Charles P Pierce of The American Prospect has a letter he expects Ronald Reagan would write from his Heavenly perch. The letter would be addressed to Peggy Noonan, Reagan's former speech writer. Ms Noonan spent the bulk of last week falling all over herself to make sure Reagan was placed on par with Jesus himself. Reagan's letter seeks to disabuse "Dear Peg" of this notion.

An excerpt:

They'd like you all to love each other. They'd like you all to treat each other as equals. They're really serious about you all being stewards of the world you were handed, so watch out for the rivers and the ozone layer. They don't spend a lot of time worrying about rap music and the Internet. Even in eternity, there's no time to waste on the knucklehead stuff. And I've looked everywhere, Peg, and there aren't any stem cells here. No embryos, either. If you can pass the word, Peg -- nobody here wants anybody to die of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. It's not part of anyone's plan. If you can cure something down there, you should cure something.

I'm a Deist but I have a deep respect for the teachings of Jesus Christ. This piece is one of the few that's moved me spiritually to the point of thinking Christ himself must have smiled on this author as he wrote it.

In another major foreign policy problem/disaster for the Bush Administration, Iran is giving them the finger on nukes.

Iran's foreign minister said that Iran won't accept any new internationally imposed restrictions on it's nuclear program and that the world must recognize Iran as a nuclear capable nation.

In a predictable move, the Bush Administration is pushing the Interational Atomic Energy Association (IAEA)to go to the UN Security Council and impose sanctions on Iran for violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

It doesn't occur to these guys that they've squandered the United States' moral high ground on nuclear proliferation since Bush is pushing for a new generation of nukes himself. In fact they've squandered our moral authority in general as well by the dismissal of the Geneva Conventions and attacking a sovereign nation that didn't attack us.


How is it that Bush thinks he can expect other nations to take the high road when he's not willing to do it himself?

Fellow Oregon blogger Chuck Currie alerts us to an imminent threat from our trusty pals, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and his sidekick, House GOP Leader, Tom DeLay.

The National Council of Churches USA has released the following Urgent Action Alert:

Despite overwhelming opposition from nearly two dozen religious denominations, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom Delay have ordered a version of Rep. Walter Jones's "Houses of Worship" Political Speech Restoration Act to be included on page 379 of a 398 page tax bill (H.R. 4520, American Jobs Creation Act of 2004).

Entitled the "Safe Harbor for Churches" bill, the legislation would radically change the nation's historic tradition of separation of church and state and "raise moral questions about the actions of religious leaders and their congregations and disrupt the political process itself," said Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches. A statement from Welton Gaddy of the Interfaith Alliance said: "The bill encourages willful ignorance of the law by houses of worship, amending the tax code to permit churches, and only churches, to engage in political campaigns while maintaining their status as tax-exempt organizations."

Under the legislation, Gaddy noted, houses of worship would be allowed to "accidentally" endorse political candidates up to three times in an election cycle without losing their coveted tax-exempt status. While the bill purports to draw a distinction between intentional and unintentional violations of political activity, it is silent on what constitutes an "unintentional" violation, leaving religious leaders and institutions free to claim ignorance of the law as reasoning for an "unintentional" breach.

It is expected that the House Ways and Means Committee will be voting on the Safe Harbor for Churches provision on Monday, June 14. NCC is urging concerned citizens to call their Members of Congress and raise their concerns about the measure, and to urge legislators to vote for a Ways and Means amendment by Rep. John Lewis of Georgia which would remove the proposed "Safe Harbor for Churches" provision (Section 692) from the tax bill. Phone calls to Members of Congress (202-225-3121), faxes, or e-mail messages (via the Congressional E-mail Center) are important, because many will be caught off guard by the provision, as it was quietly inserted in the bill during a national week of mourning.

This seems as good a place as any to mention Richard Morrison's blog, Taking on Tom DeLay. Morrison is the Democrat seeking to forcefully retire Representative Tom DeLay by winning the Texas 22nd District Congressional seat this November. Morrison is one of the dKOS 8, one of the original Dean Dozen and is strongly supported by my favorite radio talkshow host, Ed Schultz.

Charley Reese, a seasoned journalist and apparent conservative (Independent?), gives a solid arguement for why he won't vote for Bush's re-election in Vote for a Man, Not a Puppet.

