#@!&!!

Democrats Offer National Security Platform:

"Congressional Democrats vow to provide U.S. agents with the resources to hunt down Osama bin Laden and ensure a 'responsible redeployment of U.S. forces' from Iraq in 2006 in a national security policy statement House and Senate Democratic leaders were announcing Wednesday.

'We need a new direction on national security, and leaders with policies that are tough and smart. That is what Democrats offer,' Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday."

Ted Turner blasts the media, Bush -- and himself
I love me some Papa Ted.

Turner, 67, said he regrets losing control of CNN, which he founded in 1980, to Time Warner Inc. after its merger with America Online.

"I had a sacred trust there and I let it go," Turner said. "I thought there was no way they could phase me out, and I was wrong."
.....
Bush lacks a true understanding of the world, Turner said.

"We had a president of the United States who had been out of the country but once before he was elected," he said.

He added, "And this guy has his finger on the nuclear trigger, too -- reformed alcoholic, nothing wrong with that."

Republicans Split Over Religion's Growing Role in Their Party:
You reap what you sow, motherfuckers.

Republicans, who have profited politically from emphasizing faith and family values, are now finding those same issues dividing the party.

Economic conservatives and secular Republicans complain their message is being drowned out by Christian conservatives preoccupied with banning abortion and gay marriage and limiting stem-cell research.

On the other side, ``values'' advocates say they have provided the party with crucial support, particularly in 2004, when they mobilized religious conservatives to go to the polls to help re-elect President George W. Bush.

Such concerns are turning long-simmering Republican tensions over the role of religious conservatives into an election-year split in a party already strained by differences on the Iraq war, immigration and government spending.

``There is a great deal of concern about this seeming attempt to couch everything in religious terms,'' said Christine Todd Whitman, the former governor of New Jersey. ``We're not a narrow-minded nation, and at least some of the people trying to define the Republican Party are coming off that way.''"

No He Didn't:
What did the 5 fingers say to the face? SLAP!!

Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr. of Missouri called for the removal of our troops from Iraq. That is not all he said

'President Bush took this country to war by choice, not because we had to fight but because he wanted a fight,' Clay said, according to a text of the speech he gave Monday at St. Louis Community College at Meramec in Kirkwood.

'I have a question for President Bush,' said Clay, who voted against the resolution authorizing Bush to go to war in Iraq. 'If you really believe that the war that you started in Iraq is a fight to defeat terrorism and to defend our freedoms, why haven't your girls enlisted?'"

20 More Questions for President Bush:

"1.) Is the limit of your imagination replacing Andy Card with Josh Bolten?

2.) Why, during your 2004 campaign did you assure voters, 'any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires... a court order' when you had been specifically authorizing wiretapping without court orders for nearly two years?

3.) Why was your attorney general unable to provide a response beyond 'Um, none come to mind, Senator' to back up your 2006 State of the Union claim regarding warrantless wiretaps that 'previous presidents have used the same constitutional authority I have and federal courts have approved the use of that authority'?

4.) The GOP crowd that was going to 'restore honor and integrity' to Washington has instead given us Abramoff, DeLay, Libby, Frist, Santorum, Safavian, and Claude Allen. If this is what integrity looks like, can you blame those who'd like to bring back Oval Office blow jobs?

5.) Speaking of Claude Allen, your top domestic policy advisor, he abruptly resigned on Feb. 9 and was arrested a month later over a petty shoplifting scam (despite being in the highest White House pay bracket). In 2003 you nominated him as a judge to the 4th Circuit US Court of Appeals - a nomination that the Democrats scuttled. Knowing what you know now, was this the right decision?

6.) In 2003, when you said 'I want to know the truth' about who leaked Valerie Plame's identity, did you ask your staff what they knew? If you didn't ask them, why not?

7.) Do you consider Dick Cheney to be a successful vice president? Why do you think so few Americans approve of the job he's doing?

8.) Why did it take less than two weeks after the unveiling of Janet Jackson's right boob at the Super Bowl before the GOP Congress held hearings on the matter, but 14 months before you caved to public pressure and allowed the 9/11 Commission to be formed? Had the 9/11 widows not pressured you to form the commission, would you ever have done it?

9.) Why wasn't your testimony to the 9/11 commission under oath? Why did you insist on having Dick Cheney in the room with you?

10.) With the domestic war on terror underfunded and understaffed, do you consider it a smart allocation of resources to have the FBI form a squad exclusively devoted to cracking down on sexually explicit material involving consenting adults?

11.) After Katrina, you said 'I take responsibility' for the failure of the government. Is this the only disaster during your five years in office for which you take responsibility?

12.) In its post-Katrina rebuilding efforts, your administration, according to the Wall Street Journal, 'is importing many of the contract practices blamed for spending abuses in Iraq,' including contracts awarded without competitive bidding and cost-plus provisions 'that guarantee contractors a certain profit regardless of how much they spend.' So what's the thinking on this one, Mr. President -- 'If at first you don't succeed...'?

13.) You came into office pledging to be 'a uniter, not a divider.' What grade would you give yourself on that?

14.) Given your public pronouncements about your extensive Bible reading, what are your thoughts on Jesus' teachings about the poor?

15.) Why did Vice President Cheney fight tooth and nail to keep the records of his energy task force secret? What is he hiding?

16.) Given that we now know the heads of oil companies attended the vice president's energy task force meetings, and given that they denied it when they appeared before Congress, would you say they lied to Congress? Is this why Senator Ted Stevens was so adamant that they not be sworn in before their testimony?

17.) Would you have sent your daughters to a school whose science department taught that the earth is 10,000 years old?

18.) You appointed Karen Hughes, a woman who speaks no Arabic or Farsi, and who has no education in Middle East matters, to be our goodwill ambassador to the Muslim world. If another country appointed a goodwill ambassador to the United States who spoke no English and knew nothing about our country, how do you think that person would do?

19.) Why do you think the United States is so much more unpopular in virtually every country in the world since you took office? Are being respected and being 'strong' mutually exclusive?

20.) Would you say you are someone who is able learn from his mistakes?"

Imperial overreach is accelerating the global decline of America:

"The disastrous foreign policies of the US have left it more isolated than ever, and China is standing by to take over"

Americans See, Hear More Profanity:
Fuck yeah!

"Nearly three-quarters of Americans questioned last week — 74 percent — said they encounter profanity in public frequently or occasionally, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll. Two-thirds said they think people swear more than they did 20 years ago. And as for, well, the gold standard of foul words, a healthy 64 percent said they use the F-word — ranging from several times a day (8 percent) to a few times a year (15 percent)."