Month: June 2005

Via AP: The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops agree to a five-year extension on their policy banning sexually abusive priests from church work. The report goes on to say that it was an “overwhelming vote”. Was it unanimous?

Michelle over at ASM.

I couldn’t agree more.

Doing what Liberals do best, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is now blaming the media for misrepresenting his ‘Nazi’ statements made recently on the senate floor.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., says right-wing media misrepresented comments he made about abuse of terror suspects, which he compared to Nazi abuses.

Durbin late Tuesday read what he said was an e-mail message from an FBI agent regarding alleged prisoner abuse. Durbin said if it didn’t identify the source of the information “you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags or some mad regime.”

Several high-ranking Republicans responded Thursday. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said, “The danger the loose comments such as that, comparison which have no basis in fact or history, could do harm to the men and women” in the U.S. military. Warner called for an apology.

Durbin did not, however, back down. Saying he wasn’t criticizing service personnel, he blamed the right-wing media for taking his words out of context. He said abusive treatment of prisoners was something most likely in “repressive regimes” than the United States.

When the heat is on, blame the right wing conspiracy. It didn’t work for Hillary and it won’t work for you Dick. Your comments are in the record Senator, so it’s a little late for you to be claiming that you didn’t say what you did in fact say.

Exhibit One – The New York Times coverage (registration required) of Senator Dick Durbin’s (D-Ill.) comments comparing American servicemen and women to Nazis is buried deep inside their ‘Washington’ section and is brief, at best.

Exhibit Two – The New York Times coverage (registration required) of recent poll data suggesting that support for the president has tumbled across the board in recent months is splashed across the front page. This story includes two full pages of in-depth coverage.

Typical.

If you sent a tsunami relief donation to OxFam thinking you would be helping a family recover from the disaster, think again. You just might have helped the relief organization pay a tax.

British charity Oxfam has had to pay the Sri Lankan government $1m in import duty for vehicles used in tsunami reconstruction work. Paperwork had kept the 25 four-wheel drive vehicles idle in the capital, Colombo, for a month. The Sri Lankan government told the BBC News website the aid had been duty-free until the end of April but was now needed to prevent ”market distortions”. Sri Lankan customs had charged $5,000 a day while the vehicles were processed.

It’s stories like this that cause people to have second thoughts about giving ANYTHING to charity. You’ll never be sure that your hard earned money will really help the people who need it most. More often than not, your donation will end up paying a CEO’s salary or wind up in the coffers of a government agency somewhere.

Why is “bra” singular and “panties” plural?

Most Say Stars Make Poor Role Models.

Duh.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know that I have criticized Joan Felt, the daughter of Mark Felt, for her overtly selfish comments concerning her financial motivations for encouraging her father to identify himself. Therefore, the announcement of potential media deals should not be a shock to anyone now. A book and movie deal has been finalized for Felt, the former FBI agent who recently outed himself as the famed Watergate ‘Deep Throat’ source of Bob Woodward. At 91 years of age, it’s likely that he’ll never realize a fraction of the profits. His family can look forward to leading a comfortable life for years to come.

Congratulations Joan. Your check is in the mail.

Clinton wins S.C. straw poll

Richland County Democrats held the nation’s first straw poll for the 2008 presidential race Wednesday and the surprise winner was U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.

“We’re simply delighted,” said Bob Kunst, president of Hillarynow.com, who is traveling the country promoting Clinton’s candidacy.

“This should help us in our effort. It gives us a nice boost.”

Clinton’s victory at the sparesely attended event was a mild upset. Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, a native South Carolinian and last year’s Democratic vice presidential candidate, had been considered the favorite.

Meaningless.

Maybe these guys lived too close to high voltage power lines or something. I can’t believe they would willingly wear clothes like this.

If you can stand it, there are quite a few more badly dressed bands here. Proceed at your own risk.

h/t Boing Boing