Americans should realize that if they vote for President Bush's re-election, they are really voting for the architects of war – Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and the rest of that cabal of neoconservative ideologues and their corporate backers.

I have sadly come to the conclusion that President Bush is merely a frontman, an empty suit, who is manipulated by the people in his administration. Bush has the most dangerously simplistic view of the world of any president in my memory.

It's no wonder the president avoids press conferences like the plague. Take away his cue cards and he can barely talk. Americans should be embarrassed that an Arab king (Abdullah of Jordan) spoke more fluently and articulately in English than our own president at their joint press conference recently.

But then he follows it up with a masterful critique of why he doesn't see Kerry as much of an alternative in No Real Choice.

What about those Americans who don't share President Bush's goals? What about those who don't think we should have a policy of pre-emptive war? What about those who think we should just pull out of Iraq now? What about those who think free trade is a fraud? What about those who think America's borders should be sealed? What about those who believe we should be fair-minded in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian issue instead of giving Israel a blank check? What about those who believe that outsourcing American jobs should be brought to an abrupt halt?

Well, too bad. You can stay home. Once more, the Democratic Party is proving that it is not really a party of opposition, but rather a tweedledee to the Republican tweedledum. I had some hope and faith in Howard Dean, but unfortunately Kerry has decided to run on the platform "I am not Bush."

You can read more of Charley Reese's writings at Charley Reese: Archives

Rush Limbaugh is divorcing wife number 3...aka Marta.

It's a good thing we have Rush to show us the sanctity of marriage. All of those gay marriages are ruining everything.

For liberals who've had to endure this week's attempts by the Bush Campaign to wrap Bush Jr in the same cloth as Reagan ...your tonic awaits.

At his father's eulogy this evening, Ron Reagan Jr offers up these words of wisdom...and as Kevin Drum of Washington Monthly describes, " a shot across the bow of the current occupant of the Oval Office"(transcript approximate):

He was a man of unabashed faith, but he didn't make the mistake that some politicians do of wearing his religion on his sleeve. True, after he was shot, he came to believe he had been spared by God in order to do good, but he took this as a responsibility — not a mandate.

Ronald Reagan didn't shove his faith down our throats. He didn't use it to brow beat. He didn't claim Jesus as his "favorite philospher" and didn't appear to look at the world as a set up for the Rapture.

I have a feeling Ron Reagan Jr isn't done rocking W's boat. Drum points out the interview Reagan gave to Salon last year in which Ron utters the now somewhat famous, "My father crapped bigger ones than George Bush".

Fasten your seatbelts. It's gonna be a bumpy campaign.

David Gray:title inspiration

Just how badly are we going to mess up the "cradle of civilization" while we're occupying Iraq?

Paul Bremer and Ricardo Sanchez are finding out after the fact, of course. They've launched a probe into whether US-led coalition activity has wrecked any archeological treasures in Babylon.

Shouldn't we have been paying attention to that BEFORE we did activities in Babylon?

...and a time to every purpose..under Heaven.

That song has been rattling around in my head today as I watch snippets of Reagan's funeral. Today (thankfully) is the final day of mourning. As I wrote right after Reagan's death we must be careful not to canonize Reagan but to see the whole of his legacy and his life. This week has been a time that most have gushed and glowed over the positives of Ronald Reagan. In the coming years history will most certainly offer us a much more balanced and whole view.

The New York Times has published several outstanding pieces this week on Reagan, his legacy and his life.

RW Apple has this on Reagan's legacy. He notes:

The "Reaganauts," as one of them said, have been out all week seeking to burnish their man's legacy on television and in print. But hagiography will not determine their leader's ultimate standing, and whether he is entitled to be called "great." Only what the historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. called "the cool eye of history" will do that, many years hence.

The NYT editorial staff also offers insight into attempts to paste Reagan's name and image on currency. They rightfully note the egregious slight to Alexander Hamilton, founding father and first Secretary of the Treasury.

And finally an editorial on what I think is the best way to honor Reagan: embryonic stem cell research.

The "Paper of Record" stepped up to the plate this week. Well done.

Another day....another Bush Administration lie.

Tampa Internation Airport is now verifying that two days after 9/11, three Saudis were picked up by a small jet at their airport and flown out. One is believed to be a member of the Saudi royal family.

