"Your Honor! Mr. Cheney's Testimony Is Irrelevent and Immaterial"

AND: "Idiocy Of The First Order!"

If anyone deserves (today) to be in a witness box being grilled by Perry Mason, it's Dick Cheney. Mason's calm, cool demeanor could disarm anyone and his booming voice could cause an instantaneous breakdown (or pacemaker malfunction). Maybe it could lead to something no one has ever been privy to: a Cheney tear.

Yesterday's stint of former White House Chief of Staff for Colin Powell, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, on Rachel Maddow's show demonstrated just how blustery and foolhardy Dick Cheney's appearances on every media in the country (except Rachel's show, of course) have been. He alternately described Cheney as "Like Joker with a straight face" and "destroying what's left of the Republican Party."

In addition:
(As guest blogger in The Washington Note)

So furious was this effort that on one particular detainee, even when the interrogation team had reported to Cheney's office that their detainee "was compliant" (meaning the team recommended no more torture), the VP's office ordered them to continue the enhanced methods. The detainee had not revealed any al-Qa'ida-Baghdad contacts yet. This ceased only after Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, under waterboarding in Egypt, "revealed" such contacts. Of course later we learned that al-Libi revealed these contacts only to get the torture to stop.

There in fact were no such contacts. (Incidentally, al-Libi just "committed suicide" in Libya. Interestingly, several U.S. lawyers working with tortured detainees were attempting to get the Libyan government to allow them to interview al-Libi....)

When asked about Cheney's preference of Colin Powell to Rush Limbaugh:

"Two tours of Vietnam 35 + years of service to his country, 5 deferments for Dick Cheney, never served a day in the military, said he had other priorities. No comparison."

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Thoughts On Torture: The Good, The Bad, and The Republican

It's Not A Game

But... Try to match up these people from the Torture Hall of Fame with the various pictures of torture or the various symbols. It's Fun! It's totally subjective!

HANNITY: “I am having a hard time understanding, though, why dunking somebody’s head in water….just to scare the living daylights out of them… why would you oppose that?”

LIZ CHENEY: “[T]he tactics are not torture, we did not torture. The memos lay out the extent of exactly how far we could go before it would become torture because it was very important that we not cross that line into torture.”

HUCKABEE: “It was like a carnival ride. … For example, it wasn’t that we were actually going to drown someone, but it was a simulation of it. And for that, there was in fact some information that came forth.”

SEN. LIEBERMAN: “Most people think it’s definitely torture. The truth is, it has mostly a psychological impact on people. … [W]e ought to be able to use something like waterboarding.”

CHENEY: Clearly what they are doing is releasing images that show American military men and women in a very negative light. And I have heard from families of service members, from families of 9/11 victims, this question about, you know, when did it become so fashionable for us to side, really,with the terrorists?

ROVE: Taking, for example, the memoranda about the enhanced interrogation techniques and making them public has been a value to our enemy. It has served, frankly, I think, as a recruiting tool. They can now take these memoranda and go to prospective, you know, recruits and say, This is the worst that the enemy, the United States, would ever do to you, and they’ve even forsworn these things. We can help you, prepare you to deal with these things, but even the enemy is so weak they’re not going to use these techniques on you. And it’s given them a tool to make it more attractive to recruit people, and you know, this kind of thing is harmful to us over the long haul.

Lt. Col. Ton Hicks U.S. National Guard:

"...while it would be terrible to lose one of them or have one of them seriously physically injured, it would be worse to have them come home physically well and mentally broken because they had somehow lost their humanity. Torture destroys our humanity, and any equivocation (feel free to exercise the Kantian absolutist vs utilitarian argument to your heart’s content) on the matter is just bullshit."

They're Still Out There: The Elmer Fudds Trying To Become Elmer Gantrys

And They May Resort To Guerilla Warfare!

