Bush Urges End to Cartoon Violence

Blair: Cartoon violence unacceptable

U.N. condemns cartoon violence

De Gucht: cartoon violence cannot be justified

Muslim World Leaders Becoming Concerned About Rising Cartoon Violence
………………….

Marge’s list of Itchy and Scratchy Violence Acts:

# 3 Cats blown up
# 1 Mice lunched
# 2 Dogs tricked
# 2 Gophers buried alive
# 3 Eyes knocked out
# 2 Disembowelling
# 1 Brains slammed in car door

Over the last few weeks, Mr. Rove has been calling in virtually every Republican on the Senate committee as well as the leadership in Congress. The sources said Mr. Rove’s message has been that a vote against Mr. Bush would destroy GOP prospects in congressional elections.

Those deemed disloyal to Mr. Rove would appear on his blacklist. The sources said dozens of GOP members in the House and Senate are on that list.

So goes the story published on a Moon-ite news website. I note for the record the movement of supposed Republican critic Lindsey Graham, who said at the hooplah-hearings:

“The FISA statute, in a time of war, is a check and balance. But here’s where I think I’m your biggest fan. During the time of war, the administration has the inherent power, in my opinion, to surveil the enemy and to map the battlefield electronically — not just physical, but to electronically map what the enemy is up to by seizing information and putting that puzzle together.

And the administration has not only the right, but the duty, in my opinion, to pursue fifth column movements.
. . .
So my friends on the other side, I stand by this president’s ability, inherent to being commander in chief, to find out about fifth column movements, and I don’t think you need a warrant to do that.

With the supposed Rove strategy of getting Republicans in line behind Bush’s Imperial Presidency with hardball tactics — leveraged through his control of the Republican apparatus, I now have to wonder about this:

During a commercial break while the fictional Bauer was desperately searching for canisters of deadly nerve gas that had fallen into the hands of terrorists, viewers saw an advertisement questioning the wisdom of real-life senators who would “weaken” the Patriot Act. “What if they are wrong?” the commercial asked.

The ad, which may air again during future 24 episodes broadcast in the home states of Republican senators who have raised questions about the Patriot Act, is an unusual example of an interest group so closely meshing political persuasion and fictional entertainment.

Who is behind this ad?

The Patriot Act commercial was paid for by an ad hoc conservative group whose public supporters include many prominent former Bush administration officials and is housed at a hawkish Washington think tank, the Center for Security Policy.

Things that make you go “hm.” I state for the record that I think “24” is basically government-sanctioned propaganda for the police state… connected with that post 9/11 meeting the Bush Administration had with Hollywood producers. Which makes it a thing that makes me go “uh. huh.”

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is attempting some party whipping of her own.

Saying her own party needs to get tough on the issue of terrorism or face more election losses, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton attacked the White House and presidential adviser Karl Rove Wednesday in a speech to auto workers.

“I take a backseat to nobody when it comes to fighting terrorism and standing up for national homeland security,” Clinton said, arguing Democrats should not be afraid to question President Bush’s handling of the war on terror.

Fair enough, Mrs. Clinton. “Back seat to no one”, blahde blah blah… you probably used the same language when you voted to allow the authorization for Bush to use force in Iraq. But now then… what strategies do you have, as a leader and spokesperson for the OPPOSITION PARTY, to to question and more importantly stop Bush from claiming the authority to allow wiretapping without getting court approval first? Or is this entire speech a grandstand to outhawk the hawks? I want to know the answer to these questions.

‘Merkel likens Iranian president to Hitler’ and ‘Chavez says Bush worse than Hitler,’ after ‘Rumsfeld compares Venezuela’s Chavez to Hitler’ and ‘Likens bin Laden to Hitler.’

A link cluster in cursor’s Feb 6th entry. It’s Raining Hitler again! (The American Prospect has christened Hugo Chavez as running a “neo-semi-demi-Peronista regime”. Make of it what you will.)

