Another Catholic Jackass

Imagine the nerve of those wily gays, pretending that they are persecuted!

Claims by a Catholic bishop that gays use the Holocaust to further their political objectives have sparked outrage in the Scottish capital.

"The homosexual lobby has been extremely effective in aligning itself with minority groups," the Right Rev Joseph Devine, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Motherwell, told a Glasgow audience.

"It is ever present at the service each year for the Holocaust memorial - as if to create for themselves the image of a group of people under persecution," he told the audience.

"I want to ask you if you are able to see the giant conspiracy that's taking place before our eyes? It's a very small group of people, but very active and organized, and extremely indulgent."

Still Hope

Earlier, I blogged about the gay teen who faced deportation back to Iran (and likely a subsequent execution). The Netherlands declined him asylum; fortunately, Britain is reconsidering its earlier ruling:

The British government has agreed to review a decision to refuse asylum to a gay Iranian teenager.

Mehdi Kazemi, 19, claims that his life would be at risk in his homeland.

The teen traveled to London to study English in 2005 and applied for asylum in Britain after learning that his same-sex partner who had remained in Iran had been executed for sodomy.

Pathetic

Nothing to see here, citizens. Move along:

The Pentagon on Wednesday canceled plans for broad public release of a study that found no pre-Iraq war link between late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the al Qaida terrorist network.

Rather than posting the report online and making officials available to discuss it, as had been planned, the U.S. Joint Forces Command said it would mail copies of the document to reporters — if they asked for it. The report won't be posted on the Internet.

The reversal highlighted the politically sensitive nature of its conclusions, which were first reported Monday by McClatchy.

In making their case for invading Iraq in 2002 and 2003, President Bush and his top national security aides claimed that Saddam's regime had ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network.

But the study, based on more than 600,000 captured documents, including audio and video files, found that while Saddam sponsored terrorism, particularly against opponents of his regime and against Israel, there was no evidence of an al Qaida link.

Nothing to see here either:

The Bush Administration's Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel is refusing to turn over a document providing its analysis of Bush's justification for executive orders.

Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Federation of American Scientists, the office said the document was "classified."

They Just Didn't Care

Does it really surprise anyone that this administration knew it was issuing toxic trailers to Katrina victims?

Federal officials issued trailers to Hurricane Katrina victims even though some workplace safety tests detected high levels of formaldehyde at government staging areas for the structures just weeks after the storm, a lawyer for hundreds of occupants said Wednesday.

Documents from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration raise new questions about how much federal officials knew about the units, which were sent to tens of thousands of displaced residents, said attorney Anthony Buzbee.
...
"This is astonishing," Buzbee said Wednesday in an interview. "How could they feign ignorance that this was an issue even before they sent these trailers to residents?"

DNC v. LGBT

It would seem the DNC is attempting to use strongarm tactics:

A scathing editorial to be printed in this Friday's Washington Blade will claim that attorneys representing Leah Daughtry, chief of staff of the Democratic National Committee, attempted to intimidate the paper's editor and publisher over its reporting on an ongoing discrimination lawsuit, PageOneQ has learned.

As earlier reported, a suit was filed against the DNC by former LGBT outreach director Donald Hitchcock, alleging harassment and retaliation by top DNC staff, including Daughtry and Chairman Howard Dean. Hitchcock claims that Daughtry and Dean held him responsible for criticism of the DNC's LGBT outreach efforts by his partner, Democratic consultant Paul Yandura. Included in Yandura's criticisms were public statements urging gays to reconsider giving money to the DNC.

Over one-third of the 900+ word editorial, titled Do the Wrong Thing, is about the visit of two attorneys representing Daughtry to the Blade offices for a meeting with editor Kevin Naff and publisher Lynne Brown.

Ferraro Out After All

I'm rather surprised:

After a two-day firestorm, Geraldine Ferraro has quit Senator Hillary Clinton’s finance committee, saying that Senator Barack Obama’s campaign was twisting her words to make her appear racist and that this was hurting Mrs. Clinton.

McCain "Supports" the Troops

But in name only:

Since everyone is at least a bit familiar with John McCain’s record when it comes to strolling through a market in Baghdad with hundreds of his closest guards, or how he wants to stay in Iraq for 100 years (except when he flip flops on that).