Complacency is starting to set in amongst the culture warriors on our side (the ones with the culture). People are even talking about the "defeat" of the Christian Right. Whoa! Stop right there. Someone's not seeing the whole picture. Just because James Dobson says "we've lost the battles" doesn't mean we can scrap our weapons and go home in peace. We've cornered the enemy, true. Now we have to contain them. That's not so easy. They're counting on the platoons stationed in the outposts. Here's one captain's screed:

The Bible says everything that has breath has a right to praise the Lord. But there are some times when the Scripture commands woman to shut up!

First, they are commanded to shut up concerning the Authority of the Church. I Timothy 2:12 tells us that a woman is not to usurp authority over the man. God never has called a woman to preach. I know some "mainline" churches are ordaining woman to pastor their churches. Even radio and television are now promoting female pastor's. What a sad day, seeing woman open the bible and expound the scriptures. Eve, in the Garden of Eden, in a perfect surrounding could not even quote on verse correct. I sure would not trust a woman to expound truth in this sin cursed mess we live in. Some sorry Baptist Churches are now letting woman teach men and boys classes. No wonder America has turned "Sodomite". Too many young men have had too many woman as their voice of authority.

I'm sorry to be such a stickler on things like grammar, but if Rev. Kidd is presenting his thoughts to the rest of the world, he might have a better chance if he seems educated to a level that would be void of egregious errors.

His website is almost totally dysfunctional: it looks as if it were designed at least 10 years ago (he posted it several months ago). The picture of him and his wife is very telling: he's dour and she looks as if her face was scrubbed clean - at the last minute. Considering what he thinks of women, your heart goes out to a woman who is either a complete slave/masochist or a very battered wife. I couldn't download the picture itself, so here's the link.

Read some of the comments on this site ("Guestbook"). THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO PRAISE THIS MAN!

Keep preaching, praying, and plowing Dr. Kidd there are alot of people out here pulling for you because you pull for us. You are known as the common man's preacher in this area. You are the Billy Sunday of this day and I am glad I got to witness your great ministry. Keep your eyes on Jesus and we will take care of the "visitors".

Gay marrige is now legal in Maine,and about to be legalized in New Hampshire.How long til it's everywhere in this country? How long until the US is completely in Satan's hands? A muslim president, legalized gay marriage, where will it end?

The second comment was made just one day ago. "A muslim president" places this person at the dark side of the moon. But think about it: pundits like Ann Coulter(geist) who repeatedly says/writes "Barack HUSSEIN Obama" feed the temperaments of these people. "Dr." Phil Kidd is definitely an Elmer Fudd trying to be an Elmer Gantry. But, as you've read before in this blog, but careful - Fudd's the one with the gun.

It's twoo, it's twoo, it's weewee weewee twoo.

The Palin-Texas Connection Scandal: Rape Victims Don't Rate Freebies!

Palin and Texas Cost Too Much

It's true. Palin and Texas cost us by sucking out compassion in order to save $:

From Think Progress:

CNN reports that Texas hospitals are charging women who have been raped thousands of dollars for their rape kits that are collected by police as part of their investigations. According to CNN, Texas’s crime victim compensation fund consistently has a surplus and could likely cover these expenses.

During the 2008 campaign, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) came under criticism for the fact that while serving as mayor of Wasilla, the town’s policy was to “bill victims” for their rape kits.

If a woman is courageous enough to undergo tests for rape so that the rapist can be identified and caught, she should not have to bear the financial burden of the medical expenses involved, right? Well, not if you're Sarah Palin or the state of Texas.

Of course, it might not make a difference if Texas secedes from the Union as threatened.

What a heartless way to start out as a republic.

Just a thought.

The Very Height Of Bloviating: Rush Limbaugh's Last 100 Days

No doubt about it. Last week was truly a high point for Rush Limbaugh's last 100 days (and it was National Bloviating Week, too!). The man was at his POP - Peak of Pomposity. This was the week that the Great One, the Boss, descended from his throne on high (Oxycontin again?) to rub the noses of the little people in the dirt. He made some of his best declarations: as he continued to gloat about his show’s success, Limbaugh mocked the idea that Americans are suffering, noting, “I’ve never had financially a down year” despite the “supposed” recession.

