From the Houston Chronicle:

MURFREESBORO, TENN. - Staff members of an elementary school staged a fictitious gun attack on students during a class trip, telling them it was not a drill as the children cried and hid under tables.

The mock attack Thursday night was intended as a learning experience and lasted five minutes during the weeklong trip to a state park, said Scales Elementary School Assistant Principal Don Bartch, who led the trip.

“We got together and discussed what we would have done in a real situation,” he said.

But parents of the sixth-grade students were outraged.

“The children were in that room in the dark, begging for their lives, because they thought there was someone with a gun after them,” said Brandy Cole, whose son went on the trip.

Some parents said they were upset by the staff’s poor judgment in light of the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech that left 33 students and professors dead, including the gunman.

During the last night of the trip, staff members convinced the 69 students that there was a gunman on the loose. They were told to lie on the floor or hide underneath tables and stay quiet. A teacher, disguised in a hooded sweat shirt, even pulled on locked door.

After the lights went out, about 20 kids started to cry, 11-year-old Shay Naylor said.

“I was like, ‘Oh My God,’ ” she said. “At first I thought I was going to die. We flipped out.”

Principal Catherine Stephens declined to say whether the staff members involved would face disciplinary action, but said the situation “involved poor judgment.”

(Cross-posted at Vagabond Scholar)

Denial.

For Republicans of all sorts, it’s more than a rhetorical strategy to deflect empirical facts. It’s more than a political philosophy that ignores the reality of others’ experiences. It’s a way of life, dammit.

Not that Republican pundits have ever clamored to recognize the suffering of the poor, or are in the habit of arguing honestly - but it’s hard to ignore that a sizable portion of the Republican party is just not part of the reality-based community. And just like the kid who brags about not reading any books, they’re awfully proud of it.

Consider, for example, Robert Novak still insisting that Valerie Plame Wilson was not a covert CIA agent, even though she testified under oath that she was, she was a NOC, CIA spokesman Bill Harlow told Novak not to reveal her identity, and the current, Bush-appointed head of the CIA Michael Hayden definitively stated she was covert (Novak even tries, laughably, to assert that Hayden is a Democratic stooge). Of course, Novak is a vile, partisan hack - but he’s also been horribly reluctant to admit that the Republican’s growing unpopularity might have something to do with a little thing called Iraq.

As Glenn Greenwald demonstrates, the National Review’s Cliff May repeatedly denies objective reality - and Instapundit Glenn Reynolds decides to ignore the evidence as well. As Greenwald remarks:

Just think about that: the lesson which right-wing, Bush-following war supporters drew from the mountain of empirical evidence in this post, as well as from this entire day-long exchange with Cliff May (to say nothing of the November, 2006 election), is that Americans support the War in Iraq and do not want to withdraw the troops. That is beyond jarring.

I suppose it’s academic as to whether they’re hacks or delusional, but it’s likely some special blend of the two.

Meanwhile, Oliver Willis weighs in with “The Deniers.” And he doesn’t even hit the frightening statistics on evolution deniers (48% of Americans, according to Newsweek), or the creationist Christians who have built a museum teaching kids that dinosaurs and humans coexisted - that would be roughly 6000 years ago, when God created the world.

Please, Republicans - for the sake of the children, the poor, innocent children - stop the insanity. You cannot show us fear in a jar of peanut butter, only your own painful stupidity. Please. Put down the Kool-Aid. Take the Red Pill. Cast off your shackles and emerge from Plato’s cave. There’s a whole, wonderful world out there waiting for you.

(Cross-posted at Vagabond Scholar)

HTML Mencken at Sadly, No! has a great post from 3/10/07 called “Gaywads Want to Persecute Religious People!” While his post is pithier and funnier than this one will be, its substance directly relates to The Chart Project, most specifically The Social Tolerance Charts and The Religion-in-Society Charts, so I felt compelled to take another look.

