Year: 2005

American Girl, manufacturer of an outrageously expensive line of dolls and children’s books, has hacked off leaders of a big conservative group. They’re threatening to stop paying the hundreds of dollars it costs to own just one of these demon possessed life-like dolls unless the toy maker stops giving a small portion of the billions they gross each year to a youth organization that supports abortion rights and acceptance of lesbians.

The protest is directed at an ongoing American Girl campaign in which proceeds from sales of a special “I Can” wristband help support educational and empowerment programs of Girls Inc., a national nonprofit organization which describes its mission as “inspiring girls to be strong, smart and bold.”

American Girl, whose often patriotic products have long had a loyal following among conservatives, issued a statement Friday defending its support of Girls Inc. and assailing the protest campaign.

“We are profoundly disappointed that certain groups have chosen to misconstrue American Girl’s purely altruistic efforts and turn them into a broader political statement on issues that we, as a corporation, have no position,” the statement said.

The Mississippi-based American Family Association, in a campaign launched Wednesday, is urging its members to demand that American Girl halt support for Girls Inc., which it called “a pro-abortion, pro-lesbian advocacy group.”

“Let American Girl know they are making a terrible mistake,” AFA chairman Don Wildmon said in a statement. The AFA says it has more than 2.2 million members.

And they’ve got lots of cold, hard, doll buying cash burning holes in their pockets. American Girl, you’ve been warned.

Via CNN

Thousands of polling stations across Iraq have closed after millions of Iraqis voted today on a draft constitution that would set up a democratic framework to govern the strife-torn nation. CNN correspondents in different parts of the country said voting appeared brisk. Early reports suggested there had been comparatively little violence during the day.

There’s ongoing blog coverage of today’s events in Iraq. Omar at Iraq The Model voted ‘Yes’ today.

Ali Mohammed | An Iraqi’s thoughts | Baghdad Girl | Beth-Nahrain | Democracy in Iraq | Diary from Baghdad | Diwaniya | Friends of Democracy | Hammorabi | Healing Iraq | Ibn Al Rafidain | Iraq at a glance | Iraqi Expat | Iraqi4Ever | Iraqi Humanity | Iraqi in America | Iraqi Kurdistan | Iraq Pundit | Iraq Rising | Ishtaria | Kurdo’s world | Mesopotamian | Nabil’s blog | Neurotic Iraqi wife | Sooni | Treasure of Baghdad |

Schroeder is a sore loser and reacts like one. Bush could have easily snubbed the man, but that’s not the kind of person he is. He did the right thing.

It must drive the left crazy.

I have no idea how I got here, but I did, and man, do I regret it.

How can you tell when there’s not a lot of news worth reporting? Just look at the majority of the headlines on the Drudge Report.

— Poll: Americans are Getting Ruder

— Melissa Etheridge: I Used Medicinal Marijuana

— Meet Five Toes, the Two-Tongue Cat

— Confirmed. Blond. James Blond.

— Exorcism Course Continues at Vatican

— Chinese astronauts change underwear once

— Nude Disco Launched in London

— ‘Ur dumped’; research shows text a popular way of ending romances

So, now I don’t feel that bad about the lack o’ news on this blog today. Besides, I’m really sick and tired of debating Miers, and the non-story about the so called ‘staged’ Bush military teleconference is nothing more than an MSM attempt to fill the lack o’ news void. It’s all smoke and mirrors.

There’s lots of other nonsense being talked about here, but I wouldn’t think of directing anyone to it.

The WaPo has an interesting piece on Harriet Miers, detailing her day-to-day role as White House counsel.

Uncle Teddy has been hittin the sauce.

In an AP story, the senator from Massachusetts said he’d support John Kerry in a 2008 run for the White House.

Sen. Edward Kennedy called John Kerry, the 2004 nominee, an “able, gifted and talented political leader.”

He criticized President Bush’s leadership and said of the American people: “Every day, I think they regret that John wasn’t elected.”

Hiccup.

Peggy Noonan has a few suggestions for the Bush administration as the Miers matter continues to swell. The column today is one of her better ones. She provides plenty of memorable quotes, like this one regarding the ‘sexism’ charge:

Sending Laura Bush out to make her first mistake as first lady, agreeing with Matt Lauer that sexism is probably part of the reason for opposition to Ms. Miers, was embarrassingly inept and only served to dim some of the power of this extraordinary resource.

As for Ed Gillespie and his famous charge of sexism and elitism, I don’t think serious conservatives believe Ed is up nights pondering whiffs and emanations of class tension and gender bias in modern America. It was the ignorant verbal lurch of a K Street behemoth who has perhaps forgotten that conservatives are not merely a bloc, a part of the base, a group that must be handled, but individuals who are and have been in it for serious reasons, for the long haul, and often at considerable sacrifice. They don’t deserve to be patronized by people they’ve long strained to defend.

Go read the rest.

Well, at least it was for me, and it is today for Ian Schwartz who runs The Political Teen. I’ve come to rely on Ian as a video-blogger and a great source for information that I need as I write for PunditGuy. His site is a great asset to the blogosphere.

Congratulations Ian!

Because if we aren’t careful, this headline could be reality.

Democrats see dream of ’06 victory taking form.

Suddenly, Democrats see a possibility in 2006 they have long dreamed of: a sweeping midterm election framed around what they describe as the simple choice of change with the Democrats or more of an unpopular status quo with the Republican majority.

Even if the Iraq, Katrina, Rita, and Harriet combination isn’t the perfect storm Democrats are praying for, it is only the perception that matters. If a majority of Americans believe those forces, along with the problems encircling DeLay, Rove, and Frist are enough to topple the GOP, we’ll experience an ’06 cycle like the Democrats experienced the ’94 cycle. We’ll wake up to the hard cold reality that we took our eye off the ball and promptly got spanked. No matter if we lose the majority or even just a couple of seats in Congress, the damage will be done and we’ll be wounded as we head into the 2008 presidential campaign.

Wake up. Be smart. There’s no time to waste. Let’s cool the infighting and get our act back together. We can’t afford to let the Democrats take advantage of the current environment. For if they do, they’ll command the attention, they’ll control the dialog, and they’ll convince the public that Republicans need to go.

And that’s not reality.