On Palin:

Why -- you see how easy the conventional wisdom is? The conventional wisdom is that Palin is a dork, that Palin is an idiot, that Palin's unsophisticated, or Palin's this or that, she doesn't know the lingo or she has a bad wardrobe, all this irrelevant stuff! To try to destroy her, to destroy her credibility with people, to impugn her. I just listened to what she said, I liked what she said, and I liked the way she said it. It's no more complicated than that.

(Rush, you're right - that "Palin is an idiot" stuff is VERY irrelevant)

On Barney Frank (from Lavender Newswire):

Later in the broadcast, Limbaugh played a parody song, titled “Banking Queen,” featuring an impersonation of Frank by comedian and frequent Limbaugh contributor Paul Shanklin. In the parody, Frank, who refers to himself as “the banking queen,” threatens banks to make loans or they’ll “be fined,” adding: “My friends at Fannie sure need it, do it my way or beat it.”

And on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough invited Rep. Mike Pence to respond to Limbaugh’s criticisms, but in doing so, warned him to “be careful” about criticizing "the boss."

On Obama's Diplomacy efforts:

RUSH: We're coming up on this mythical 100 days of the Obama administration. I'd like to refer to it, my friends, as "finals week," and I put together a list of things that I have noted since the outset of this administration. Just today, I think you'd have to say Obama's failing, because Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has just ripped him a new one; and his buddy, Fidel Castro, just called him superficial.

He has run around the world and apologized for the greatest, the most compassionate, the most innovative and freedom-loving country in world history.

On Obama's speech to Turkey:

"He said that the Islamic faith has done so much over the centuries to shape the world, including in my own country. Well, I think 9-11 did have a big shaping factor here. The Twin Towers are gone. The Pentagon had a hole in it. Three thousand people are dead. That did reshape America."

On Rush Limbaugh telling Matt Drudge to "Disappear from public life" (New York magazine's Daily Intel):

This reasoning for why Limbaugh might urge him to lay low makes sense — though it ignores the more obvious conclusion: that Matt Drudge is perhaps the only more important or relied-upon conservative media authority in America than Rush Limbaugh. And as long as Drudge remains in hiding, the radio host doesn't have to face that fact.

One hundred days of unstoppable bloviating, of being crowned the de facto head of the Republican Party, of telling America how he hopes "Obama will fail." One hundred days filled with apologies and genuflections. One hundred of total hypocrisy crowned by someone who thinks Obama has a "messianic complex"

I wish we could look at Rush Limbaugh's "VERY LAST 100 days" but that would be wishful thinking on my part.

The following video was put together by Media Matters and shows Rush Limbaugh amongst his contemporaries like Michael Savage and Fox News. It will demonstrate his vitroil and the company he keeps.

Pat Robertson Then and Now: The Stupidity And Homophobia Never Changed

Did You Think It Would?

Pat Robertson is, admittedly, an acquired distaste: you have to experience him for a while before you appreciate his kind of smarmy evangelism. A look at the below clip (with Michael J. Fox BEFORE Family Ties!) will tell you that he hasn't changed a bit: shooting from the hip for the "hip" and being waaay off the mark!

Now Pat is in the news again for his comments on gay marriage. Ho hum:

[Likening gay marriage to bestiality, polygamy and pedophilia]

“How can we criminalize these things and at the same time have constitutional amendments allowing same-sex marriage among homosexuals.” Robertson ended his rant on same-sex marriage by saying, “You mark my words, this is just the beginning in a long downward slide in relation to all the things that we consider to be abhorrent.”