A bit more impressive is the Iranian President’s Response to President Bush’s State of the Union Speech: found here:

One of the scientific fields in which they insist our people will not gain victory is the field of nuclear technology. Look around you. There are people whose arsenals are full of nuclear weapons. These are people whose arsenals are full of biological and chemical weapons, and today they are opposing our people’s research, science, and industrial progress. They all sit together and make decisions, and think that the Iranian people goes by their opinions.

I say to the superpowers made of straw and to some countries that want to violate our people’s rights: The Iranian people will not be affected by your false propaganda. With its unity, high ambitions, and faith, our people will march in pride and triumph, Allah willing.

Imaginative enough.

For some reason I wander over to the Democratic Response to Bush’s State of the Union speech by Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, which if you remember went something like this:

I was a Christian missionary. [crickets chirp for a minute or two.] Democrats have a better idea. [crickets chirp again.] Democrats have a better idea.

While they never floored anyone, I recall that the Republican Responses to Clinton’s State of the Union speeches were never as lame as the Democratic Responses to Bush’s State of the Union Speeches. It exposes a larger problem with the Democratic “Big Tent” — and obedience to the “Big Tent” doesn’t allow the ability to narrowcast to encampsulate the entire party. And Tim Kaine was selected because he could be counted on to mention Jesus a couple of times. (But then, why was Washington Governor Locke selected a few years ago?)

Anyway… Huffington posited that the Democratic Response didn’t matter. It kind of does. Her point that nobody pays attention to strikes me as similar to the idea that prospective employers study employees’ resume for maybe 15 seconds — her argument being similar to one suggesting that thusly, it doesn’t matter what you do with your resume. Which is a joke.

At least the Iranian President said something. Never mind it looks like we may be going to war with his government. Let us watch and see…

. For this was an in-your-face declaration by the secularist media of the European Union that it will exercise its right to insult any God, any Prophet, any faith, whenever it so chooses.

It’s a show of what little it takes to ignite a firestorm with the religious fundamnetalists, I guess. I’m not going to go around drawing the image of Mohammad, but I’m not going to go out of my way not to draw the image of Mohammad to please their religious dictates.

European governments are wringing their hands over the rage and violence unleashed, but they seem paralyzed. What is the matter? Why cannot they denounce press irresponsibility while defending press freedom? Even friends of the West like Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan, President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey have denounced these cartoons as insults to Islamic values and deeply damaging to Western interests.

It’s a bit curious to see Pat Buchannan as the voice of Political Correctness and understanding other cultures. BUT…

Nor are we all that different. Sen. Trent Lott was ousted as majority leader for a birthday-party compliment to 100-year-old Strom Thurmond. Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker was almost lynched for saying he considers New York a social pigsty. There were demands that Rocker undergo psychiatric counseling.

What has happened in Europe is that the secular press, which loves to mock the beliefs and symbols of religious faith, has now insulted a deadly serious religion that answers insults with action.

I’m going to be honest. He’s fighting our culture war here. Muslims upset by the drawing of Mohammad have as much to be upset about as fundie Christians upset about the “War on Christmas”.

I heard about a segment or thereabouts of the “Ed Schulz” show yesterday. Notably, he used that Eminem song “Shady’s Back — Back again… blah blah blah blah” as a bumper track going into a derision of the Cartoon riots. I suddenly remembered, “That’s right. al Qaeda delivered a Fatwa — or something similar if not exactly that — on Eminem for mocking Bin Laden in his video!”

Eminem and Salmon Rushdie both must die for their insolence.

“This American Life” made good use of bumper track — a track did double duty. Leading out of a story about the reconstruction of New Orleans, and leading into a story about forcing a Chicago bakery to comply to regulation and not leave a strong chocolate smell in the area, they played Parliament’s “Chocolate City.” Clever, I say.

Incidentally, I can defend Ray Nagin’s call for a “Chocolate City”, though a bit weerily in terms of how he phrased it. I can’t defend his “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” speech that preceeded that statement… and I don’t know wherefore that came from. The same deep, dark place of insecurity (in this place political insecurity) that demands retribution against a Dane’s visualization of dear old Mohammad? MeHaps.

