Enough... it's time to say this out loud. There is no good reason to be a Republican. NONE

Rush Limbaugh is a big, fat idiot. There. I said it. I know I repeat myself, but it just needs saying over and over again. Then, there's this guy:

On CBS' Face The Nation this past Sunday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said that "resignation would be a decision" that Judge Jay Bybee, who authored one of the recently released torture memos, "would have to make on his own." McCain added that Bybee had "fundamentally" misinterpreted "what the United States is all about, much less things like the Geneva Conventions."

On the Brian And The Judge radio show yesterday, Fox News' Brian Kilmeade responded to McCain's argument by saying that the former prisoner of war "should not be allowed to talk on torture because he is clearly somebody who went through unspeakable pain and punishment":

KILMEADE: But he was tortured, he was tortured.

NAPOLITANO: And his views of torture are irrelevant?

KILMEADE: Are skewed.

NAPOLITANO: Because of what happened to him?

KILMEADE: Are skewed.

NAPOLITANO: I think his views are particularly telling.

KILMEADE: But what do you think, he's going to be pro-torture after having been through it?

SO NOW ONLY THOSE WHO ARE PRO-TORTURE ARE ALLOWED TO SPEAK ON THE ISSUE?

What about freedom of speech, the bill of rights and level-headed, informed debate?

OK, so that reminded me of something my friend, Clayton Johns, always says, "He's another reason Abortion rights should be retroactive."
Amen, brother!

***

So then someone whose brain I respect, commented on Karl Rove's last missive - a list of all the frivolous spending in the "Stimulus" bill. It included...

There's also $4 billion for health programs like obesity control and smoking cessation, $2 billion for the National Institutes of Health, $462 million for the Centers for Disease Control, and $900 million for pandemic flu preparations. Health care also added jobs last year. - Karl Rove

If anything, it makes Karl Rove look really amazingly selfish and foolish and naive... but I really do think he might be evil. This seems to happen when someone's political aspirations trump all other criteria - like morality, ethics, and the very existence of the soul - in evaluating whether something is "good" or "bad."

Curbing government spending and rolling back big government are concepts that get creepublicans to vote and put creepublicans in power (which is the highest possible good - attaining power and maintaining it for the right-wing elite). Therefore, let's risk the health - nay survival - of the entire human race, shall we. I guess right-wing elites don't get the flu... either that, or this is another very short-sighted bit of policy (and opining). And, Karl, just so you know... IT'S IRRESPONSIBLE.

***

While I'm on the topic of irresponsible - it is irresponsible of parents not to vaccinate their kids - most especially in light of the recent revelation that the doctor lied in the paper all of the anti-vaccination propoganda is based on. He lied. He faked his results. He made them up.
So... then there are all these families who didn't vaccinate their kids for fear of AUTISM.
Instead, they traveled with those kids overseas, inadvertantly brought measles back to this country, infected other children who were too young to have received said vaccine yet, and...
little children died.

Two questions:
1. Is there anything, other than suicide, that might be appropriate punishment for that Doctor?
2. And this one is more tricky... when is it appropriate to trust one doctor against the arrayed wisdom of the the entire medical community?
I mean, it used to be considered medical fact that leeches cured infections. Remember that?

Anyway, someone start shouting from the tree-tops. Tell the world that the evidence was faked. There is no link between vaccines and autism....
Now preservatives and additives in food... that might be a different story.

***

There is no end to the joy my bread machine brings me. It makes me truly happy to make, bake, cut into and smell a freshly baked loaf of bread.
True happiness (even in gluten-free form). I sometimes think I could live on bread and milk alone.

***

Phew - there... now I'm in my happy place. And it's time to go get a shower and grocery shop... which will keep me in my happy place, as you know. Tomorrow, I might take some time out to discuss conservative propoganda about abortion, muslims and arrogant Americans. Either that, or I'll just post the last thing that Jay Norman sent me and point and giggle.