Sheep 2008 - Nixon's Chopper

A look back at historic presidential transportation. (From the animated series "Off Road" available for viewing at www.Sheep2008.com.)

BILL HICKS: Flying the Flag of Freedom

Does it bug me to see Americans burning the American flag? Yeah, sure it does. The flag is a symbol representing all the good things about our country (bad things too), but do I think it should be a crime to burn an Americn flag? Hell no. No damn way.

It's absolutely un-American to say that some dude who buys a flag from the store down the street couldn't burn that flag on his own front lawn. His right to express himself is guaranteed under the Constitution. If that's how Joe Flag Burner wants to express himself, then let him have his flag barbecue in peace, and if you're so wrought with grief over Joe's flag burning then you also have the right to picket Joe from the nearest public sidewalk.

OLBERMANN: Bill O'Reilly Wins Worst Person in the World Award Yet Again

NOVEMBER 29, 2007 KEITH OLBERMANN

Poor O'Reilly... The guy makes an innocent slip of the tongue, saying that Jesus Christ lived 5,000 years ago, and the world just won't let him forget it LOL. He was probably so fired up hating on some Democrat that he forgot his Bible Studies.

Yeah... but that's quite a slip up. That would be like me forgetting my own birthday. For most Christians, the date of the birth of Christ is sort of a big day, know what I mean?

OLBERMANN: Firefighters Trained to Spy by Department of Homeland Security

NOVEMBER 28, 2007 KEITH OLBERMANN

Sounds like a good idea, right? Having firemen, people out in the field already, keeping an eye out for suspicious terrorist-related stuff. My question is: what constitutes "suspicious materials and behavior"?

I'd like the idea in principle if it weren't for a couple things:

1) That firemen don't need a warrant

2) That the Patriot Act, among other changes to civil rights, means the accused don't get a fair trial, which means that any "evidence" collected without a warrant could be used against a suspect

RED STATE UPDATE: Recap of CNN/YouTube Debate

I was a little disappointed that more of the questions in last night's CNN/YouTube debate weren't answered. Anderson Cooper let the candidates dodge a number of them. Where were the tough followup questions that we saw in the last CNN Democratic debate. These guys were allowed to answer the really tough questions with cute one-liners. Huckabee's answer to a question on the death penalty was "What would Jesus do? Jesus was too smart to run for public office." Well, that's funny and all, but it doesn't answer the question.

Remember Wolf Blitzer's insistence on YES/NO answers in the last CNN Democratic debate a couple weeks ago? If one of the Dems had tried to give an answer like the ones the Republicans were allowed to get away with last night, they would have been skewered. Blitzer was a lot tougher on the Dems than Cooper was on the Republicans last night.

So, I know it's not kosher to accuse the mainstream media of conservative-bias since that's what the conservatives so often do in alleging liberal-bias, but I know what I saw, and I saw conservative-bias last night.

As for the question by the gay general who's on a Hillary Clinton steering committee, that wasn't evidence of CNN liberal bias. Not one bit. Guaranteed, the truth about that general's affiliation with the Clinton campaign was going to get discovered, so ultimately it makes Clinton look like the bad guy, whether or not she herself had anything at all to do with his appearance in the debate. It makes Clinton look like a cheat and fires up the Righties. More evidence of conservative bias.

All in all, it was a joke of a debate. The Republicans were allowed to get off lightly.

Iraqi Speed Bump

DAMN! Can you believe that? Close call. Think about all the people those bombs are going to kill long after US troops have left the country. Think about all those kids for the next decades stepping on land mines and getting shot by guns supplied by our country.

Is it all worth the cost in human life? After everything, years from now, will we look back and see Iraq like Japan and Germany after WWII, or will Iraq look more like Afghanistan after the Soviets left and the Taliban showed up? For Iraq's sake, I sure hope it's the former.

RED STATE UPDATE: Huckabee? F**k Me!

I love these guys. Jackie and Dunlap discuss the Mike Huckabee campaign. Will they take advantage of Dunlap's new slogan?

5 Cheney Cartoons: A Look Back Through the Archives

TAGS: Cheney Cartoons, Vice President, Political Cartoons

MARK FIORE: That Darn Dictator

They're like the political Odd Couple, Musharraf and Bush.

I read that Pervez intends to give up his military title later this week. Now, if only we could talk George into doing the same thing.

