First Door on the Left

Harold Meyerson has written a must-read op-ed column for the Washington Post. I’ll get you started. Click on the title to continue reading…

God and His Gays

Science is stealing up on America’s religious fundamentalists, causing much alarm. Consider the dilemma of the Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville and a leading figure in the Southern Baptist firmament.

Writing in his blog this month, Mohler acknowledged that “the direction of the research” increasingly points to the possibility that a “biological basis for sexual orientation exists.” Should sexuality be determined in utero, Mohler continued, that still wouldn’t justify abortion or genetic engineering.

Nonetheless, as Mohler noted in a later blog post, his admission that the data suggest that homosexuality may be as genetically determined as hair color produced a torrent of irate e-mail from his fellow evangelical Christians. Up to now, the preferred theory among Christian conservatives has been that homosexuality is behaviorally induced and thus can be unlearned. That gave added moral weight to the biblical proscriptions of gay and lesbian sex and to the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality as a sin — though for those who believe in biblical inerrancy, no added moral weight was necessary.

But once you recognize homosexuality as a genetic reality, it does create a theological dilemma for the Mohlers among us, for it means that God is making people who, in the midst of what may otherwise be morally exemplary lives, have a special and inherent predisposition to sin. Mohler’s response is that since Adam’s fall, sin is the condition of all humankind. That sidesteps, however, the conundrum that a gay person may follow the same God-given instincts as a straight person — let’s assume fidelity and the desire for church sanctification in both cases — and end up damned while the straight person ends up saved. Indeed, it means that a gay person’s duty is to suppress his God-given instincts while a straight person’s duty is to fulfill his.

Why is it that the same people who have no problem believing that Jesus walked on water and turned water into wine have so much difficulty accepting the fact that Harry Potter can fly on a broom?

Bush Warns Dems to Take Offer in Firings

WASHINGTON (AP) – A defiant President Bush warned Democrats Tuesday to accept his offer to have top aides speak about the firings of federal prosecutors only privately and not under oath, or risk a constitutional showdown from which he would not back down.

Democrats’ response was swift and firm: They said they would start authorizing subpoenas as soon as Wednesday for the White House aides.

“Testimony should be on the record and under oath. That’s the formula for true accountability,” said Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Bush, in a late-afternoon statement at the White House, said he would fight any subpoena effort in court.

Bring it on, dumb ass.

People don’t usually act like they have something to hide unless they have something to hide. Right?

I will, from time to time, drop in on a weblog called Blogs for Bush. This usually happens when I find myself in need of a good laugh. Tonight, for example. I found this gem by Mark Noonan in a post he entitled “Ignorance and Leftism”…

It is one thing to be a critic, but being an ignorant critic is just annoying. Congress has only one power as related to the conduct of the war – the power of the purse.

Article 1, Section 8, United States Constitution:

The Congress shall have Power…

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

It is one thing to be a critic, but being an ignorant critic is just annoying.

And kind of funny.

Alleged 9/11 Mastermind Confesses to Attacks

Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, confessed at a Guantanamo Bay military hearing that he planned and funded that al-Qaeda operation and said he was involved in more than two dozen other terrorist acts around the world, according to documents released by the Pentagon yesterday.

Among Mohammed’s claims: That he personally decapitated Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan in 2002. Citing records released by the Pentagon on Thursday, wire services quoted Mohammed as telling investigators that he “decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew Daniel Pearl,” but that the incident was not part of an al-Qaeda operation.

The claims about Pearl were withheld from the initial Pentagon release until his family was notified, wire services reported.

In a rambling statement delivered Saturday to a closed-door military tribunal, Mohammed declared himself an enemy of the United States and claimed some responsibility for many of the major terrorist attacks on U.S. and allied targets over more than a decade. He said that he is at war with the United States and that the deaths of innocent people are an unfortunate consequence of that conflict.

“I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z,” Mohammed told a panel of military officers through a personal representative, who read off a list of 31 terrorist acts that were either carried out or planned but not executed.

If he did just half of the things he claims he did, he should be taken out back and shot right now. The man is nothing more than a waste of good oxygen.

First, the story. My thoughts afterward.

General regrets remarks on homosexuality

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon’s top general expressed regret Tuesday that he called homosexuality immoral, a remark that drew a harsh condemnation from members of Congress and gay advocacy groups.

