[+/-] Today's quote: Emerson

"As men's prayers are a disease of the will, so are their creeds a disease of the intellect."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance" (1841)

[+/-] Why does Bush act so macho?

[+/-] Chimpy gives press the finger

One Good Move has the video. Bush is classy, with a k.

[+/-] Today's quote: Gide

"I'm sure there's something more to be read in a man. People dare not - they dare not turn the page. The laws of mimicry - I call them the laws of fear. People are afraid to find themselves alone, and don't find themselves at all. I hate all this moral agoraphobia - it's the worst kind of cowardice. You can't create something without being alone. But who's trying to create here? What seems different in yourself that's the one rare thing you possess, the one thing which gives each of us his worth and that's just what we try to suppress. We imitate. And we claim to love life."
~ Andre Gide

[+/-] Seeking altruistic atheists and humanist humanitarians

Do you put your humanist principles into practice by helping others in your community? Or do you know a non-religious person with an inspiring life story who has helped make the world a better place? If so, the BBC wants to hear from you.

The Institute for Humanist Studies is working with the BBC on an educational program provisionally titled "Secular Beliefs." The show aims, in the words of the BBC, to "introduce pupils to a range of non-religious people and their beliefs, from ancient Greece to the present day. It will explore the meaning of terms such as 'atheist' and 'humanist' and will examine the ethics, values and sense of human meaning and purpose associated with them."

The BBC would like to include some segments on humanists whose charitable work reflects their humanist ethics. For example, a visionary lawyer who is committed to working with people on death row on a pro-bono basis, or a doctor who volunteers her time to a marginalized group. The BBC would prefer unsung heroes to celebrity atheists. The person would have to be willing to be interviewed, and possibly filmed in action. The program will be shot in the U.S. and the U.K.

If you would like to nominate yourself or someone else as a possible interviewee please email Info@HumanistStudies.org. The email should include a brief biography of the humanist humanitarian, explaining what they do and why. It should give the subject's contact details, including phone and email, and also their location and, ideally, address.

[+/-] Today's quote: Freud

"Religious doctrines are not the residue of experience or the final result of reflection. They are illusions, fulfillments of the oldest, strongest and most insistent wishes of mankind. The secret of their strength is the strength of these wishes."
~ Sigmund Freud

[+/-] Theists and atheists think alike 99.9% of the time

Well said:

Theists and atheists alike will soundly take apart the claim of the existence of an invisible unicorn, or 40 foot tall women in the Amazon, or an extra moon hiding behind our current one. So in that respect, theists and atheists think alike. The dichotomy becomes apparent when the atheist keeps God belief in the same system of rules and logic as he does everything else. The theist, however, demonstrably evades the same tools of thought and perception they use elsewhere in their worldview.

[+/-] Kids find refuge in 'godless' camp

Excellent:

Camp Quest is a secular camp operated in Butler County, Ohio, by a group incorporated in Kentucky. It is for kids who come from families who are atheist or agnostic. For these kids, Camp Quest provides a refuge from a society where God feels omnipresent.

"I sometimes get pressured at my school, like why do I not believe in God?" said Molly Silverman, a camper. "But here, they never pressure me or anything."...

Lawyer and author Edwin Kagin, an atheist, founded the camp 10 years ago, and chooses to focus on subjects that steer clear of religion.

"We also have critical thinking," said Kagin. "We teach science. We teach evolution. We have a strong emphasis on scientific method."

[+/-] Enlist

Support Operation Yellow Elephant.

[+/-] Today's quote: Lichtenberg

"With most men, unbelief in one thing springs from blind belief in another."
~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

[+/-] Today's quote: Voltaire

"I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it."
~ Voltaire

[+/-] Oppose Frist's religion bill

Don't Let Congress Endorse the Boy Scouts of America's Religious Discrimination!

Tell your senators that you oppose the Support Our Scouts Act of 2005 (S. 642), because it will not only allow federal funds to be used for discrimination on the grounds of religion and sexual orientation, but will also forbid any state or local government from acting on its own conscience to protect church-state separation. Urge them not to support or sponsor this act.

BACKGROUND

Despite the fact that the Boy Scouts of America excludes atheists and agnostics as well as gay, transgender and bisexual Americans, the Pentagon has been a long-time sponsor of the National Boy Scout Jamboree, granting them $2 million a year, a gift received by no other similar organizations. Due to the religious nature and exclusionary practices of the Boy Scouts, sponsorship of the Jamboree was recently ruled an unconstitutional violation of church-state separation by a federal court.

In response, Senator Bill Frist introduced the Support Our Scouts Act of 2005 (S. 642), which currently has 52 cosponsors. The text of the bill defines the Boy Scouts as a "youth organization," not a religious organization and would grant it the right to use federal funds or public forums, and allow permanent access to any federal, state, or local public property.

In an e-mail sent out to supporters, Senator Frist openly declared the religious nature of the Boy Scouts. Frist said "They also come together to celebrate their bedrock values. They talk about patriotism; they talk about public service; they talk about conservation; they talk about civic virtue; and they talk about faith." No mention was made of their discriminatory policies.

ACTION

We ask you to contact your senators and urge them to not support or cosponsor this bill. If your senators are cosponsors, urge them to withdraw their support! Click here to find out where your senators stands.

