Political Potpourri for $2,000, Alex.

The editing project from hell has made me fall a bit behind in getting to all the things I want to talk about so I am just going to toss them all in to one big rambling post.

Atrios has been keeping tabs on the report that Iyad Allawi executed six suspected insurgents a few days before the US transferred Iraq over to him. Why this isn't front page news and splashed all over CNN.com, I have no idea. You have to actively search for the American press coverage on it. There were supposedly American-appointed bodyguards with him who can serve as witnesses, especially if it's not true. But we haven't heard a peep out of them or our Loser-in-Chief on the subject. I would assume the Bush administration doesn't want us looking very deeply in to the kind of person Allawi actually is, because if we did, it wouldn't be pretty.

Body and Soul links to excellent commentary by slacktivist on Why some Christians hate gays but love bacon. I admit I don't know a lot about the bible, as I have issues with orgainzed religion in general and, dude, it's a long book, okay? But one of the things I don't get about Christianity is this ability to pick and choose stuff from the Bible to follow. And then there are the two Testaments. Why would God have written the first one if he was
going to change his mind and make a second one? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. This is all especially confusing to me when people use the Bible as an excuse to hate on a certain group of people. Want to own slaves? Find a passage in the Bible you can interperet to say you can! Want to beat your wife and not allow her a vote? I am sure one of the Apostles said something about that. Feel like denying gays rights?
The Bible is so your book! Anyway, slacktivist makes some excellent points and learns me a bit about the "Good Book" in the process.

In our fondness for Easter ham, we Christians have fervently clungto the surface-level meaning of Peter's vision. But we haven't been as enthusiastic about embracing the larger, more important lesson God was teaching him there on the rooftop. When the "unclean" outsiders knock on our doors, we don't like inviting them in.

That, in a nutshell, is why some Christians happily dismiss one "abomination" while still behaving abominably out of allegiance to another.

(Oh, and what about Leviticus' Jubilee laws? Those were never set aside by anything in the New Testament, but Christians no longer treat them as authoritative because, um ... well, because money is pretty and shiny and let's us buy nice things.)

patriotboy is being his usual subtle self in promoting Freeway Blogger. I feel like that might be a sign for me to talk about Freeway Blogger, too. I've never seen one of the signs myself, but I think they are brilliant. I am especially in love with this one:

Real soldiers are dying in their HUMMERS
so you can play soldier in yours.

10 miles per gallon
2 soldiers per day

And last, but certainly not least, if you haven't visited Michael Moore's site lately, you really should. You can find links to all the warm and fuzzy stories about F911 and how much it is affecting voters. Stuff like that gives me hope. He get's special props for his section on how to help Lila and the City of Flint.

I think that is all I have for now. I finally figured out this new Blogger system, after fighting with it for the last hour. Note to Self: Write entry in Edit Html window NOT Compose window. Arg!

Taking Points: They're true because they're said a lot

I am staying up late to watch The Daily Show because I was at work when tonight's ep originally aired, and it is totally worth it. I don't know what I would do without Jon Stewart.

Send flowers to your fat instead of drinking Slim Fast

via patriotboy

patriotboy here. I don't like to break into the General's gig, but I want to reach as wide an audience as possible. A few days ago a friend of mine asked if I wanted to chip in for flowers for Lila Lipscomb, the mother in Fahrenheit 911 who lost her son in Iraq. Although I doubted she'd be able to get an address, I said yes--Lila's story was very moving.

I should have never doubted my friend; she's incredible. She wrote Michael Moore and he forwarded her email to Lila, who was touched that her story had moved people she'd never met. My friend ordered the flowers and when the florist saw the note, he made the biggest bouquet possible and refused payment.

I thought that was a very nice thing for the florist to do, and it prompted me to think that those of us who share similar views should try to do business with each other. I don't know this florist, and he doesn't know I'm going to plug him here, but the next time you send someone flowers, think about sending them through Organic Bouquet. Bookmark it now.

Aww. That is too cool. Not only are they peace lovin' patriots, they are organic tree huggers, too! Send some bling there way when you need to give flowers, yo.

I wish I could lose weight but I just love the President so much, I'll have to stay fat!