Again, I-d read the Sadly, No! post first. But here are the key points of a little discussion over at the Corner at the National Review Online.

In a 3/9/07 post, “Can Religious Freedom Survive Gay Liberation?” David Frum argues that:

There is a widespread view that gay liberation is a movement toward greater freedom. Up to a point, that was true. That point, however, is now receding in the background. The movement for gay equality has rapidly evolved into movement to restrict personal freedoms, including freedoms of religion and conscience. The British example is not a special case. What is being done there today will be demanded here tomorrow.

Andrew Stuttaford, who HTML Mencken describes as “a libertarian and frequently an adult voice in contrast to the Corner’s playground cacaphony,” replies (also on 3/9/07):

Can Religious Freedom Survive Gay Liberation

That’s the question David Frum asks over on his blog. Sure it can.

The more interesting question however is the extent to which religious belief should be privileged above all others. You can, quite legitimately, question the range and definition of anti-discrimination laws, but once a democracy has put those laws in place, I can think of no particular reason why some people should be exempted from that law, simply on the grounds of religion. To do so is to say that religious belief is somehow more deserving of special protection than other (perhaps no less deeply held) ideologies, an idea that, however well-intentioned, is irrational at best, dangerous at worse.

Read more »

(Cross-posted at Vagabond Scholar)

“The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof, bullshit detector.”
- Ernest Hemingway

What’s the difference between a lie, a false statement, a misrepresentation, spin, or simply calling it wrong?

Why are the press so reluctant to say someone’s lied?

Why are the press so reluctant to call “bullshit“?

On lying, I suspect the press are reluctant because it ascribes motive and someone’s inner thoughts, which generally aren-t verifiable. There may also be legal issues regarding libel and slander for “lie.” In any case, we often get “false statement,” “misrepresentation” and other careful formulations.

In his 6/1/06 column “Bush’s Lie” Dan Froomkin observed:

Lying is probably the one word mainstream journalists are the most averse to using when recounting what the president said — even when they know he’s not telling the truth. The act of lying requires not just the presentation of false information, but an intention to deceive. Reporters — and, particularly editors — are notoriously resistant to ascribe such volition without ironclad evidence.

But there’s really no other way to describe what Bush said Thursday. Press secretary Tony Snow’s widely-quoted explanation that Bush’s statement [about the future of Treasury Secretary John Snow] was in some way “artfully worded” is just plain wrong.

It may not have been an important lie. And there are some mitigating factors: It was, after all, a personnel matter and there was some possibly legitimate concern about the financial markets. But it couldn’t be more clear that Bush was being intentionally deceptive.

The bigger issue is not the word choice of the reporters in question. It’s that, as Froomkin noted, “Several White House correspondents dutifully reported Snow’s explanation — but neglected to note that it doesn’t wash.” He goes on to consider:

How hard is it for reporters to call what Bush says a lie? Consider Dana Milbank’s near-legendary front-page Washington Post story from October 2002, headlined: “For Bush, Facts Are Malleable.”

Milbank wrote that some of Bush’s statements “were dubious, if not wrong”; that Bush’s “rhetoric has taken some flights of fancy”; that he was guilty of “distortions and exaggerations”; that he had “taken some liberties,” “omitted qualifiers,” and made assertions that “simply outpace the facts.”

But you won’t find the word lie in there anywhere. It just won’t get by the editors.

Read more »

What the hell is in the water???

Goode: “If American citizens don’t take up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration, there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran.”

Considering the historical fact that Christians (as a whole) have shown total disregard for Separation of Church and State, I wish the Muslims luck. I just want people in charge who have respect for our Constitution… and maybe America could be shed of the David Duke mentality it has had to endure once and for all.

Lawmaker affirms Muslim remarks

A Virginia congressman defends his call for an immigration crackdown to thwart Koran’s use in swearing-in ceremonies.