I love Mark Fiore's Bush voicework in his cartoons, especially that sniveling "heh heh" giggle he throws in every once in a while, heh heh....

TAGS: Mark Fiore, Funny Videos, Cartoons, Humor, Animation

My Weekend Roundup of Funny Political Videos

Red State Update In The Same Room As Hillary, Obama, Edwards

Uncle Jay Explains the News - November 25, 2007

Adam Sandler's Iraqi Pete, Circa Desert Storm/Shield

Five Women George Bush Has Screwed

• 1. Harriet Miers - Former White House Counsel who resigned last January. Bush nominated her on October 3, 2005 for Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The nomination was met with opposition from conservative groups and others unhappy with her credentials. Shortly thereafter, Bush withdrew her nomination, saying Miers had asked him to do so.


• 2. Dana Perino - Current White House Press Secretary, having assumed the position on September 14, 2007. She is the second woman to serve as White House Press Secretary, Dee Dee Myers being the first woman to serve as press secretary in the Clinton Administration, but, ironically, Perino will undoubtedly go down in history as the first female press secretary to have been royally screwed by a sitting president.


• 3. Condoleezza Rice - The 66th United States Secretary of State, and the second in the administration of President George W. Bush to hold the office. Rice will also be remembered as the second African American Secretary of State screwed by President George W. Bush.


• 4. Britney Spears - Britney's trust was misplaced when in a 2003 CNN interview she was quoted as saying, "Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision he makes and should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens."


• 5. Laura Bush - First Lady Laura Bush stood by her man despite knowing of the women he screwed, but the last three years have been particularly rough on her. With the president's job approval ratings stuck below 50 percent, the first lady spends much of her time defending her husband and teaching him how to read.

TAGS: George Bush, Sex, president, politics, women

Former Spy Valerie Plame Deserved To Die

Conservatives like FoxNEWS's John Gibson want to pin a medal on whoever outed Valerie Plame, the CIA wife of Ambassador Joe Wilson. To some, Plame was guilty of treason, working within the CIA to sabotage the administration of President George W. Bush, and deserves to pay with her life.

On July 14, 2003, a newspaper column entitled "Mission to Niger" by Robert Novak disclosed Plame's name and status as an "operative" who worked in a CIA division on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. In that column, Novak was responding to an "op-ed" entitled "What I Didn't Find in Africa," written by former Ambassador Wilson and published in the New York Times the previous week, on July 6, 2003. In his op-ed, former Ambassador Wilson stated that the George W. Bush administration exaggerated unreliable claims that Iraq intended to purchase uranium yellowcake to support the administration's arguments that Iraq was proliferating weapons of mass destruction so as to justify its preemptive war in Iraq.

On September 16, 2003 the CIA sent a letter to the US Department of Justice, stating that Plame's status as a CIA undercover operative was classified information and requesting a federal investigation.

One popular argument against Plame is that she wasn't doing important work for the CIA and didn't deserve to have her identity protected. Conservatives use phrases like "secret agent" and "Ms. spy" to make light of her responsibilities and her career. My question is, "Was Valerie Plame's job important enough to protect?"

Plame was accepted into the 1985-86 CIA officer training class, beginning her training for what became a 20-year career with the Agency. Although the CIA has still classified some of the details from the period of Plame's professional career, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, assigned by then Attorney General John Ashcroft, showed that Plame "was a CIA officer from January 1st, 2002, forward" and that her association with the CIA was classified at the time of the leak of her identity to the press.

Fitzgerald found that Plame worked for the CIA in a clandestine capacity relating to counter-proliferation, halting the spread of nuclear weapons materials around the world. While using her own name, "Valerie Plame," her assignments required posing in various professional roles in order to gather intelligence more effectively. Two of her covers include serving as a junior consular officer in the early 1990s in Athens, and then later an energy analyst for the private company (founded in 1994) "Brewster Jennings & Associates", which the CIA later acknowledged was a front company for certain investigations.

Plame has also, in so many words, been accused of mutiny, an argument people like Gibson use to justify her outing. According to John Gibson, Plame was part of an anti-Bush cabal working without CIA permission to undermine the President of the United States, Gibson's point being that Plame deserved to be outed, perhaps worse.

