Falwell. Finally.

Here's a great video from Chris Hitchens about Falwell. Hitch is often full of shit, but one of the benefits is that you can be as outspoken as you want.

Watch it here.

Edwards Rejects Global War on Terror

Just a quick note here. It's a couple of weeks old, but I just came across it.

John Edwards has rejected the claim that we are engaged in a "Global War on Terror".

His analysis is 100% right on the money, I think:

This is a political frame and political rhetoric. They use it to justify everything they do. They use that language to justify the war in Iraq. They use it to justify Guantanamo. They use it to justify torture. They use it to justify illegal spying on the American people.

[Applause]

It is time for us to quit kowtowing to these people.

This seems like good news to me

Things seem to be falling apart for Bush and Gonzalez, and yesterday's news seems like one more slip for them.

You've already heard it: Paul McNulty, the Deputy Attorney General (that's right, not a Deputy Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General), announced his resignation yesterday.

So what, you say. He isn't the first guy to be thrown to the side to protect Gonzalez, right?

I think the difference is that he seems to have made the decision himself. We know the pattern: it's Friday afternoon, 4:30 or 5:00, and here comes another document dump or resignation of someone who suddenly wants to spend more time with his family, and all of a sudden what should have been a big story gets buried in the news of the latest horse race, movie release, or gasoline price spike.

It also appears that McNulty has been on the outs with Gonzalez lately. Friends of Mr. McNulty said he had tried to be candid about what he knew of the removals. In his private Congressional testimony, Mr. McNulty said he did not realize until later the extensive White House involvement in Mr. Griffin’s appointment or Mr. Sampson’s nearly year-long effort to compile a list.

White House aides complained privately that Mr. McNulty’s testimony gave Democrats a significant opening to demand more testimony from the Justice Department and presidential aides. Several aides said he should have been combative in defending the dismissals.

So what does it mean that McNulty made this announcement on Monday? I think if the Bushies were controlling this it would have happened last Friday or would have been held to this Friday. The fact that the announcement came at a time when it would actually get some news coverage suggests that they aren't controlling this, and he is doing this for his own reasons.

It will be interesting to see what he has to say.

Family travel idea--Godly Family Edition

Okay, maybe it does seem like we're beating a dead--sorry, make that extinct--horse here, but get a load of this.

The next time you're in Cincinnati and you're looking for something to do with your family, you might want to visit an attraction that teaches the kiddos what really happened in prehistoric times. And by "prehistoric" I mean all the way back to the origin of the universe, six thousand years ago.

Yes, folks, it's the Creation Museum. Explore the wonders of creation. The imprint of the Creator is all around us. And the Bible's clear-heaven and earth in six 24-hour days, earth before sun, birds before lizards.

Other surprises are just around the corner. Adam and apes share the same birthday. The first man walked with dinosaurs and named them all!

God's Word is true, or evolution is true. No millions of years. There's no room for compromise.

Don't miss it!

I guess I spoke too soon

There's more news on the Republican candidates against evolution story. Apparently the big story is not the guys who raised their hands to say they don't believe in evolution, but what's wrong with the ones who didn't.

At least, that seems to be the way the Christian Broadcasting Network sees it. David Brody, the Capitol Hill bureau chief for CBN, contacted Mitt Romney's people to find out what the hell was wrong with him that he wouldn't stand up and say he was against evolution. Sadly, when Romney tried to walk the narrow line between being an educated person and a mouth-breathing yahoo, he still didn't get the answer he wanted:

Here's the key point. The majority of Born Again Evangelicals take the Creationist viewpoint. Some Evangelicals already have concerns about Romney's Mormon faith. He needs support from Evangelicals to win. That's why this issue is an important one that needs to be cleared up. I don't think this is an issue that Romney can avoid. I believe his views need to be clear.

I understand Evolution can mean different things to different people and it can be a complicated issue. But Darwin's theory of Evolution is more clear cut. It is considered a "religion" of sorts by fundamentalist Christians. I fully realize that a Commander in Chief will not be making any "executive" decisions when it comes to Evolution. But since many Evangelicals are looking for a candidate with solid social issue conservative beliefs, Evolution enters the equation along with abortion and gay marriage. What say you? As a believer in the Creationist viewpoint, do you want to hear what Romney has to say on this or do you even care?

What's next? I'm voting for the Republican candidates coming out in favor of teaching biblical pi.

How Stupid Do You Have to Be . . .

to be a Republican Presidential candidate?

I didn't watch the Republican candidates' debate last night. I can't tolerate one of those sons of bitches for five minutes, let alone ten of them for a couple of hours.

Still, the event was not entirely without interest.

Here's my favorite part:

MR. VANDEHEI: I’m curious, is there anybody on the stage that does not agree -- believe in evolution?

(Senator Brownback, Mr. Huckabee, Representative Tancredo raise their hands.)

SEN. MCCAIN: May I -- may I just add to that?

MR. VANDEHEI: Sure.

SEN. MCCAIN: I believe in evolution. But I also believe, when I hike the Grand Canyon and see it at sunset, that the hand of God is there also.

I missed the part where McCain said he saw the hand of God in the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells, or the epidemic spread of the AIDS virus (sanctity of life, eh?), but maybe that part didn't get transcribed.

And somehow my copy of the transcript stops before they start talking about whether they believe in gravity, or whether they think the sun revolves around the earth. Just wait, though.

Another crack in the wall

There was a great story on NPR tonight about the U.S. Attorney purge.

As I've said before, Josh has been all over this story, but sometimes there is no substitute for the audio to really capture the essence of it.

Today's story was about the testimony of James Comey, former Deputy Attorney General, before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law. The Bushies started out with a story that all the U.S. Attorneys who were fired were canned for performance reasons. Of course, it would have been nice if they'd clued in the people who were supposedly making the decisions before they talked to the people who were being fired, so that they could have their story straight in advance, right?

Still, that seems to pale before the story of what Comey said about all these fired U.S. Attorneys:

On John McKay of Washington state: "I wasn't supposed to have favorites, but John McKay was one of my favorites."

On Daniel Bogden of Nevada: "He is as straight as a Nevada highway and a fired-up guy."

On David Iglesias of New Mexico: "I thought he was a very effective U.S. attorney. He was sort of the Bogden of New Mexico — very straight, very able."

On Paul Charlton of Arizona: "Very smart, very honest and able person, and I respected him a great deal and would always listen to what he had to say."

Subcommittee Chairwoman Linda Sanchez (D-CA) asked Comey whether, in his view, there were "valid, performance-based reasons" to terminate the attorneys.

"Not in my experience with them," Comey replied.

Still, it's more fun to listen to the audio.

Murder

It's kind of a long time ago now. Almost exactly thirty-seven years, yet I, and probably millions of my contemporaries, remember it clearly. It's the Vietnam War, millions of young people, mostly students, are demonstrating against the war all over the country, and on one campus, a small state school in Ohio, four students are gunned down by the Ohio National Guard. Killed. Nine others are wounded.

If you were alive at the time it's hard to ever forget this photo.

I, and most of the people I associated with politically, considered this murder, not the panicked reaction of some inexperienced weekend warriors, but that was the story that was given out. That or that it was justifiable self-defense.

We didn't have YouTube then, and public events were not as well documented as they are now, but it turns out there is audio tape of the shootings at the archives at Yale, and you know what it says? "Right here! Get Set! Point! Fire!"

I guess we're not as bad off now, because our government isn't gunning antiwar protesters down on the street. Still, people need to remember this.