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ISEFIRE - The ISEBRAND.COM blog |
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If
you can't name it, can you understand it? George W. Bush has difficulty with English. He doesn’t like reading it, and he can’t speak it very well either. So, it’s no surprise that non-English words are utterly beyond his ability. From Reuters: “During [his Monday night] half-hour televised address, Bush mispronounced Abu Ghraib each of the three times he mentioned it while announcing U.S. plans to tear down the infamous jail and replace it with a new facility.”
How disbelieveable! I’m amassed that he’s such a singleton! (Or am I misunderestimating him?) The
South shall rise again! I saw a link to this on DailyKos, went to the link, and about fell out of my chair. ChristianExodus.org is a group committed to--get this--gathering together in one state ("The three States under consideration are Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina...") as conservative evangelical Christians and as, apparently, ultra-libertarians, and seceding from the Union. (Wasn't that tried once already?) The
site is such a broad collage of absurdly stereotypical, parochial,
and anti-intellectual evangelical conservative Christian statements
as to be impossible to take seriously. Frankly, the vast majority
of evangelical Christians ought to be offended by ChristianExodus.org! Feds
subpeona Tim Russert Will be interesting to see how this plays out. Frankly, I don't see why Russert's the one getting a subpeona. This is the first I've ever heard his name mentioned in connection with the Plame scandal. Salvation
Army ready to let the homeless starve before it would agree to offer
benefits to a single gay employee "The Salvation Army is threatening to close soup kitchens for tens of thousands of New York's homeless and walk away from other projects if the city enacts legislation requiring firms that do business with New York to offer health benefits to the partners of gay staffers." I'd
like to put this in historical perspective. Why did the Emperor
Constantine deem it necessary for the Roman state to give special
favors to the Christian Church? The church cared for the poor, thus
freeing the state to make war. Constantine gave state sanction to
already occuring religious work and added tax exemption (to
Christian churches only) as further state blessing. This is why
the Salvation Army can walk as far as I'm concerned. No religious
group, including a religious "army," should be giving
marching orders to the state or holding it hostage. GOP
leaders tell Senators to stump for FMA over Memorial Day weekend "[T]he Republican leadership issued talking points on banning same-sex marriage as part of the Republican Party's weekly message and also in a Memorial Day recess packet." Routing
gay marines out of the corps is just soooo important... U.S. military fires gays soldiers for having online dating profiles. (What?! There are gay people in the military?!) American
Truths #3 The third American Truths is now on Isebrand.com for those of you who have yet to sign-up to receive them. Leading
Cuban dissidents oppose Bush's Cuba policy Miriam
Leiva, a Cuban journalist and dissident, got an essay through to
the U.S. during a period of limited Internet access. In the essay,
she decries Bush's new draconian measures against Cuba. The measures
don't hurt Castro, only everyday Cubans. Among
the measures is a new restriction on travel, which will hurt the
Cuban people more than it will hurt Castro. Unbelievably, Cuban-Americans,
who previously were able to come to Cuba once a year, will now be
able to visit Cuba to see family members only once every three years.
It's...! ...the
truth. Terry Jones, the Oxbridge-educated writer, actor, and producer,
formerly of Monty Python's Flying Circus, has written an
incisive essay in the Guardian. From Jones' commentary: The
justice department, for example, is boasting about spending $47m
on a local law enforcement programme, when Bush had actually proposed
cutting its budget by 87%. And the $11.7m that the secretary of
health boasts they are setting aside to help those without healthcare
is for a programme that Bush has tried to shut down every year he's
been in office. The
idiocy of "gay-panic" as a legal defese for hate crimes Via
skylark
and SFGate:
Fundies'
anti-evolution influence over OH & MT public school curriculum From AU: Religious Right groups have launched a national crusade to weaken instruction about evolution in public schools because it conflicts with their interpretation of the Bible. The federal courts have barred the teaching of creationism in science classes, so these organizations are now urging educators to teach "intelligent design" and to offer evidence "for and against" evolution. "If officials are changing the public school curriculum to conform to religious dogma, that's clearly unconstitutional," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "Sound science education must not be sacrificed on the altar of religious zealotry." The Supreme Court ruled in 1968 in Epperson v. Arkansas that an Arkansas law prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public schools was unconstitutional. The statute had been passed after pressure from fundamentalist Christian groups. Americans United says evidence indicates that Ohio officials were influenced by religious pressure groups. Evolutionary instruction was watered down after a campaign led by the Discovery Institute, a neo-creationist group that rejects evolution. (more) Abu
Ghraib images have all the hallmarks of contemporary porn NYC
subway to ban taking of photos New York City subway station in Manhattan`s Lower East Side...late at night on 2/18/2004. Today the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), which runs the city`s subways, announced that they want to ban the taking of photographs in the subway system. They cite "security reasons." As if photographs of a subway stop will make or break a terrorist attack. (So, if I *sketch* on a subway station platform will I get arrested?) Get this: The MTA is sponsoring an exhibition of subway photographs right now in Grand Central Terminal! They`re idiots. This sort of frivolous curtailment of freedom of expression is a harmful distraction from the federal money the Bush administration keeps withholding from New York City, the desperate need for NYPD officers to be paid better, and the lack of preparedness among our city`s hospitals (again, largely because of lack of funds). The banning of photographs in the subway is basically like the Attorney General`s advice to duct tape windows against nerve agents. It is to generate the appearance of effort and thought relating to security, when in actuality things are out of control within the present government of the United States. Ah,
DK, we love ya! Huffington's
masterful essay is a milestone |
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