What do you get from "Centrist" politicians?

Arianna Huffington over at HuffPo:

"Hot on the heels of the release of the Iraq Study Group Report -- and a day in which 10 U.S. servicemen were killed and at least 84 Iraqis were blown up or shot -- prospective presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will join with Joe Lieberman to hold a press conference today at 3 pm ET to announce the launch of a television PSA campaign about... video game ratings.

Oh. My. God."

Oh. My. God. 2

As sufi over at MLN said:

"If Lieberman is truly concerned about the level of violence in society, he could first start by not cheerleading for more bloodshed in Iraq with calls for additional troops!"

I can see the point in that argument. Video games don't kill Americans, but a deployment to Iraq does.

As for what politicians that aren't trying to convince you that Centrist politics is what you need even if you voted with the express intent of sending the message to "Get out of Iraq!"



"A classic Washington compromise"... In otherwords:
A Centrist bipartisan whitewash.

All that idiots like Lieberman, McCain, and likely Hillary too, will get us is more dead Americans and Iraqis. All they want to do is pander to right wing fools. There is no compromise in that.

In a statement released yesterday, Feingold wrote, "Unfortunately, the Iraq Study Group report does too little to change the flawed mind-set that led to the misguided war in Iraq."

"Maybe there are still people in Washington who need a study group to tell them that the policy in Iraq isn't working, but the American people are way ahead of this report," Feingold's statement continued.

"While the report has regenerated a few good ideas, it doesn't adequately put Iraq in the context of a broader national security strategy," the statement went on. "We need an Iraq policy that is guided by our top national security priority - defeating the terrorist network that attacked us on 9/11 and its allies."

"We can't continue to just look at Iraq in isolation," Feingold wrote. "Unless we set a serious timetable for redeploying our troops from Iraq, we will be unable to effectively address these global threats. In the end, this report is a regrettable example of `official Washington' missing the point."

(h/t to ctblogger for the video and feingold quote.)

Compromise is not what we need right now. We need to get out of Iraq. No compromise on that issue. We need to get out of Iraq ASAP. Not as conditions get better. Iraq isn't going to get better as long as we are there. The only chance of things getting better there is if we leave. And even then it will still be a crap shoot.

Fuck the "Centrist" politicians. Let them fight their childish war on video games and pander to their right-wingnut fools. In the meantime all we can hope for is that there will be enough adults left in Washington that will do what they were voted in to do"

Get out of Iraq.

Nancy Johnson's Legacy

Taken From a dKos diary:

My 79 year old mother cried when she went to get her prescription:

"The other day she went to get her medication at Kaiser and was told the bill was $900, to which she burst into tears and didn't know what to do. She didn't have $900 (her monthly income is Social security of about $600 and some income from property she owns, she lives month to month with little if any 'extra' income). She called me in tears, and I told her to charge the amount on her Visa.

After I got off the phone with her I was crying (mainly because we are not in the position to give her much financial help), and then I became so very angry, angry at those who passed this shitty drug plan that makes our seniors cry. How can any group of people be proud of a program that has so many shortcomings it becomes everything but what it says it is. "

Nancy Johnson's Legacy:

The Donut Hole
And other mean and nasty things...

Think Equal

Equal rights for all citizens.



You would think that it would be a no-brainer? Sadly there are many "no-brainers" that would like to ignore equal rights.

A Silly Answer to a Serious Problem?

It seems almost silly enough to work:

Serious Use for Silly String:
"In an age of multimillion-dollar high-tech weapons systems, sometimes it's the simplest ideas that can save lives. Which is why a New Jersey mother is organizing a drive to send cans of Silly String to Iraq.

American troops use the stuff to detect trip wires around bombs, as Marcelle Shriver learned from her son, a soldier in Iraq.

Before entering a building, troops squirt the plastic goo, which can shoot strands about 10 to 12 feet, across the room. If it falls to the ground, no trip wires. If it hangs in the air, they know they have a problem. The wires are otherwise nearly invisible."

If it saves a soldiers life than that is a good thing BUT... Redeployment would save alot more lives.

Fireworks over Mary Cheney's Baby

But you can bet many will not be celebrating this blessed event...

Groups mixed on Mary Cheney's pregnancy:
Conservative leaders voiced dismay Wednesday at news that Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of
Dick Cheney, is pregnant, while a gay-rights group said the vice president faces 'a lifetime of sleepless nights' for serving in an administration that has opposed recognition of same-sex couples.

Mary Cheney, 37, and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, 45, are expecting a baby in late spring, said Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for the vice president."

I can think of a few Christianist organizations, and other right-wing-whackos, that might blow a gasket over this. Next thing you know she'll move to another state, since Virginia doesn't allow same-sex marriage YET, get married and settle down to raise a happy family.

Does the FIC lie about their readership?