In a newspaper interview Monday, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had likened homosexual acts to adultery and said the military should not condone it by allowing gays to serve openly in the armed forces.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Pace was asked about the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that allows gays and lesbians to serve if they keep their sexual orientation private and don’t engage in homosexual acts.

Pace said he supports the policy, which became law in 1994 and prohibits commanders from asking about a person’s sexual orientation.

“I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts,” Pace said in the audio recording of the interview posted on the Tribune’s Web site. “I do not believe that the armed forces of the United States are well served by a saying through our policies that it’s OK to be immoral in any way.”

In a statement Tuesday, he said he should have focused more in the interview on the Defense Department policy about gays — and “less on my personal moral views.”

He did not offer an apology, something that had been demanded by gay rights groups.

Pace’s senior staff members said earlier that the general was expressing his personal opinion and did not intend to apologize.

I see no reason for General Pace to regret his remarks and no need for him to apologize. He was merely expressing who he is and what he believes. That is one of the perks of living in a free country like the United States of America. You get to be as ignorant and as misguided as you want to be.

I am growing weary of people demanding an apology every time somebody says something with which they do not agree. Of what good is an apology? Is it going to change the opinions or the beliefs of the person who said the thing with which you do not agree? No. Is it going to make them any more educated or any less bigoted? No.

Would making George W. Bush and his minions apologize for the damage they have inflicted upon our country and the world diminish that damage in any way? No.

Would requiring that right wing Republicans apologize for the hate and vitriol that they spew forth on a daily basis make them any less hateful? No.

So stop demanding an apology every time someone says or does something with which you do not agree and just take their words and actions for whatever they may be worth. General Pace exposed himself as an uneducated and misguided bigot. Requiring him to apologize is not going to change that one iota.

(Click on the cartoon to view it full size.)

It may be time for the Bush War Machine to hire a new spokesperson. It does not appear that the one they currently employ is working out all that well.

Poll: Less than half of Americans think victory in Iraq is possible

WASHINGTON (CNN) — For the first time since the Iraq war began, less than half of Americans believe the United States can win in Iraq, a CNN poll said Tuesday.

Just 46 percent think the United States will win, and an all-time low of 29 percent say things are going well there. Of those polled, 46 percent do not believe the U.S. can win in Iraq and eight percent have no opinion.

In addition, more than half of Americans (54 percent) say the Bush administration was deliberately misleading on whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction prior to the U.S.-led invasion.

General Pace says that Dick Cheney’s daughter is immoral. (And a whole bunch of other Americans, including many now serving in the military, as well.)

Top general calls homosexuality ‘immoral’

Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday that he supports the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on gays serving in the military because homosexual acts “are immoral,” akin to a member of the armed forces conducting an adulterous affair with the spouse of another service member.

Responding to a question about a Clinton-era policy that is coming under renewed scrutiny amid fears of future U.S. troop shortages, Pace said the Pentagon should not “condone” immoral behavior by allowing gay soldiers to serve openly. He said his views were based on his personal “upbringing,” in which he was taught that certain types of conduct are immoral.

“I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts…,” Pace said in a wide-ranging discussion with Tribune editors and reporters in Chicago. “I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is okay to be immoral in any way.”

Okay… #1) “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” does not ban gays from serving in the military. It merely bans them from being themselves while they are serving in the military.

And #2) What a Republican!

Click on the image to order yours right now…

The Washington Post reports:

President Bush said today his administration is working to put a halt to law enforcement abuses of new anti-terrorist intelligence-gathering powers, and he expressed continued confidence in the attorney general and FBI director.

The time may have come for Alberto R. Gonzales and Robert S. Mueller to initiate their searches for new employment. Remember what happened just two weeks after George W. Bush “expressed continued confidence” in Donald H. Rumsfeld.

I don’t know what they’re drinking in Brazil these days, but it is obviously good stuff. (Sources tell me it’s called Cachaça.)

Raw Story has the video of George, Laura and Condi getting down. Watch it:

Bush, Laura and Condi get jiggy in Latin America

They showed a few seconds of this video on the network evening news tonight. I could not believe I was seeing what I was seeing. Now, unfortunately, I do. If this is not grounds for impeachment, I honestly do not know what is.