Nice going once again, Dimocrats.

And just when I thought that you were finally going to cast the yoke of Bush-McCain policies from your brow, your distinguished leaders Pelosi, Hoyer, and Reid decide to hand Dubya and McCain a blank check and the power to tap Americans for whatever reason…not to mention the virtual pardon for telecom companies who basically broke the law.

I thought that the main idea of putting your party into office was to overthrow and oppose the Republicans, not cave in to them and keep giving them everything they wanted.

OK…so there are the “Blue Dogs” and the Lieberman Democrats (that is, Republicans who cloak as Democrats for fun) who would cross the aisle to support Dubya and his political protection plan.  But they aren’t even the majority of Democrats, and they weren’t the ones who put your sorry asses into the majority.

But hey…I guess that the Dem leadership is still scared of Karl Rove throwing the “cut-and-run” smack at them, so who cares about the Fifth Amendment, or the will of the majority of their own damn party??

And as for you, Senator Obama: what the hell is your problem??

How in the HELL can you with a straight face attack McCain for being a Bush clone, then back off and support one of Bush’s main policies of wrecking FISA??

And I’m not accepting your “I’ll support the FISA bill, but will do my best to remove the retroactive telecom immunity when I become President” meme, either.  Sounds too much like Bubba Clinton supporting the GOP welfare “reform” bill while screaming about “fixing it”, which he never quite got to.

Change we can believe in.  Yeah, right.

Oh..and anyone hoping that the mighty Obama will make any radical changes in foreign policy should take a gander at the list of folks on his foreign policy advisory team.  Sam (”Me no like queers or liberals”) Nunn??  Madeline {”A million dead Iraqis are worth it”) Albright??? Lee Hamilton??  Richard Lugar???? Yeah, maybe not the loony neocons of Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice/Bolton….but hardly pacifist either.

The funny thing is that Obama is still worlds above Bush and McCain, and would be a definite improvement over the past 8 years.

The really tragic and frustrating thing, though, is that the improvement wouldn’t matter much in the long run.

Way to drive your bus under your entire base, Dimocrats…..if McCain snatches victory from this in November, this will be the main reason.

Oh…and memo to Dennis Kucinich: why are you still a Democrat after all this??? Why aren’t you meeting with Cynthia McKinney about a joint Green Party ticket of resistance???

Just saying….

Let’s see: first the Repubs lose supposedly safe Congressional districts in Illinois, Louisiana, and Mississippi (well done, Rush….so much for Operation Chaos!!). OK, so the winners are mostly conservative Democrats, but in districts which averaged 55-60% majorities for Dubya, it’s still a bombshell.

Then…..Dubya decides to use the anniversary of Israel’s founding to attempt to smack down Barack Obama as the second coming of Neville Chamberlain playing “appeasement” to the modern-day “Nazis” called Hamas. And McCain decides to join in on the fun with his own slam. Which only results in doing what not even the Democratic Party appratus couldn’t do for all of three months: unite Obama and Hillary and Howard Dean and John Kerry and even Joe Biden (who called it “bullshit”) together in universal outrage.

And to make things so much better, the Repubs send a dimwit wingnutter to attempt to sell this “Obama = Chamberlain” meme on Chris Matthews’ Hardball…which only gets him smacked down hard by the host. And considering Tweety’s….ummmm, respect for McCain, you gotta go pretty low to earn that.

Hardball with Chris Matthews: Tweety Smacks Down Right-Wingnut Kevin James on “Obama = Chamberlain” Meme (via YouTube)

The moral: don’t come to a gunfight with only the same old Hannity talking points…and read a history book or five.

“But…but..butbutbutbutbut….we’re talking about APPEASEMENT!!!!!!” Yeah, right.

And finally….you have Keith Olbermann, once again applying the whupass to Dubya for his latest inanity of an interview; including the unfortunate quib about how our President-Select is more than willing to sacrifice his golf game for the solidarity of the troops dying for his wars. Even after their 17th tour of duty.

Countdown with Keith Olbermann: May 14th Special Comment on Bush Interview (Parts 1 and 2) (From YouTube)

Actually, I’d rather that Dubya NOT “shut the hell up”…the more he opens his piehole, the better the chance that his party gets rolled flatter than a pancake come November. At this rate, even Walter Mondale might be cracking a smile.

There are gifts that keep on giving long after their shelf life has expired.

Lead paint.

Uranium-tipped Cruise missiles.

Jerry Lewis. (the comedian, NOT the Congressman from California)

Bill O’Reilly.

And then..there is Rush Limbaugh, whose gift is as unique as it is long lasting…in the way a canker sore or a tick is.