The government has been denying all along that this flight took place.

Author Craig Unger reported in his book House of Bush, House of Saud about this flight. Unger has been eviscerated by the rightwing media machine for at least a year about this accusation.

This type of flight was extremely unusual on September 13. Most flights were empty airliners being ferried about after quick landings on 9/11. Private nonrevenue flights weren't happening then.

It's pretty clear these guys were given clearance at the highest levels to get out of the country.

Californians are apparently ready to reform their Three Strikes Law.

According to a poll by the Field Institute, 76% of likely voters said that would vote for a November ballot iniative that would soften the law. 14% were opposed.

Convicted felons would only be eligible for the "Third Strike Law" to kick in if the third offense is violent or serious. Then the individual would be eligible for 25 years to life.

California is the only state with three-strikes language that doesn't require a third felony conviction be violent or serious to trigger the harshest sentence.

Congratulations to my southern neighbors for having good sense.

Props to the Stones for today's inspirational title Sympathy for the Devil

Today's LA Times has a very interesting article on McCarthyism and it's downfall.

With the 50th Anniversary of the McCarthy hearings this week, Kevin Drum of Washington Monthly has some interesting thoughts on the phrase uttered by Joseph Welch that brought down Joe McCarthy:

"Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

Drum also ponders whether or not National Review will use the anniversary to try and tell us that Joe wasn't so bad.

Frankly...anyone that parrots Ann Coulter is doing the work of the Dark Side of the Force. I'm hopeful that liberals in America will continue to ask the Welchesque question of those who try to sell the notion that Joe McCarthy was a decent and good guy who has merely been sullied. Not only is that an outright lie it's an insult to history.

The DailyKos has an interesting piece today about how people get their news...and how it's reflected in polling.

According to polling by New Democratic Network polling appears skewed based on where people get their news (no surprise there, obviously).

The numbers are interesting tho:

Television: 52 percent
Kerry 47
Bush 47

Newspaper: 21 percent
Kerry: 53
Bush: 41

Radio: 12 percent
Kerry: 46
Bush: 52

Internet: 10 percent
Kerry: 50
Bush: 42

Other highlights from this poll....

Swing Voters Logging on for News. While television is still the dominant source of news, this poll shows that the Internet has emerged as major source of news, comparable in reach to radio. Indeed, among swing voters, 11 percent say that the Internet is their major source of news compared with 7 percent who say radio. Nationally, 12 percent say radio is their main source of news.

A NOTE ON NADER
Ralph Nader likes to say that he’s just as likely to draw Republican votes as Democratic and hence is not a real threat to cost John Kerry the election. This simply is not true. Without Nader on the ballot, Kerry has a tiny lead, 47 percent to 46 percent. With Nader on the ballot, Kerry is losing 43 percent to 45 percent (with Nader drawing 6 percent). Nader is drawing his votes from independents and Democrats, the majority of whom
would otherwise be voting for Kerry. Without Nader on the ballot, Nader voters prefer Kerry over Bush 58 percent to 22 percent.

Democrats appear to be on the uptick according to this polling..which isn't surprising giving that the GOP have both chambers and the Executive.

Today's dose of outrage is a heaping tablespoon...

For anyone who hasn't read the torture memo that's been reported by the Wall Street Journal...it's an interesting read.

Prepare to be pissed off.

Vice President Cheney memorialized the 40th President, Ronald Reagan, today on Capital Hill with kind words. But, those words stand in stark contrast to Cheney's sharp criticisms of Reagan while he was President and Cheney was a leading Republican in Congress.

Last week, Cheney said, "during the decisive years of the Cold War, I saw the conviction and the moral courage of Ronald Reagan". Yet it was Cheney who, as a top leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, said Reagan was "tolerating a decision-making process in the upper reaches of the Administration that lacked integrity and accountability"[National Journal, 8/08/87].

Congressman Cheney also harshly criticized Reagan's defense policies - the very same policies that conservatives now proclaim as Reagan's enduring legacy. At the height of the Cold War Cheney said that if Reagan "doesn't really cut defense, he becomes the No. 1 special pleader in town." Cheney urged Reagan to cut defense spending, saying, "the president has to reach out and take a whack at everything to be credible," and told the White House that "you've got to hit defense"[Washington Post, 12/16/84].