You can reach your senators by calling the Capitol Switchboard toll-free at 877-762-8762 and ask to speak with their office. The Senate website also lists the direct office lines and e-mail addresses for every senator. It is important that Humanist voices be heard at this critical juncture.

The Support Our Scouts Act of 2005 will be taken up in the Senate very soon!

Please spread the word: forward this to a friend!

[+/-] No Jesus

[+/-] Chimpy's grand plan for Rove (and Roberts!)

[+/-] Today's quote: Paine

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."
~ Thomas Paine

[+/-] Carnival of the Godless #18

St. Nate's Blog is host to the 18th Carnival Of The Godless. Be sure to check out all the heathenistic immorality :)

[+/-] Today's quote: Russell

"So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence."
~ Bertrand Russell

[+/-] Time to draw a line between the real world and the world of dreams

There is a terrific column in the Guardian today that argues the London bombings are not about poverty, deprivation or cultural dislocation of second-generation immigrants, but about religious delusion:

All religions are prone to it, given the right circumstances. How could those who preach the absolute revealed truth of every word of a primitive book not be prone to insanity? There have been sects of killer Christians and indeed the whole of Christendom has been at times bent on wiping out heathens. Jewish zealots in their settlements crazily claim legal rights to land from the Old Testament. Some African Pentecostal churches harbour sects of torturing exorcism and child abuse. Muslims have a very long tradition of jihadist slaughter. Sikhs rose up to stop a play that exposed deformities of abuse within their temples. Buddhism too has its sinister wing. See how far-right evangelicals have kidnapped US politics and warped its secular, liberal founding traditions. Intense belief, incantations, secrecy and all-male rituals breed perversions and danger, abusing women and children and infecting young men with frenzy, no matter what the name of the faith.

Enlightenment values are in peril not because these mad beliefs are really growing but because too many rational people seek to appease and understand unreason. Extreme superstition breeds extreme action. Those who believe they alone know the only way, truth and life will always feel justified in doing anything in its name. You would, wouldn't you, if you alone had the magic answer to everything? If religions teach that life after death is better then it is hardly surprising that some crazed followers will actually believe it....

It is time now to get serious about religion - all religion - and draw a firm line between the real world and the world of dreams.

[+/-] Today's quote: Asimov

"Creationists make it sound as though a theory is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night."
~ Isaac Asimov

[+/-] Rightwing bullying cowards

The Rev. Mykeru does a smackdown on a fighting keyboarder and follows up with some dead-on analysis:

Nothing inspires such fear and anger in the right wing, from the top politicians and pundits down to the peasant pikemen, like the prospect of people on the left who are simply sick of their shit and willing to fight back, both in words, fists and if the right should ever try to make their "liberal hunting" a reality, with bullets.

Can you see parallels between cowardly net bullies like Steve Crager who can't seem to work up any personal courage when their own ass is on the line and a Commander-in-Chief who has sent thousands to their deaths and brought death to thousands more and yet couldn't work up the balls to serve in combat when he had the chance to fight a war he supported or bother to show up for the National Guard service that kept him out of combat? Yet he actively smeared political opponents who did serve in combat and have the missing limbs to prove it. How about the Young Republicans cheerleading a war in which thousands of innocents have died for no reason other than right wing muscle flexing that serves no legitimate strategic purpose, provided their ignorant, entitled asses don't have to fight it. Serving one's country in time of war is obviously an honor reserved for "little people". How about an administration that claims keeping the American people safe is job one, and yet compromises national security by outing a CIA agent working on WMD and the CIA front company she worked for, in order to discredit a critic in the most underhanded and cowardly manner? The list of right wing bullying is long and ignominious, from rounding up people at random and imprisoning them without due process to Fox News assholes cutting off the microphones of critics who get the better of them, and examples of their hypocrisy and overwhelming cowardice is even longer.

The lunatic right wing, from the top to the bottom, the politicians, the pundits and the tools who follow them, are mean, vicious, unprincipled and, when anyone bothers to stand against them and call bullshit, as yellow as a stream of piss.

[+/-] What is eliminationism?

What, really, is eliminationism?

It's a fairly self-explanatory term: it describes a kind of politics and culture that shuns dialogue and the democratic exchange of ideas for the pursuit of outright elimination of the opposing side, either through complete suppression, exile and ejection, or extermination....

But while eliminationism's most startling historical example was provided by the Nazis, it also has a long and appalling history in the annals of American democracy....

Eliminationism in truth forms the really hateful, violent core of fascism, the facet that distinguishes the real item from its pseudo manifestations (though of course not all eliminationism is necessarily fascist). It glories in violence, in action over intellect, and always insists, of course, that it represents the true national identity.

Rhetorically, it takes on some distinctive shapes. It always depicts its opposition as simply beyond the pale, and in the end the embodiment of evil itself -- unfit for participation in their vision of society, and thus in need of elimination. It often depicts its designated "enemy" as vermin (especially rats and cockroaches) or diseases, and loves to incessantly suggest that its targets are themselves disease carriers. A close corollary -- but not as nakedly eliminationist -- are claims that the opponents are traitors or criminals, or gross liabilities for our national security, and thus inherently fit for elimination.

And yes, it's often voiced as crude "jokes", the humor of which, when analyzed, are inevitably predicated on a venomous hatred.