There has been debate over what kinds of damage may have resulted from the public disclosure of Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA operative in Novak's column and its fallout, how far and into what areas of national security and foreign intelligence that damage might extend, particularly Plame's work with her cover company, Brewster Jennings & Associates.

Plame, herself, has characterized the damage as "serious."

But in an October 27, 2005 appearance on Larry King Live, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Bob Woodward said, "They did a damage assessment within the CIA, looking at what this did that [former ambassador] Joe Wilson's wife [Plame] was outed. And turned out it was quite minimal damage. They did not have to pull anyone out undercover abroad. They didn't have to resettle anyone. There was no physical danger to anyone, and there was just some embarrassment."

Mark Lowenthal, who retired from a senior management position at the CIA in March 2005, reportedly disagreed: "You can only speculate that if she had foreign contacts, those contacts might be nervous and their relationships with her put them at risk. It also makes it harder for other CIA officers to recruit sources."

Should the question over whether or not it was treasonous to leak Plame's identity have to do with her personality or with her classified status? Plame critics frequently overlook the following:

1) The CIA considered Plame to have classified status at the time of the leak of her identity.

2) The CIA was first to request the matter be investigated.

3) Former Attorney General John Ashcroft was the person to refer the matter to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel.

Many overlook that Plame had classified status under the law because they don't like her as a person, they overlook that the CIA was first to request the investigation because they don't like her as a person, they overlook the merit of the issue of treason here (by those responsible for leaking her identity to the press) because they don't like her as a person, they overlook I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby's conviction on four counts of perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements because they don't like Plame as a person. In other words, they overlook the breaking of laws simply because they just can't stand the woman.

TAGS: Valerie Plame, Plame, Bush, CIA, Libby, Cheney, Leak, Investigation, Joe Wilson, conservatives, Republican

Fred Thompson Stars in...Acting the Part

Darlene McBride Sells Her Thanksgiving CD, MAD TV

If I paid more attention to country music, would this video look any less authentic to me than it does?

SNL Weekend Update: Chris Farley, Sports News Guy

Classic Farley.

Fred Thompson Campaign Ad

Pretty awesome 3D stuff. Check out more political cartoons from Heada'State.com. They haven't been on the scene very long, but I think their cartoons are incredible. Give 'em some love!

Whose Line Is it Anyway? on Newscasters

Red State Update at the Las Vegas Democratic Debate

Jackie and Dunlap go to Sin City to keep an eye on the Democrats, talk to guys in bear suits, and hit on Elizabeth Kucinich.

Fred Thompson - The Next Reagan?

5 Ways to Swift Boat a Presidential Candidate

The verdict is in: negative campaigning works. It's a sad but true fact of life in America today that "the informational benefits of negative political ads possess the capacity to promote political participation," according to a 1996 study by the Campaign Connection of Seattle, "particularly among those otherwise least well equipped for political learning." In other words, swift boating (aka Borking) works like gangbusters on dumb folks.

Yet there are risks to going negative. It can and sometimes does backfire, alienating centrist voters and motivating the opposition, especially if the negative campaign becomes seen as cruel and petty, such as a disastrous ad run by the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in the 1993 Canadian federal election that highlighted a facial disability of Liberal Party candidate Jean Chretien. Backlash to the ad was severe, helping to reduce the governing conservatives to two seats in that election.

Sadly, however, more often than not, the old straw man or red herring argument works well enough to explain its continued use in politics. Free speech trumps false advertising when it comes to public figures, who enjoy weaker protection against false allegations than do average citizens. Swift boating is here to stay. Whom will it sink next?

1. 527 groups

Use a surrogate group, like the infamous Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and Moveon.org 527 groups, to influence the nomination, election, appointment or defeat of candidates for public office. 527's are tax-exempt organizations unable to donate money directly to elect or defeat a candidate for federal office. What they are allowed to do, though, is say just about anything they want to about a candidate without being subject to regulation by the Federal Election Commission or state elections commissions.

2. Push polling

Have a surrogate group -- a group not easily tied to your campaign -- telephone likely voters to ask scandalous questions phrased in a such a way that they imply something negative. It is widely believed that surrogates working for the Bush camp in the 2000 presidential election used push polling to conservative Republican voters in the Deep South to ask them whether they would support John McCain if they knew he had an illegitimate interracial daughter with a black woman. McCain, in fact, has an adopted daughter from Bangladesh, but no matter. Never let the truth stand in the way of a good push polling.

