about as idiotic as using the threat of nuclear attacks to justify fighting a war that doesn’t need to be fought. The Bush administration has done both, but you continue to support them. How strange.

I notice that you decide to go after the leakers of the news that the Bush administration is breaking the law with warrantless searches. People who leak information like that are often considered whistleblowers. People who point out when the government is shredding the constitution are patriots in my book. How about yours?

-Ed

Power Line: The Washington Crime Wave Continues: “Another scandal–Bush is protecting us against nuclear attack! U.S. News reports:”

You can’t make this stuff up. Paul Mirengoff of Powerline Blog suggested tonight that Democrats are in panicing about President Bush’s improving poll numbers.

He then goes on to suggest a statement by Alan Colmes on FOX News is representative of all Democrats. Anyone who uses a FOX News Democrat to draw their opinions of Democrats is clearly misguided and severly detached from reality.

I would hope that Mr. Mirengoff would agree that regardless of any poll numbers, it’s a sad day for America when our president thinks he has the authority to spy on Americans without court approval.

Power Line: Panic attack: “There are signs of panic among Democrats as President Bush’s poll numbers improve, with the prospect of additional improvement when the American presence in Iraq diminishes. Tonight, a rather desperate Alan Colmes criticized the Bush administration for attacking Congressman Murtha and other Democrats when they called for troop withdrawal, even though Bush knew he would be withdrawing troops soon.”

A few local (St Paul / Minneapolis) Catholic parents seem to find something to fear around every corner. Their latest nightmare involves Catholic school curriculum involving child safety and touching. While most reasonable and sane people would assume that Catholic school curriculum on an issue like this is designed to teach children the difference between good and bad touches, this particular group of concerned Catholic parents think their :

What really makes this interesting to me is Colleen’s over-the-top concern about what’s being taught in Catholic Schools. Apparently, the Catholic Schools falling under the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis is either attempting to molest the children sent to their schools, or turn them into young whores. It’s not entirely clear how exactly they plan to take away their pupil’s innocence.

I’m not a parent, nor am I familiar with the the various “Good Touch - Bad Touch” programs being taught today. However, that doesn’t stop me from believing that a person who believes the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minnesota is planning on stealing their pupil’s innocence is not a member of the reality based community.

Minnesota Republican Senator Norm Coleman appears to have flip flopped on his Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) protection position:

Senate Roll Call on Arctic Drilling - Forbes.com: “The 56-44 roll call Wednesday by which the Senate voted to block oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge as part of a defense bill. Sixty votes were needed to stop debate on the issue and allow a vote on the defense bill.

On this vote, a ‘yes’ vote was a vote to stop debate and proceed to a vote on final passage and a ‘no’ vote was a vote to continue debate. “

How did they vote:

Minnesota:
Coleman (R) Yes; Dayton (D) No.

Norm Coleman from Marchh 16th, 2005:

“March 16th, 2005 - Washington, DC - “When I ran for the Senate, I pledged to oppose drilling in ANWR. Today I kept that commitment. I was proud to vote again this year to strip ANWR drilling out of the budget because it is a distraction from where our focus should be. We need to do more to reduce America?s increasing dependence on foreign sources of oil and reduce energy costs. But whether we can do that by drilling in ANWR is uncertain. What we do know ? especially in Minnesota — is that we can achieve this goal by expanding the use of renewable fuels like ethanol, biodiesel, and wind energy.”