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Day by Day by Chris Muir
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Republican Party Watch: Danforth Criticizes Evangelical Right
Former U.S. Sen. R-Mo., John C. Danforth speaks to the Press Club of Metropolitan St. Louis Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005 in St. Louis, Mo. Danforth says he favors embryonic stem cell research, seeing it as consistent with his pro-life stance. Danforth is a moderate Republican and ordained Episcopal minister.The ASSociated Press has Danforth Criticizes Christian Sway in GOP.
The influence of evangelical Christians in the Republican Party hurts the organization and divides the country, former U.S. Sen. John Danforth said during a visit to the Bill Clinton School of Public Service on Wednesday.
Danforth, a former Republican senator from Missouri and an Episcopal priest, met with students during a seminar and held a luncheon talk at the graduate school.
“I think that the Republican Party fairly recently has been taken over by the Christian conservatives, by the Christian right,” he said in an interview after his talks. “I don’t think that this is a permanent condition but I think this has happened, and that it’s divisive for the country.”
He also said the evangelical Christian influence would be bad for the party in the long run.Republican National Committee spokeswoman Tracy Schmitt declined comment.
Danforth, who recently served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, made similar criticism of the party in an opinion article published by the New York Times in June. In that article, he called for religious moderates to take part in public life.
People of faith have an obligation to be in politics, he said.
“I think the question arises when a political party becomes identified with one particular sectarian position and when religious people believe that they have the one answer, that they understand God’s truth and they embody it politically,” he said.
“Nothing is more dangerous than religion in politics and government when it becomes divisive,” he said. “I’ll give you examples: Iraq. Northern Ireland. Palestine.”
For many years the Christian Evangelicals and Roman Catholics sat meekly on the political sidelines as issues which were morally repugnant to them were forced into public policy by the liberal Democrat LEFT.
The Republican Party have accepted them into the party mainstream and adopted party positions that most closely reflect their core moral and political values.
And this is wrong?
John Danforth’s New York Times’ piece is Onward, moderate Christian soldiers.
John Danforth is a good man and his served his country well as a United States Senator and Ambassador to the United Nations. He simply has the wrong ideas about church-state interaction and the Christian Evangelical and Catholic Right.
Could it be that his views on gay marriage and rights, stem cell research, and the reference to God in schools and the public square have just turned too far to the LEFT?
Perhaps like the New England Republicans of the 1950’s and 60’s he would be happier in a more moderate Democrat Party with Teddy Kennedy, John Kerry and Hillary (remember what that party attempted to do to your protege Justice Clarence Thomas) ?
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Condoleezza Rice Watch: Goa’uld Eyes II
USA Today has removed the altered Photo of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Michelle Malkin has USA TODAY REMOVES DOCTORED PHOTO.
The doctored photo of Condi Rice has been removed from USA Today’s website with this editor’s note:
Editor’s note: The photo of Condoleezza Rice that originally accompanied this story was altered in a manner that did not meet USA TODAY’s editorial standards. The photo has been replaced by a properly adjusted copy. Photos published online are routinely cropped for size and adjusted for brightness and sharpness to optimize their appearance. In this case, after sharpening the photo for clarity, the editor brightened a portion of Rice’s face, giving her eyes an unnatural appearance. This resulted in a distortion of the original not in keeping with our editorial standards.
And Flap thought Teal’c was going to try to tame her symbiote Goa’uld!
California Conservative has a good spoof with Hillary here.
Others having fun or not:
Sister Toldjah linked with Altered photo of Condi appears in USA Today (PM UPDATE)
La Shawn Barber’s Corner linked with Caught up in blog swarm, USA Today removes doctored photo of Condoleezza Rice…
Pirate’s Cove linked with Photoshopping Hell
The Noonz Wire linked with USA Today Keeps An Eye On Condi
Donkey Stomp linked with USA Today Publishes Altered Condoleezza Rice Photo -
CIA Leak Case Watch: Fitzgerald Meets With Judge
Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, right, leaves the federal courthouse Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005 in Washington after meeting for three hours with the federal grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA officer’s identity. The jury adjourned for the day without announcing any action. The two-year criminal probe has ensnared President Bush’s top political adviser Karl Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff I. Lewis Libby.The ASSociated Press has Prosecutor, Judge in CIA Leak Probe Meet.
The prosecutor in the CIA leak probe had a confidential lunchtime meeting with a federal judge Wednesday after a grand jury listened to three hours of testimony in the case that has ensnared top White House aides.
The grand jury’s term expires on Friday, and the panel adjourned for the day without announcing any charges or other action. The administrative assistant to Thomas Hogan, the chief judge of U.S. District Court in the nation’s capital, confirmed Hogan’s meeting with Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. The assistant, Sheldon Snook, declined to comment on what was discussed.
No witnesses were seen going into the grand jury area, only Fitzgerald and his deputies.
The prosecutor is known to be putting the finishing touches on a two-year criminal investigation that has involved
President Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, and Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby.Lawyers representing White House officials expect Fitzgerald to decide this week whether to charge Libby and Rove. The lawyers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the criminal investigation is at a highly sensitive stage, regard it as unlikely that Fitzgerald would seek to extend the life of the grand jury.
