Video: The Real Rudy

Rudy Giuliani's Real Liberal Values:

Rudy talks about his conservative values today at the less than jocular, far right, Conservative Political Action Conference.

Speakers include:

"Vice President Dick Cheney - Sean Hannity - Senator Mitch McConnell - Ann Coulter - Tom Delay - Michelle Malkin - David Horowitz - Congressman Mike Pence - Newt Gingrich - Phyllis Schlafly - Wayne LaPierre - and many more!"

Yeah, you'd be less than jocular too if you were surrounded by this crowd.

Something tells us that this video will not be shown at CPAC. John McCain and the TGW can hardly wait until it becomes a campaign ad.

via Hotline

Update: Things You See at CPAC [via]

Rudy Giuliani News Politics Liberal Values CPAC 2008

Poll: Americans Want Universal Health Care

Minority group of cowboys continue to resist

It's true, America is now a nation of pinko commie liberals. The majority of Americans want universal health care.

And we want it now!

Sixty-four percent of Americans say "the government should guarantee health insurance for all," while twenty-seven percent say "it should not," according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

The "not" crowd appears to be entirely a group of people who have major dependency issues. To an extreme degree these people tend to deny that they have ever been, or will ever be, dependent on anybody, dammit! These people are never found lying around in a sick bed waiting for someone to bring them chicken noodle soup.

Obviously, this does not apply to women or children who are thought to owe their very existence to an ability to be dependent. Feminine and childlike people depend. Masculine adult people do not. So the very old story goes.

As the cowboys more or less tell it, "man" was not born dependent upon anybody, certainly "man" was not born dependent upon woman. And "man" did not spend his first 18 years of life dependent on anybody.

Tales of lying around in a womb and endless nights of midnight feedings are all lies!

When rugged individualistic "men" get old they do not get weak and dependent like mere women, children and sissy men. Rugged individualistic men were born fully sprung like some "mushroom men." Or else, they pulled themselves up from their bootstraps.

We get our great white cowboy creation myths confused.

But the essential point is the same. If you deny that you owe your very existence to the years and years that you spent in the throes of dependency, well, you never ever have to think about payback.

You can find what appears to be a representative sample of the cowboy creation myth crowd here at the TGW blog discussing how all us dependent sissy types are "sponges." But we know who the real 'free-loaders' are.

Seriously, we are all born dependent and we die that way too. It is an interdependent world folks, and we will have our universal health care, see if we don't. [via]

What they are saying:
Why We Don't Have National Health Insurance
Most Americans Want Guaranteed Health Insurance
64% Want Guaranteed Healthcare

Cowboy Creation Myths Healthcare Interdependence News Politics Canada Universal Healthcare Poll Dependency

Video: Friday Dylan

Bob Dylan - Ballad Of A Thin Man (Live)

Thanks to skippy for giving me the idea.

Update: Okay, this is 'Friday Dylan' on Thursday cause your blogger is on a sick/sleeping marathon and forgot how many days she slept through. So very sorry about that. Light blogging today.

Bob Dylan Video Politics

Video: Olbermann on the TCPR's Attack on Al Gore

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann tells all about the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, the far right group that attacked Al Gore's energy use.


via Brittney at NIT.

Al Gore News Politics Swiftboaters An Inconvenient Truth Oscars Climate Change Global Warming Tennessee 2008 Drudge Youtube

Child Dies from No Healthcare in USA

It happens all the time in America, only this time the story made the Washington Post.

All the kid needed was "a routine, $80 tooth extraction."

Too bad Deamonte Driver wasn't lucky enough to be a Canadian, or even a Canadian immigrant. Hell, if Deamonte had lived in any developed nation other than America, the unavailability of healthcare would not have killed him.

Twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache Sunday.

A routine, $80 tooth extraction might have saved him.

f his mother had been insured.

If his family had not lost its Medicaid.

If Medicaid dentists weren't so hard to find.

If his mother hadn't been focused on getting a dentist for his brother, who had six rotted teeth.