3. Target deep-seeded issues

The George H.W. Bush campaign did it in 1988 with Democratic Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis and William (Willie) Horton, a convicted black man who, while released on a weekend furlough program, committed armed robbery and the rape of a white woman. After the television ad aired, Dukakis, who had previously supported the idea of limited furloughs for people guilty of specific offenses, was forever associated in the minds of television viewers with the image of the murderer and rapist.

4. The Daisy Girl

Imply the loss of something sacred if your opponent wins. The Daisy Girl, named after an ad aired only once by the Lyndon B. Johnson campaign during the 1964 presidential election, remains one of the most controversial political ads ever made.

The ad features a little girl picking daisies, counting softly to herself as birds sing in the background. An ominous voice is then heard counting down to a missile launch. When the countdown reaches zero, there's a flash, a mushroom cloud, the girl is gone, and a voiceover from Johnson says, "These are the stakes! To make a world in which all of God's children can live, or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die." Another voiceover then says, "Vote for President Johnson on November 3. The stakes are too high for you to stay home."

5. Guilt by association

Also in the 1988 presidential campaign between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis, an ad by the Bush campaign featured a line of convicts, leaving and entering a prison through a revolving door, as the narration states that when governor of Massachusetts, Dukakis vetoed mandatory minimum sentencing for drug dealers, that he vetoed the death penalty, and that he gave weekend furloughs to first-degree murderers. The furlough program was actually enacted before Dukakis become governor. As governor, Dukakis abolished it.

The narrator goes on to point out that while furloughed, many of the convicts committed crimes including kidnapping and rape, and are still at large. The ad concludes with the phrase: "Now Michael Dukakis says he wants to do for America what he's done for Massachusetts. America can't afford that risk!" The disclaimer at the end indicates the ad was paid for and endorsed by the Bush/Quayle campaign.

TAGS: campaign, presidential, 2008, smear, swiftboat, kerry, bush, TV, advertising, politics, political, republican, democrat

JibJab Returns with Uncle Globey & Friends

Best JibJab Political Cartoons

This Land! starting George Bush and John Kerry

What We Call the News

Star Spangled Banner

Big Box Mart

2-0-05: Year in Review, staring George Bush

Red State Update on CNN's Out In The Open

From this clip, a lot of viewers aren't going to know that Jacki and Dunlap are liberal, and that makes it even better. I gotta agree with them on Bill Richardson in the debate the other night. I know the pundits are spinning that last CNN debate to say it was the best debte so far, but I totally disagree, not because I don't want Hillary to win but because I can't stand Wolf Blitzer's YES/NO questions. Making people choose between human rights and national security?? Are you kidding me? Aren't there some questions for which a simple YES/NO answer is insufficient? What was with Blitzer's fascination with one-word answers?

I guarantee you if Blitzer went to his boss and asked for a raise and gave a long list of reasons why he deserved one, if his boss answered by just saying, "No," Wolf wouldn't be satisfied with that answer. Some questions require more than a YES/NO answer, and I'm a little disappointed in the candidates for not calling Blitzer out on it at the time.

MARK FIORE: Animal Comment

OLBERMANN: Canadian Fire Trucks and Why the Department of Homeland Security Blows

I don't know if Olbermann was kidding about Lou Dobbs, but I'm a big Lou Dobbs fan. I love the chubby old coot when he gets to talking about the struggling Middle Class. He's right. Every day that passes in this country, life for the Middle Class gets a little bit tougher, prices for things like gas, health insurance and college tuition get a little bit higher -- at faster rates than inflation, mind you. That's the problem. I "get" that prices rise and always have, but when gas climbs 30 percent in 12 months -- you've got a real problem there.

Health Insurance Is Broken in America: A Short Rant

I know that where I work, people are near celebrating that our medical premiums only rose nine percent this year, the first year in a while they rose by less than double digits. Oh, joy, only 9 percent?! Of course, our COLA salary adjustments for inflation were about 1/3 that much, so we're still losing ground.