WASHINGTON - Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. (R-Va.) on Thursday stood by his demand for strict immigration controls that he said would prevent Muslims from being elected to Congress and using the Koran during swearing-in ceremonies.

Islamic groups in the United States called on Republicans to repudiate Goode’s remarks, which he first made in a letter attacking the use of the holy book in a ceremonial oath-taking next month by the first Muslim elected to the House.

“I do not apologize, and I do not retract my letter,” Goode said emphatically during a session Thursday with reporters in the southern Virginia town of Rocky Mount.

Questioned later on Fox News Channel’s “Your World,” he said, “I am for restricting immigration so that we don’t have a majority of Muslims elected to the House of Representatives.”
…

“When I raise my hand to take the oath on swearing-in day, I will have the Bible in my other hand,” Goode wrote. “I do not subscribe to using the Koran in any way.

“If American citizens don’t take up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration, there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran.”
…

(Incoming House member) Keith Ellison had little to say about the current controversy, instead urging all sides to pay attention to the one document to which everyone at the swearing-in of the new Congress subscribes.

“We all support one Constitution: one Constitution that upholds our right to equal protection, one Constitution that guarantees us due process under the law, one Constitution which says that there is no religious test for elected office in America,” he told CNN.

Source: Joel Havemann, LATimes.com

Each day Bush is in charge, innocent lives are being lost. Where’s the outrage? Democrats got control of both the house and senate for one reason - to stop this mad man. Why aren’t they?

Stubborn or Stalwart, Bush Is Loath to Budge

In the late 19th century, the queen of England sent the president of the United States a desk made from the timbers of a decommissioned ship, the HMS Resolute. Almost every occupant of the White House since then has made the Resolute his desk. Perhaps more than most, President Bush has taken its name to heart.
…

(…) On its Web site last week, the Democratic National Committee said Bush could be “the most stubborn man on Earth” for not immediately embracing the study group’s plan. Critics predicted that any new strategy he announces after the holidays will be little more than a dressed-up version of “stay the course.” And a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 66 percent of Americans do not think Bush is willing to change his policies in Iraq.

“I just don’t believe that this president, with this vice president whispering in his ear every moment, is oriented to change,” said retired Col. Larry Wilkerson, who was chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell in Bush’s first term. “And even if he were, I don’t believe his administration is capable of implementing change.”

Lawrence J. Korb, a former Pentagon official under President Ronald Reagan, agreed. “When it comes to Iraq, he has basically confused stubbornness with steadfastness,” said Korb, who is now at the liberal Center for American Progress. “I think he believes that regardless of what other people say, if he simply stays the course, he’ll be eventually proved right. But what he fails to see is the current course isn’t working and he has options.”

The perception of Bush as unusually stubborn has defined his tenure to some extent, much to the consternation of adversaries and sometimes even allies. But Bush was deeply influenced by the fate of his father, whose decision to break his no-new-taxes pledge as president helped doom his reelection. The lesson: Stick to decisions regardless of shifts in political winds.

Source: Peter Baker, The Washington Post

People amaze me. The fury, anger, hate and rage produced over a single (pagan) tree. Whole forests of trees are clear-cut yearly in the name of greed and not one word these folks will utter. God must be smiling down upon us.

Christmas trees going back up at Sea-Tac

Janet I. Tu and Lornet Turnbull
Seattle Times staff reporters

The holiday trees that went away in the middle of the night are back.

Monday night, Port of Seattle staff began putting up the trees they earlier had removed from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The trees had come down Friday night after a local rabbi requested that a Hanukkah menorah also be displayed, and Port officials had said the threat of a lawsuit left them without enough time to consider all the issues.

A nationwide furor erupted over the weekend as news of the trees’ removal spread, with a flood of calls to Port officials and harshly worded e-mails to Jewish organizations.

On Monday, Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky said he would not file a lawsuit and the Port, in response, said it would put the trees back up.

