Back to school: Progressives of faith educate Bush

Kudos to Reverend Jim Wallis for his work to end the monologue on faith and politics by the religious right. At long last, left-wing Christians are speaking out about the right's hypocrisy and questioning its interpretation of the Bible.

Everything in moderation

John McCain captured the hearts of moderates as well as many on both the left and right during the 2000 election, but was ultimately taken down by the nasty political machine of Karl Rove. Since losing to President Bush, however, McCain has been a tremendous thorn in the side of Republicans. His opposition to the Bush Administration even had John Kerry approaching him to do the unthinkable- join Kerry's ticket for the White House.

McCain is despised by most Republicans for his reasonable stances on campaign finance reform, gun control, and government spending, and now that hatred may boil over because McCain chose to do the reasonable-compromise- on the filibuster issue.

McCain and 13 other senators demonstrated real leadership this week, giving the American people a nice reprieve from the "take no prisoners" approach to politics that dominates the current political climate. This is an important victory for the center and bodes well for other looming political fights.

Hopefully it will also be a lesson to Bill Frist and Tom DeLay about what true leadership is.

It's the hypocrisy, stupid.

The sight of a rattled Laura Bush covered in a black scarf after touring the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem gave this clipmonkey some hope that President Bush and company would recognize some of the turmoil that they've wrought in the Middle East and finally take an even-handed look at the region.

But no, within hours of her stressful visit to some of the world's ancient holy sites, the First Lady traveled to Egypt where she endorsed the half-assed democracy plan hatched by that country's long-standing autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Check out this political debate between Mubarak supporters and opposition groups seeking to participate in national elections.

In other Middle East news, the death penalty has been resurrected in the 51st state. I guess if it's good enough for Texas, it must be good enough for Iraq.

Circling the wagons?

Right-wing blogger Instapundit and the conservative echo chamber continue to pile on Newsweek for its recent mistake and are now going after the NYT for its latest report on detainee abuse, this time in Afghanistan. In this report, however, there is plenty of documentation and even gruesome detail about the goings-on at the Bagram detention center.

Much of the criticism of Newsweek has followed the line of, "those liberal journalists just don't trust the military. They're out to embarrass the government. They're all disloyal Americans. Their actions amount to treason, really." Actually, skepticism of the military makes quite a bit of sense these days. Just ask Pat Tillman's mom. Is she "circling the wagons" in defense of Newsweek?

Promoting democracy abroad, ridiculing it in the nation's capital

Now that we know Iraq wasn't a threat, the Bush Administration and its neocon puppeteers have started to portray their efforts in Iraq as part of a larger goal to promote democracy abroad. While many left-wingers detest the notion of America telling others how to govern, DC clipmonkey fully supports it as long as exceptions aren't carved out for repressive "allies" like Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.

That being said, what's remarkable about all of this talk about democracy is the fact that there remains an egregious violation of it in Washington, DC. While DC residents have a city council with some power to represent them and a vote for president, they lack a voting member of Congress and cede ultimate authority for the city's purse strings and legislation to Congress.

Now, a group of Senators, many of whom are simultaneously trying to erode the minority party's rights in the Senate, is seeking to overturn the District of Columbia's 1976 ban on handgun ownership. Democracy in Baghdad, but not in DC? The abuse of power goes on...

Feeding the terrorists

In the days after 9/11, DC clipmonkey was stunned, angry and a bit vengeful, just like most Americans. Once it became clear to him that 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, he began calling for regime change to take down the Saudi royal family. Of course, that was never going to happen because our own royal family is enmeshed with the Saudis as Michael Moore and the more reputable Kevin Phillips have clearly shown.

Three and a half years later, DC clipmonkey's calls for regime change in Saudi Arabia continue unabated. This regime concentrates spectacular wealth in the hands of the very few (sound familiar?), oppresses its people, and even prohibits women from driving. While the latter notion may present an interesting solution to America's horrendous traffic problems, this regime has still got to go.

Worse yet, as The Washington Post reported Sunday, the bulk of the suicide bombers wreaking havoc in Iraq right now are Saudis. While that news certainly won't stop President Bush from holding hands with Saudi royal family members as he ambles around his Texas ranch, maybe it will get him to ask what the Saudi regime is doing to curb anti-American sentiment among its populace.

Bush is right to call for democracy and freedom in the Middle East, but he has been nearly silent on the actions of the Saudi government. And that silence endangers us for two reasons: it goes against our most fundamental beliefs as a nation and feeds the hatred that breeds suicide bombers. Not only do they hate us because of our culture, they hate us for our hypocrisy!

Oh, and there's one other way that we feed their hatred- by importing 1.5 million barrels of Saudi oil per day. Every day we enrich the royal family so they can live large and donate to the madrassas where oppressed Muslims learn to hate America. So, the next time you fill up your gas tank, think about the suicide bomber you're sponsoring.