You know. I think it’s time somebody took that little art project that stirred controversy in New York City in the last half of that weirdly distant decade of the 1990s, where the Virgin Mary was covered in elephant feces and Rudy Giuliani raised a stink (these were the political battles you associated with Rudy Giuliani before 9/11 transformed everyone)…

… replace the Virgin Mary with the image of Mohammad. Granted, nerves are raw as they can get right now, what with the American Conquest of some land in Muslim land, but come to think of it — is there any way I can offend Satanists? (Probably not, as their whole religious belief is a ruse and simply based on offending Christianity… case in point: they will change their magic number of 666.)

What’s the Commandment? No false idols. Take it to mean “No image of our Dearest Religious Leaders”. Some Christian sects take it dead seriously — but then you see the Russian Orthodox Church selling icons by the baleful and the Catholic Church sticks images of Jesus on the Cross.

I guess the upshoot for Islam is that it’s helped create a purely ornamental batch of artwork. The downshoot is that when someone mocks their dear Leader, and worse still — (GASP) — Create a likeness of Mohammad — riots erupt. I hear that some somewhat moderate Muslims went to demonstrations, opposing the Western hostilities that the cartoons show us — and were aghast to see that they were taken over by the extremists. Those things happen all over the place, I guess.

Civil rights leaders are a pain in the neck
Can’t hold a candle to Chang Kai Shek
How do I know? I read it in the Daily News
Ban the bombers are afraid of a fight
Peace hurts business and that ain’t right
How do I know? I read it in the Daily News
Daily News, daily blues
Pick up a copy any time you choose
Seven little pennies in the newsboy’s hand
And you ride right along to never, never land
We got to bomb Castro, got to bomb him flat
He’s too damn successful and we can’t risk that
How do I know? I read it in the Daily News
There’s millions of commies in the freedom fight
Yelling for Lenin and civil rights
How do I know? I read it in the Daily News
Seems like the whole damn world’s gone wrong
Saint Joe McCarthy is dead and gone
How do I know? I read it in the Daily News
Don’t try to make me change my mind with facts
To hell with the graduated income tax
How do I know? I read it in the Daily News
John Paul Getty is just plain folks
The UN charter is a cruel hoax
How do I know? I read it in the Daily News
J. Edgar Hoover is the man of the hour
All he needs is just a little more power
How do I know? I read it in the Daily News

I always have a bit of trouble bringing guest bloggers in. I brought Dick Cheney in once, just to let him clear the air. I brought Alexandar Hamilton in to blog, to give his opinion on the Harriet Miers nomination.

I note this story about various scientists’ trouble with the Bush Administration: , key line In October, for example, George Deutsch, a presidential appointee in NASA headquarters, told a Web designer working for the agency to add the word “theory” after every mention of the Big Bang, according to an e-mail message from Mr. Deutsch that another NASA employee forwarded to The Times.

Now, in his State of the Union speech, George W Bush pushed for furthering Scientific education. And he is now out there pushing the kids to pursue scientific inquiry: President Bush told the nation’s students on Friday that if they studied math and science they would not be joining the “nerd patrol” but helping their own futures and the economic health of the United States. — “You know, a lot of people probably think math and science isn’t meant for me — it kind of seems a little hard, algebra,” Mr. Bush said at a panel discussion, organized by the White House, outside Albuquerque at the Intel Corporation’s largest chip-making plant. “I can understand that, frankly.”

Okay. Let’s bring out an esteemed scientific theorist — and now guest blogger–, who offer an alternative theory to the gibbly-goo of George Deutsch’s supposed “Big Bang” theory. One of our nation’s leading Creationist Scientist — Kent Hovind! (He’s one of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell’s favourite scientists!) — and for that matter probably Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn’s as well… I asked Kent Hovind to please explain Einstein’s Theory of Relativity to me, and then to go any which way he pleases with respect to George Deutsch.

If you are traveling down the highway at sixty miles an hour, and turn your headlights on, how fast is the light going from your headlights? Compared to you, it is going at the speed of light. Compared to someone on the sidewalk it is going at the speed of light plus sixty miles an hour.