Via Americablog

Whoopi's Bush whack

Comedian Whoopi Goldberg will no longer appear in ads for diet aid maker Slim-Fast following her lewd wisecracks about President George W Bush's name at a fundraiser last week, the company said today.

Florida-based Slim-Fast said it was "disappointed" in Goldberg's remarks at last Thursday's $US7.5 million ($10.37 million) star-studded fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

"Ads featuring Ms Goldberg will no longer be on the air," Slim-Fast General Manager Terry Olson said in a statement.

You have GOT to be KIDDING me? First of all, has Slim Fast ever watched Whoopi do stand up? She has ALWAYS been outspoken and extremly liberal. She joked about coat hanger abortions in her early shows! She makes some crude comments about the Monkey and Slim Fast has a freak out? WHAT IS THIS COUNTRY COMING TO?!?! Where do I live? Because it damn well isn't America, home of the FREE and brave, for crying out loud.

Not that I would ever eat or drink Slim Fast products because they are gross and not really all that good for you, but come ON! It's a DIET product. Part of one of the most manipulative and profitable industries in the WORLD and they are going to judge her?

Head over to Americablog for information on how to contact Slim Fucks and tell them how digusting this action is.

eta: Whoopi releases a statement:

"But it saddens me that people who were not present at the fund-raiser, including anyone from Slim-Fast and others who have not seen the material for themselves but are only reacting to soundbites produced by the media, have opted to judge my 'conduct,' " Goldberg's statement said.

"I've done material on every president in the past 20 years, from Reagan to Carter, from Clinton to Bush. I have used portions of the material I did at the fund-raiser in shows, speeches and even on national television and it seems now that people from the other side are using this to further their own agenda," her statement continued.

"I only wish that the Republican re-election committee would spend as much time working on the economy as they seem to be spending trying to harm my pocketbook."

Goldberg said she wished "godspeed" to Slim-Fast and its users and hoped "that everything will be better digested, now that I'm no longer representing them."

"And just because I'm no longer in those spots, it doesn't mean I will stop talking," the comedienne's statement said.

Heh. Love her.

We support your right to not have a say in the 2004 election! Now go get shot at!

Barriers to voting remain for troops deployed abroad

Problems with military absentee ballots that clouded the 2000 election have not been fixed, jeopardizing the ability of more than 160,000 troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan to have their votes counted this fall...

The commission can't finish its report until it gets complete information from the Pentagon, DeGregorio says. "I'm frankly disappointed," he says. Military personnel "are sacrificing their lives. They have every right to think their government is going to help them participate as voters."

Get up, a get get get down, John 3:16 is a joke in your town!

The Passion of the Rap

Looks like "The Passion of the Christ" is going after the alienated-youth market.

Mel Gibson has asked Christian rap/heavy group P.O.D. to perform a song that will be included on a CD released simultaneously with the DVD of the movie about the last days of Christ, sources say.

P.O.D. — which stands for Payable On Death — was given a private screening of the controversial film before its release. Lead singer Sonny Sandoval said of the flick, "This is the real deal-brutal, honest, touching. This film made me check my own heart and my own faith. It’s not the fairy tale story of Christ we’re all used to. So, even before anybody wanted to be involved, in the heat of the controversy, I wanted to give back and contribute to this."

Pre-order now and get your very own awesome copy of Revolve for the good Christian girl in your life, Refuel for your righteous, Jesus-lovin' dudes and Becoming for your Prozac poppin', home-schoolin' mom! Woo! Sex, drugs and rock & roll for Jesus!

I'll technical your glitch!

Federal Web sites posted blast at Kerry

Searching for “Kerry” on the Department of Homeland Security’s Web site Tuesday afternoon turned up an unexpected top hit: a Republican attack on the Democratic presidential candidate.

A similar search on the Web site of the Department of Health and Human Services brought up the same link at the top — a news release from conservative Rep. C.L. Butch Otter, R-Idaho, that said a John Kerry administration “would embolden environmental extremists to press an aggressive agenda of restricting access and responsible use of public lands.”

The statement is posted on the Web site of the House Republican Conference, www.gop.gov.

Oh for crying out loud.

Firstgov.gov, for its part, blamed the error on a technical glitch.

“We thank the AP for pointing out this unintended result and are working to have it corrected by tomorrow,” said Viki Reath, spokeswoman for the General Services Association, which administers Firstgov.gov.