So gay marriage is a slippery slope to all sorts of evil nastiness. This from a man who warned the people of Orland, FL to expect a meteor because Disney World was sponsoring "Gay Day." A run through of Pat's quotes against humanity (and sanity) would also include:

"Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history." –Pat Robertson

Robertson erases some key points in history: Slavery, The Inquisition, The Crusades, The Blood Libel (against Jews, 13th through 19th centuries). And referencing the Holocaust: gee, I didn't know Pat Robertson had been put in a gas oven! Could that account for his rather ashen complexion?

"Maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom to shake things up" –Pat Robertson, on nuking the State Department.

From About.com, (political Humor - Crazy Pat Robertson Quotes)

O.K., so Robertson's a little balmy. The problem?: his comments might connect with someone equally as balmy. And that someone might have a knife, or baseball bat, or gun to use on someone they perceive as gay. "Pat Robertson and his 700 Club have never been responsible for gay bashing!" Oh? Given the huge numbers he used to command on CBN, Christofascists would have a very hard time proving that he wasn't responsible.

In response to an ad placed by PFLAG (1996) depicting Robertson, Falwell, Jesse Helms et al as responsible for teen suicides and gay bashing:

CBN lawyer Bruce Hausknecht wrote that the tapes depicted Robertson in a false light, implying that he promoted violence against gays and was the cause of lesbian and gay teen suicide, and that this was "severely damaging to the reputation of Dr. Robertson and his ministry." He said that "seconds" after the statements about Hitler and Satanists were made in a January 1993 broadcast of The 700 Club, "Mr. Robertson reached out with love and compassion to the homosexual community with these words: 'What we want to do is love them... and bring them into the kingdom.' However, PFLAG chose to ignore that comment." Hausknecht stated that Robertson has always preached opposition to violence against any group.

So...Remember July 29, 2008:

Jim D. Adkisson decided he had a problem with a certain type of Christianity – the type that actually cared about their fellow human beings. Children were performing the play ‘Annie’ at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church when Adkisson had had enough. His issues with the church were due to their socially liberal and ‘gay-friendly’ beliefs. In other words, this church was tolerant of others and Adkisson took issue with that.

Adkisson entered the church at 10 am carrying a guitar case while 200 members of the congregation watched the children’s production. Opening the case, he pulled out a 12 gauge shotgun and killed 2 adults and wounding 8 others. Thankfully, no children were injured. Adkisson was restrained until police arrived.

Behind that smarmy smile, Pat Robertson may embody all that is wrong with Christofascism: he and Jerry Falwell were thrilled when AIDS came along to help them in their part of the "culture wars." He championed people who expelled gays from their homes while they were sick and dying.

Since his inane proclamations have never really changed, neither have his (now smaller) band of devoted followers. But all it takes is one bullet ...

Just a thought.

The Numbers Are Coming In And (Surprise!) The Republicans Can't Stand The Numbers

Oh, how the impressions of Barack Obama have changed! Pew Research has just ladled out the gravy for Obama's first hundred 100 days: some not so good, but most, incredibly positive. The research goes back to September and tracks the top words used to describe Obama when people were asked to describe him in one word. I've given the list here in a rather crude way, but it emphasizes just how far President Obama has come in in the eyes of America.

The pluses: he's increased in these impressions: great, good, intelligent, confident, and presidential. The increase in negative impressions: socialist, not as much change as people had hoped for, slightly arrogant, and could use some tips in the charisma department.

You can be sure that if some smart Republicans come along (don't hold your breath), they will hammer at the socialist/spending impressions - and not what Obama has on his hamburgers!

Just a thought.

Intelligent	+10
Good	+23
Socialist	14
Liberal	5
Great	+20
Confident	+19
Inexperienced	-42
Honest	2
Trying	+16
Smart	+15
Change	-26
Competent	+14
Excellent	+14
Spender/Spending	14
Arrogant	5
Hope/Hopeful	-3
Charismatic	-7
President	12
Leader	2
Different	-1