The real scandal du jour

While the Bush Administration and the right-wing echo chamber hurl grenades at Newsweek for its Marion Barry-esque mistake (the b%*#h set Michael Isikoff up), a far more serious scandal was revealed in recent days that warrants a major investigation of the executive branch. According to notes taken by a British intelligence official at a White House meeting in July 2002, military action against Iraq was seen as "inevitable" fully seven months before the U.S. and a few brow-beaten allies invaded Iraq.

This revelation, which came out just days before the recent British election, has barely merited a peep here in the United States. In fact, The Washington Post covered it on page A18 of its Friday, May 13 edition, and hardly any other news outlet has covered it since. This is a scandal worthy of an impeachment trial. It makes the White House coffees, Travelgate shenanigans, and half-hearted fellatio of the Clinton years look like high school pranks.

Yet no one in Congress seems to care. The Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee won't even follow through on a commitment to investigate the Administration's decision to go to war. Instead, the subject has been changed to Newsweek's mistake. The abuse of power goes on....

The artistry of abusing power

Tom DeLay, Bill Frist, and even Washington gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, may not know it, but they are painting a picture of a craven party, drunk on power, and insatiable in its appetites. Their respective quests for self-interest over the public interest have taken them and their cohorts to great lengths.

Two years ago, Tom DeLay ignored the tradition of post-census redistricting. This year, his pals in the House overturned long-standing ethics rules to protect him (since reinstated due to public pressure). In the Senate, Majority Leader Frist is on the verge of going "nuclear" so that 7 judges with truly bizarre views may be installed for life in our federal courts. Meanwhile, former Washington state senator Dino Rossi continues to try to overturn an election for governor that was decided months ago.

An albeit somewhat bloated Al Gore said it best in his recent speech on Frist's effort to eliminate the filibuster, "The proposal from the Senate majority leader to abolish the right of unlimited debate is a poison pill for America's democracy. It is the stalking horse for a dangerous American heresy that would substitute persuasion on the merits with bullying and an effort at partisan domination."

As DC clipmonkey wrote last week, the script has been written. Republicans would be wise to cast their hubris aside.

Under the radar: Bush overturns roadless rules

It hasn't gotten much coverage what with idiots flying airplanes toward the White House and the Michael Jackson freakshow ongoing, but last week the Bush Administration overturned one of President Clinton's crowning environmental achievements- a ruling to cut off nearly 60 million acres of national forest land from road-building or development.

The overturning of the so-called roadless rule is, of course, an enormous windfall to the timber, mining and oil companies who bankrolled Bush's recent campaign. It's sort of like what Thomas Frank argues in What's the Matter with Kansas? You vote to stop abortion, you get tax cuts for the wealthy. You oppose gay marriage, you get a repeal of the estate tax. You vote against "activist judges," and you get millions of acres of bald, ravaged mountains, buried rivers, and higher profits for oil companies.

Burning down the House

The playbook is already out there. Newt Gingrich put it together in the late 1980s. Slash, burn, rip, tear apart the Congress even if it costs you some friendly-fire casualties. As with then-Speaker Jim Wright and Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, there are villains in place including one particularly sleazy guy. And like Hillarycare, there is an incredibly unpopular proposal out there that would affect every American.

Many are ripping the Dems for not offering enough ideas. But what did the Republicans offer when Clinton was president? They offered investigations, bogus scandals, witch hunts, and payoffs to their corporate cronies. Since the Dems are in the minority, they can't perform the witch hunts with the same gusto. But why should they offer any ideas at all?

If the table isn't set for a major resurgence for the Democrats in Congress, then I don't know when it will be.

Bush's Social Security plan: The fine print

DC clipmonkey expressed support for President Bush's Social Security plan in its broad outlines last week and, on paper, he still does. But Paul Krugman (and DC clipmonkey's girlfriend) has raised some good points about the real motive behind the plan. Is it to starve the program enough to later kill it?

As much as DC clipmonkey abhors President Bush for his favoritism for the wealthy and cavalier attitude about the death penalty and torture, he still, for the moment, believes Bush's proposal is the only realistic one he's heard yet for keeping the program running to the end of this century. The Center on Budget & Policy Priorities begs to differ.

Go away, John Kerry, go away

Four years ago, a fine public servant who won more votes than his opponent was relentlessly criticized for losing a presidential election. You would have thought that he was the one being fellated in the White House during those ill-fated days after Monica first snapped her undies at that White House party. Liberals spewed venom at the mention of Al Gore. Their eyes would roll back in their heads before they would blurt, "He should have used Clinton more, blah, blah, blah" or "Lieberman was a lousy pick, blah, blah, blah."

Al Gore certainly made mistakes in the 2000 election, but he still won more votes than his opponent. Even Republicans admit that far more Florida voters intended to vote for Gore than Bush- reports estimate that Gore would have won Florida by roughly 25,000 votes had some of the shenanigans not occurred down there.

Fast forward four years later. John Kerry, who was soundly beaten, won't go away. And, at the end of the day, he lost because of what he said at that West Virginia forum, "I voted for the $87 billion, before I voted against it." Yes, John Kerry was and always will be a flip-flopper. Please step aside John Kerry. It's time to find out how sexist we really are.