By the time Deamonte's own aching tooth got any attention, the bacteria from the abscess had spread to his brain, doctors said. After two operations and more than six weeks of hospital care, the Prince George's County boy died.

Read more...

What they're saying:

Dentist or Death
Dying For Want of Insurance
We Can Do Better Than This

Deamonte Driver Healthcare Medicaid News Politics Canada Universal Healthcare

Senator Wants State to Answer Creation Question

State Sen. Raymond Finney is jealous of all the attention Stacey X has been getting. Sen. Finney is plotting to get the state's already embarrassingly inadequate schools to teach creationism or intelligent design.

Finney (R-Maryville) is making it the state's business to determine the answers to such weighty questions as "Is there a creator?" and "If yes, why are we afraid to teach creationism?"

For the answers, Finney is looking to the Tennessee State Education Department. And if the Rabidly Republican Senate signs on to Finney's resolution, any answers forthcoming will be official State of Tennessee answers.

Since these are hard questions, Finny is willing to give the state a whole year to come up with some answers.

Finny is a retired physician and we are thanking the goddess for that.

I have questions too. Since state schools are forbidden to access blogs, are they also forbidden to access websites pertaining to the state's lawmakers from la-la-land? And if not, why not?

Raymond Finney Stacey Campfield Creationism Politics Tennessee News Scopes Intelligent Design

Dowd: Ozone Man Sequel

MoDo plays it safe today -- no hit jobs -- as she joins the conversation about Al Gore as "savior of the post-Bush era."

Ozone Man Sequel
by Maureen Dowd

Al Gore now has a movie with an Oscar and a grandson named Oscar. Who could ask for anything more?

Al Gore could.

The best ex-president who was never president could make one of the most interesting campaigns in American history even more interesting. Will he use his green moment on the red carpet in black tie to snag blue states and win the White House?

Only the Goracle knows the answer. . . .

With her own talent for checking the weathervane, Hillary co-opted Mr. Gore’s eco-speak right after the Oscars, talking environment throughout upstate New York. Given his past competition with Hillary, Mr. Gore must have delighted in seeing his star rise in Hollywood as hers dimmed.

If he waits long enough to get into the race, all the usual-suspect-consultants will be booked — which would be a boon for Mr. Gore, since his Hessian strategists in 2000 made him soft-pedal the environment, the very issue that makes him seem most passionate and authentic. The same slides about feedback loops and the interconnectedness of weather patterns that made his image-makers yawn just won his movie an Academy Award.

Read more . . .

Maureen Dowd Al Gore News Politics An Inconvenient Truth Oscars Climate Change Global Warming Tennessee 2008 Draft Gore

Tennessee Center For Policy Research: Rightwing Smear Machine

The Rightwing Fear that Al Gore Will Take Back the White House

Much of this post is buried in a post about Al Gore's response to attacks by Drudge and other rabid flat-earthers who are just so frothing-at-the-mouth outraged because the former Vice President uses electricity.

Clearly, Republicans are worried about the clamor for "America's Coolest Ex-Vice President Ever" to take back the White House.

The attack originates from the Tennessee Center For Policy Research. Thus, the rightwing non-think tank deserves a post all its own.

Seeing the Forest notes that TCPR claims "to be non-partisan but only link(s) to far-right and conservative groups so regardless of what their status is with the IRS, this is a conservative, strongly-leaning Republican organization."

And, yes, you can expect to hear more about that IRS status.

USA Today blogger, Mark Memmott observes that the "non-partisan" TCPR links to the Cato Institute, Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute. The TCPR's idea of non-partisan looks a lot like Dick Cheney's idea of "progress" in Iraq.

Dave Johnson and James Boyce over at Huffington Post report on The Tennessee Center For Policy Research.

And lo and behold we have not only an Exxon connection, but the Bush and Cheney 'mexed missages' manufacturer itself -- the radical right-wing American Enterprise Institute:

Tennessee Center's President Drew Johnson comes straight out of the right's network, coming from Exxon-funded American Enterprise Institute and the right-wing-funded National Taxpayers Foundation.

