National Sanctity of Human Life Day, January 21st

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

Our Nation was founded on the belief that every human being has rights, dignity, and value. On National Sanctity of Human Life Day, we underscore our commitment to building a culture of life where all individuals are welcomed in life and protected in law.
(snip)

When we seek to advance science and improve our lives, we must always preserve human dignity and remember that human life is a gift from our Creator. We must not sanction the creation of life only to destroy it. America must pursue the tremendous possibilities of medicine and research and at the same time remain an ethical and compassionate society.

National Sanctity of Human Life Day is an opportunity to strengthen our resolve in creating a society where every life has meaning and our most vulnerable members are protected and defended including unborn children, the sick and dying, and persons with disabilities and birth defects. This is an ideal that appeals to the noblest and most generous instincts within us, and this is the America we will achieve by working together.

No Words Can Explain How Lost We Are

Manual to allow executions based on hearsay
Pentagon plan for detainee trials could spark fresh bipartisan debate

• Pentagon drafts detainee trial manual
Jan. 18: The Pentagon has completed a manual for upcoming detainee trials that would allow suspected terrorists to be imprisoned or executed using hearsay evidence.

Updated: 2:52 p.m. ET Jan 18, 2007
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has drafted a manual for upcoming detainee trials that would allow suspected terrorists to be convicted on hearsay evidence and coerced testimony and imprisoned or put to death.

According to a copy of the manual obtained by The Associated Press, a terror suspect's defense lawyer cannot reveal classified evidence in the person's defense until the government has a chance to review it.

The manual, sent to Capitol Hill on Thursday and scheduled to be released later by the Pentagon, is intended to track a law passed last fall by Congress restoring President Bush's plans to have special military commissions try terror-war prisoners. Those commissions had been struck down earlier in the year by the Supreme Court.

The Pentagon manual could spark a fresh confrontation between the Bush administration and Congress — now led by Democrats — over the treatment of the nation’s terrorism suspects.

Last September, Congress — then led by Republicans — sent Bush a bill granting wide latitude in interrogating and detaining captured enemy combatants. The legislation also prohibited some of the worst abuses of detainees like mutilation and rape, but granted the president leeway to decide which other interrogation techniques are permissible.

Anyone out there remember any of this being part of the civics & history classes that you took? Did YOU learn in school that the US was just another rogue nation that cut swathes thru it enemies with no regard to basic human decency? That tortured, maimed and KILLED in the name of "National Security"?

I must have been in the parking lot lighting up that day.

A Toss Off That Means Something....

South Bend Tribune...Wrong, Wrong, WRONG!!!! (Part Deux)

Yesterday I had a total hissy fit!! Over and over in the South Bend Tribune print and online editions you see junk like this.....

State of the State: Daniels makes appeal to Demos

Hmmm, seems to be something wrong with that sentence.....

So, I checked dictionary.com and came up with this:

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) -
dem·o /ˈdɛmoʊ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[dem-oh] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun, plural dem·os. Informal.
1. demonstration (defs. 4,6).
2. demonstrator (def. 5).
3. a phonograph record or tape recording of a new song or of one performed by an unknown singer or singing group, distributed to disc jockeys, recording companies, etc., to demonstrate the merits of the song or performer.

and this......

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) -
Dem /dɛm/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[dem] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation–noun Informal.
1. a member of the Democratic party.
2. the Dems, the Democratic party.

Well, I have to admit that I went a little crazy. I emailed a friend of mine who is a reporter in DC to have him check his AP Stylebook (reporters bible for guidelines in things like this) and after a bit, he let me know that Demo is an archaic diminutive for Democrat that has not been used in many years, and that DEM is the one cited in the AP Stylebook. (there is an AP Stylebook online, but it is paid subscription)

I would like to credit Fred Dodd at the South Bend Tribune for looking into this (after an admittedly semi-pissed off voice mail from me) and calling a meeting with his copy editors. They discussed it, and agreed that DEMO is not the correct diminutive to use, and from now on their policy will be to use DEM.

Now, you might be wondering why I got all hopped up about this, and I will tell you.
For YEARS, the strategists on the right have been using words to try and pigeonhole Democrats, Progressives & Liberals. They say "Democrat Party" when it should be "Democratic Party". (One reason given for this is to emphasize democRAT) They say "Looney Left, Looney Liberals" and all that other garbage. In my humble opinion and many others I have asked, DEMO sounds really close to DUMBO or DUMMO.
I am very impressed that Mr Dodd and his editors took the time to correct something that they could have very easily ignored. (well, not really, but they didn't know what a pain in the ass I could be)

Looking forward to the first Tribune headline using the correct term, DEM!!!!