There was no word on whether the grand jury planned to meet Thursday.
Flap cannot believe that anyone will be indicted for a crime in this case. What crime?
And if Fitzgerald is to press for perjury or obstruction charges he will be laughed out of court.
It is time to end this WITCH HUNT.
There is NO THERE there.
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Condoleezza Rice Watch: Goa’uld Eyes
Michelle Malkin has DEMONIZING CONDI.
Check out the photo of Condoleezza Rice that was published by USA Today last week:
Notice anything peculiar about her eyes?
No, Condi isn’t possessed; the photo was manipulated.
Actually Michelle she is a Goa’uld.
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CIA Leak Case Watch: Grand Jury Adjourns for Day
Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald arrives at the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005. Fitzgerald met with the grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA officer’s identity, putting finishing touches on a two-year criminal probe that may have ensnared two senior White House aides.The ASSociated Press has Grand Jury in CIA Leak Case Adjourns.
The federal grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA officer’s identity met for three hours Wednesday with Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald and his deputies, adjourning for the day without announcing any action.
Fitzgerald is known to be putting the finishing touches on a two-year criminal probe that has ensnared
President Bush’s top political adviser Karl Rove and Vice President
Dick Cheney’s chief of staff I. Lewis Libby.Away from the federal courthouse,
FBI agents conducted a handful of last-minute interviews to check facts key to the case.After the grand jury left for the day, federal prosecutors conferred for about an hour in the grand jury area of the federal courthouse.
There was no word on whether Fitzgerald planned to make any announcement or when the grand jury planned to meet again.
Fitzgerald and the grand jurors entered the courthouse around 9 a.m. EDT, with just three days left before the jury’s term is set to expire. The timing on any decision is uncertain, however. It is possible for Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan to extend the life of the grand jury at Fitzgerald’s request. Such a step would be taken in secret.
22 MONTHS……..
A Plea Deal in the works?
An extension of the current Grand Jury?
Lawyers milking the system for fees?
The federal justice system on display………….like the Martha Stewart case…….
What a disgrace!
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George Galloway Watch: Hitchens Calls Galloway’s BLUFF
Member of Parliament George Galloway and former Iraq Prime Minister and Saddam Hussein’s henchman Tariq Aziz.Slate and Christopher Hitchens has Calling Galloway’s Bluff.
The Senate uncovers a smoking gun.Just before my last exchange with George Galloway, which occurred on the set of Bill Maher’s show in Los Angeles in mid-September, I was approached by a representative of the program and asked if I planned to repeat my challenge to Galloway on air. That challenge—would he sign an affidavit saying that he had never discussed Oil-for-Food monies with Tariq Aziz?—I had already made on a public stage in New York. Maher’s producers had been asked, obviously by a nervous Galloway, to find out whether I had brought such an affidavit along with me. I replied that this was not necessary, since his public denial to me was on the record and had been broadcast, and since it further confirmed the apparent perjury that he had committed in front of the U.S. Senate on May 17, 2005. I added that I wanted no further contact with Galloway until I could have the opportunity of reviewing his prison diaries.
That day has now been brought measurably closer by the publication of the report of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. This report, which comes with a vast archive of supporting material, was embargoed until 10 p.m. Monday and contains the “smoking gun” evidence that Galloway, along with his wife and his chief business associate, were consistent profiteers from Saddam Hussein’s regime and its criminal exploitation of the “Oil for Food” program. In particular:
1) Between 1999 and 2003, Galloway personally solicited and received eight oil “allocations” totaling 23 million barrels, which went either to him or to a politicized “charity” of his named the Mariam Appeal.
2) In connection with just one of these allocations, Galloway’s wife, Amineh Abu-Zayyad, received about $150,000 directly.
3) A minimum of $446,000 was directed to the Mariam Appeal, which campaigned against the very sanctions from which it was secretly benefiting.
4) Through the connections established by the Galloway and “Mariam” allocations, the Saddam Hussein regime was enabled to reap $1,642,000 in kickbacks or “surcharge” payments.
(For a highly readable explanation of how the Oil-for-Food racket actually worked, see the Adobe Acrobat file on the site www.hitchensweb.com prepared by my brilliant comrade Michael Weiss and distributed as a leaflet outside the debate in New York.)
George Galloway should be brought to the United States and prosecuted for perjury and any other federal crimes in the United Nations Oil for Food Scandel.
George Galloway, Saddam Hussein, Norm Coleman, oil for food, United Nations
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CIA Leak Case Watch: Fitzgerald Yes Or No on Indictments?
UPDATED:
CNN has CIA leak probe has Washington waiting.
The federal grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA operative’s identity could hand up charges as early as today, but Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is not expected to make any public announcements Wednesday, one source with knowledge of the probe told CNN.
UPDATE: Fox News is reporting that there will be NO news today from the federal grand jury.
Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald departs the Federal Courthouse in Washington, D.C., October 12, 2005. Fitzgerald arrived at the courthouse on Wednesday as a federal grand jury considers whether to bring criminal charges over the leak of a covert CIA operative’s identity.Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald arrived at the courthouse on Wednesday as a federal grand jury considers whether to bring criminal charges over the leak of a covert CIA operative’s identity.
Lawyers involved in the case said Fitzgerald appeared close to asking the grand jury to approve indictments, with an announcement expected as early as Wednesday, after the grand jury meet
Ok……..
Fitzgerald has had twenty-two months and……..
How much money?
I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, sits in the back seat of a car as he is driven from his house, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005, in McLean, Va. Libby and top presidential political adviser Karl Rove have emerged as central figures in the CIA leak investigation of who leaked the name of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame. -
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bear Flag League, California, Politics, Proposition 73, Proposition 74, Proposition 75, Proposition 76, Proposition 77, Proposition 78, Special Election 2005
California Special Election Watch: Schwarzenegger Questioned by Hispanics
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, left, talks with Marco Rodriquez, seated at right, during a break in the taping of a Spanish-language talk show at the Univision Television station held in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2005. Schwarzenegger appeared on the policy and political debate program ‘Voz Y Voto’, where he discussed his ballot initiatives on the upcoming Nov. 8th special election and took a few questions from the audience. The show is to be broadcast Saturday.The ASSociated Press and San Francisco Chronicle has Select Hispanic audience questions Schwarzenegger on immigration.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took his special election campaign before a hand-picked Hispanic audience that was more interested in asking him about amnesty and driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants than his “year of reform” ballot measures.
Schwarzenegger’s appearance Tuesday in the capital studio of Spanish-language television network Univision was another step in his attempt to connect with voters two weeks before they decide his proposals to change state government.
Schwarzenegger on the road………
Will his personal poll numbers improve?
The Governor is in a two minute drill towards the California special election.
But, the unions and their leftie lackies are already moaning about the event.
Critics immediately assailed the Univision session because it did not provide time for any of his opponents to speak. Univision’s chairman, Jerry Perenchio, is one of the governor’s largest campaign supporters, having donated more than $3 million to Schwarzenegger campaign committees since he took office two years ago.
“This amounts to a one-hour infomercial for the governor,” said Roger Salazar, a spokesman for the Alliance for a Better California, the coalition of labor groups opposing the governor’s ballot agenda. “It is nothing more than one of his biggest contributors providing him the opportunity to deliver his message on his terms.”
The question-and-answer session will be broadcast statewide Saturday on Univision stations. The company controls two broadcast networks and is the nation’s dominant Spanish-language media company.
Flap recommends a debate.
How about Schwarzenegger vs. Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante in Fresno this Friday?
How about it, Alliance for a Better California, and the California Teachers Association?
Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, California Recovery Team, California Special Election, Bear Flag League, Proposition 74, Proposition 75, Proposition 76, Proposition 77
Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page
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Harriet Miers Watch: The Speeches
Supreme Court Nominee Harriet Miers meets with Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wisc., at his office in the Hart Senate Office Building on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2005 in Washington.The Washington Post has Clues about Miers’ views in 1990s speeches: report.
U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, in speeches a decade ago, said “self-determination” should guide decisions about abortion and also defended social activism, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
The speeches, which she provided to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, offer some of the clearest insights yet into Miers’ thinking on contentious social issues that could come before the Supreme Court, the newspaper said.
Miers talked about abortion, the separation of church and state, and how the issues play out in the legal system in a 1993 speech to a Dallas women’s group, the newspaper said.
“The underlying theme in most of these cases is the insistence of more self-determination,” Miers said in an excerpt reported by the Post. “And the more I think about these issues, the more self-determination makes sense.”
With Republican Senators already having reservations the Fat Lady has sung with this revelation of self-determination .
Doesn’t that spell PRO-CHOICE?
In speeches delivered when she was president of the Texas bar association, Miers also defended judges who order lawmakers to address social concerns, the newspaper said.
Miers also showed sympathy for feminist causes, referring to the “glass ceiling” faced by professional women and urged her audience to support female candidates, according to the report.
So, let’s see……
1. Mier’s is pro-life but makes pro-choice speeches.
2. She was a catholic and was discovered not to be.
3. Miers is an evangelical but only recently – but she does go to church. And, she once supported a constitutional amendment banning abortion4. She won’t legislate from the bench but gives speeches supporting judicial activism.
Now, you know why Flap opposes Miers and why the President should accept Harriet Miers’ withdrawl.Harriet Miers should ask the President withdraw her nomination and she should resume her duties as White House Counsel.
Patterico is STILL on the Ledge.
The President should then nominate former Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen.
or any of these other fine federal appeals court judges:
Charles Krauthammer has a reasonable face-saving approach here.
Technorati Tags: Supreme Court, George Bush, Sandra Day O’Connor, Janice Rogers Brown, Edith Clement, Edith Hollan Jones, Priscilla Owen, Harriet Miers