But what we also know about this rhetoric is that, as surely as night follows day, this kind of talk eventually begets action, with inevitably tragic results.

Read on...

[+/-] Conservatism defined

[+/-] Should science be taught in schools?

A newspaper for our times.

I really like the inclusion of Cornelius :)

[+/-] Former CIA officers speak out against Rove

Via Crooks and Liars, eleven former CIA Officers speak out and set the record straight:

The disclosure of Ms. Plame’s name was a shameful event in American history and, in our professional judgment, may have damaged U.S. national security and poses a threat to the ability of U.S. intelligence gathering using human sources. Any breach of the code of confidentiality and cover weakens the overall fabric of intelligence, and, directly or indirectly, jeopardizes the work and safety of intelligence workers and their sources... The fact is that there are thousands of U.S. intelligence officers who "work at a desk" in the Washington, D.C. area every day who are undercover.

[+/-] Today's quote: Jefferson

"And the day will come, when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His Father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva, in the brain of Jupiter."
~ Thomas Jefferson

[+/-] Caption this photo

[+/-] Study cites seeds of terror in Iraq

The left has been correct about Iraq from the beginning, and Bush and his wingnut cronies continue to be wrong:

New investigations by the Saudi Arabian government and an Israeli think tank -- both of which painstakingly analyzed the backgrounds and motivations of hundreds of foreigners entering Iraq to fight the United States -- have found that the vast majority of these foreign fighters are not former terrorists and became radicalized by the war itself.

The studies, which together constitute the most detailed picture available of foreign fighters, cast serious doubt on President Bush's claim that those responsible for some of the worst violence are terrorists who seized on the opportunity to make Iraq the "central front" in a battle against the United States....

[I]nterrogations of nearly 300 Saudis captured while trying to sneak into Iraq and case studies of more than three dozen others who blew themselves up in suicide attacks show that most were heeding the calls from clerics and activists to drive infidels out of Arab land, according to a study by Saudi investigator Nawaf Obaid, a US-trained analyst who was commissioned by the Saudi government and given access to Saudi officials and intelligence.

A separate Israeli analysis of 154 foreign fighters compiled by a leading terrorism researcher found that despite the presence of some senior Al Qaeda operatives who are organizing the volunteers, "the vast majority of [non-Iraqi] Arabs killed in Iraq have never taken part in any terrorist activity prior to their arrival in Iraq."...

American intelligence officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, and terrorism specialists paint a similar portrait of the suicide bombers wreaking havoc in Iraq: Prior to the Iraq war, they were not Islamic extremists seeking to attack the United States, as Al Qaeda did four years ago, but are part of a new generation of terrorists responding to calls to defend their fellow Muslims from "crusaders" and "infidels."

Given this study, and the Downing Street Memo, Bush should join Rove in being tried for treason. Whose payroll are they on, anyway?!

[+/-] Enrage a conservative

[+/-] Today's quote: Burroughs

"Science has done more for the development of Western civilization in one hundred years than Christianity did in eighteen hundred years."
~ Jeff Burroughs

[+/-] How the FBI spends its time

It has been discovered that the FBI has been devoting counterterrorist resources to monitoring people engaged in the following terroristic behavior:

• Protecting your First Amendment rights: freedom of speech, association and assembly, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion.
  
• Protecting your right to equal protection under the law - equal treatment regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin.
  
• Protecting your right to due process - fair treatment by the government whenever the loss of your liberty or property is at stake.
  
• Protecting your right to privacy - freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your personal and private affairs.

The Bush Administration is using your taxpayer dollars and the excuse of a fake "war on terror" to investigate lawful American organizations engaged in constitutionally-protected, non-violent activities.

Instead of pursuing Osama bin Laden and the organization that carried out 9/11, Bush and his cronies lied us into the Iraq quagmire which has cost us nearly 2,000 of our soldiers.

Now, instead of going after real threats - such as cargo hold inspections, mass transit security, and funding first-responders - the Bush government is pursuing Americans who have the audacity to speak out on conservation issues and the protection of Americans' constitutional rights.

Does this sound like a "war on terror? Actions speak louder than words, and we all should wonder if Bush is more interested in a war on American freedom.

[+/-] Today's quote: Foote

"It will yet be the proud boast of women that they never contributed a line to the Bible."
~ George W. Foote

[+/-] Today's quote: Adams

"The blackest billingsgate, the most ungentlemanly insolence, the most yahooist brutality, is patently endured, countenanced, propagated, and applauded. But touch a solemn truth in collision with the dogma of a sect, though capable of the clearest proof, and you will soon find you have disturbed a nest, and the hornets will swarm about your eyes and hand, and fly into your face and eyes."
~ John Adams

[+/-] Fact sheet on Turd Blossom's non-disclosure agreement

Looks like the wingnuts will need to change their story again. Rep. Henry Waxman has released this fact sheet (PDF) today on Karl Rove's non-disclosure agreement with the White House. In it, Rep. Waxman writes:

The nondisclosure agreement signed by White House officials such as Mr. Rove states: “I will never divulge classified information to anyone” who is not authorized to receive it.