“This has been an unfortunate situation for all of us in Seattle,” Port of Seattle Commission President Pat Davis said in a statement. “The rabbi never asked us to remove the trees; it was the Port’s decision based on what we knew at the time. We very much appreciate the rabbi’s willingness to work with us as we move forward.”

A menorah will not be displayed this year.

Port spokesman Bob Parker said, “we look forward to sitting down after the first of the year with not only Rabbi Bogomilsky but others as well, and finding ways to make sure there’s an appropriate winter holiday representation for all faiths. We want to find out a way to celebrate the winter holidays that is sensitive to all faiths.”

Bogomilsky, who works with Chabad-Lubavitch, an Orthodox Jewish outreach organization, said, “Like people from all cultures and religions, we’re thrilled the trees are going back up.”

But he said he was disappointed that Port officials chose not to put up the menorah as well, pointing out that there are still several days until Hanukkah begins at sundown Friday. “I still hope that they’ll consider putting the menorah up this year. But ultimately it’s their decision.”

The rabbi, who says he never wanted the trees removed, also said he hopes the Port will apologize for mischaracterizations that led people to believe he was against having the trees displayed.

“At the end of the day it’s not about trees, but adding light to the holiday, not diminishing any light.”

The Seattle Times

For and Against Same-Sex Marriage at Maryland’s Highest Court

ANNAPOLIS, Md., Dec. 4 (AP) - The state has no rational basis for denying same’sex couples the fundamental right to marriage, a lawyer for plaintiffs in a gay-marriage case told Maryland’s highest court on Monday.

A lawyer for the state argued that Maryland’s 1973 ban on same’sex marriage did not constitute gender discrimination because it applied equally to men and women and that the question on same’sex marriage should be decided by the legislature.

“There is no fundamental constitutional right to same’sex marriage,” said the lawyer, Robert Zarnoch, counsel to the General Assembly.

Continue reading

“There is no fundamental constitutional right to same’sex marriage”

As good of argument I would expect from the homophobe crowd… but begs the question: Is there a fundamental constitutional right to opposite’sex marriages?

Bayh warns against ideological agenda

DES MOINES, Iowa - White House hopeful Sen. Evan Bayh warned on Monday that Democrats could lose their newfound grip on Congress if the party pursues an ideological course.

The Indiana senator, who announced Sunday he was taking the first step in a presidential bid, has cultivated a centrist image as one of his party’s moderates, a Democrat who can win in a Republican-leaning state.

At a stop in the early voting state of Iowa, Bayh told business leaders that Democrats’ hold on power, secured with Election Day wins last month, could be brief if the party isn’t careful.

“We cannot be as partisan as the other side,” Bayh said. “We cannot be as ideologically extreme as the other side.”

Bayh said the lesson from the Nov. 7 elections were simple.

“My observation was that most of the American people voted against - they voted against the mess in
Iraq, they voted against the president personally, they voted against the dysfunction and gridlock in Washington,” he said. “They voted for something different and they wanted to give us a chance.”

Article here

Mr Bayh, while drawing up the Constitution, our Founding Fathers could have used some of your friendly advice and gave the Jesus-freaks much more leeway. I mean, having just half the amount of religious persecution that these people escaped from would have been much better for our country than none at all… right? Does this look familiar, Evan?

Save us from the dramatics and change that ‘D’ to an ‘R’ (or ‘I’) now, k?

Military test jams garage door openers

DENVER(AP) — What do remote-control garage door openers have to do with national security?

A secretive Air Force facility in Colorado Springs tested a radio frequency last week that it would use to communicate with first responders in the event of a homeland security threat. But the frequency also controls an estimated 5 million garage door openers, and hundreds of residents in the area found that theirs had suddenly stopped working.

“It would have been nice not to have to get out of the car and open the door manually,” said Dewey Rinehard, especially during the year’s first cold snap.

The signals were coming from Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, home to the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

Technically, the Air Force has the right to the frequency, which has interfered with garage doors in three other states.

