Stonehead

Mushroom Space

Oh wait, this is better!! Musical breast implants

Booga booga booga!!

--Experts discuss ethics of ending life

Neo-Jacobins

jackboot, Achilles' heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno, jackboot, Achilles' heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno, jackboot, Achilles' heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno, jackboot, Achilles' heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno

-- Masculinity Challenged, Men Prefer War and SUVs But it doesn't mean you're insecure. Are you trying to say that the Sistine Chapel is gay?

http://www.kuro5hin.org/special/mission

I find it surprising that it's some Democrats that are speaking up for her and that some conservative Republicans are opposing her. I think the lack of a public record (or at least one that goes beyond lawyer-client privilege or executive privilege) will make things difficult in the confirmation process. Even the Republicans don't know where she stands on some issues and her past has indicated that her views have evolved, i.e., are not set in stone. Maybe she will support Republican values in the economic realm but in the social realm will not be to their liking. Don't know how much influence her religion will play but it shouldn't straitjacket her ability to reason. Seems that, who was it Kennedy, was a devout Catholic, but it did not hinder his ability to form an opinion concerning abortion. No, if someone wants to oppose her it would be on the basis that she has no constitutional law experience. She has dealt extensively with legal issues but she is not steeped in the tradition of the Constitution, as I understand her background. But yeah, looks (photogenic) and eloquence are important politically but less so here. Of course, as a justice her ability to reason is paramount.

Are we not holding our Representatives and Senators accountable? I've heard in two cases where Congress has the obligation to deal with issues but has failed to do so. One is the medical marijuana issue and the other is the assisted-suicide issue (Oregon's Death with Dignity Act). Do we expect our judges to legislate these issues? That's not their job and the Supreme Court ruling in the recent medical marijuana case indicated this, as will their ruling (or stated opinions) on the assisted-suicide case concur. Why hasn't Congress provided a remedy? Even Al Gore has stated his concern for Congress' absence in dealing with issues. What is happening is that our Congressmen are spending their time at fundraisers to amass 'war chests' to push through their next campaign. They're not dealing with the 'all' of the issues. Read the article. Gore, for instance, makes important points concerning the decision to go to war, one that Congress basically forfeited to the president. This is non-partisan. This is the corrosive effect of money and power over character and duty among men and women of both parties. The McCain-Feingold reform law didn't go far enough. Just look at the continuing saga of the Jack Abramhoff affair. Vote the bastards out!!

She asks me why...I'm just a hairy guy I'm hairy noon and night; Hair that's a fright. I'm hairy high and low, Don't ask me why; don't know! It's not for lack of bread Like the Grateful Dead; darling Gimme a head with hair, long beautiful hair Shining, gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen Give me down to there, hair! Shoulder length, longer (hair!) Here baby, there mama, Everywhere daddy daddy CHORUS: Hair! (hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair) Flow it, Show it; Long as God can grow it, My Hair! Let it fly in the breeze and get caught in the trees Give a home to the fleas in my hair A home for fleas, a hive for bees A nest for birds, there ain't no words For the beauty, the splendor, the wonder of my CHORUS I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy Snaggy, shaggy, ratty, matty Oily, greasy, fleecy, shining Gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen Knotted, polka-dotted; Twisted, beaded, braided Powdered, flowered, and confettied Bangled, tangled, spangled and spaghettied! O-oh, Say can you see; my eyes if you can, Then my hair's too short! Down to here, down to there, Down to where, down to there; It stops by itself! doo doo doo doo doot-doot doo doo doot They'll be ga-ga at the go-go when they see me in my toga My toga made of blond, brilliantined, Biblical hair My hair like Jesus wore it Hallelujah I adore it Hallelujah Mary loved her son Why don't my Mother love me?

What gets me, is that the Republican Playbook says that Bush won against Kerry because Bush had resolve and credibility. Resolve, yes. But, credibility??? I think it's telling that the Republicans appear divided between what I term the Radicals Repubs and the Sensible Repubs. The Radicals appear to be self imploding, e.g., Delay indicted, Frist under investigation, Rove called to testify and possibly facing indictment or being fired, etc. Look, if the public perception remains as it is concerning the Iraqi situation and Bush's anemic domestic response, then the Republicans could be in danger, just as the Democrats were in '94. If there is an actual housing bubble, then that'll be the final nail in the Bush Administration (even though it's the non-partisan Fed chief's responsibility, i.e., Greenspan or his successor).

No, no, that's only the Abrahamiac religions. But maybe a little bit of Renaissance humanism is good for the Republic.

That's taken from the Seattle Times article called The Truth About Global Warming. Basically, the article discusses the consensus among today's scientists regarding the reality of global warming. However, the problem is that the word is not as widespread among laypeople (the public and policymakers).

The distinction between the two might be fairly slight in some parts of the world. Whether you condone these images or condemn them, you have to agree they have the potential to work as powerful propaganda images for terrorist recruiters. LAKELAND - It wasn't the gruesome photos on Chris Wilson's web site that got him into trouble with the law. It was explicit sexual images and videos, Polk County authorities say. This afternoon, Wilson, a former cop who made headlines for allegedly providing free porn to soldiers in exchange for photos that included shots of mangled bodies, was charged with hundreds of obscenity counts. ``In my 33 years in law enforcement, this was the most horrific, vile, obscene material that I have ever seen,'' Sheriff Grady Judd said. ``It is beyond the normal person's wildest imagination.'' --Lakeland Man Charged With Online Obscenity

I've got Good News and I've got Bad News. Recently, the government of Florida managed to pull together to pass HB 0249, a law now commonly known as the "Stand Your Ground" law. This law provides for the following: "A person, not engaged in an unlawful activity, who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so, to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself, herself, or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony." So, finally, this Christmas, when we all leave our trailer parks and go to line up outside Walmart to score those cheap 40" TVs, and there is a riot when they finally open the doors, I can light you up like 2Pac when you get in my face. Now, on to the bad news. .

-- source

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defying President George W. Bush, the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to regulate the Pentagon's treatment of military detainees in the wake of abuse scandals at Abu Ghraib prison and elsewhere. The Senate voted 90-9 for a bipartisan amendment to establish rules for detainee interrogation and treatment, even though the Republican administration said the measure would tie its hands as it fights terrorism and threatened to veto a $440 billion bill to fund the Pentagon if it contained them. The amendment from Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam, would establish the U.S. Army field manual as the standard for interrogations and bar degrading and inhumane treatment of anyone in U.S. military custody. Another amendment to the defense bill the Senate was expected to consider this week would clarify the legal status of enemy combatants at the Guantanamo Bay military prison and increase congressional oversight of their detention and release. McCain said the rules would help U.S. soldiers, who are under intense pressure to extract intelligence from prisoners but blamed when there are excesses. ... Jabbing at the administration in which he served, retired four-star general and former Secretary of State Colin Powell backed McCain's amendment, which he said in a letter would "help deal with the terrible public diplomacy crisis created by Abu Ghraib."

The sensible right:

--linky

Hey, didn't XTC do a song about you? The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead?

Hmmm...four posts to go from Curmudgeonly to FYYFingF!