There are no two ways about it: healthcare costs and consequently healthcare coverage sucks in America. I'm Middle Class, have a great job, yet my health coverage absolutely sucks. I got food poisoning last summer -- bad, bad food poisoning -- and had to rush to an emergency room for treatment. I wasn't well enough to sit on hold for 10 minutes with my insurance carrier to pre-qualify and locate the most Blue Cross friendly ER in my area (I was out of town at the time), so a family member rushed me to the nearest ER. Wouldn't you know it??? Blue Cross refuses to cover a big chunk of the care after the fact, claiming that I could have gone to a different ER cross town which was a preferred hospital.

Bullsh*t on that. I pay more than $1,000/month for health insurance through my employer. My insurance service manual is 50 pages long and was deliberately written by insurance company attorneys to be misleading and vague, all with the clear intent of leaving customers so damn confused about their coverage and the various deductibles for different classes of service and procedures that folks just give up and take it.

State Laws: No Shooting Rabbits from Motor Boats

What Can Happen When You Forget to Pay Your Bills?

KEITH OLBERMANN: War Cost to Hit $1.6 Trillion

From Olbermann's November 13, 2007 Countdown...

RED STATE UPDATE: Romney, Obama Bashed by Jackie's Momma

Jackie's 112-year-old mother calls her son's campaign headquarters and weighs in on the competition.

Five ways to respond to President Bush when he says "Congress needs to fund the war."

• 1. Congress has funded the war, now to the tune of at least one trillion dollars. The president needs to fund the United States of America for a change.


• 2. My family and every other family in America is on the hook for $20,000 because of this war. I want SOME of my tax dollars to stay in the country. How about that for an idea, Mr. President?"


• 3. Congress wants $22 billion more for things we KNOW we could use here at home, like school improvements, bridges, and health care costs. How's about you take some of that $200 billion you just requested for the Middle East and spend 10% of it for actual American citizens?


• 4. You're like a rich kid at the grocery store with his mom, pointing at everything he sees and screaming, "Buy me that, Mom! I want it! I want it now! Waaa-waaa-waaa!"


• 5. You don't get to hold Congress hostage by saying "Fund the troops" forever. Because sooner or later the money will run out, and at some point you have to realize that the safest thing you can do for our troops as president is to order them home.

Reporter Whimpers Like a Puppy after Biting Hottest Chili Pepper in the World

Never underestimate the power of a hot chili or the willingness of a TV reporter to self-inflict intense pain in the name of ratings.

Saudi Arabian Bluegrass with Mike Rayburn

Five political news sites I visit regularly

• 1. Breitbart.com


• 2. Digg / Political News


• 3. Newsvine


• 4. Fark / Politics


• 5. BBC News / America

Iraqi special forces training

Now, I know what you're thinking: "How do I sign up for that class?" Well, I hate to break it to you, but the selection process is quite brutal. Unless you're able to complete two correctly executed, consecutive jumping jacks, they won't even consider you for the course.

Ugh ... this post is gonna tick some people off. I wish I could zap through the Internet cable into their computers and shout through their speakers, "It's just a joke!"

RED STATE UPDATE: CNN YouTube Republican Debate Question

What does a chickenhawk have to do with Veterans Day?

Fonejacker - Fun with tech acronyms

www.fonejacker.tv

Five news stories that could have been huge

• 1. Cheney, on hunting trip, shoots another friend in face


• 2. Bill O'Reilly gives all to charity, then leaves country


• 3. Naked President Bush sings "My Milkshake" song to 2nd grade class


• 4. Clinton campaign caught planting questions in press conference to explain planted questions scandal


• 5. Edwards hires noted Hollywood hair stylist

TAGS: Cheney, Oreilly, President Bush, Bush, Clinton, Edwards

Five reasons I should not have looked at Foxnews.com this morning

• 1. To see this picture of Vice President Cheney, the king of all chickenhawks, paying tribute to America's veterans.


• 2. The front page feeding frenzy over Hillary Clinton's campaign being accused of fixing questions during Iowa appearances, even though it looks like Hillary herself had nothing to do with it.


• 3. Their article on how some members of Congress have proposed raising the cigarette tax by 61 cents. We get it, Rupert: tax-n-spend Democrats. Very funny. We get it already.


• 4. The headline, "Global Warming's Senseless Consensus." BLECH!


• 5. Bill O'Reilly's column: "Do you want America to win the War on Terror?" No, Bill, don't be silly. Of course not. No one on the left wants America to defeat terrorism, you condescending scumbag.