Holly Strack, who lives near the entrance to the facility, said friends in the neighborhood all had the same problem.

“I never thought my garage door was a threat to national security,” she said.

David McGuire, whose Overhead Door Co. received more than 400 calls for help, said unless the Air Force can solve the problem by tweaking the frequency, homeowners will have to pay $250 for new units.

Link

Is this merely a coincidence, or did our military do this on purpose to help keep autos off the road in case of some emergency? Did they not know we can open our garage doors manually? Gomer Pyle would be proud…

Accidentally followed a link over to that bastion of fascism, FOXNewsPropaganda, and found this:

Apology Requested

The head of the American Legion is calling on New York Congressman Charles Rangel to apologize for saying troops in Iraq are there because they had no better career opportunities.

Rangel made the comments to me on “FOX News Sunday” last weekend, saying “if a young fellow has an option of having a decent career or joining the Army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq.”

But American Legion National Commander Paul Morin says- Rangel’s view of the troops “couldn’t be further from the truth - and is possibly skewed by his political opposition to the war in Iraq.”

Link (as if you seriously consider following it)

“couldn’t be further from the truth - and is possibly skewed by his political opposition to the war in Iraq.”
WHAT AN IDIOT! Does anyone truly believe this sh*t?!
Hume & Morin, I only have to ask; if in a similar situation, what would George ‘AWOL’ Bush do? What would Dick ‘5-Deferment’ Cheney do?
I believe, gentlemen, that it is you two that hold a politically skewed point of view.

Christian Coalition chief won’t serve

The leader-to-be wanted to broaden the conservative group’s focus.

Nicholas Riccardi, Times Staff Writer
November 29, 2006

The president-elect of the Christian Coalition announced Tuesday that he was stepping down, saying that the religious group appeared to balk at his proposals to focus on environmental and anti-poverty issues rather than on purely “moralistic” issues such as abortion.

The Rev. Joel C. Hunter, who was scheduled to become president of the coalition Jan. 1, said his departure was sparked by “just a basic philosophical difference . I saw an opportunity to really broaden the conversation and broaden the constituency. I’m really over this whole polarization thing.”

“I think the board just got scared,” said Hunter, senior pastor of a mega-church in central Florida and the author of “Right Wing, Wrong Bird: Why the Tactics of the Religious Right Won’t Fly With Most Conservative Christians.”
…
Founded by televangelist Pat Robertson in 1989, the Washington-based coalition has struggled in recent years as some members have complained that it has ignored its core mission of supporting conservative Christian values. Chapters in Iowa, Alabama and Ohio left the organization this year.
…
“Conservative Christians need to be more ambidextrous than just ‘right’ or ‘left’ oriented,” Hunter wrote in his book.

Article here

Where do these people come off having ‘Christian’ in their business name? It’s kinda like the way ‘News’ is to FOX News. They’re not there out of Christian principle. They have an agenda to push. This is one Washington group I would like to see reduced down to a size where it can be drowned in a bath tub!

You idiots out there… yeah… the ones that tune in to Falwell each week in hopes of getting one step closer to your ‘maker’… well, listen up. Falwell just publicly stated men who solicit sex from underage boys was actually less evil than consensual sex between two adult heterosexuals. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT?

On CNN, Falwell declared Foley scandal “minuscule in comparison” to having “lived through Bill Clinton”; no follow-up from Zahn

On the November 2 edition of CNN’s The Situation Room, Moral Majority Coalition founder and chairman Rev. Jerry Falwell declared that the scandal surrounding former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) is “not going to discourage any evangelicals I know from voting” because “[w]e lived through Bill Clinton, and this situation with Foley is minuscule in comparison.” Co-host Paula Zahn did not follow up on Falwell’s assertion or note a major difference between the two cases, as Media Matters for America has noted: Foley allegedly sent sexually explicit Internet communications to underage former House pages, while former President Bill Clinton had an affair with an adult.