For those of you who don’t know the latest Rectal-Cranial spew from Jabba, the Fat-Ass Stoogie-smokin’ Oxycontin Comedian; he has openly revealed his true fantasies about how he thinks the Democratic slugfest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama (or, as some of his “Dittoheads” would more plainly put it, “The Bitch” vs. Barack the Hafrican/Magic Negro/ Saddam Hussein Obama bin Laden) should end in Denver this summer.

With riots in the streets.

With people killed.

And with John McCain breezing to victory.

Never mind that at one time, Rush thought McCain to be much too “liberal” to be a capable conservative nominee for the Repub side….that was then and this is now, and conservatives gotta rally round the candidate they have.  (Besides, Johnny Mac, been kissing up to the “conservatives” so much lately that even Rick Santorum’s now backing his campaign based on fear of Hillary or BHO getting elected.

Hence, the much ballyhooed “Operation Chaos”: Rushbo’s plan for blowing up the “Democrat” Party’s nominating efforts.

Now, last time you might have heard about Limbaugh’s plans, it was during the Mississippi primaries, where Rush instructed his dittoheads to cross over party lines and stuff the ballot boxes for Hillary (Obama was actually favored and ultimately won that state’s primany).  A sound political move that was….that is, unless it results in a Republican congressional seat there going to either a “liberal” Republican or, even, A DEMOCRAT.

Uhhh…OOPS.

But never deny Rush’s tenacity; he’s still pitching the merits of his masterplan…and now he’s added a new battlefront: get Hillary the nomination by any means neccessary, because if that happens , then Barack Obama’s supporters will explode in riots on the streets of Denver, where the Dems will have their convention. And what else will make McCain look even more statesmanlike (other than his mighty temper) than the comparison between peaceful Republicans and fractuous, violent “far Left” Democrats???

You think I’m making this up??  Nope…..here’s the evidence:

The Mike Malloy Show (NovaMRadio) — Segment on Rush Limbaugh’s Call for “Riots in Demver” (via Multiply/Progressive Radio in America and YouTube, First of 12 segments available)

(Hat tip as well to my friend Polybi, who also alerted me of this video.)

Especially fascinating to me was when Jabba faced off with the caller who attempted to call Rush out over his call for such “chaos”, and broke out this nice blast:

“The purpose of democracy is to keep your advesaries in the political minority.”

Yup…that explains Limbaugh’s point exactly.  Who cares about the principles of free and fair elections, or campaign financing, or decent debates??  We are here simply to take power and keep power, and through any means neccessary, fair or unfair (though being conservatives, we’ll always fight “fair”, it’s only them far lefties who fight dirty) to maintain our power.

As much as I would love Malloy’s main dream of Limbaugh frog-marched out of the EiB studios with cameras rolling for slander and incitement to riot charges, I’m not holding my breath for that any time soon.  After all, if the Savage Weiner can still pollute the air with his anti-gay smack and BillO can still stay on the air after all his nonsense about “the secular progressive media’s out to get me!!!”….then it doesn’t seem to likely that “Da Comedian will get his any time soon.

Oh, well….at least there’s a few genuine progressive media outlets to call his bullshit out. I’m sure KO has a “Worst Person” slot already in the waiting…

Now…perhaps the youthful inspirational speaker who introduced the old man McCain at the aformentioned rally can be forgiven for not reading his fax correctly; or losing his place in the TelePrompTer and winging it out of his arse; or perhaps he didn’t have the heart to break out the usual “B. Hussein Obama” smack that was originally intended and fell back on the closest “Calblinasian” he could find.

Or, he might have been merely talking about effective role models for heroes (apparently Eldrick doesn’t come close to Johnny Mac when it comes to enduring legacy).

Or…it was just a Freudian slip designed as a “dog whistle” for those Southern rednecks who might still have a problem with a Black man or person of color occupying their beloved “White House.”

Ahhhh..whatever.

Just ignore the racial aspects of this, and get into a REAL comparison between the two “role models”.

First, the background of all this, courtesy of KO.

Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann (4-8-08): McCain speaker compares Barack Obama to Tiger Woods (via YouTube)

Let me reveal why I really don’t think that McCain will win this argument.

First off, Tiger never firebombed or napalmed any Vietnamese. McCain did, (Woods 1 UP)

[Using Ryder Cup scoring for this battle.)

Second…Tiger never got himself involved with shysters like Charles Keating. McCain did. (Woods 2 UP))

Third….even if you consider Charles Barkley’s classic axiom that athletes should not be considered role models, I’d suppose that neither should politicians. Yes, McCain is an veteran and a certified army hero who survived the “Hanoi Hilton”; and that deserves all due respect…but he isn’t running against the Viet Cong. He’s running for President of the United States….and at least he and his spokesmen should be able to distinguish the enemy. I mean, it’s not as if Obama and Woods are spankin’ twins.

