Darn those foreigners taking our jobs.

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"Take that, 2006!"

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We have come so far.

No, really, we have. That's not sarcasm. Much further than this:

Now we get this:

And this:

Though, no more of this:

.

"Joe, we've decided to send you instead."

Bush invites McCain, Obama to White House meeting, by Jennifer Loven, AP via Yahoo! News.

With extraordinary stakes on the line, President Bush invited both men vying to succeed him and key congressional leaders to a White House meeting to hammer out a massive financial rescue plan. The president also was appealing directly to Americans in a prime-time address Wednesday to help push his tough-sell bailout into reality . . .

. . . not long before his planned 12-minute address to the nation from the grand East Room, Bush took the unusual step of calling Democrat Barack Obama to invite him to the White House for the meeting on Thursday, said presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino. The White House said the presidential invitation was also extended to Republican John McCain and to Republican and Democratic leaders from Capitol Hill.

I can only imagine getting that card in the mail, and then pondering how to RSVP. Considering the lengths that the Republican party has taken over the past two years to distance George W. Bush from the 2008 Presidential campaign, this public invitation must be causing John McCain to poop his pants.
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Well, at least it's "helping"?

Catholic condom ban helping AIDS spread in Latin America, from Reuters via Yahoo! News.

The rapid spread in Latin America of the virus that causes AIDS is made worse by the Roman Catholic Church's stand against using condoms, a U.N. official said on Monday...

"In Latin America the use of condoms has been demonized, but if they were used in every relation I guarantee the epidemic would be resolved in the region," said Alberto Stella, the UNAIDS Coordinator for Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

The Catholic Church, which holds sway in Latin America despite the rise in evangelical churches, opposes all forms of contraception and instead promotes abstinence as a way to avoid spreading AIDS.

These Yahoo! headline writers need some help themselves. How about "AIDS pandemic worsened by idiotic policy masked as religious doctrine"? This isn't just a Catholic thing. According to the US Department of State, it is literally the main thrust of "The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief."

I don't remember the passage in the Bible where Jesus said, "Don't talk about sex, and don't use condoms." I do remember Jesus saying something about helping the poor and the sick. Many of the people contracting HIV are poor. And if they weren't poor before, they will be soon because those AZT cocktails are expensive.

That is all. :(

"Poor kids first."

Or not. Whichever:

Bush vetoes children's health insurance proposal, by Mike Carney, USA Today.

A response by Ted Kennedy and friend:



In semi-related news: Jenna & Henry Shocker: Rich Powerful White People Often Marry Each Other! at Wonkette.

Also, many of your comments have now been responded to, in some cases multiple times. I heart comments!

Someone alert Winnie and Nelson!

No, not Sondra and Elvin's kids.

Bush pronounces Mandela dead, via YouTube:



There are no words. Do you readers have any?

For Immediate Release:

US to freeze assets of those threatening Iraq, from news.com.au.

PRESIDENT George W. Bush has signed an order enabling the US government to freeze the assets of people who threaten Iraq's stability, the White House announced overnight.

That doesn't apply to you readers, right? Uh-oh...

New Executive Order Stomps on the Fifth Amendment, from gambling911.com (emphases mine).

...By executive order, the Secretary of the Treasury may now seize the property of any person who undermines efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq. The Secretary may make his determination in secret and after the fact...

...The White House will decide if you are in any way “undermining efforts” in Iraq, or related to Iraq or pretty much anything else, the Treasury Department is authorized to seize your money, property, stocks, etc...

...As an example, if it appears that if you, say, donate to a charity that the Bush administration determines, without any proof, is trying to undermine the Iraqi government, all of your assets can be frozen. No due process, do not pass go...

...The scope of the order has raised civil-liberties concerns. "Certainly it is highly constitutionally questionable to empower the government to destroy someone economically without giving notice," says Bruce Fein, a Justice Department official in the Reagan administration. "This is so sweeping it's staggering. I've never seen anything so broad that it expands beyond terrorism, beyond seeking to use violence or the threat of violence to cower or intimidate a population. This covers stabilization in Iraq. I suppose you could issue an executive order about stabilization in Afghanistan as well. And it goes beyond even attempting violence, to cover those who pose 'a significant risk' of violence. Suppose Congress passed a law saying you've committed a crime if there's significant risk that you might commit a crime."...

I thought we had covered the heinous results of enacting such a law in Minority Report.

Here are the actual press releases from the White House website:

Executive Order: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq.

Message to the Congress of the United States Regarding International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Here is the text from the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

You can read further explanations at FindLaw and at Wikipedia.

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For additional aggravating news, I turn your attention to the following stories:

Bush Threatened To Veto Same Military Pay Raise That He Now Uses To Attack Anti-War Critics, from Think Progress.

In his Rose Garden address this morning, President Bush criticized the decision by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to pull the Defense Authorization bill from consideration, saying the move would deny a pay raise to soldiers serving in Iraq...

...In May, he threatened to veto a House defense spending bill over the exact same 3.5 percent pay increase that he is now touting:

Bush budget officials said the administration "strongly opposes" both the 3.5 percent raise for 2008 and the follow-on increases, calling extra pay increases "unnecessary."...

Executive privilege -- Bush's new twist: President insists his authority trumps all in attorney firings, by Dan Eggen, Amy Goldstein, Washington Post, via The San Francisco Chronicle.

Bush administration officials introduced a bold new assertion of executive authority Thursday in the dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, saying that the Justice Department will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege...

Merlin's beard!

I didn't originally hear about all this from CNN or MSNBC or Fox News (ha!). One could argue that's because I don't watch any of those channels... Anyways. I heard about most of these stories on The Stephanie Miller Show this morning. This morning! If you clicked on the links, you'll see that those White House press releases were dated June 17, 2007, which was three days ago. I'm learning about important national events--nay, Constitutional crises--from a radio show that features the song "You're a Lying Sack of Crap," along with guest appearances by a dirty old man named "Squeezy McFeelPants." I then had to find the articles on websites for gambling and Australians.

To drive home my point about the wretched state of the US mainstream news media, here is the top story on CNN.com front page right now: Waiting for 'Potter's' end.

Midnight can't come soon enough for Harry Potter fans. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the last in the seven-book series, goes on sale at 12:01 a.m. local time. Fans in London braved rain and long lines to find out if the young wizard and his friends vanquish their evil foe.

Here is the story CNN has relegated to tiny print off to the side: Cheney to become president…briefly.

President Bush will undergo a routine colonoscopy Saturday, and will transfer power to Vice President Dick Cheney during the procedure, expected to take about two and a half hours, the chief White House spokesman said.

I like Harry Potter as much as the next 25-year-old. But he's not real! He's not even American! Dick Cheney, a man whose colon is the least of his many health concerns, a man who shot someone's grandpa in the face, is going to (officially) assume control of the United States this weekend. Shouldn't that story take priority over a magical orphan who doesn't exist?

Treason and Torture: Republicans in the 00s

From YouTube, Torture Applause and "Double Guantanamo":




From QuizLaw, George W. Bush: Patriot, by Dustin:

President Bush spared I. Lewis Libby Jr. from prison Monday, commuting his two-and-a-half-year sentence while leaving intact his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice in the C.I.A. leak case...

..."it means that the Libster’s appeal will march on, and that he can continue to plead the 5th, heh heh. He cain’t say shit, heh heh. By the time them’s appeals are exhausted, Cheney’ll be dead. Smart, huh? I saw it on an episode of "Matlock"...

For those of you readers who still yourselves "Republicans"...why? How can you identify with the actions of this party? I really do want to know. Please think, then post your comments.