Link

Every time this moron opens his mouth I question the existence of God. If Falwell is the best that God can come up with in terms of “God’s representative on earth”, then fucking-forget-it! Moral majority, my ass!

Evangelical Minister on Rev. Ted Haggard, Homosexuality and Hypocrisy

Ted Haggard, Homosexuality and Hypocrisy?

HUNTINGTON, Conn., Nov. 3 /Christian Newswire/ — Stephen Bennett, founder and executive director of Stephen Bennett Ministries - a Christian evangelical ministry dealing with the issue of homosexuality, as well as pastor of Heavenly Hope Christian Church - an evangelical Bible church - expressed sadness and anger at the breaking Associated Press news of Rev. Ted Haggard and his alleged homosexual affairs and illicit drug use.

“As an evangelical pastor myself now of a small new church - Heavenly Hope Christian Church - I can related to Rev. Haggard, yet my story is EXACTLY the opposite.

“I WAS gay for over 11 years, dated two male prostitutes from New York City and was a cocaine dealer in Connecticut back in the 1980’s — until Jesus changed my life,” said Stephen.

“Today, my life is totally different. I am no longer gay. I’m happily married for over 13 years to my beautiful wife Irene, and I’m the father of two little children - a boy and a girl. I am also an evangelical minister, a pastor of a brand new, small Bible church in Connecticut, Heavenly Hope Christian Church.

Bullshit! What do you have to say about all the happily married, happily straight, church-going men and women who, at some point in later life, “turn” gay? Yeah, just what I thought…

“If these allegations are true about Rev. Haggard - America’s Top Evangelical Christian - I am completely disgusted and dismayed. After being in major Christian circles for many years, the hypocrisy that I have found and personally seen in main stream Christianity is unfortunate and heartbreaking.

“I understand Rev. Haggard is innocent until proven guilty. However, seeing the reports that I have - along with millions of other Americans - this is a time we need to pray. The Bible says, ‘Judgment begins in the house of God’,” said Bennett.

Stephen ended, “Will this affect the elections next Tuesday? Are Republicans disenfranchised with the hypocrisy within their own party - especially the hypocrisy within the driving force - the Christian Conservative base? You better believe it.

“The more and more hypocrisy I see each day, the more I realize next Tuesday we are going to get EXACTLY what we deserve. Yet I must NEVER forget where I came from and always remember ‘But for the grace of God, there go I.’”

Link

Democrats feed and help the hungry and less fortunate… republicans step on them. So much for the fucking Christian-right. Yes, Mr. Bennett, people like you deserve EVERYTHING you get! I don’t have a hell of a lot of respect for anyone who actively ignores our country’s basic principle of “separation of church and state” for the sole purpose of redefining the ‘We’ of “We the people…”. You, sir, can go to hell!

It appears that Republicans are seeking to have harm brought to Americans in the form of aiding terrorists.

U.S. Web Archive Is Said to Reveal a Nuclear Primer

WILLIAM J. BROAD
November 3, 2006

Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who had said they hoped to “leverage the Internet” to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.

But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.
…

The documents, roughly a dozen in number, contain charts, diagrams, equations and lengthy narratives about bomb building that nuclear experts who have viewed them say go beyond what is available elsewhere on the Internet and in other public forums. For instance, the papers give detailed information on how to build nuclear firing circuits and triggering explosives, as well as the radioactive cores of atom bombs.

“For the U.S. to toss a match into this flammable area is very irresponsible,” said A. Bryan Siebert, a former director of classification at the federal Department of Energy, which runs the nation’s nuclear arms program. “There’s a lot of things about nuclear weapons that are secret and should remain so.”

The government had received earlier warnings about the contents of the Web site. Last spring, after the site began posting old Iraqi documents about chemical weapons, United Nations arms-control officials in New York won the withdrawal of a report that gave information on how to make tabun and sarin, nerve agents that kill by causing respiratory failure.

Article here

Silly question. Of course they do!