THE PROHIBITION AGAINST “CONFIRMING” CLASSIFIED INFORMATION

Mr. Rove, through his attorney, has raised the implication that there is a distinction between releasing classified information to someone not authorized to receive it and confirming classified information from someone not authorized to have it. In fact, there is no such distinction under the nondisclosure agreement Mr. Rove signed.

THE WHITE HOUSE OBLIGATIONS UNDER EXECUTIVE ORDER 12958

Under the executive order, the White House has an affirmative obligation to investigate and take remedial action separate and apart from any ongoing criminal investigation. The executive order specifically provides that when a breach occurs, each agency must take appropriate and prompt corrective action.” This includes a
determination of whether individual employees improperly disseminated or obtained access to classified information.

The executive order further provides that sanctions for violations are not optional. The executive order expressly provides: “Officers and employees of the United States Government … shall be subject to appropriate sanctions if they knowingly, willfully, or negligently … disclose to unauthorized persons information properly classified.”
There is no evidence that the White House complied with these requirements.

Via TalkLeft.

[+/-] New bumper sticker

[+/-] Republicans vote to okay National Security leaks

It is official: the GOP is now on record voting in support of preserving the security clearance of a "federal employee who discloses or has disclosed classified information, including the identity of a covert agent of the Central Intelligence Agency." The roll call vote is here.

[+/-] Dissecting the fantasy-based community

Paul Krugman is on a roll:

What Mr. Rove understood, long before the rest of us, is that we're not living in the America of the past, where even partisans sometimes changed their views when faced with the facts. Instead, we're living in a country in which there is no longer such a thing as nonpolitical truth. In particular, there are now few, if any, limits to what conservative politicians can get away with: the faithful will follow the twists and turns of the party line with a loyalty that would have pleased the Comintern.

[+/-] Today's quote: Paine

"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My mind is my own church."
~ Thomas Paine

[+/-] Contemporary patterns of atheism

A few factoids about atheism courtesy of The Evangelical Atheist:

[T]here are approximately 58 times as many atheists as there are Mormons, 41 times as many atheists as there are Jews, 35 times as many atheists as there are Sikhs, and twice as many atheists as there are Buddhists. Finally, nonbelievers in God as a group come in fourth place after Christianity (2 billion), Islam (1.2 billion), and Hinduism (900 million) in terms of global ranking of commonly-held belief systems.

[N]ations marked by high levels of organic atheism – such as Sweden, the Netherlands, and France — are among the healthiest, wealthiest, most educated, and most free societies on earth.

Of the 25 top-scoring nations on the United Nations Human Development Index, which is based on such things as life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate, per capita income, and educational attainment, all but one (Ireland), have large numbers of atheists. EVERY ONE of the bottom 50 has practically no atheists.

Read more here.

[+/-] 850 million strong and growing

As far as the government and the media are concerned, the world's fourth largest belief system doesn't exist. In number of adherents it's behind Christianity, Islam and Buddhism but ahead of Hinduism. Globally it's 85% the size of Catholicism and in America just a little smaller than Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Lutherans put together. Perhaps most astoundingly, given today's politics, in the U.S. it is roughly the size of the Southern Baptist congregation.

Its leaders, however, are not invited to open Senate sessions. Our politicians do not quote them and our news shows do not interview them. And while it is a sin, if not a crime, to be anti-Catholic or anti-Semitic, disparaging this faith is not only permitted, it is publicly encouraged.

Read on.

[+/-] Warning sticker for the bible

Click picture to enlarge.

[+/-] Poll: Bush seen as dishonest

According to a new NBC/WSJ poll, only 41 percent give Bush good marks for being "honest and straightforward" — his lowest ranking on this question since he became president.

That’s a drop of nine percentage points since January. Notably, the survey was taken just before the allegations about Rove exploded into the current controversy. I can't wait to see the next poll.

[+/-] Today's quote: Heinlein

"I’ve never understood how God could expect His creatures to pick the one true religion by faith—it strikes me as a sloppy way to run a universe."
~ Robert A. Heinlein (Jubal Harshaw in Stranger in a Strange Land)

[+/-] Conservatives hate journalists

Check out Charles Madigan on the state of journalism:

The problem conservative critics have with modern news media is the same problem conservative critics have always had with news media.

It's not just that they despise liberals. They do. But I think the whole liberal thing is a ruse.

What they really dislike is journalism....

Truth is no defense. It's viewed as unpatriotic...

[+/-] Who is Rove really working for?

Who is Karl Rove's boss?

In 1985 CIA traitor Aldrich Ames sold the KGB the names of every U.S. spy in the Soviet Union in return for $2 million. Arrests and executions soon wiped out America's human assets in the Soviet Union. As they were caught unprepared by one shocker after another--glasnost, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the implosion of the USSR--intelligence professionals suspected a well-placed mole as the culprit. But Ames wasn't caught for another nine years.

Karl Rove, on the other hand, has already been found out as a likely traitor to the United States. Now we must work backwards. Does his exposure help to explain some of the Administration's most baffling foreign policy blunders?

No matter how remote, we must now consider the possibility that Karl Rove may in the employ of, and/or receiving money from, a terrorist organization such as Al Qaeda. Alternatively, could he be in the employ of a hostile foreign government? If he betrayed a CIA agent, Rove is a traitor and therefore capable of anything.

