Evolution and the "thought police"

Within an hour of forwarding an e-mail, a science teacher in Texas was facing the loss of her job for promoting evolution.

“What is this thought police?” she remembers thinking. She has no idea how Lizzete Reynolds, a former federal education official who served as advisor to Bush as governor had seen the message so quickly.

That official, who said because she didn’t remain “neutral” on evolution is “an offense that calls for termination.”

So, now, in Texas, a science teacher who openly believes in science will be fired for believing in science.

Waterboarding and the GOP base

Scott Horton is absolutely right about McCain’s answer to waterboarding vs. Romneys:


The moral clarity and vision of McCain’s answer was perfectly balanced by the bankruptcy of Romney’s.

But, there’s a big problem with that. Apparently, “moral clarity” doesn’t sit well with the Republican base.

"democracy" in action - or maybe not

I Al-Maliki Negotiates a Treaty with US and no one knows whether he’ll even submit this “treaty” to the Iraqi parliament for a vote.

And Bush, who doesn’t call it a “treaty” so he therefore doesn’t have to submit it to Congress for a vote, has now, or so he thinks, established permanent bases in Iraq forever.

So even those the vast majorities of both countries are against this deal, neither population has a damn thing to say about it. That’s “democracy” for ya? Right.

The "sickest" play ever

One of the sickest statements (which hasn’t received a lot of attention) is from Rudy’s advisor Mr. Podhoretz:

“My view has been, and I very much doubt that Giuliani would disagree with what I am about to say, what we are doing is to try and clear the ground that has been covered over at least since WWI,” he said. “Draining the swamps is the beginning of the process of clearing the ground, and planting the seeds from which institutions can grow the foundations of a free society.”

In the context of a broader, longer war that he expects will take at least three decades to win, the casualties that the United States has so far endured are “miniscule.” He says that fretting about whether to attack Iran sends only a message of weakness to the combined Shiite and Sunni enemies in the Middle East. And, like Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Podhoretz thinks that the creation of an independent Palestinian state would now only create another terrorist state.

Instead, America should be working to overthrow governments in Saudi Arabia, Syria and Egypt and “every one of the despotic regimes in that region, by force if necessary and by nonmilitary means if possible,” he said. “They are fronts of the war. You can’t do everything at once. And to have toppled two of those regimes in five years or six years is I think a major achievement. And maybe George Bush won’t be able to carry it further, but I think he will. It may have just been given to him to start act one of the five-act play.”

I really find myself unable to say anything after that quote. It’s that sick. War against everybody but Israel? Comparing genocide to a "five act" play?

Smelling "Victory" at Fox News - and yes, it stinks

Military Expert Stephen Biddle's Best Case:

“…if everything goes right and if the US continues to "hit the lottery" with the spread of local ceasefires and none of a dozen different spoilers happens, then a patchwork of local ceasefires between heavily armed, mistrustful communities could possibly hold if and only if the US keeps 80,000-100,000 troops in Iraq for the next twenty to thirty years. And that's the best case scenario of one of the current strategy's smartest supporters. Man.”

So does that smell like “winning” is the stench of “victory” in the air?

Brit Hume thinks so.

“In terms of violence is down, troops are coming out, war’s winding down. Isn’t that victory on your terms?”

So, while Fox News unfurls the “Mission Accomplished” banners yet again, here’s a small dose of reality:

In reality, the return to pre-surge troop levels has more to do with the fact that the Army is overstretched then it has to do with any sort of progress on the ground. Just this week, Army Chief of Staff General George Casey told the Senate Armed Forces Committee that the current demand for our forces exceeds the sustainable supply because of Bush’s open-ended commitment in Iraq.

Yet another pre-mature call by pro-war supporters.

Surrounded - the role of the Village Press

Digby has some good advice for Democrats that should be clear to everyone now:

The Democratic campaigns need to remember that they are battling not only the Republicans but the entire Village press.

Glenn Greenwald’s takedown of Freidman, Dowd, and Kagan/O’Hanlon yesterday shows just how true that is, as well as that a good chunk of the NYT editorial page is also in the hands of the Village Press as well.

Mitt forced into extremism

Yes as Matt says, Mitt Romney “could have tried to run as a political heir to George Romney on the basis of his record in Massachusetts, as a moderate technocrat. But he decided to try to remake himself as the Christian Right candidate..” but what Matt doesn’t say is that without remaking himself as an extremist he’d never make it through the GOP primary.

There is no room in the modern GOP for a moderate. Romney, who could have easily run as one with his record, recognized that and therefore pretends his record doesn’t exist.

A sad commentary on today’s GOP.