Cross Posted at Left In Aboite

Of Wedgies and Tinfoil, One Womans' View

This afternoon when the "Breaking News" was all about how Abu Gonzales sent a letter saying that all of a sudden FISA "Was Our Friend", I knew something was up.
I ain't Glenn Greenwald, so go read him here.
I do have too much time on my hands.

Do you guys remember what was all the rage Monday & Tuesday? Well I do.




From Keiths' show last nite....

The two night special season opener of "24".

GREENWALD: Well, we know how susceptible people are to fear, some of it with good reason. The tragedy, as we know, has been how this administration has played on people‘s fears, and how Fox News and Fox in general has used it over and over and over again.

As you say, people can tell the difference. This is fiction. What we‘re dealing with in the world at times is fact. You know, of course, the question is, can this administration tell the difference, given that every day we get a different reason about who we should be afraid of, why we should be afraid, and why we went to war.

OLBERMANN: And the old line, of course, seems to apply here, about people insisting TV does not impact the public‘s perceptions, and then you point out, Well, gee whiz, all those advertisers must have wasted every dollar they ever spent on television.

And what's going to happen tomorrow? Abu gets grilled by the Senate Select Committee On Intelligence.

Stop and think a minute. Those people who aren't total phreaks like us, they just pick up bits and pieces of the news as they go along with life.

THEY WEDGED THIS PERFECTLY.
Yesterday the innoculated the masses.... "Oh, Jack tortures!!! Jack taps phones!! No time to get stinking warrants!!!"

Today, an announcement that isn't an announcement came out.

If the Pres and his cronies didn't have a problem with abiding by the FISA court, WHAT THE FU*K was that hongo deal last year about?

But now they have plausible deniability. "Oooooh, see we're being GOOD."

Tomorrow they refuse to talk about anything and cloak themselves behind the horrors of the upcoming nuclear war & the fact that they are already "following the law" even if there is no proof.

And then top it off with....

The Doomsday Clock

Wrong, Wrong, WRONG!!!!

State of the State: Daniels makes appeal to Demos

INDIANAPOLIS -- Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels urged a newly divided General Assembly to cooperate in moving Indiana forward, while also using his State of the State speech Tuesday night to tout initiatives that include full-day kindergarten, outsourcing the Hoosier Lottery and raising cigarette taxes to fund health programs.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
dem·o /ˈdɛmoʊ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[dem-oh] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun, plural dem·os. Informal.
1. demonstration (defs. 4,6).
2. demonstrator (def. 5).
3. a phonograph record or tape recording of a new song or of one performed by an unknown singer or singing group, distributed to disc jockeys, recording companies, etc., to demonstrate the merits of the song or performer.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
Dem /dɛm/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[dem] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation–noun Informal.
1. a member of the Democratic party.
2. the Dems, the Democratic party.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Origin: 1830–40, Americanism; shortening of Democrat]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Hmm, How Do You Send A Video To Congress?

LonelyDem07....

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait....

Bill Moyers Is BACK!!!!!

Bill Moyers to Return to PBS With Weekly Show -- Starting with Look at Press and Iraq
Published: January 13, 2007 11:45 PM ET

NEW YORK Bill Moyers is returning to PBS in April with a weekly public affairs series, ''Bill Moyers Journal,'' that resurrects the name of his first public television series for a new century.

Moyers, 72, did two specials for PBS last year, and both the work and response ''whetted my appetite for more.''

''People keep writing or stopping me on the street to suggest stories that are not being reported and voices that are not being heard,'' said the former press secretary for President Lyndon Johnson. ''A lot of Americans long for more than conventional wisdom, celebrity pundits, predictable opinions and safe analysis of the obvious.''

The first episode on April 25 discusses the role of the press before the invasion of Iraq.

Bwahahaha.... Looks Like Crime Doesn't Pay!!

Here

Convicted lawmakers may lose pensions
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jan 12, 3:49 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, behind bars for bribery, can at least be consoled by the federal pension he'll continue to collect. Current or future lawmakers convicted of crimes may not be so lucky.