[+/-] Atheist Exposed

I wanted to point you to a new blog, Atheist Exposed, that is a compelling read. It is about

A 48 year old government worker, 30 year closet athiest, is exposing to her friends, co-workers and clients her lack of belief in God. This is an experiment in humanity and tolerance. Hoping for a good outcome. Approaching in a non-confrontational manner. These are my friends, and I care about them. I hope they can accept me as I am. My goal is to help my Christian associates have the knowledge, that they know an atheist, and she's not a bad person.

What makes the author's story unusual is that she works with inmates inside a prison!

[+/-] Today's quote: Asimov

"To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today."
~ Isaac Asimov

[+/-] Report: PBS not biased

In order to protect us from the mythical liberal media bias, Ken Tomlinson appointed a pair of ombudsmen to watch over PBS and NPR. He appointed one moderate conservative (Ken Bode) and one ultra-conservative (William Schultz). It looks like he may have to find an even more conservative pair to make claims of liberal bias. The Washington Post reports on how they failed to back up Tomlinson's claims of bias:

Instead, Bode and Schulz have been positively glowing in their assessments of the journalism heard on NPR and seen on news shows distributed by PBS. So glowing, in fact, that Schulz and Bode's reports, which are posted on CPB's Web site could easily be excerpted in the shorthand style of a movie ad quoting favorable reviews. To wit:

"First-rate.... Insightful interviews.... In all, two excellent reports." -- Schulz on NPR's reporting from Mosul, Iraq, in late April.

"Excellent.... Informative.... These two reports gave a nuanced and balanced view of the situation. . . . Kudos to the producers, reporters and editors." -- Bode, on the same stories.

"An excellent curtain raiser!" -- Bode on an NPR report about an upcoming court-martial of a Marine accused of murdering two Iraqis.

"High praise to Mississippi Public Television for an important job well done, and for ably fulfilling its mission of public service to the state." -- Bode on coverage of the trial of Edgar Ray Killen, the former Ku Klux Klan member accused and convicted in the death of three civil rights workers.

"TV at its best." -- Schulz on the three-part PBS series "The Appalachians."

Neither ombudsman mentions a lack of "balance" -- a frequent Tomlinson criticism -- in the programs reviewed. Indeed, neither comments one way or the other about the political leanings of the few programs that were reviewed.

(Cross-posted from LightUpTheDarkness.)

[+/-] Give Rove a medal?

Fox "News" anchor John Gibson said on the air that he believes Karl Rove deserves a medal for exposing Valerie Plame. That is, he believes that we ought to expose our covert government agents and harm national security as long as it benefits Republicans.

These people are sick and dangerous people. Check out the video here.

Also, you can read a copy of the Rethuglican talking points on the affair.

[+/-] Just what 'The Onion' predicted

According to the Jan. 18, 2001, issue of the satirical newspaper The Onion:

We must squander our nation's hard-won budget surplus on tax breaks for the wealthiest 15 percent.... And, on the foreign front, we must find an enemy and defeat it."

And so it has turned out.

[+/-] Beware of dangerous MIT scientists!

In response to Boston Globe columnist Bryan McGrory's request that Rick Santorum explain his view that Boston is to blame for the Catholic priest sex scandal, Santorum's office said "It's an open secret that you have Harvard University and MIT that tend to tilt to the left in terms of academic biases," said Robert Traynham, Santorum's aide. ''I think that's what the senator was speaking to."

So I guess it was a swarm of Harvard and MIT professors -- not Catholic priests -- that molested children?

[+/-] A different Rove leak

Remember this?

Rove fired from Bush Sr's '92 campaign over leak to Novak. Karl Rove was fired from the 1992 re-election campaign of Bush Sr. for allegedly leaking a negative story about Bush loyalist/fundraiser Robert Mosbacher to Novak. Novak's piece described a meeting organized by then-Senator Phil Gramm at which Mosbacher was relieved of his duties as state campaign manager because "the president's re-election effort in Texas has been a bust." Rove was fired after Mosbacher fingered him as Novak's source.

Rove was the "only one with a motive to leak": Mosbacher says: "I said Rove is the only one with a motive to leak this. We let him go." The motive in question? Mosbacher had given Rove only a quarter of the $1 million spent on direct mail contracts for the 92 campaign; Rove, who in 1988 had the entire direct mail contract, therefore had an axe to grind with Mosbacher. Novak's column stated: "Also attending the session was political consultant Karl Rove, who had been shoved aside by Mosbacher."

Mosbacher still says Rove did it: Although Novak and Rove continue to deny Rove was the source of the leak, Mosbacher recently stated "I still believe he did it."

[+/-] Blair and Bush are al-Qaeda junkies

Greg Palast offers his own take on the London bombings:

[A]l-Qaeda's luck's run out, not because Bush has us taking off our shoes in airports, but because, overwhelmingly, Muslims in this world really have no attraction to killing kids or commuters.

For Bush and Blair, organized terror's diminishing powers was a political problem -- until last week, when the al-Queda addicts of the White House and Downing Street got a new terror fix. Even if it wasn't the real al-Qaeda, it was enough for them to mainline into the body politic a big, fat dose of fear.

[+/-] Today's quote: Orwell

"We are all drowning in filth. I feel that intellectual honesty and balanced judgement have simply disappeared from the face of the earth."
~ George Orwell (diary entry for 27 April, 1942)

[+/-] Church torched

From the intersection of You Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love Street and Brownshirt Avenue:

A small fire was set in St. John’s Reformed United Church of Christ this morning and anti-gay graffiti was painted on the side of the building.