TAGS: Oreilly, Cheney, Foxnews, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Clinton, media, chickenhawks, taxes, War on Terror

Mukasey Confirmed

RED STATE UPDATE: RON PAUL RON PAUL RON PAUL

Jackie and Dunlap on Ron Paul's fundraising and chances of winning the White House.

Five people who look like they'd probably run from a fist fight

• 1. Harry Reid


• 2. Rush Limbaugh


• 3. Mitt Romney


• 4. Rudy Giuliani


• 5. Chuck Schumer

COLBERT: Indecision 2008 widget.

I'm not peeved that South Carolina Dems took Colbert off the presidential ballot. I love Stevie Colbert -- I love him madly -- but how far can you take a joke before it has to be taken seriously? He says he didn't intend to run a nationwide campaign, so what was the overall point? Too show that he could beat the Democrats? Yeah, and? You can't run in a primary if you don't intend to run in every state.

But I loves me some Colbert. He's a great guy, whether or not he's on the ballot in South Carolina.

TAGS: Stephen Colbert, Colbert, Jon Stewart, Daily Show, comedy, president, campaign, candidate, Democrats, South Carolina

They think everything's going fine

Streaker-vs-News Reporter

NOT FUNNY: NewsBusted Conservative Comedy, Ep. 117

Load of steaming cat poop right here, folks.... Not funny at all. And just in case you're a conservative and thinking I'm fussy because they're making fun of liberal shtuff, just so we're clear, I don't really like Hillary Clinton (as a candidate) and make fun of her quite often, and I STILL think this was crap. I'm sorry, but wishful thinking doesn't make something funny if it isn't. Daily Show, this is not.

Yet this video had 6,845 views on YouTube as of 9pm on Wednesday.... These are some of the comments on YouTube:

"You are great! Keep up the good work! You are going to give others a run for their money!"
- LisaJMoore

"Absolutely wonderful to hear some comedy from the other side! KEEP IT COMING!"
- dpattison2

"Jodi just gets better and better with her delivery!
Keep 'em coming..."
- slicedsky

"So it's "justice" for "Dog" to be abused by a criminal-animal- abuser, because of what he said in a PRIVATE conversation?
Remember folks: Black people can call ANYONE ANYTHING;
Including that soo-offensive "N" word! But if a White person has EVER said that word, what? Should he be "marginalized" for life? What a load of crap! There's difference between private and public conversation."
- Craigbe

BLECH!

TAGS: conservative, politics, comedy, Daily Show, Republican, funny, political, liberal, NewsBusted, Hillary Clinton, Michael Vick

RED STATE UPDATE: Haggard For Hillary? Giuliani Rocks Out?

Merle's endorsing Hillary? Giuliani jams to Eye of the Tiger? The Eagles have a new album? Jackie and Dunlap look at which candidates are grooving to which rockers, which rockers are endorsing which candidates, and where to find free Rolling Stone magazines.

Carnival of the Liberals #51

Greetings
Gird your loins, fearless reader! Welcome to the 51st installment of the Carnival of the Liberals. What follows are my 10 favorite submissions out of the more than 50 I was privileged to read. To those of you I missed this time around, don't despair. I assure you -- I'm a fool, and my opinions should always be ignored.

Now, if your loins are sufficiently girded, here we go!

Tada! You're gay!
Author J.K. Rowling's shocking announcement last month that Dumbledore, beloved wizard dean of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was gay *the horror!* sent zillions of closeted bigots reeling from the truth. In The right to face the truth, The Ridger over at The Greenbelt wonders why the haters can't be honest with themselves.

Haiku! (God bless you)
Roses are red, violets are blue, I promise to stop rhyming, in order to spare you. Mad, Mad Kane uncovers some of Rudy Giuliani's long lost poetry. Enjoy The Poetry Of Rudy Giuliani.

Timbuktu
In Ancient African Math/Science Shatters Stereotypes, OMYMA tells us about the recent discovery of thousands of books near Timbuktu. They show that African scholars developed sophisticated math, astronomy, and other sciences while Europe floundered in the Middle Ages. Quick! Someone hide those books before the racists get their hands on 'em!

STFU!
In Free Speech for Evil, Hateful, Repulsive Nutjobs? You Betcha!, Greta Christina reminds us that free speech is only free when our ideological opponents are free to use it too.

