A "Protection Release"

Hilarious and brilliant:

Mr. Bush, I've decided the price is too high for my conscience. If Gitmo - and the torture and denial of due process accompanying it - is a necessary part of protecting me, I hereby officially release you from the obligation. I'm opting out of this protection racket you've set up. Think of me as just one less tile on the human shield you've created, using the safety and fear of American citizens to hide behind while you seize more power.

After years of soul-searching, I've decided to take my chances in a risky and unpredictable world - one from which your administration can't fully insulate me anyway, even with the best of intentions - than to live my life duct-taped and "safe" in a wire-tapped American closet where I'm not free to tell you I think you're a nincompoop and a danger to humankind.

Besides, I've seen New Orleans on TV. Color me unimpressed with your ability to protect me while you strip away my rights. Even if I were willing to cower and cringe and hurl my notorious "freedoms" in your lap willynilly, you'd hardly be the "protector" first on my speed dial. (Don't believe me? Check out my calls in the bloated vacuum bag attached to your illegal NSA operations.)

There's more, check it out. Genius.

The Answer To Adrian's Frustration...

Regular HPI attendee's will know of Adrian's frustration with Brando & myself when we talk about the 'Powers That Be' and Brando's post today on Noam Chomsky nails it.

Remember kid's the definition of 'Conspiracy' refers the act of real individuals and/or groups conspiring about something.

Coyotes Of Chicago

Not politics, but I thought this was interesting:

The owners of the Chicago Bears might want to consider a new mascot for their team. The city is pretty much bear-free—save the local zoo—but there is at least one pack of coyotes living right downtown in the Loop, and there may be thousands of coyotes residing in the Chicagoland area.

[snip]

Scientists believed that, given the pressures of living amid the nine-million people of greater Chicago, coyotes would not be able to maintain defined territories or preserve the complex social structure of the packs they typically live in. "But they do," said Gehrt. "And it looks no different in an urban area than it would out in the country. They carved out territories in completely developed areas."

We're used to them here in Hollywood, but Chicago?? Weird.

The Colbert Report

If you're not watching the Colbert Report, you really have to start. Simply put? Genius. Tuesday night's show was AMAZING and kudos to all involved (especially HPI's own Krafty!). Click over to Comedy Central and see an OUTSTANDING 'interview' with Carl "the One not on the wrong side this time" Bernstein and Colbert's The Word on 'Sleeper Cell: Sexagaterrorists'... It's the news, only more truthy less facty.

Lobbying By The Numbers

The good folks over at Think Progress continue to do the good lord's work with a chart on Lobbying. Scariest numbers?
Amount spent on federal lobbying, 1999 = 1.5 billion
Amount spent on federal lobbying, 2004 = $2.1 billion
Percent increase in federal lobbying from 1999-2004 = 40%

Wait, who's my lobbyist again?

No Jesusland In Isreal???

Finally someone is holding Pat Robertson responsible for being a total jackass: Israel pulls plug on Pat Robertson deal:

Israel won't do business with Pat Robertson after the evangelical leader suggested Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's massive stroke was divine punishment, a tourism official said Wednesday, putting into doubt plans to develop a large Christian tourism center in northern Israel.

Avi Hartuv, spokesman for Israel's tourism minister, said officials are furious with Robertson's suggestion that the stroke was retribution for Sharon's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last summer. "We can't accept this kind of statement," Hartuv said.

I wonder if that is God's will? Nah, probably just the fault of the ACLU, feminists and liberals.

These Aren't Your Old Man's Conservatives...

Look I am an unabashed fan of Bob Scheer, but about the title of his article,"Betraying the Reagan Revolution," I have to ask: how do you betray something that was morally bankrupt to begin with?

Oh what a tangled web these no-longer-young Republicans weave when first they practice to deceive!

Bob Scheer folks, the People's Poet!

The scope of the scandal swirling around DeLay was perhaps best described by former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey, now a lobbyist: "Tom DeLay sent Buckham downtown to set up shop and start a branch office on K Street," Armey told The New York Times, referring to the row of lobby firms famously headquartered there. "The whole idea was: 'What's in it for us?'"

The Dick Armey folks! Oh this whole scandal just keeps on giving... lots of good stuff, so check it out for yourselves.

Congressman, Lobbyists, & Jack Abramoff... Oh My!

Tired of reading? Then take a listen as NPR does a nice job running down the Republican "Pay to Play" corruption scandal that continues to grow in DC. Of course it mentions all our favorites: Gingrich, DeLay, Grover Norquist, Rick Santorum, et al. No Dems, just lots and lots of Republicans selling out the American people to powerful interests.

What will we tell the children?!?

Can you TruthDig It?

Bob Scheer rides again! Been meaning to mention this since I am a big fan of Left, Right & Center (podcast that baby!), but I encourage you all to check out TruthDig a new online journal Scheer edits.

The Iraq Index

The Iraq Index
.

Okay, sure it's from the December 19th edition, but the Iraq Index (PDF) is worth a look... and it's even out of date: the word is some 17 soldiers killed this weekend.