The outside of the church was vandalized with anti-gay messages and a declaration that United Church of Christ members were sinners. The graffiti’s message appeared to be a reference to the national church’s decision earlier this week to endorse gay and lesbian marriages.

The United Church of Christ’s General Synod voted Monday in Atlanta to approve a resolution that is accepting of gay and lesbian marriages but is not binding on local congregations.

[+/-] Got that not-so-fresh feeling?

No not that kind of feeling, I mean the kind you get from running into a lot of neochristian fascists on a Sunday. Check out the latest Carnival of the Godless. It's just what the doctor ordered to clease your mind.

On July 24th the next Carnival of the Godless will be hosted by Saint Nate, and you can email submissions to him or Brent Rasmussen at the COTG site.

[+/-] Today's quote: France

"If 50 million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
~ Anatole France

[+/-] Driving while pagan

PZ Myers wonders how often Suburban Assault Vehicles get pulled over for having a Jesus Fish on their back bumper, so a representative from the Emerald Sanctuary Druidic Church can get their name and home address for a conversion campaign.

[+/-] No more government funding for Boy Scouts

A small victory for separation of church and state:

A federal judge has ruled the Pentagon can no longer spend millions in government money to ready a Virginia military base for a national Boy Scout event typically held every four years.

U.S. District Judge Blanche Manning's June 22 order stems from a 1999 lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Unions of Illinois that claimed the Defense Department sponsorship violates the First Amendment because the Scouts require members to swear an oath of duty to God....

The order doesn't cover this year's National Scout Jamboree, which start July 25 and is expected to draw more than 40,000 people to the Army's Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia....

The Rev. Eugene Winkler, a Methodist minister who is one of the plaintiffs in the case, said he got involved because he did not agree with the use of taxpayer money to support the Scouts.

"We're not attacking the Scouts and neither is the ACLU," Winkler said. "This issue is not about the Boy Scouts at all. It's about government funding for religious purposes. It's about separation" of church and state.

There are nondiscriminatory scouting organizations, such as Campfire USA.

[+/-] Today's quote: Anonymous

"Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion, and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish."
~ Author Unknown

[+/-] Bush raises hand at G-8 meeting

[+/-] Today's quote: Grant

"Encourage free schools and resolve that not one dollar appropriated for their support shall be appropriated to the support of any sectarian schools. Resolve that neither the state nor nation, nor both combined, shall support institutions of learning other than those sufficient to afford every child growing up in the land of opportunity of a good common school education, unmixed with sectarian, pagan, or atheistical dogmas. Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church and the private school supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate."
~ Ulysses S. Grant, address to the Army of the Tennessee, Des Moines, Iowa, September 25, 1875

[+/-] Warning: gravity is only a theory

Heh:

The Universal Theory of Gravity is often taught in schools as a "fact," when in fact it is not even a good theory.

First of all, no one has measured gravity for every atom and every star. It is simply a religious belief that it is “universal.” Secondly, school textbooks routinely make false statements. For example, “the moon goes around the earth.” If the theory of gravity were true, it would show that the sun's gravitational force on the moon is much stronger than the earth's gravitational force on the moon, so the moon would go around the sun. Anybody can look up at night and see the obvious gaps in gravity theory.

The existence of tides is often taken as a proof of gravity, but this is logically flawed. Because if the moon's "gravity" were responsible for a bulge underneath it, then how can anyone explain a high tide on the opposite side of the earth at the same time? Anyone can observe that there are 2 -- not 1 -- high tides every day. It is far more likely that tides were given us by an Intelligent Creator long ago and they have been with us ever since. In any case, two high tides falsifies gravity....

It is unlikely that the Law of Gravity will be repealed given the present geo-political climate, but there is no need to teach unfounded theories in the public schools. There is, indeed, evidence that the Theory of Gravity is having a grave effect on morality. Activist judges and left-leaning teachers often use the phrase "what goes up must come down" as a way of describing gravity, and relativists have been quick to apply this to moral standards and common decency.

It is not even clear why we need a theory of gravity -- there is not a single mention in the Bible, and the patriotic founding fathers never referred to it.

Actually, I agree with the author about Northwest :)

[+/-] Republicans give yet another big contract to Halliburton

We are living in a kleptocracy:

Even though the firm has been caught bilking Uncle Sam, the U.S. military has signed on scandal-ridden Halliburton to do nearly $5 billion in new work in Iraq under a giant logistics contract that has so far earned the Texas-based firm $9.1 billion....

Halliburton, which was run by Vice President Dick Cheney from 1995-2000, has come under fire for its no-bid contracts in Iraq and several U.S. government agencies are looking into the firm's overcharges for the work....

The new contract is about $1 billion more than the company earned under last year's services contract.

In March, a former KBR employee and a Kuwaiti citizen were indicted for defrauding the U.S. government of more than $3.5 million by inflating the cost of fuel tankers....

A top U.S. Army procurement official said last week Halliburton's deals in Iraq were the worst example of contract abuse she had ever seen....

"At this point, why don't we just hand Halliburton the keys to the U.S. Treasury and tell them to turn off the lights when they are done," Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg said in a statement.