Pseudonymity
When Facebook deleted Jon Swift's account, little did they know it would spark this little missive. In Pseudonym-Americans Fight Back, Jon stands up for the rights of the anonymous.

Zzzz...
In Man Gets DUI For Sleeping in Parked Car, Reflections from a Rotting Nation tells us a story about injustice, and a sad, tired, drunken man who thought he'd sleep it off. He fought the law ... and ya'all know how that song goes.

Nuts!
In The Death of the Raw Almonds - Take Action Now! Tiffany at Nature Moms gets pretty heated about a California Almond Board decision, upheld by the USDA, to pasteurize (heated to kill bacteria) all almonds in the US. In a blow to organic almond farmers, the board, chaired by almond company officials (wouldn't ya know it), says the nuts must either be doused with chemicals or steamed. Yuck!

Armed
Hell's Handmaiden wonders why we've been spared. If, as many on the right allege, all Muslims are fanatics, why haven't they banged the gongs of war? At 1.5 billion strong, the West wouldn't stand a chance. 1.5 Billion is a Hell of an Army speculates that perhaps they aren't all fanatics.

Peace!
In My Take On World Peace, James over at Small-town Big-shot says there can only be world peace when there are no external threats to our survival. Note to self: don't hold your breath for world peace.

Darwin-who?
Greg at Evolution says that teaching students about the controversy over teaching creationism in science classes only reinforces that which should not be reinforced. Read Controversy over Controversy: Moran disagrees with everybody, but he is probably correct.

Congratulations!
You survived another episode of the Carnival of the Liberals. For your courage and determination, I salute you! The next installment of COTL touches down two weeks from now on Nov. 21 at Yikes!

If you haven't grown sick of me yet, please visit the new Pollyticks.com forum. How is it different? you might ask. Well, for starters it doesn't look like it was designed with crayons and a typewriter.

Traditionally, political forums were where people went to feel better about themselves by insulting or humiliating others. I started this forum because despite the fact that there are already hundreds of different political forums out there, most of them suffer from one or both of the following problems: 1) Too many of the members are mean, and/or 2) they aren't much fun.

Now, fearless reader, because this is still Pollyticks.com, a political cartoon of the day:



For whatever it's worth, here's a link to my previous Carnival of the Liberals, #31.

Have a great day, fearless reader!

-Blue Steel

TAGS: carnival, liberals, conservatives, politics, republicans, democrats, congress, president, bush, forum, forums, kos, poetry, cartoons, political cartoons, news, satire, funny

Bee a hero

Five major issues that continue to be glaring weaknesses for the Democratic Party

• 1. Abortion. Why? Because it divides us as a people more than any other issue. Most Democratic politicians stumble all over themselves when the issue comes up. If for no other reason that it is the foundation issue for the conservative base, abortion is the single most influential social issue of our time.


• 2. Taxation. The truth is, most Democrats believe the country must raise taxes to address the country's biggest challenges, yet they lose votes whenever they acknowledge it in public. It's a Catch 22. There is bipartisan contempt for higher taxes. Decades ago, cunning political strategists worked to corrupt the concept of taxation and from within the government deliberately sought to undermine the very notion of government itself. They succeeded. Ever since then "taxes" has become a dirty word.


• 3. Iraq. Anyone who thinks America can/should withdraw every US soldier out of Iraq immediately fails to understand what's now at stake -- this, according to most of the Democrats in Congress. Unfortunately, the Democratic base disagrees and has long called for immediate withdrawal.


• 4. Iran. The far left doesn't consider Iran to be a serious threat and feels that any international crisis over Iran's nuclear aspirations or involvement in Iraq are entirely manufactured by the Bush administration in its push to start another war. Unfortunately for the left, most Congressional Democrats disagree.


• 5. War and peace. As a rule, the far left is always against U.S. military involvement anywhere in the world. Politically, this is a problem for the Democratic Party, which is generally more hawkish than the left wing.

THE DAILY SHOW: FLIRF

The animals chime in on the War in Iraq

This is FANTASTIC!

Check out more great videos by the producers of this one, Kontraband.

OLBERMANN: Rudy Giuliani is the worst person of the week

Brit Hume of FoxNEWS was runner-up.

No news is good news

Five myths about the terrorists

• 1. That they are all in cahoots like some kind of secret army.