They are part of the right's State Policy Network. According to PFAW,

"SPN is a national network of state-based right-wing organizations in 37 states as well as prominent nationwide right-wing organizations. Through its network SPN advances the public policy ideas of the expansive right-wing political movement on the state and local level."

The Tennessee Dept. of Revenue has actually termed the TCPR as "not a legitimate organization."

Also:
Liberadio: Always On: The Gore Power Switch
Nashville City Paper: Dept. of Revenue says conservative think tank ‘not a legitimate group’
Cup of Joe Powell: Smearing Al Gore The TCPR Way
August Pollack: Shocking report reveals Al Gore uses electricity, says popular idiot
Anonymous Liberal: Gore's Energy Use
Shakespeare's Sister: High Drudgeon
Oliver Willis: Swift Boating Al Gore
The Carpetbagger Report: Conservative smear machine targets Gore (again)
Crooks and Liars: Smearing Gore
INSTAPUTZ: Putz: For hypocrisy before he was against it!

Al Gore News Politics Swiftboaters An Inconvenient Truth Oscars Climate Change Global Warming Tennessee 2008 Drudge Radical Right

Western States Bypass Bush on Global Warming

Following Gore, not Bush:

"Arizona is joining California and three other western states to bypass the Bush administration and begin their own regional pact aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions that result in smog and are linked to global warming."

"The governors of California, Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico and Washington announced Monday they were forming the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative."

Al Gore News Politics Swiftboaters An Inconvenient Truth Oscars Climate Change Global Warming Tennessee 2008 Bush

Gore Smacks Down Drama-Queen Drudge

You know rightwingers are really scared of you when you win an Oscar one day, and they have a veritable rightwing smear orgy the next. Fed by a little-known local conservative non think tank -- with connections to Exxon (scroll down for the gory details) -- the wannabe swift-boaters charge that Gore's family residence uses 20 times as much power as the average family.

Al Gore responds more patiently than I would to the hysterical headlines on Drudge and other assorted rightwing screaming drama-queen blogs. And note that Gore's response was immediate and reached even Nashville's normally clueless major daily paper, immediately.

Hmmm, Gore has a rapid response team? Be still my hopeful heart.

Think Progress has Gore's rapid response:

1) Gore’s family has taken numerous steps to reduce the carbon footprint of their private residence, including signing up for 100 percent green power through Green Power Switch, installing solar panels, and using compact fluorescent bulbs and other energy saving technology.

2) Gore has had a consistent position of purchasing carbon offsets to offset the family’s carbon footprint — a concept the right-wing fails to understand. Gore’s office explains:

What Mr. Gore has asked is that every family calculate their carbon footprint and try to reduce it as much as possible. Once they have done so, he then advocates that they purchase offsets, as the Gore’s do, to bring their footprint down to zero.

The Tennessean elaborates, "Gore purchased 108 blocks of 'green power' for at least each of the last three months, according to a summary of bills from Nashville Electric Service. . . The green power purchased by Gore in those three months is equivalent to recycling 2.48 million aluminum cans, or recycling 286,092 pounds of newspaper, according to comparison figures on the utility's Web site."

See Think Progress for yet more examples of Drudge getting it all wrong.

About that local rightwing non-think tank . . .

Dave Johnson and James Boyce over at Huffington Post report on The Tennessee Center For Policy Research.

And lo and behold we have not only an Exxon connection, but the Bush and Cheney 'mexed missages' manufacturer itself -- the radical right-wing American Enterprise Institute:

Tennessee Center's President Drew Johnson comes straight out of the right's network, coming from Exxon-funded American Enterprise Institute and the right-wing-funded National Taxpayers Foundation.

They are part of the right's State Policy Network. According to PFAW,

"SPN is a national network of state-based right-wing organizations in 37 states as well as prominent nationwide right-wing organizations. Through its network SPN advances the public policy ideas of the expansive right-wing political movement on the state and local level."

As of Feb. 16, the Tennessee tax dept. considers them "not a legitimate organization" because of their misrepresenting themselves involving questions about the group's opposition to a state crackdown on drug dealers.