But not that many really, truly know just how horrific his voting record is when it comes to the troops. And it is pretty consistent – whether it is for armor and equipment, for veteran’s health care, for adequate troop rest or anything that actually, you know, supports our troops.

Click through; the list of times McCain has voted against any real support (you know, VA medical care, safety equipment, etc.) for the troops is extraordinarily long.

For Once, I Hope He's Right

It's a rare day that I agree with Dobson:

With a generation of Christian right leaders dead or aging, the founder of the conservative evangelical group Focus on the Family says he's concerned about the movement's future leadership.

James Dobson (pictured) told a group of Christian broadcasters Tuesday night that the passing of Jerry Falwell, the Rev. D. James Kennedy and Ruth Bell Graham represent the end of an era.

The radio talk show host noted that others like Billy Graham, Chuck Colson, Pat Robertson and Chuck Swindoll will also soon pass from the scene, and questioned the impact on the conservative Christian church.

"It causes me to wonder who will be left to carry the banner when this generation of leaders is gone," Dobson told an audience of nearly 1,400 at the National Religious Broadcasters conference. "The question is, will the younger generation heed the call? Who will defend the unborn child in the years to come? Who will plead for the Terri Schiavos of the world? Who's going to fight for the institution of marriage, which is on the ropes today."

Dollar Struggling

Again:

The dollar fell to a record below $1.55 per euro as firms from Citigroup Inc. to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said the Federal Reserve's plan to inject $200 billion into the banking system may fail to break the freeze in money-market lending.

Still Crazy After All These Years

Cheney, riffing on Clinton's fearmongering, argues again for a ridiculous missile defense plan:

Borrowing a theme from the presidential contest, Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday that the possibility of a 3 a.m. emergency call to the White House is all the more reason for the next commander in chief to follow through on President Bush's plans for a national missile defense.

Meanwhile...

In Iraq:

Violence killed at least 42 people Tuesday, including 16 bus passengers caught in a roadside bombing in southern Iraq, after the deadliest day for U.S. troops in precisely six months.

The U.S. military announced that three American soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad on Monday, bringing to eight the number of troops who died that day. The last time so many U.S. military personnel were killed in Iraq was Sept. 10, when 10 died.

In Pakistan:

Two powerful explosions, just minutes apart and both of them suicide attacks, rocked the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Tuesday, killing 24 people, the Interior Ministry said.

Ferraro Shoots Off Her Mouth

Another cheap remark about Obama from a "fellow" Democrat:

Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday she disagrees with Geraldine Ferraro, one of her fundraisers and the 1984 vice presidential candidate, for suggesting that Barack Obama only achieved his status in the presidential race because he's black.
...
Ferraro told the Daily Breeze of Torrance, Calif.: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."

Abstinence Education Works!

It works so very well:

At least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease, or more than 3 million teens, according to the first study of its kind in this age group.
...
For many, the numbers likely seem "overwhelming because you're talking about nearly half of the sexually experienced teens at any one time having evidence of an STD," said Dr. Margaret Blythe, an adolescent medicine specialist at Indiana University School of Medicine and head of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on adolescence.

Bush Still Hates Health Care

He's bound and determined to do as much to harm poor Americans as possible:

As the last months of the Bush administration dwindle away, the White House might yet face another showdown with the Democratic Congress, this one over changes in Medicaid rules that could affect millions of low-income children and adults.

In the past year, the administration has tried to change the rules in a way that would reduce Medicaid spending by $15 billion over the next five years. The federal-state program pays for health care for the nation's poorest citizens.

The rule changes have brought objections from health-care leaders across the country. But the Bush administration say the changes represent tighter controls on Medicaid's rising costs.

Some rule changes, which would be enacted around Memorial Day, would reduce payments to North Carolina by an estimated $320 million next year alone. Hospital leaders and local government officials across the country say that if Congress doesn't block the regulations, patients will lose, particularly the uninsured, who may be turned away.

The state hospital association says workers will be hurt, too. It estimates 3,000 to 6,000 hospital jobs could be lost, up to a thousand of those in rural areas.

Tucker Carlson Can't Keep a Job

Heh:

The bow tie is out at MNSBC. David Gregory is replacing Tucker Carlson as host of a one-hour show each evening.