But that’s not the real slam dunk argument here…never mind Eldrick’s legacy as a golf professional; just take a look at hoe Tiger is shredding the competition most recently:

* He’s won SEVEN of the last NINE tournaments he’s played this year…and barely missed by one shot the ones he lost.

* He’s favored to sweep the four major tournaments (Masters, PGA Championship, British, US Open), which would make him the only male golfer to complete the “Grand Slam” of pro golf in the same year. Considering that he has already the only golfer to win all four tournaments back-to-back (in the infamous “Tiger Slam” of 2002-2003), that seems like a safe bet.

* He’s already won more money on the world pro tour in three months than many golfers have won in the entire year….let along their lifetime.

Scoreboard. Woods wins 10 & 9.

In other words, Senator McCain….do you really, really, really want to go there????

Time to get you a better class of introducer at your rallies, OK???

Having been raised as a Catholic and having some deeply devout religious folks in my family, I understand more than anything the power of religious faith; and I’m more than willing to respect people who truly believe in their faith in whomever deity they choose.

Where I draw the solid line, though, is when religious folk cross the line from promoting their faith and belief to disrespecting and attacking those who freely choose not to share their particular belief…and when religion is used as a club to beat down those that they don’t like.

Two recent events prove all too well how excessive religious zealotry and blind bigotry can do mighty harm.

Case #1 you probably know about, since it’s been all over the news of late: Oklahoma Representative Sally Kern’s most recent rant against “the homosexual lobby” that was originally part of a speech she did before a private Republican group, but thanks to YouTube and the Victory Fund, got spread worldwide.

Victory Fund transcription of State Rep. Sally Kern’s (OK) rant on homosexuals (via YouTube)

Of course, such slanders against homosexuals are all too familiar, and all too common, and reflect the usual ignorance and hatemongering that we all seem to expect from the Religious Right.

Case #2, on the other hand, has gotten little or no media play, but in many ways is even more disturbing…though, considering the depth of religious zealotry within particular Black communities, I probably shouldn’t find it any more surprising at all either.

This is Illinois State Rep. Monique Davis going off on atheist activist Ron Sherman during a recent hearing of the Illinois State  Assembly’s State Government Administration Committee.  The subject originally was Sherman’s opposition to a $1 million state grant that got in the hands of a local Chicago Baptist church: but apparantly Rep. Davis wanted to make it a bit more personal, and went after Sherman’s faith (or lack thereof).

For the record, Davis is Black and a Democrat; while Sherman is White and a Green Party member.

Recording of Rep. Monique Davis (IL) berating atheist Rob Sherman (via YouTube)

An excellent source and background of the Davis/Sherman rumble can be found here

Notice that both Kern and Davis both claim the name of “God” and the fusion of faith and country to attack their alleged foes as somehow “anti-American” or “alien”; note also that both claim themselves as representing “the majority” and abuse history to claim their bigotry.

So…what is the main difference between the two??  Not much, in my view…other than the visibility of the victim groups being attacked.

Homosexual groups have rallied in force against Kern visibly and rapidly, to the point that Kern has had to seek defense behind the firewall of the usual right-wing activist groups like Friends of the Family, Morality in Media, and other such anti-gay organizations.  By contrast, however, you could hear the sound of crickets over any hint of public criticism over Davis’s slams of atheists…..other than the few right-wing attempts to link her with Rev. Jeremiah Wright (and by extension, Barack Obama) as the typical example of Black rapicity.

Could it be because so much of the liberal blogosphere is so obsessed with Republican bigotry that they tend to gloss over the same kind of bigotry when it is spewed by Democrats??  Or maybe, it’s
because atheists are so small in number in comparison to fundamentalists that they don’t have the collective political power to challenge the likes of Rep, Davis??

Whatever the cause may be, it is vitally important for Black progressives (if not ALL progressives, in fact) to be as critical of hatemongering when it comes from our side as it does when the people on the Right spew it. In my view, Monique Davis is as unfit to serve her consitiuents as Sally Kern is…and in the end, there is no difference between them as equally reactionary.  You don’t have to be an atheist or a homosexual to oppose them equally; just being a living human being with a brain and a soul and a conscience will do.

You may not like what atheists believe in or what homosexuals do in their own private time; but they are as much equal citizens as you are; and as long as they do no harm to you or anyone else, it’s not your place to condemn them for what they believe. We are still (for now, at least) ruled by the Constitution, not the freakin’ Taliban.

Oh, and final memo to Rep. Davis: Abraham Lincoln was actually a non-believer in God for most of his life, alternating between atheism and agnosticism.  Only at his deathbed did he convert to Christianity. Perhaps you meant a different “Land of Lincoln” than what you said in your rant, madame.