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research bills itself as, um, nonpartisan.

via memeorandum
Photo via Draft Gore 2008

Al Gore News Politics Swiftboaters An Inconvenient Truth Oscars Climate Change Global Warming Tennessee 2008 Drudge

The Conservapedia: A Racist Agenda

Jack and Jill Politics provides the nasty details on the Conservapedia:

"The Conservapedia was recently launched as a rival to the Wikipedia. The Eagle Forum sponsors this repugnant trash. You know the Eagle Forum -- it's Phyllis Schlafly the anti-feminist ultra-conservative. She's against Title IX, against "judicial activism" (code word = nigger loving dismantlers of segregation) and pro-Mexican border fence."

Continue reading . . .

via The Blog Report

Conservapedia Eagle Forum Politics Racism Anti-Feminist News Radical Rightwing

Laura Bush, Iraq Expert

Iraq Expert, Laura Bush proclaims that Iraq is mostly stable. Now we can all breath a sigh of relief.

Laura Bush News Politics Iraq Larry King

Paid Maternity Leave in the USA -- It's High Time

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) is working to amend the Family and Medical Leave Act so that it will provide for at least six weeks of paid leave. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) is signing on to Dodd's bill as a co-sponsor.

A recent study adds to the extensive documentation which finds that the United States is one of the worst nations in the world when it comes to providing essential support for the care of families. As is often the case, when it comes to such measures the standing of the U.S. is inferior to many so-called third world, or poor, countries.

Reuters reports on a study that points to the U.S. as one of five countries which fail to guarantee even a minimum level of paid maternity leave:

In a study from McGill University's Institute for Health and Social Policy, the United States, Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea were the only countries out of 173 studied that didn't guarantee any paid leave for mothers. Among the 168 countries that do, 98 offer 14 or more weeks of paid leave.

Overall, the study's other major findings indicate that workplace policies in the United States for families -- such as paid sick days and support for breast-feeding -- are weaker than those in all high-income countries as well as many middle and low-income countries. . .

Under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, U.S. workers are allowed to take up to 12 weeks leave for to tend to family or medical needs, but their absence is unpaid. States are beginning to take more of an initiative on this front, human-resources experts say. For example, California has passed legislation for paid family leave -- called the State Disability Insurance Program, which entitles employees a maximum of six weeks of partial pay per year to care for a newborn or other family matters. . .

The United States also lags behind in protecting working women's right to breastfeed. At least 107 countries grant women the right to breastfeed, and in 73 of those countries, the breaks are paid, the study found. The United States does not have any protections in place for women who want to breastfeed.

Speaker Pelosi Paid Family Leave Politics News Feminist Family Policy Chris Dodd Democrats Care Crisis

Al Gore is a Winner!

All I really wanted in return for watching the Oscars last night was for Al Gore to win. An Inconvenient Truth -- arguably the most important film ever made -- won for Best Documentary and Best Original Song!

Mr. Gore's acceptance speech was short and to the point:

“My fellow Americans, people all over the world — we need to solve the climate crisis. It’s not a political issue. It’s a moral issue. We have everything we need to get started with the possible exception of the will to act. That’s a renewable resource. Let’s renew it.”

We sure don't have many leaders who actually lead us toward sanity and peace. Al Gore is one.

Too bad for Tennessee. It appears that this state will always be known as the state that shamefully let the nation down by failing to give this great man a thumbs up in 2000.

I continue to hope that we are presented with an opportunity to redeem ourselves, but why would Mr. Gore give up being an esteemed elder statesman, rock star, and saviour of the planet in exchange for the ordeal of politics?

Well, he might do it if the Dems perform so badly that the swiftboaters mop the floor with them.

Gee, do you think that could ever happen?

Obviously Al Gore has a thing for saving people. Obviously an Al Gore campaign for 2008 is still possible. I'm not at all sure that this country deserves him, but I am certain that we need him.

Crooks and Liars has the Al Gore at the Oscars video.

Think Progress has two Al Gore at the Oscars videos.

