Lefty Soapbox

The Free Lance-Star, my home paper, had a great opinion column on the MSM and the Bush administration yesterday. It is absolutely fantastic, and you really need to read it. It is title "Media doing a poor job, but maybe not for the reasons you think". Fantastic. It calls for more accountability from both the emdia and Washington.

Because, honestly, if the left and right came together to demand real answers and accountability from our leaders, would that be so terrible?

Go read the whole thing.

Go my home paper!

Dan Froomkin points out one of the number one reasons I am SOOOO looking forward to Revenge of the Sith:

At one point, Darth Vader, already deep in the thrall of the dark side and echoing the words of George W. Bush, hisses at Obi-Wan, 'If you're not with me, you're my enemy.' Obi-Wan's response is likely to surface as a bumper sticker during the next election campaign: 'Only a Sith thinks in absolutes.' "

So what will the bumper sticker be? Only a Republican thinks in absolutes?

Go Lucas Go!

Ignore the boycott! Like anyone's going to actually boycott Star Wars. Pfffft. I especially liked the line "Our Country is at war and Lucas spouts off this crap?" Because when you're at war, the government is always right(not left)!

Bush gave a speech last night in which he detailed what all successful democracies need. What he said just boggles the mind. Here is an excerpt (empasis is SO totally mine):

Yet we know that in all cultures, successful democracies are built on certain common foundations -- and they include the following rights:

First, all successful democracies need freedom of speech, with a vibrant free press that informs the public, ensures transparency, and prevents authoritarian backsliding.

Second, all successful democracies need freedom of assembly, so citizens can gather and organize in free associations to press for reform, and so that a peaceful, loyal opposition can provide citizens with real choices.

Third, all successful democracies need a free economy to unleash the creativity of its citizens and create prosperity and opportunity and economic independence from the state.

Fourth, all democracies need an independent judiciary to guarantee rule of law and assure impartial justice for all citizens.

And, fifth, all democracies need freedom of worship, because respect for the beliefs of others is the only way to build a society where compassion and tolerance prevail.

So I guess the United States is not a successful democracy.

Bill O'Reilly, everyone's favorite commentator who never spins facts or lies, apparently does spin facts and lie.

He reads from an editorial from the Houston Chronicle that he claims says Florida is being too harsh on Sex Criminals. But it says nothing of the sort. What he reads aloud and claims are "excerpts" from the editorial is not from the editorial, or any other place in the paper.

Hey Bill? Why you lyin', foo?

A memo written by a conservative doctor persuaded the FDA to ignore its advisory panel and reject Plan B.

Conservative Doctor, eh?

I didn't know conservative doctors forcibly sodomize their sleeping wives.

Fascinating.

So a few weeks ago, a memo leaked saying that the Terri Schiavo issue would be a great way to fire up the Republican's base and a great way to score some points. Democrats were outraged by the memo, saying it was playing politics with an issue no one should even be touching. Republicans countered, saying none of them had written the memo. What's more, some conservative bloggers claimed that Democrats had manufactured the memo to make Republicans look bad. Now, that would be rather awful if the Democrats had done this.

Instead it turns out that a Republican staffer did, in fact, write the memo.

Oops.

To be fair, the staffer in question claims he has no idea how he got out, that it was just a rough draft of something he was working on, and that he has no idea how it ever got off his computer, since he didn't print it. And the senator in question has no idea how it got into his hands either, even though he claimed he never saw it, and has no idea how he could have mistakenly passed a Democrat the memo when he didn't even know he had it in the first place.

Did you follow that?

Yeah, me neither.

The Wall Street Journal's editorial page criticized Tom DeLay yesterday.

Yes, you read that right. Quite shocking that a bastion of conservative opinions would turn on such an individual. This remark in particular is rather scathing:

His real fault lies in betraying the broader set of principles that brought him into office, and which, if he continues as before, sooner or later will sweep him out.

Zing.

No wonder he's spending so much time and energy talking as loudly as he can about Terri Schiavo.

Thanks to Howard Kurtz.

North Korea has publically announced it has nuclear weapons.

This never would have happened if the President listened to his greatest advisor.

I don't know what else to say.