Archive for September, 2006

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More on Abramoff, GOP “morality”…

Tuesday, September 26th, 2006 by Abell Smith
Check out:
  • Think Progress has a summary of the Abramoff scandal, including his Coushatta scam, which involved Christian-right activists James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and (most prominently) Ralph Reed. See also an article by Joe Conason on Tom DeLay’s involvement, which points out:
    Not many politicians have been as bold as DeLay in publicly claiming the mandate of heaven… What did God tell DeLay about those lavish trips and dinners and donations, and about the money funneled to his wife? The actual Bible, which he professes to believe is the word of the Lord, is quite clear on the question. Bribery is strictly prohibited in Exodus 23:8 and Job 36:18, which specifically warns: “Be careful that no one entices you by riches; do not let a large bribe turn you aside.”

  • Think Progress also has a good wrap-up on DeLay’s misdeeds, up to and including the Abramoff scandal. See also a report by Beyond DeLay, which identifies the 20 most corrupt members of Congress, and 5 to watch (21 of the 25 total are Republicans).

  • On the Religious Right, check out Rob Boston’s list of their top 10 power-brokers. Number 4 is the Alliance Defense Fund, which recruits young lawyers to “pledge 450 hours of pro-bono time to the Body of Christ,” in an effort to “reclaim the legal system for Jesus Christ” (huh?). See also the Time article asking “Does God Want You To Be Rich?“

  • Regarding Clinton, watch him rip Chris Wallace a new one.

  • Lastly, the joke about hookers comes from good ol’ Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who, aside from being sent to the clink for conspiracy, fraud, and tax evasion, reportedly liked to put on a turtleneck sweater and pajama bottoms and entertain prostitutes on his yacht by the light of his favorite lava lamp.

Posted in Fighting Words | Comment

Well, I’m sure there’s no racist undertone to this at all

Tuesday, September 26th, 2006 by August J. Pollak

A Texas radio host who owns a gun shop decided to promote both his jobs at the same time by ranting on the air about the need to “arm yourself” against… that’s right… those dangerous Katrina evacuees.

Katrina evacuees were suspects or victims in 59 of Houston’s 262 homicides between Jan. 1 and Aug. 26. Residents in West Houston have blamed evacuees for violent crime rates, which have increased almost 14 percent in one district and homicides, which have nearly doubled in another.

This month, the FBI reported that violent crime in Houston jumped 2.4 percent last year, slightly above the national figure of 2.3 percent.

Pruett’s radio ad says, “When the ‘Katricians’ themselves are quoted as saying the crime rate is gonna go up if they don’t get more free rent, then it’s time to get your concealed-handgun license.”

Department of Public Safety statistics show that from January to Sept. 1, the number of concealed-carry permits issued for handguns has risen almost 25 percent in Harris County, which includes Houston. Texas has no other gun registration laws. Houston welcomed at least 250,000 evacuees after Katrina swamped New Orleans last year, and as many as 120,000 remain.

Yep, the neighborhood was all nice and purty until those types showed up.

Quick Martha, get more guns. The negroes are coming.

Posted in Some Guy With a Website | Comment

beat the misogynist

Monday, September 25th, 2006 by Stephanie McMillan

Hi LJ friends,

Sharon Warner, the person who won the auction of my Bill Napoli cartoon to raise money for Planned Parenthood and the Oglala Sioux Tribe last spring, has introduced me via email to Senator Stanford Adelstein, South Dakota District 32, who narrowly lost the primary for re-nomination to the South Dakota Senate. He is now working to help elect Theresa Spry, a Native American whom he says can beat Napoli. Adelstein notes that she “would be a great Senator — even if she was not running against such a repulsive, dishonest, woman-abusing renegade.”

They need financial help to buy advertisting exposing Napoli and to help elect Spry and three other Democratic candidates. Adelstein is spending a big chunk of his own personal money on it too, by the way.

Please read his letter below, and consider helping if you can. If Napoli wins again in South Dakota, that’s very bad news for women everywhere.

Thank you!

* * *
Dear Caring friend of Stephanie McMillan,

With a serious election barely six weeks away I am asking for financial help for Theresa Spry, an able replacement for Bill Napoli. She is a thoughtful, experienced leader who would make an excellent State Senator. While I am a Republican and she is a Democrat – my experiences with his bigotry, misogyny, support of an extremist anti-abortion bill, opposition to funding for Public Broadcasting, and extremist positions too numerous to recount drives me to do anything possible to replace him!!

Theresa has a well planned campaign but is lacking funds to adequately advertise and get the direct mail out that can spell victory. As a Lakota, she also needs funds to recruit more individuals for a hard hitting Get out the Vote effort on Election Day.

I was a leader in opposition to HB 1215, and other far out proposed law – the abortion issue is only the tip of the wild extreme legislation that Napoli and friends pushed. If any recipient of this letter wants more detail please contact me at sma@rapidnet.com, and I will send you copies of bills that would make abortion, even to save the life of the Mother impossible, removes Living Will discretion, forces local school boards to teach “abstinence only? in every school – and nothing else. Once again just a few of those items that moderate Republican fought – and won. Now, however, is the time to move Napoli out of the Capitiol? Especially so, as there is such an excellent replacement! If you would like to know more about Theresa please go on the web to http://www.womenrun.org/ocean/host.php?page=6.html&T

If you can send $250 or less please send it to me – payable to Spry for Senate. If, as I hope, you can send more please send me a check payable to “Western Moderates for Change.? Under South Dakota law the maximum to a candidate is $250 – this PAC has no limitation amounts, all funds from this letter will go to Theresa Spry. The PAC is supporting Theresa and three other Democrats hoping to change the entire energy of our Senate. Please send to me at PO Box 2624, Rapid City, SD, 57709-2624.