Melissa Ethridge was fantastic. I've always been a big fan. Ms. Ethridge held up her Oscar and said that he would be “the only naked man who will ever be in my bedroom.” Heh. See her perform the song here.

The Washington Post positively gushes over Al Gore, Rock Star

Al Gore News Politics Melissa Ethridge An Inconvenient Truth Oscars Climate Change Global Warming Tennessee 2008 Draft Gore

About Gore in 2008

Politico has a nice long piece on Al Gore. Once again, we are reminded that Al Gore is the one person who can come into the presidential race late and walk away with the prize.

If you are an Al Gore fan, you'll want to read this one. If you are hoping for Al Gore to move into the White House in 2009, as I am, here's the essence of the piece:

Friends who talk regularly with Gore say that he believes what he tells the press – that he’s not planning to run for president. Backstage on Sunday night, he repeated his mantra: "I do not have plans to become a candidate for office again." No draft movement is being authorized or encouraged, and there are no internal discussions of a campaign, the friends insist. But they say he has deliberately not closed the door. It just doesn’t feel right to him and he’s only 58.

So the crescendo will rise. Brazile, now the founder and managing director of Brazile and Associates, is neutral in the race but says she would work for Gore if he declared. She acknowledges that after the near miss of 2000, she was among those who said “hell, no” about a 2004 bid. But she feels very differently now.

“He could come in at the end of the day as a candidate who can truly unite his party as well as his country,” Brazile said. “He can help repair our country’s image abroad. He’s someone who can go toe-to-toe with world leaders and doesn’t need a crash course in diplomacy.” She remembers back in the ’80s when Gore was in Congress and used to often cite a quote from Gandhi, ““Be the change you want to see in the world.” Brazile said: “I believe he has become that quote.”

Al Gore News Politics An Inconvenient Truth Oscars Climate Change Global Warming Tennessee 2008 Draft Gore

Krugman On: Substance Over Image

The title says it all. Can we please have one election that is not straight out of high school? Probably not.

by Paul Krugman

Six years ago a man unsuited both by intellect and by temperament for high office somehow ended up running the country.

How did that happen? First, he got the Republican nomination by locking up the big money early.

Then, he got within chad-and-butterfly range of the White House because the public, enthusiastically encouraged by many in the news media, treated the presidential election like a high school popularity contest. The successful candidate received kid-gloves treatment — and a free pass on the fuzzy math of his policy proposals — because he seemed like a fun guy to hang out with, while the unsuccessful candidate was subjected to sniggering mockery over his clothing and his mannerisms.

Read more . . .

Paul Krugman News Politics 2008 Bush 2000

Video: Oscar Night with Michael Moore

"Shame on you, Mr. Bush. Shame on you."

via Michael Moore

Michael Moore News Politics Oscars Bush Iraq

Rep. Campfield (R) Announces Discovery of WMD!

Republican State Rep. Reports that Obscure Rightwing Blogger Found WMD!!!

Rep. Stacey Campfield (Idiot) -- of death certificates for abortions fame -- continues to keep us amused. The Republican State Representative (seriously) recently wrote on his blog:

"You want WMDs, You got WMDs"

"Will the press pick up on this? I wonder. This TOTALLY changes the arguments against the war. It could rock the democrat arguments and talking points in this nation and world wide."

"THIS IS HUGE!!!!"

Stay with me folks. This is a serious post. I am not making this stuff up.

The State Rep. (seriously) linked to the following post from an obscure rightwing blogger:

EXCLUSIVE!! SADDAM HUSSEIN HAD OVER 1 MILLION POUNDS OF URANIUM!!

"In the first national report from the heart of one of the world’s premier energy capitals, Frankly Speaking has obtained unclassified documents showing that at just one site alone, Saddam Hussein possessed and stored over 1 million pounds of uranium. (emphasis mine)"

"Unclassified inventory documents in my possession show that over 1 million pounds of yellowcake uranium are stored at one site alone in Iraq."