On the announcement of their revamped FIC Blog they tout their great numbers:

Connecticut in the Crosshairs began in 2004 and quickly became one of the most viewed political blogs in the state. The media tried to ignore us and the liberal blogs loved to mock us (which just made us smile and blog more!) but we kept growing until we were receiving over 350,000 hits a month. Given that the technology we were using was, frankly, junk, this was a major coup. But we’ve learned a lot since then and we now have one of the best blogging platforms around. In the future we will be adding even more functionality, with a video and audio podcast already in the works.

I find that number to be impressive if it were true... But is it?

I looked around at some of the more popular Blogs in Connecticut and decided to do a simple comparison. I found that one of ctblogger's site connecticutBLOG generated about 1329 hits in the last week alone... Not bad! He has been averaging somewhere in between 2,500 and 80,000 hits per month in the last year. That is outstanding! Not the most popular Blog in the nation (HuffPo), nor even the most trafficked site in Connecticut, but great numbers for any political Blog.

As outstanding as ctblogger's numbers are, they are still dwarfed by the Family Institute of Connecticut's claimed 350,000 hits per month. Alexa rates connecticutBLOG a very respectable 1,410,658.

Traffic Rank for connecticutblog.blogspot.com: 1,410,658

Considering the millions of Blogs out there that is a very good number ESPECIALLY for a political blog. Not quite up there with the dailyKos (Ranked 1,764) but an awesome ranking all things considered. It lead me to wonder where Alexa would have the FIC Blog ranked...

Traffic Rank for ctfamily.org: 5,553,563

No! That can't be right? The FIC says they get 350,000 hits per month and connecticutBLOG has never had more than 80,000 on it's best month? How could ctblogger's Blog be higher ranked for traffic ranking than the FIC's Blog?

Unless the FIC is lying about their traffic...

Go ahead and look at the comparison of these two sites traffic at Alexa.

Those really high peaks in blue are connecticutBLOG on their best days... Reaching 80,ooo hits AND 100,000 page views in the month of August. Again WOW! As for the really tiny bumps in red... Those are the supposed 350,000 hits per month that are claimed bye the FIC.

Looking at those numbers compared to ctbloggers it is easy to see that it is impossible for the FIC website to have 350,000 hits per month when their ranking is so low and, even on the FIC's best days, they don't even get as many pageviews as connecticutBLOG.

Little wonder why the FIC doesn't have a viewable sitemeter on their website, huh?

I think the Family Institute of Connecticut is lying the big lie. And I think I have proven it. Aren't those great moral values that they want to preach to your families? The FIC site is a pious fraud. Much like the hipocritical Dobsonites, these lying immoral fraudsters should focus on their own damned families.

Note: Those numbers on the Alexa links can fluctuate, but those were the numbers reflected as this was written.

Senate committee approves Gates for Pentagon

Donald Rumsfeld is one step closer to the door.

Senate committee approves Gates for Pentagon | Politics News | Reuters.com: "Gates' nomination now goes to the full Senate for a vote, where he is also expected to prevail in his bid to replace Donald Rumsfeld, a lightning rod for critics of the increasingly unpopular Iraq war.

Twenty one senators on the panel unanimously approved the nomination."

The quicker this vote is done the sooner the Rumsfailed era is over.

The FIC's Biased Poll

The FIC is mad that some in the corporate owned media doesn't share their radical point of view that gay and lesbian marriages should be banned:

The more the Courant continues in its left-lunacy the more people come to our blog.

Anyway, Sherlock has given us the grand idea of running a poll on this question (on the right of the blog). I think its pretty likely that many of our readers are going to say they have either cancelled their subscription to a major paper because of bias or considered doing so.

First, many come to the Blog simply to point out hipocrisy... And, secondly, the poll question they ask?

Have you cancelled your subscription to the Courant or another state paper because of liberal bias?

* No, the Courant is fair and balanced!
* This is a lame poll, and I refuse to respond!
* Yes, the Courant is way out in left-field!
* No, but I've seriously considered cancelling!

OK... So the second was more of the first!

The FIC poll exposes their site as a pious fraud, most likely by ID (Ignorant Design).

If you wanted an honest poll you would add this choice to it:

NO, I cancelled because the Courant, and the bulk of the MSM, is on right-wing-crack!

But the goal of your FIC site is obviously not to inform people with honest ideas. Your agenda is to perpetrate mass ignorance on society with biased deceptions and myths. In other words: Christianist gay and lesbian bashing done in the name of Jesus, who never preached such hatred.

Instead of looking for dividing factors amongst political and religious factions, any group that claims morality and religion as their compass should be looking more at the issues like poverty and the enviornment that could be uniting factors.

Your sites' agenda exposes the not-so-hidden hate and divide messages that false christians emulate in the political arena. Some moral values...

Howard Dean makes fun Of Faux News

Dean also makes a joke at his own expense at the end of his speech delivered to the Liberal party in Canada.



At least he has a sense of humor about it all, eh?