• 2. That a terrorist mastermind is actually hiding in a cave somewhere watching American TV and making war plans based on what Hollywood celebrities say about George Bush.


• 3. That it's even possible to "kill all the terrorists."


• 4. That one could win a war on terrorism without addressing the root cause.


• 5. That we should think of terrorists the same way we think of soldiers. There's a difference. Terrorists typically target civilians on purpose.

Sunday Funnies: A weekly recap of late-night television

Jeff Dunham & Walter: Terrorism

SCORE! I found a new puppet video this morning. What I always says is any day you laugh at a puppet, you know you're going to have a good day. I think we all need a little more puppet in our lives. No, not George Bush-like puppets. I mean the plush ones.

Live From New York, It's Barack Obama!

Now, that's an honor. Forget the life of public service part. I just want to be on Saturday Night Live.

Weekend Update on Dumbledore

Clinton campaign issues statement, says candidate done taking questions

Five ways in which Pakistan's constitutional crisis could impact America

• 1. What happens to the already lawless Afghan border region where many believe bin Laden and his colleagues are hiding?


• 2. Gen. Pervez Musharraf has taken totalitarian actions to maintain his grasp on power, but what happens to US-Pakistan relations if his government is replaced with a militant Islamic regime?


• 3. How secure would Pakistan's arsenal of more than 100 nuclear warheads be if the government collapsed?


• 4. Would a Pakistani theocracy be more or less willing to cooperate with the United States on issues involving Islamic terrorism in the West?


• 5. How would a militant Islamic uprising negatively impact the already strained relationship between India and Pakistan?

BILL MAHER: Crass Warfare

Maher on food recalls: "You don't have to recall things that would make people sick anyway."

CRAIG FERGUSON: Celebrating Vegan Day

How do they do it? How can someone live (happily) without ANY dairy or meat to speak of? Hey, some of that fake meat soy substitute stuff is awful. A soy chili dog covered in soy turkey chili and sprinkled with soy cheddar cheese substitute ain't my idea of Super Bowl party food, I'll tell you what.

But 'tis their right to eat all the soy they want. Up with soy!

OLBERMANN: Cheney and the politics of war

Move it or lose it!

Cheney: It's not easy being this smart

Five Pollyticks masters of misdirection

• 1. Hillary Clinton


• 2. Bill O'Reilly


• 3. Rush Limbaugh


• 4. Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)


• 5. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

New ride at the Texas state fair

Ah... Texas.

OLBERMANN: How Rumsfeld labored to manipulate the American public

George Bush Job Interviews #3: Planned Parenthood

Check out the previous two episodes here: George Bush Job Interviews episodes #1 and #2

Giuliani drunk with power, among other things

Five ways Republicans conduct oversight and lead

• 1. After tens of millions of lead-tainted toys reach store shelves and children start reporting mysterious illnesses, Republicans may order a recall.


• 2. If water supplies dry up around the country, droughts last for record numbers of years, global temperatures rise considerably, and every other developed nation on the planet agrees humans are partly responsible for it all, Republicans may order a halfassed investigation into global warming but will then edit the findings.


• 3. After oil prices break record after record, foreign powers threaten our energy supply, and multi-national corporations gouge the consumer for half a dozen years or so, Republicans may vote to increase fuel efficiency standards by 2mpg over 20 years.


• 4. After countless reports that the US government conducts torture and a legal battle over the definition of the word waterboarding, Republicans may call a press conference to emphatically say, "The United States does not torture!"


• 5. After rushing into a war in Iraq without a plan and then resisting all attempts to extracate the United States in any number of different ways, Republicans may stop and think twice before making the same mistake with Iran, but then they'll still make it anyway.

The legislature: Where voting is like bingo

Another Republican lawmaker caught in gay sex scandal

Repeat after me: "A life lived in the closet is a life not lived at all."

This poor dumbass.... And the prostitute dude says that Representative Curtis (A Washington State representative) gave him his wallet as collateral for the $1,000 he owed him for sex. Hmm.... Yeah, or it was stolen?

Note to self: if living life as a conservative and caught in gay sex scandal with shady male prostitute, do not give wallet to said prostitute as collateral. Matter of fact, do none of the above.

OLBERMANN: How Hillary Clinton shot herself in the foot the other night