Later, as Secretary of Defense under Bush 41, Cheney walked the walk by changing the same Reagan policies that he now touts. In 1990, he bragged to Congress that as Defense Secretary he "cut almost $65 billion out of the five-year defense program" and that subsequent proposals would "take another $167 billion out." He highlighted, "we're recommending base closures," "we're talking about force structure cuts" and "we've got a military construction freeze"[Congressional Testimony, 2/1/90].

Props to Misleader.org for having compiled the quotes.

Vice President Dick Cheney has a history of giving nasty political speeches. As Kevin has noted Cheney seems to have changed his tune on Reagan now that it's politically expedient.

John Kerry has been the latest beneficiary of Cheney's politically laced barbs:

"The Patriot Act has been crucial to many of our successes. Yet Senator Kerry has chosen this moment, after these victories, to share his second thoughts on the Patriot Act,"

Cheney fails to note that the changes Kerry supports to the Patriot Act are also supported by some Republicans.

Cheney has also accused Kerry of wanting to have massive tax increases.

What Cheney doesn't tell the crowd is that Kerry has advocated for eliminating the Bush Tax Cut for only the top 2%.

>Cheney has also chided Kerry for voting against certain weapons and weapons systems.

But when Cheney was Secretary of Defense, he worked to close bases and eliminate weapons systems. Oops.

Hmm....so Cheney goes after Reagan at the jugular when it was convenient...but all of a sudden now Reagan is the best thing since sliced bread. Given that Kerry has been blasted by Cheney as well...we can certainly expect a loving tribute to Kerry in the near future, too.

I knew those Sunday School classes would pay off some day. Lyrics for my titles.....

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a ban on Bible classes in public schools.

(I just loved the movie Footlose. I've been trying to find a way to work that one in...yay Bonnie Tyler)

Where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods?
Where's the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds?
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed..

Ladies and gentlemen..I give you Senator John McCain, my hero for today (I agree with him ideologically on almost nothing...but I admire the hell out of him).

Senator McCain along with three other Republican dissidents are holding the conservative pork laden budget hostage.

Senators McCain,Chaffee(Rhode Island),Snowe(Maine) and Collins(Maine) will not support the five year plan unless it provides a "pay as you go" provision. They insist that spending cuts happen along with tax cuts.

Profiles in courage.

The rite of Spring for conservatives is back (aka the Flag Burning Amendment).

The Citizens Flag Alliance has managed to convince the House of Representatives to once again pass an anti-flag burning amendment. The Senate is expected to take up the vote soon.

From my perspective this is a basic issue of property rights. And it's antithetical to the notion of small government, which conservatives continually preach for...but never seem to truely want.

I never EVER thought I'd be posting something from Bill O'Reilly and Matt Drudge in the same day. Actually I figured snowcones would be served in Hell before I ever quoted something from Drudge.

But if this story is true it's going to make the Wellstone thing look like mighty small potatoes.

For those of you that don't recall, the rightwing spin machine howled for days about Paul Wellstone's funeral being nothing more than a campaign stump for Democrats. This was, of course a blatant lie.

If what Drudge is reporting is true (always a question worth asking), then the GOP could be turning Reagan's funeral into a campaign stump for GW Bush.

Given that the Bush/Cheney campaign website has already whored Reagan's death, this would not be a surprise.

A lot of folks are eagerly anticipating the release of Michael Moore's new movie Farenheit911,but there's another documentary on it's way out soon.

The Hunting of the President was supposed to be released this weekend but has been postponed to Friday, June 18 out of respect for the passing of President Reagan.

The film was made by Harry Thomason and is based on the book by Joe Conason and Gene Lyons of the same title. It's essentially a record of interviews and stories about the rightwing efforts to go after Bill Clinton.

It's going to be an interesting Summer indeed.

Columnist and blogger David Sirota offers up a speech for John Kerry to give as voters prepare to head to the polls in November. Ironically it's a speech delivered by Ronald Reagan in 1980:

OCTOBER 28, 1980: "All of you will go to the polls and stand there in the polling place and make a decision. I think when you make that decision it might be well if you would ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago?Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? If you answer all of those questions 'yes,' why, then, I think your choice is very obvious as to who you'll vote for. If you don't agree, if you don't think that this course that we've been on for the last four years is what you'd like to see us follow for the next four, then I could suggest another choice that you have."