[+/-] Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the most activist of them all?

This New York Times op-ed by Paul Gewirtz and Chad Golder suggests an actual measure for what makes an "activist" judge:

We found that justices vary widely in their inclination to strike down Congressional laws. Justice Clarence Thomas, appointed by President George H. W. Bush, was the most inclined, voting to invalidate 65.63 percent of those laws; Justice Stephen Breyer, appointed by President Bill Clinton, was the least, voting to invalidate 28.13 percent. The tally for all the justices appears below.

Thomas 65.63 %
Kennedy 64.06 %
Scalia 56.25 %
Rehnquist 46.88 %
O'Connor 46.77 %
Souter 42.19 %
Stevens 39.34 %
Ginsburg 39.06 %
Breyer 28.13 %

One conclusion our data suggests is that those justices often considered more 'liberal' - Justices Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter and John Paul Stevens - vote least frequently to overturn Congressional statutes, while those often labeled 'conservative' vote more frequently to do so. At least by this measure (others are possible, of course), the latter group is the most activist.

In other words, the reactionary theocrats want desperately to appoint "activist judges" who reshape laws according to religious conservative preferences. I say fuck 'em.

[+/-] Republicans seek to execute the poor

In a move that will ensure that more innocent people will be put to death, Republicans in Congress have launched a new effort to speed up executions in the United States by limiting the ability of those sentenced to death to appeal to federal courts:

The "Streamlined Procedures Act of 2005," introduced into the House of Representatives by California Rep. Dan Lungren and in the Senate by Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, would limit the ability of defendants facing the death sentence to have their cases reviewed by federal courts in what are known as habeas corpus appeals....

"It seeks a radical cutting and slashing of our existing process of habeas corpus reviews of state convictions," University of Chicago law professor Bernard Harcourt said last week in a hearing before the House subcommittee reviewing the legislation. "This new bill would effectively gut habeas corpus review where states have imposed a sentence of death."

Habeas corpus -- the phrase in Latin for "you have the body" -- has been a centerpiece of Anglo-American jurisprudence since it was first developed over 300 years ago in Britain. It gave a defendant the right to have their imprisonment reviewed by a court....

What this will mean is that if you can't afford a good lawyer, you will be executed:

A study headed by Columbia University statistician and political scientist Andrew Gelman of all 5,826 death sentences imposed in the United States between 1973 and 1995 found that 68 per cent were reversed on appeal.

The most common reasons were "egregiously incompetent lawyering, prosecutorial misconduct or suppression of evidence, misintruction of jurors or biased judges or jurors."

[+/-] Open hunting season on Omaha atheist

The man at the center of a challenge to remove a Ten Commandments monument displayed in a public park said he feared for his safety after a newspaper revealed his name:

The Omaha World-Herald in its Sunday editions identified the man, an atheist, who brought the suit against the city of Plattsmouth in 2001 with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union....

Besides identifying the man, the story also listed the type of car he drives and his license plate, which is related to his atheist affiliation. The story detailed his personal and professional life and quoted co-workers. Some of the man's writing on religion and Christianity were also quoted as were depositions in which he detailed threats made against him and his family.

Last year the man said he would consider moving from Plattsmouth, should his name be revealed, because his life had been threatened.

I look forward to the day when the promise of religioous freedom in America is fulfilled for all.

[+/-] Bush the sociopath

Cindy Sheehan describes her meeting with Bush after her son was killed in Iraq:

"His mouth kept moving, but there was nothing in his eyes or anything else about him that showed me he really cared or had any real compassion at all. This is a human being totally disconnected from humanity and reality. His eyes were empty, hollow shells and he was acting like I should be proud to just be in his presence when it was my son who died for his illegal war! It was one of the most disgusting experiences I ever had and it took me almost a year to even talk about it," said Sheehan in a telephone conversation from Washington D.C. where she was attending a July 4th anti-war rally.

Sheehan said the June 2004 private meeting with the President went from bad to worse to a nightmare when Bush acted like he didn’t even want to know her name. She said Bush kept referring to her as ‘Ma’ or ‘Mom’ while he "put on a phony act," saying things like ‘Mom, I can’t even imagine losing a loved one, a mother or a father or a sister or a brother.’

"The whole meeting was simply bizarre and disgusting, designed to intimidate instead of providing compassion. He didn’t even know our names," said Sheehan. "Finally I got so upset I just looked him in the eye, saying ‘I think you can imagine losing someone. You have two daughters. Imagine losing them?’ After I said that he just looked at me, looked at me with no feeling or caring in his eyes at all."...

"My daughter said to him directly ‘I wish I could bring my loved one back’ and he said something like ‘so do we.’ Later she told me that after he made his remark he gave her one of the filthiest looks she had ever had gotten in her life."

I think I would need to shower after meeting him. So fucking slimey.

[+/-] Today's quote: Diderot

"The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers."
~ Denis Diderot, Observations on Drawing Up of Laws (1774)

[+/-] Taliban vs Liberals

Worth reading in full:

Executing Minors

Al Qaida/Taliban: Executing Minors OK
American Taliban: Executing Minors OK
Liberals: Find this to be a barbaric and embarrassing practice

Pop Culture

Al Qaida/Taliban: Hate it... kill it
American Taliban: Hate it... ban it
Liberals: Laugh at it... boycott it...