By 5:30 p.m. Tuesday the links in question no longer appeared on the HHS and DHS sites.

Gotta hate those glitches, eh?

But, to be fair and balanced, Firstgov might just really suck:

The second and third picks on the “Kerry” HHS search — his testimony before a Senate panel in 1999 and his own Senate site — should also not be there, Hall said, since the pages do not come from the HHS family of agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration. He said HHS had provided Firstgov.gov a list of URLs to include and that Senate Web sites should not be among them.

Hello, God? It's Me, Dubya

Hee. Via Mark Morford:

Oh, I know what them liberals say, that your son Jesus Christ was a card-carrying pacifist, hated war and hated bloodletting and hated hate. But damn, your boy certainly didn't know about the price of crude, you know? I mean, a Christian's gotta do what a Christian's gotta do to fuel up the SUV and keep the Saudis happy and keep the Lockheed stock from steppin' in a financial cow pie, am I right, Lord? Can I get a "Hell yeah"? Whoops, sorry again.

Lord, I just don't understand. I know I'm not much of a businessman, or a leader, or a public speaker, or a humanitarian, or a foreign-policy expert, or a lover of nuance, or a deep thinker, or much of anything positive or life affirming that anyone can name, really. But I'm a darned nice guy. A "decent man." This is what everyone says. And I thought we had a deal.

Mary Beth's are cool peeps, yo

Gacked from Atrios

Kerry Campaign Manager Sends a Letter to the Bush Campaign

We also wanted to wish you a happy anniversary. As we are sure you and the attorneys representing the President, Vice-President and other White House officials are aware, today marks one year since Administration sources leaked the identity of a covert CIA agent to Bob Novak in an effort to retaliate against a critic of the Administration.

In light of the fact that the Administration began gutting the laws protecting the nation’s forests yesterday, we hope you will accept the paper on which this letter is written as an anniversary gift. (The one year anniversary is known as the “paper anniversary.”)

That's one hell of a lady right there.

You keep saying that word, I don't think it means what you think it means, part 872: The Safer Edition

Bush discusses the war on terror

Start time - 11:18 a.m.

America is safer because of your service at Oak Ridge.

Today, because we acted to liberate Afghanistan, a threat has been removed, and the American people are safer.

Today, because we're working with the Pakistani leaders, Pakistan is an ally in the war on terror, and the American people are safer.

Today, because Saudi Arabia has seen the danger and has joined the war on terror, the American people are safer.

Today, because America and our coalition helped to end the violent regime of Saddam Hussein, and because we're helping to raise a peaceful democracy in its place, the American people are safer.

Today, because the Libyan government saw the seriousness of the civilized world, and correctly judged its own interests, the American people are safer.

We have ended one of the most dangerous sources of proliferation in the world, and the American people are safer.

Today, because America has acted, and because America has led, the forces of terror and tyranny have suffered defeat after defeat, and America and the world are safer.

End time - 11:50 a.m.

In a mere 32 minutes, he stated how safe we all are EIGHT times. Once every four minutes.

Well, thank you, Senor Dubya, for clearning that up. I won't be worrying about that silly old warning Mr. Ridge gave us about an attack during the election and I will stop worrying that you might find away to cancel them all together. Because America? Is safer. The world? Is safer. Gotcha.

BREAKING NEWS

Massive blast rocks central Baghdad
Heavy smoke rises from Green zone, casualties reported

Several explosions were heard Tuesday in the Iraqi capital, and a cloud of dust could be seen rising above the so-called Green Zone.

It was not immediately clear if an explosion had occurred in the area, which was the headquarters of the former U.S.-led occupation authorities. The U.S. and British Embassies are now located there.

Urged by Right, Bush Takes On Gay Marriages

Oh yes, please do. I mean, with the world being so safe and all and the economy just boomin', focus your attention on denying rights for people who have nothing to do with you. Voters don't care about the lack of jobs or issues like terrorism or taxes, not at all! Gays are evil! Must stop them from getting married! We should totally postpone the elections until all gays are back in the closet, just to keep things safe.

I definitely think that is what the swing voters are concerned about. So much so, you should add a fanatical Christian speak to the RNC in New York. Maybe even during prime time. Let the nation know where the Bush Administrations priorities really lie.