I'd venture to say most Americans would give a hearty "no" to the standing questions.

Imagine my surprise today while perusing the various columnists and coming across this opinion piece by nattering nabob of negatism Bill O'Reilly.

Normally O'Reilly is a strident Bush apologist. He also has a tendency to stretch the truth into behemothly unrecognizable portions. Today's ditty, while couched in his regular antiliberal rhetorical bias, gives the Bush Administration/Campaign a zing:

While the media is partially to blame for using Abu Ghraib as a hammer to bludgeon the Bush administration, thereby inserting a political agenda in the middle of an important news story, the president is to blame as well. Clearly, something is very wrong when inexperienced, poorly trained military reservists are allowed to run wild and abuse prisoners. Clearly, something is wrong when enormous mistakes are made in the occupation of a country whose defeat was a foregone conclusion. I mean everybody knew the USA would defeat Saddam, so why was the aftermath of the war so screwed up? Is this another intelligence failure? Is this a strategic failure on the part of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his team? We don't know because Mr. Bush rarely holds anyone publicly accountable for doing his or her job poorly.

Today's Washington Post has a very good piece on the upcoming G8 summit. The thrust of the article is how the G8 needs to step up to the plate on keeping nuclear material out of the hands of terrorists. The G8 has been great at lip service...but slow on action.

The piece was written by Sam Nunn former Dem senator from Georgia and Michelle Flournoy from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

What's a poor, rightwing Christian panderer to do?

Bush has been working to not allow new lines of stem cells to be created for research.

With the likes of Nancy Reagan advocating for more aggressive embryonic stem cell research...it would appear poor George W Bush is stuck.

And now Fifty Eight US Senators including 14 Republicans have come out for looser stem cell rules. Several of the Republicans are of the more conservative variety, including Orrin Hatch and Lamar Alexander.

Apparently Bush's Hispanic support is perhaps starting to erode.

The liberal media that's been spending 24/7 steeping us in the coverage of the death of Ronald Reagan managed to take a breather and make note of it.

To wit:

Florida's population has grown by more than 1 million since the last presidential election, a 6.5 percent increase from 2000 to July 2003 that could transform the state's electorate. From April 2000 to July 2002, nearly half of those new residents were Hispanic, according to the most recent numbers from the Census Bureau (news - web sites).


South Florida's Cuban-American community of about 600,000 is divided over the Bush administration's policies, with some hard-line exiles complaining that Bush has failed to take a tougher stance against Castro. A younger generation of Cubans who were born in the United States — or raised here most of their lives — are more likely to support engagement with Cuba. They are not knee-jerk Republicans like their parents.

Over at Washington Monthly there's a very disturbing piece on the Texas GOP Party platform.

According to their platform..the US is a "Christian" nation and the Ten Commandments are part of the cornerstone of Western legal tradition.

What's really scary is that this is the state that foisted GW Bush upon us and is the second largest state in the Union.

TomPaine.com has an awesome piece on the attempted canonization of Ronald Reagan...and why it diminishes Reagan's legacy.

Atrios is also on this one today noting that the press is going out of there way to accomdate conservatives on this matter.

Over at Slate there's also a piece on Reagan..well worth a look.



Thanks to the B52's for the title inspiration.

Swing voters are apparently not impressed with Bush. According to Annenberg Public Policy Center Bush's overall approval rating stands at 44% with this group. Interestingly, Kerry's net approval rating with this group is no higher.

However, this group of voters may be ones that Kerry can close the deal with. Compared with the public at large, this group is less likely to describe themselves as conservative, less likely to be Republicans, less likely to attend church on a regular basis and less likely to be a gun owner.

Gallup also has an interesting new survey out:

In the most recent Gallup Poll, conducted May 21-23, 47% of Americans approve and 49% disapprove of the job Bush is doing as president. That rating is characterized by a wide gulf in the views of Republicans and Democrats -- 89% of Republicans approve of Bush, but just 12% of Democrats do. That 77 percentage-point gap is the highest of Bush's presidency, and the gap between Republicans and Democrats has been 70 points or higher since mid-February.

But the really interesting number is with political independents. According to Gallup Bush approval rating is at 40%. It's been hovering there since the first part of May. If this trend isn't reversed...this could be the Bush Administration's death knell.