God

Al Qaida/Taliban: God is on our side and will help us kill our enemies
American Taliban: God is on our side and will help us kill our enemies
Liberals: God may or may not exist and will not help us kill anyone...

Leaders

Al Qaida/Taliban: God choose Osama Bin Laden to defeat the Great Satan
American Taliban: God choose George W. Bush to lead us
Liberals: God didn't choose anyone

Use of Force

Al Qaida/Taliban: As a means of propagating a world view
American Taliban: As a means of propagating a world view
Liberals: As a last resort...

Press

Al Qaida/Taliban: Control of the Press
American Taliban: Manipulation of the Press
Liberals: Freedom of the Press

[+/-] Today's quote: Fields

"Prayers never bring anything... They may bring solace to the sap, the bigot, the ignorant, the aboriginal, and the lazy - but to the enlightened it is the same as asking Santa Claus to bring you something for Xmas."
~ W.C.Fields

[+/-] Nuclear again

Remember the filibuster deal allowed filibusters only under "extraordinary" circumstances -- the Supreme Court is one of the most fundamental and extraordinary institutions of living American history. We are all impacted by the Supreme Court -- not just progressives and not just conservatives. If we don't fight now then when will we? If we don't fight for Supreme Court justices then for what will we fight?

Here are some things you can do right now:

• If you have a cell phone, sign up for People at the American Way's Mass Immediate Response
  site. This way, you'll be able to receive text message action items
  instantly as events break. (If you signed up during the nuclear option
  fight, you'll need to re-sign up.)
  
• Also sign up with the Save the Court, another PFAW website devoted specifically to this issue.
  
• Recruit friends and family members to the cause.
  
• Write to the President, telling him he should choose a consensus candidate to replace O'Connor.
  
• Contact your Senators to tell them the same thing.

[+/-] Today's quote: Van Gogh

"I can very well do without God both in my life and in my painting, but I cannot, suffering as I am, do without something which is greater than I, which is my life -- the power to create."
~ Vincent van Gogh

[+/-] The Second American Civil War

Fuck! Now the Second Civil War begins:

WASHINGTON - Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court and a key swing vote on issues such as abortion and the death penalty, said Friday she is retiring.

O'Connor, 75, said she will leave before the start of the court's next term in October, or when the Senate confirms her successor. There was no immediate word from the White House on who might be nominated to replace O'Connor.

It's been 11 years since the last opening on the court, one of the longest uninterrupted stretches in history. O'Connor's decision gives Bush his first opportunity to appoint a justice.

It would be one thing if it was Renquist -- which everyone expected. At least then Bush would be replacing one neandertal with another; but O'Connor is a centrist. I have a bad feeling about this.

[+/-] The GOP's do-nothing patriots

It will soon be the Fourth of July again. Do you know where your flag is?

Why there it is, inside the Capitol, being waved around by members delighted to solve a problem that doesn't exist while ignoring ones that do. Last week, your House of Representatives voted, 286 to 130, to amend the Constitution to save the flag from being burned. The measure now goes to the Senate....

If lawmakers wanted to do something really patriotic this Fourth, they might do their jobs. How about asking hard questions about the war, and beefing up the armor on those Humvees that keep getting blown apart? If Old Glory is so important, why have so few House members traveled to Dover to see it serving the high purpose of draping the coffins of the more than 1,700 soldiers who died for it?

[+/-] America held hostage

Paul Krugman argues that you wage war with the president you have, not the president you want, so we should get out now:

So what would happen if the United States gave up its open-ended commitment to Iraq and set a timetable for withdrawal?

Mr. Bush claims that such a step would 'send the wrong signal to our troops, who need to know that we are serious about completing the mission.' But what the troops need to know is that their country won't demand more than they can give. He also claims that it would encourage the insurgents, who will 'know that all they have to do is to wait us out.' But the insurgents don't seem to need encouragement.

It's far more likely that if the Iraqi government knew that our support had an expiration date, it would both look to its own defenses and, more important, try harder to find a political solution to the insurgency.

The Iraq that emerges once U.S. forces are gone won't bear much resemblance to the free-market, pro-American, Israel-friendly democracy the neocons promised. But it will pose less of a terrorist threat than the Iraq we have now.

Remember, Iraq wasn't a breeding ground for terrorists before we went there. All indications are that the foreign terrorists now infesting Iraq are there on the sufferance of a homegrown insurgency that finds them useful for the moment but that, brutal as it is, isn't interested in an apocalyptic confrontation with the Western world. Once we're no longer targets, the foreign terrorists won't be welcome.

The point is that the presence of American forces in Iraq is making our country less safe. So it's time to start winding down the war.

What would you do if it were your call instead of the Chimperor's?

[+/-] Masturblogging

It bothers me when bloggers write about their blogs, rather than other things. You will never see it done here, except once per year on the blogiversary. This post is for my records, not for you, dear reader. So move along, nothing to see here....

July 1, 2004 to June 30 2005

Total visits: 34,970
Total page views: 47,535

You still here? I asked you to move along.

Well, since you stuck around, I will say thanks for reading and commenting on Nanovirus during the past twelve months. It has been a needed outlet for me personally. I hope it has challenged and entertained you.

And now, back to our regular programming.