Time is critical – we can win with your help.

Stanford M. Adelstein

Posted in Minimum Security | Comment

el diablo

Monday, September 25th, 2006 by Stephanie McMillan

I racked my brain trying to think of something funny to say about Chavez’s speech. I was almost going to draw something only kind of barely funny about it, but then I thought of this, which I’m pretty pleased with:

It irks me the way the mainstream media focuses so much on the devil comment and not the other things he said about US imperialism, and it REALLY bugs me the way they promote this feeling of indignation, trying to make it seem as if the whole country’s in a snit. I really doubt that — more probably agree with the assessment prevalent in other countries that Chavez is a man with the guts finally to say what needs to be said. The media talking heads try to make it seem as if Chavez was an impolite guest of the US rather than here a participant in the UNITED NATIONS. “Oh no, he called Bush a name!! How rude!! Sob!”

* * *

I don’t know if I’m more aware of the birds or if there are really more of them outside these days, but they’re so vocal recently! The bluejays are chattering in bushes, the parrots screeching as they fly by in big groups, mocking birds lining up on the phone wires imitating all sorts of noises, cardinals giving their piercing cries, doves cooing in the branches of trees. It’s like a symphony. I wonder if they’re talking about anything new.

Posted in Minimum Security | Comment

New Toon: Onward and Upward

Monday, September 25th, 2006 by Matt Bors

click to enlarge

I updated my illustration portfolio recently with new pieces.

Posted in Idiot Box | Comment

Fighting Words: 9/25/06 Cartoon

Monday, September 25th, 2006 by Abell Smith

“Fundamentalist Broadcasting Network, #2“… see the previous episode here.

Posted in Fighting Words | Comment

Latest comic!

Monday, September 25th, 2006 by August J. Pollak

“We call it life”

The scoops. Yes.

Anyone can simply not care about global warming, but a lot of people actually make a conscious effort to rationalize not caring about it instead of just saying they don’t care and frankly, it’s kind of annoying. Let’s face it: we’re literally killing the planet, we have more evidence to prove it than most prosecutors have in criminal court cases, and yet the response from the big industries causing a lot of it are to say that it’s okay to still do it as long as they make token gestures to pretend they’ll one day stop doing it. Great.

So yeah, I imagine if the Soylent Corporation was actually around, they’d have an ample team of spin doctors ready to explain why it would be financially infeasable to stop incorporating humans into their manufacturing process. Missing for space reasons is the panel where the corporate executive explains how as duty to the shareholders, it would be immoral for him not to eat babies.

Eh. Buy some crap. Most of it is only made out of sea lions.

Posted in Some Guy With a Website | Comment

The lament of the original Some Guy With a Website

Sunday, September 24th, 2006 by August J. Pollak

Shorter Brendan Nyhan: Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Just to recap: After being humilated for writing something blatantly wrong about Atrios for no reason other than his Spinsanity-era style of attacking liberals for the sake of personal amusement, Nyhan sees this as a sign of liberals being unable to “deal with” his Spinsanity-era style of god-like proclamations blessed upon him by the higher authority that is the ability to pay $8.95/month for bandwidth. Nyhan is asked by the editors of the left-leaning online publication that hired him to actually be a left-leaning writer, and realizing he isn’t going to be paid to bitch about more popular liberals while pretending to be one he quits, then proceeds to whine about it on the Time.com blog- a bastion of political intellect so shown by its hiring of Ana Marie Cox, the woman who knows absolutely nothing about actual politics, and Andrew Sullivan, the man who has been absolutely wrong about everything for the last four and a half years. In this auspicious venue, he laments the actions of major publications not taking political writing seriously. For an encore, Nyhan suggests the American Prospect has nowhere near the credibility of The New Republic, which has seen the departure of multiple writers and editors in recent years for various major infractions of journalistic ethics.

All in all, it really makes you wonder how the Prospect could have let a catch like that slip through their hands.

Posted in Some Guy With a Website | Comment

Slowpoke: A Threat to Texas Prisons

Sunday, September 24th, 2006 by Jen Sorensen
This is great. Apparently there’s someone doing time down in Texas with a subscription to the Funny Times. Sadly, they were denied a recent issue of the magazine because my “Rid-Mex” cartoon was deemed “designed to achieve a breakdown of prisons through offender disruption such as strikes or riots.” Here’s the denial notice they sent to the Funny Times (click to enlarge):













And here’s the offending cartoon:










It’s hard to say whether the prison administrator wildly misinterpreted the cartoon or just didn’t like the message. In any case, you never know when a comic making fun of bigotry will cause violence and mayhem!

Posted in Slowpoke | Comment

New Toon: Rumsfeldian Dementia

Saturday, September 23rd, 2006 by Matt Bors

click to enlarge

Posted in Idiot Box | Comment

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