"[W]hy have no major media outlets, Congress, the Republican Party, or even the President, given the American public the information to make their own decisions regarding the intentions of Saddam Hussein and his storage of over 1 million pounds of uranium? Providing the information on what Saddam did possess is a necessary step in allowing the American public the ability to make their own determination of what Saddam Hussein’s intentions were or were not."

Well, it wasn't long before Brittney -- of the reality-based side of the planet -- over at Nashville Is Talking zeroed in on the nut of the story:

Move Over Judith Miller:

"So, why is Terry Frank the only one smart and wily enough to discover the truth of this matter?"

And before you could say, rightwingers are flat-out insane, the locals descended on the blog of Rep. Campfield's friend with outrageous and bizarre demands for said friend to put up some evidence or shut up. To which Campfield's friend, Terry Frank responded that the blogosphere is just so damn rude! And Brittney Gilbert of Nashville is Talking is just such a "stain."

But Stacey's friend, Terry Frank carries on valiantly, she is a hero, says she:

"Whether my story is believed, appreciated, or even carried forward is irrelevant to me. I had the guts to put it out there and suffer the pathetic commentaries of do-nothings like you."

Meanwhile, rumors are flying among the state's pathetic do-nothings about found documents which prove that Campfield and Frank are in fact auditioning for a spot on the new Fox Daily Show ripoff, The 1/2 Hour News Hour.

And in keeping with the high blogging standards of Rep. Campfield and his friend, Terry Frank, the TGW blog hereby announces that the Tennessee Republican Party plans to offer full funding to Stacey Campfield's friend if she will only run for office on the WMD FOUND!!!! platform.

And if you want proof of our claim, you are so obviously a pathetic do-nothing that we don't even want to talk to you.

Previously:
Rep. Stacey Campfield (R) is a Joke
How Many Cops Does it Take to Handcuff Rep. Campfield?

Politics Stacey Campfield Stacey X Terry Frank Tennessee Republicans WMD Found Knoxville News Radical Rightwing

Video: Melissa Ethridge -- I Need to Wake Up

Oscar Winner! From Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth: "I Need to Wake Up"


Nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song.

Update: Al Gore is a Winner!

Al Gore News Politics Melissa Ethridge An Inconvenient Truth Oscars Climate Change Global Warming Tennessee

Al Gore -- The Goracle at Oscars Ceremony

An Inconvenient Truth is favored to win an Oscar for Best Documentary, and it's in the running for Best Original Song with Melissa Ethridge's I Need to Wake Up. [Music video here.]

This year's Oscars will be green and the Award Ceremony is expected to wow everyone with its eco-friendliness, reports the Washington Times.

Global celebrity Al Gore will be at the ceremony tonight. Gore gets mobbed everywhere he goes; I wonder if they'll mob him in Hollywood?

Take the Cannes Film Festival: Al Gore was mobbed. By French people. He was a presenter at the Grammy Awards, alongside Queen Latifah, where he got one of the biggest welcomes of the night. "Wow. . . . I think they love you, man. You hear that?" the current Queen asked the former veep. Earlier this month, the ticket Web site at the University of Toronto crashed when 23,000 people signed on in three minutes to get a seat to hear Gore do his thing on the oceanic carbon cycle. At Boise State, Gore and his slide show sold out 10,000 seats at the Taco Bell Arena, reportedly "faster than Elton John."

"The Goracle" -- "Totally carbon neutral" -- and "geek-chic cool" are some of the things people call Al Gore these days. And, of course -- "Rock Star."

"An Inconvenient Truth," the 100-minute movie that is essentially Gore giving a slide show about global warming, is the third-highest-grossing documentary ever, with a worldwide box office of $45 million, right behind blockbusters "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "March of the Penguins."

In countries like Spain, Scotland and Norway, Gore's film is shown in public schools. We know that couldn't happen here.

The Tennessean will have a story about Al Gore in the Sunday paper. I wonder how it will compare with the Al Gore, Rock Star story in the Washington Post.

Al Gore News Politics Melissa Ethridge An Inconvenient Truth Oscars Climate Change Global Warming Tennessee 2008