“No one died when Clinton lied.”

Tell them the Pope would disagree.

David Brooks takes off on our current partisan divide today. best quote (describing travel on an airline for liberals):

“Ladies and gentlemen, if you glance out of the left side of the aircraft, you’ll be able to look down on the people of Kansas”

All of the flap the GOP raised about Kerry’s lengthy voting record is coming full circle. Former Congressman Dick Cheney voted to raise gas taxes when gas was cheaper in the mid 80’s.

“Let us rid ourselves of the fiction that low oil prices are somehow good for the United States,” Mr. Cheney, who is now vice president, said shortly after introducing the legislation.

Oil prices had plunged to $15 from nearly $40 a barrel in the early 1980’s, as Saudi Arabia flooded world markets, and Mr. Cheney argued the tax was needed to stabilize oil-state economies devastated as a result. But other lawmakers, including some Republicans, criticized the Cheney plan and similar proposals as “snake oil” that would throw 400,000 Americans out of work. They also said then, as President Bush does now, that higher taxes would stall the economy.

So, when you said…

“Some people have wacky ideas like taxing gasoline more so people drive less. That’s John Kerry,” a recent Bush campaign commercial said. The commercial singled out Mr. Kerry’s support a decade ago for a 50-cent gas tax increase, part of a deficit-reduction package that Mr. Kerry never voted for.

Isn’t that just like a career politician to flip-flop on an issue? It gets better.

[T]he cost of Mr. Cheney’s plan ultimately would have been passed on to drivers and other consumers through higher prices on gasoline and other refined petroleum products. In addition, he said in a February 1987 statement, he supported the tax partly because it would “assist us in reducing our budget deficit.”

More interactive art stuff where you are given keyboard combos that kicks off weird vector animated art.

Check out the home decor gadgets at this site including a really cool rechargable glow lantern and an even cooler, but highly impractical, tissue dispenser.

Here’s a blog post from this morning of an Iraqi suffering a local rebellion against occupation.

A coup d’etat is taking place in Iraq a the moment. Al-Shu’la, Al-Hurria, Thawra (Sadr city), and Kadhimiya (all Shi’ite neighbourhoods in Baghdad) have been declared liberated from occupation. … The streets are empty, someone told us half an hour ago that Al-Mahdi are trying to take over our neighbourhood and are being met by resistance from Sunni hardliners. … I have to admit that until now I have never longed for the days of Saddam, but now I’m not so sure. If we need a person like Saddam to keep those rabid dogs at bay then be it. Put Saddam back in power and after he fills a couple hundred more mass graves with those criminals they can start wailing and crying again for liberation. … It seems like everything is back under control, at least from what I can see in my neighbourhood. There is an eerie silence outside, only dogs barking. Until about an hour ago, it sounded like a battlefield, and we had flashbacks of last April. I don’t know what happened, but there were large plumes of smoke from the direction of Adhamiya and Kadhimiya. I wanted to take some pictures but my father and uncle both said they would shoot me on the spot if I tried, they were afraid the Apaches would mistake us for troublemakers and fire at us. I’m dreading tomorrow.

Today’s reason: too much bluster.

There are so many highly-publicized Bush initiatives that I don’t agree with. The constitutional ammendment defining religious standards for marriage, his immigration proposals and pumping money for manned missions into NASA are some that I oppose. Lucky for me, he has failed at follow-through on these. Maybe his supporters are happy that he waves the flag in his big Fox News event facades and then privately forgets to care about the issues when the cameras move on. I know I am.

Proposals to bar gay marriage, rewrite immigration laws, protect Americans from anthrax bacteria and send astronauts to the moon and Mars are progressing slowly — or not at all — even though Bush initially endorsed them at high-visibility events.

A White House spokesman and some Republicans defended the administration’s approach, saying the president is waiting for the appropriate time to press for action on some of his initiatives, while recognizing that others may have to wait for a second term.

I’m glad to do my part in keeping him from having that second term to push these items through.