Spain Still Socialist

I'm enjoying imagining the pope's reaction:

Spain's ruling Socialists won a second term in general elections Sunday after a campaign that focused on the slowing economy and soaring immigration was marred by the murder of a former politician in the Basque region.

"It is a great victory," the Socialist Party's secretary general, Jose Blanco, said in a televised address. "It is a victory for all citizens."

Gays Are Scary!

Be afraid!

An Oklahoma lawmaker is warning her constituents that gays are taking over and have become more dangerous to the American way of life than terrorists.

State Rep. Sally Kern (R) made the remarks in a speech to a small gathering but did not know they were being recorded. The tape fell into the hands of The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund which then posted it on YouTube on Friday. It has now been viewed by more than 250,000 people.

"The homosexual agenda is destroying this nation; it's just a fact," Kern declares.

"I'm not gay bashing, but according to God's word that is not the right kind of lifestyle," she said. "It has deadly consequences."

Kern goes on to declare that "Studies show that no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than a few decades."

More Doom

I'm sure this study will be the one that convinces us to change our ways:

The task of cutting greenhouse gas emissions enough to avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures may be far more difficult than previous research suggested, say scientists who have just published studies indicating that it would require the world to cease carbon emissions altogether within a matter of decades.

Their findings, published in separate journals over the past few weeks, suggest that both industrialized and developing nations must wean themselves off fossil fuels by as early as mid-century in order to prevent warming that could change precipitation patterns and dry up sources of water worldwide.

Using advanced computer models to factor in deep-sea warming and other aspects of the carbon cycle that naturally creates and removes carbon dioxide (CO2), the scientists, from countries including the United States, Canada and Germany, are delivering a simple message: The world must bring carbon emissions down to near zero to keep temperatures from rising further.

A New Cocaine Capital

As if West Africa needs more trouble:

US drug enforcement agents report that the old cocaine channels through the Caribbean, markedly Jamaica and Panama, have become more intensively policed, forcing the Colombians to develop new routes to traffic cocaine. The increasing might of Mexico's powerful drug cartels has forced the South Americans to search for trafficking routes to Europe across the Atlantic rather than through Central America.

Moreover, the West African coast can be reached across the shortest transatlantic crossing from South America: either by plane from Colombia, with a re-fuelling stop in Brazil; or by ship from Brazil or Venezuela. The boats leaving South America travel only by night, remaining motionless by day, covered in blue tarpaulins to avoid detection from the air. The journey can be completed in four to five nights travelling this way.

Once ravaged by the transatlantic slave trade, the West African coast is again 'under attack', says the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, who calls the impact on Africa of Europe's cocaine habit an echo of that of slavery. 'In the 19th century, Europe's hunger for slaves devastated West Africa. Two hundred years later, its growing appetite for cocaine could do the same.'

The seizure of West Africa by Colombian and other drug cartels has happened with lightning speed. Since 2003, 99 per cent of all drugs seized in Africa have been found in West Africa. Between 1998 and 2003, the total quantity of cocaine seized each year in Africa was around 600kg. But by 2006, the figure had risen five-fold and during the first nine months of last year had already reached 5.6 tonnes. The latest seizure, from a Liberian ship - Blue Atlantic - intercepted by the French navy last month, was 2.4 tonnes of pure cocaine.

Seven More for Obama

He has taken Wyoming:

Sen. Barack Obama captured the Wyoming Democratic caucuses Saturday, seizing a bit of momentum in the close, hard-fought race with rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for the party's presidential nomination.

Obama generally has outperformed Clinton in caucuses, which reward organization and voter passion more than do primaries. The Illinois senator has now won 13 caucuses to Clinton's three.

KBR Takes and Gives

Great. Now the company that is evading taxes is poisoning our soldiers:

Dozens of U.S. troops in Iraq fell sick at bases using "unmonitored and potentially unsafe" water supplied by the military and a contractor once owned by Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, the Pentagon's internal watchdog says.

A report obtained by The Associated Press said soldiers experienced skin abscesses, cellulitis, skin infections, diarrhea and other illnesses after using discolored, smelly water for personal hygiene and laundry at five U.S. military sites in Iraq.

The Defense Department's inspector general's report, which could be released as early as Monday, found water quality problems between March 2004 and February 2006 at three sites run by contractor KBR Inc., and between January 2004 and December 2006 at two military-operated locations.