One of the motives of NASA is to prove the theory of evolution by using taxpayer dollars. Carl Pagan (I mean Segan) and his group are attempting to look for signals of intelligent life on other planets. I have said many times that I do not believe that there is much intelligent life on this planet. I do not believe that there is any intelligent life on other planets that can be proven scripturally because the Bible says that Eve is the mother of all living. It is too hard to get around that verse; plus, there was no death until Adam sinned. I take that to mean there never been any deaths in the universe until Adam sinned. I believe that sin brought death into the universe according to Romans 5:12. I think God made all the stars just for us to marvel at His great intelligence and wisdom. Nobody has ever proven the existence of another planet around any other star except the nine that we know of around our star, the sun. Therefore, there may not be any other stars in the solar system that have planets around them. There may be, but we cannot prove it.

Take One: “Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton,” he said, referring to how Bill Clinton had followed his father, and Hillary Clinton could follow him.

And then we can end up with Jeb for Bush after Clinton. For Clinton, it all hinges on Chelsea. Does she have it in her to suck as much as Hillary sucks, thus leaving the state of the United States in a rutuous climate of Bushing Clintonism and Clintonian Bushianity?

Take Two: I Will Not Support Hillary Clinton for President … by Molly Ivins

There’s a reason I have the “Russ Feingold for President” bit on the sidebar. Case in point: Hillary supports a flag burning amendment, small in and of itself but emblematic of larger problems.

Take three: George Bush I’s favourite people “me and President Clinton.” It’s a joke, you see.

Down with half-hearted joking competition and political dynastism masking a one and a half party state!

You know. Listening to that speech on NPR, I was struck by how devoid of meaning Bush’s State of the Union speech was. Case in point: Energy Independence:

ne day after President Bush vowed to reduce America’s dependence on Middle East oil by cutting 75% of imports from there by 2025, his energy secretary and national economic adviser said yesterday that the president didn’t mean it literally.

The bullcrap that Bush spews forth does not connect with reality. They don’t even connect in some alternate universe as when someone makes a concerted attempt to cover up lies — here the words just sputter in a vacuumous void. We are going to go on a mission to Mars — but only figuratively, and we are going to ween ourselves off of Middle East Oil on a date pretty far in the future — but not literally.

Oh! And we’re going to stop the march of human — animal hybrids!!

Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research: human cloning in all its forms, creating or implanting embryos for experiments, creating human-animal hybrids, and buying, selling, or patenting human embryos. Human life is a gift from our Creator — and that gift should never be discarded, devalued or put up for sale.

In the mind of the opponents of Stem Cell Research, using stem cells for medical research is just one spit and a half away from creating human – animal hybrids, you see. I don’t know. Who is creating human – animal hybrids right now, and why should we place it on the front burner as Urgent Business, above … well, the chattering classes said he was going to delve into Health Care, which he really didn’t. And it’s just as well he didn’t, because that would be as disjointed from reality as everything else he said… except maybe the pledge to make the tax cut permanent… which, curiously enough, make the trade-off impossible for any of his supposed domestic programs which are figurative in nature.

Big Man. Pig Man. Ha ha Charade you are. You’re nearly a laugh. But you’re really a cry.

Say, I have a question. Let’s say somebody develops a Human — Animal Hybrid. What are we gonna do about it? Are we going to kill it or are we going to welcome it into society or are we going to treat it as a freak? I think that this is the topic that the Democratic Responder — Tim Kaine — should have devoted his entire speech to. It would have made for better gist than what he did deliver. Ask the question of what Bush will do with a Human — Animal Hybrid forthrightly, and demand answers.

One last note: Bush “talks directly to the Iranian people”. That was an “uh oh” moment. You know what it means when a president “talks directly to the [name of nation] people”, right? Ah! The joys of rhetorical flourishes!

But apparently we’re all isolationsts now. A thought experiment proposed by EJ Dionne: Imagine there was a Republican President during the Korean War who heeded MacArthur’s advice and desire to march into China. (This would be the point in time where Truman fired him over the issue.) Now, the result of that would be disasterous, right? But the line is drawn, and the electoral pit-falls are tossed up for the National Debate: if you don’t support that military move, you are soft on Communism, and will not do what it takes to advance freedom in this world or defend this great nation. Think about it.