It’s not old, it’s early. Really early. But old “In cold blood” Jack is going up against someone unlikely to back down. Lt. Col William Russell (US Army ret) is going to take the fight to Murtha in his own backyard

While MurthaÂ’s encounters with wounded soldiers have solidified his stance on Iraq, Russell said a similar encounter left him with the opposite impression: To withdraw from Iraq, he argues, would render the sacrifices of those soldiers pointless.

“I think Mr. Murtha is just flat-out wrong,” Russell said.

The Republican also cites, as Irey did, MurthaÂ’s public accusation that U.S. Marines murdered innocent civilians in the Iraq town of Haditha in 2005.

The congressman, Russell contends, is “playing right into the hands of this enemy.”

On his Web site, Russell takes that line of thought a step further and attempts to raise the stakes for next yearÂ’s election.

“In this war against Islamic radicalism, the political battle of the 2008 election in the Pennsylvania 12th Congressional District is a critical turning point,” he said.

Russell is putting his money where his mouth and feelings are. He left the Army two years short of his full retirement just to move to the district and take on Murtha.

While he still might have to win a primary just to get his shot in the general election, it looks like heÂ’s going to beat the hell out of Murhta and attempt to hold the Congressman accountable for his big mouth and pork spending. Even if Russell accomplishes nothing else, that's still quite a service.

Posted by: DrewM. at 09:01 AM | Comments (20)
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Do you hate your kids? Want them to be mercilessly mocked and ostracized by their peers?

If so, the Campaign Spot has found the perfect costume idea for your little goblin this Halloween.

Posted by: Slublog at 08:31 AM | Comments (9)
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Pity. An otherwise decent article talking about the plight of ex-muslims (i.e. apostates) ruined by three sentences of weapons grade crazy. (the last paragraph in the section I'm quoting)

...She soon realised she was an atheist, a view reinforced by her reading of Charles Darwin. When she went to university, the Islamists began to force a theocracy on the Iranian people. She refused to accept the mass sackings of women and the enforced veiling. She was beaten for speaking out, and had to go into hiding. One day, her husband and four of their friends were taken away. Nine months later, in another hiding place, she read that they had been executed.

She decided to seek refuge in Austria, because she read in a book that women's life expectancy there was higher than men's, "and I thought – that's my kind of country!" But she was amazed to find that even in Europe, Islamist groups were being treated as the respected spokesmen for all Muslims by politicians and journalists. Even here, the extreme wing threatened her with death for forming the International Committee Against Stoning to save women, and the police did little. On her visit to Britain, they offered her no protection at all.

If Christian fundamentalists were doing this – as they used to, and would like to again – none of us would hesitate in erupting in rage. But because Islamic fundamentalists are doing it, we feel awkward, and fall silent. The difference is the colour of their skin. There's a word for this: racism...

none of us would hesitate in erupting in rage

Seriously, what Christian sect (that's not some sort of defacto cult with only the most tenuous superficial connections to actual Christianity) currently advocates violence against those who leave the fold? I can't think of any. Lets face it - the Spanish Inquisition was quite a while ago and I don't know of any churches that got an iron maiden or the rack tucked away in the parsonage attic just waiting for the day when airing out such things in public once in a while comes back into vogue.

Simply put - this guy Johann Hari is a fucking loon.

The H/T chain - Dan, Tim & Damian then Google got me to the original Independent article.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 07:54 AM | Comments (60)
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Bush has also damaged my mental health.

After I actually took the trouble to inform myself about politics a couple years ago, and learned the true extent of the damage Bush has done to this country, I have a constant boiling rage inside me. Absolutely constant. Never ceases, though sometimes I can get it down to a simmer so I can go out in public and hang out with friends without doing something stupid. On top of the anger is a generous dose of fear and anxiety, coming directly from the Bush administration's march to fascism.

Frequently, I'm so intensely angry that I hit things. I just broke my bookshelf today because I hit it. My knuckles have decent callouses on them from hitting things, and various pieces of my property show signs of my rage. Thankfully, I've never turned violent against people since I was in high school, though I was sorely tempted to deviate the septum of a wingnut who called me a traitor and faggot to my face at the anti-war march last Saturday.

Of course, it's unhealthy to harbor this much anger, especially if I'm stuffing it down all the time so people around me don't see me acting borderline psychotic. These emotions leak out, turn into other emotions, like depression, which I've fought with since college. I've also developed a venomous hatred of Bush and his cronies and the 23-percenters that support him. Hatred's never a good emotion to hold, but there it is. I literally hate those motherf*ckers who are destroying our country.

By all rights, I should be getting help, but I'm not going to. I was soured on the psychiatry business by my experience with anti-depressants - I ended up nearly emotionless, apathetic, and lost my motivation and creative drive, and as a result, I was unemployed for three years and had to move back in with my parents....

On top of that, if I told a counselor about my feelings, or that I'm so afraid of my government that I literally spent several hundred dollars on a shotgun, a deadly weapon, to defend myself against my government, I'm afraid I could get thrown into the psych ward. And I value my freedom enough that I will not allow that to happen under any circumstances. So, no shrinks.

What similar derangements have you suffered having to live with Hillary Clinton as the senior Senator of New York? Which long-term mental health problems and schizophrenic delusions do you think were caused by the Democrats' Congressional victory last November?

Posted by: Ace at 08:19 PM | Comments (137)
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He's got my vote.

Posted by: Ace at 07:13 PM | Comments (16)
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You're not fat, dear. You're just carrying around a few extra "Bush Pounds."

Before my head began exploding a few years ago in response to Busharama, I'd exercise a lot... I mean, almost daily, joyous-type exericising. Now I come home with a slight frown on my face and come here to hear the news & be a mojo-mama even if too tired to comment, and hang for hours here and on other blogs, as if the light will shine again and I'll be present to hear the
BREAKING news about that.

Bush, I blame you for my new-ish extra 20 pounds....

Honey, drop the excuses, put down the Hot Pocket, turn off Jon Stewart and hit the frigging elliptical trainer.

Snark:

All I know is, during the Clinton years, I was a young man in my 20s.

Now, after 7 years of Bush, my youth is gone, and I'm solidly in my 30s.

DAMN YOU BU$HITLER!!! DAMN YOU TO HELL!!!!!

Damn, me too. How did I give Bush a pass on this shit?

Thanks to Brendan for that.

Posted by: Ace at 06:34 PM | Comments (39)
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You know, when Eugene Kazsa said "I have money"?

That was good. But this line would be better.

Hey baby, how you doin? I got 30 mil, guaranteed.
And I got all of my teeth.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 06:23 PM | Comments (11)
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Content Warning for firepower displays bordering on the sexual.

Thanks to ghengis.

Posted by: Ace at 05:42 PM | Comments (49)
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But how this jerkoff managed to "bully" his peers is beyond me.

Representative quote:

"A lot of the jurors couldn't even say words that had four syllables," Mr. Neal said. “They just picked a jury based on socio-economical reasons.” "A lot of these people were blue collar—working UPS, working cafeteria, uh, cashier. You had people of secluded lifestyles. “They had no idea of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. They have no idea about worldly affairs and to get them and show them bombs and show them the kids, ‘Well, that’s not our lifestyle so we got to vote them guilty because of that.’ That’s the whole reason. Honestly if I had not been on that jury this would have been a different case.”

What the hell does the Palestinian-Israeli conflict have to do with the specific question of whether the accused illegally aided and abetted a terrorist organization?

Posted by: Ace at 04:51 PM | Comments (28)
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I approve of this enhancement, though. Mild content warning.

Thanks to Brian.

Posted by: Ace at 04:23 PM | Comments (9)
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