The Senate on Friday voted 87-0 to strip away the pensions of members of Congress convicted of white-collar crimes such as bribery, perjury and fraud. That could result in benefit losses of more than $100,000 a year.

Did Tweety Put The Smackdown On "Democrat" Party?

It was brief, but it looks like Chris Matthews may have put the hammer down on the "Democrat" meme.

At the end of the show, Ron Christie was talking and he said
"..... the Democrat .... (pause, nod and finger wag at Chris) The DEMOCRATIC party......"

Thank you Jesus.

Many interesting reasons as to Democrat vs. Democratic here...

Why Shorten Democratic?

"Democrat Party" was a 2004 election linguistics trick cooked up by the Republican Party which was supposedly focus-grouped to sound more negative. If you go back through President Bush's speeches on the campaign trail and his surrogates, you will find "Democrat Party" used when trying to slur the party.

This goes back long before 2004, especially in Republican convention speeches. This discusssion has a variety of theories going back to the 60s. One point made is the "democrat party" sounds like "bureaucrat party", so a negative association is created. It's interesting because "Democratic Senator" or "Democrats endorse XYZ" really don't have that same negative ring.

So You Don't Have To....

I read the scum...

(You have to wade thru alot of "end of world" shit to get to some of these.....)
World Net Daily

Kupelian reveals 'pro-choice' movement's 'skeletons in the closet' in live teleseminar
Posted: January 13, 2007
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

With the anniversary of the Supreme Court's infamous Roe v. Wade decision just around the corner, WND Managing Editor David Kupelian will speak with hundreds of telephone callers Tuesday night in a special, live teleseminar titled "Abortion Marketing Exposed!"

Kupelian is the author of the controversial best seller, "The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised as Freedom." Many who have read chapter nine – titled "Blood Confessions: How lying marketers sold America on unrestricted abortion" – say it has profoundly changed the way they see the issue.
(snip)

"On the call," says Kupelian, "I will be exposing how radicals and deceitful marketers sold America on legalized abortion, and how millions of us continue to be manipulated and deceived by them every day. But by unmasking these marketers of evil – and by examining the powerful techniques and strategies they use to fool us – we'll also discover how you and I can turn the tide and finally end the tragedy and injustice of abortion."

NewsMax

The Looming Democratic Party Civil War
Dick Morris and Eileen McGann
Friday, Jan. 12, 2007

Iraq is not the only place that is threatening to dissolve into the anarchy and bloodletting of a civil war.

It's about to happen to the Democratic Party.

Reacting to Bush's planned "surge" in troop strength, the Democratic leaders in Congress, savoring their victory, are contemplating taking only symbolic steps to protest Bush's war policies, a timidity that will highly displease their leftist boosters.

The liberal activists who funded and impelled the Democratic victory in 2006 did not focus on winning a congressional majority so that it would take merely symbolic action. Symbolic action would have been appropriate for a minority party, but the backers of a party in the majority expect something more.

So the Democrats are about to form their customary firing squad — a circular one — and begin again the battles that ripped their party apart in the late 1960s. The battle lines are the same: The new left vs. the party establishment. Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid are about to squander their credibility with their supporters on the left by failing to cut back, or cut off entirely, funding for the war.

LOL, the Dick Morris one is barely 6 paragraphs.... and he NEEDED a Co-Author? Ha.

Drudge Report

Laura Bush takes literacy campaign to Paris

Jan 15 4:13 PM US/Eastern

US First Lady Laura Bush kicked off a three-day visit to Paris with a UNESCO round table discussion on promoting global literacy.
Bush, a former teacher and high-profile campaigner for literacy worldwide, is an honorary ambassador for the UN agency's decade of literacy.

"Ending illiteracy is a challenge for every country," she told the participants, who included envoys from Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Madagascar and Egypt as well as Koichiro Matsuura, director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
(snip)
Laura Bush's visit was to continue Monday with a tour of Paris's new Quai Branly museum of tribal arts, as well as the newly-refurbished Musee de L'Orangerie, which hosts some of Claude Monet's best-known water lily murals.

Imagined conversation 'tween GeeDubya & Pickles.....

"George, I landed in Paris!! It's just lovely!! I saw Monets' "Water Lilies"!!'
"Honey, be careful!! You might fall in the pond and kitch a cold!"

Thank God For My Hometown & McClatchy!!!

Look to the right....