This is a brilliant spoof of the RNC-produced anti-Ford ad.
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From the monthly archives:
October 2006
Big news popped up last night.
At least two dozen federal judges appointed by President Bush since 2001 made political contributions to key Republicans or to the president himself while under consideration for their judgeships, government records show. A four-month investigation of Bush-appointed judges by the Center for Investigative Reporting reveals that six appellate court judges and 18 district court judges contributed a total of more than $44,000 to politicians who were influential in their appointments. Some gave money directly to Bush after he officially nominated them. Other judges contributed to Republican campaign committees while they were under consideration for a judgeship.
Sounds shady. Unethical, even. And while there are, unfortunately, no rules about political contributions while under consideration for a judicial appointment, there is one for sitting federal judges:
Political giving while serving on the federal bench is a violation of the official Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges. The code says that “A judge should not … solicit funds for or pay an assessment or make a contribution to a political organization or candidate.”
Ohio’s culture of corruption runs deep.
The president selects most federal judges with significant input from U.S. senators of the same party. In Ohio, that process is “totally controlled by party politics,” says Tom Hagel, a professor at the University of Dayton School of Law and a part-time trial judge. “If you don’t have the blessing of the county and state party chairs you can stop right there,” said Hagel, whose brother is Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. “Believe me, they’ve got to get approval all the way up the line.” Hagel says campaign contributions could play into that process, as a demonstration of “how loyal and appreciative” a judicial candidate is. “That certainly has an appearance of impropriety,” he said. “It gives the impression that the senators’ decision-making process could be influenced by money.”
Salon’s report shows a number of influential Republicans have received what appears to amount to bribe money.
Republicans who received money from judges en route to the bench include Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Sens. George Voinovich and Mike DeWine of Ohio, and Gov. George Pataki of New York.
Clearly, I think we need some rules governing political donations made by potential candidates for judicial appointments. The appearance of impropriety is stark, and where there is ethical smoke, there is often ethical fire.
In DeWine’s defense, according to the facts as laid out in the article, he appears to have returned donations from sitting federal judges that would violate the aforementioned Code of Conduct. And in at least one case, he returned a donation by a candidate under consideration. But he still supported these judges, despite their efforts to buy his vote.
For those of you with a little spare time, I suggest searching the Ohio Money Tree for donations from judges and candidates for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Let us know what you dig up.
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A new poll by Majority Watch shows Shamansky a few points back of Tiberi. The total numbers are 51% to 46%, with a 3% MOE, but Tiberi’s current edge is very soft – amongst voters showing a strong preference, Tiberi leads just 41% to 40%.
Kilroy is way in front, 53% to 41%. Space is up 51% to 42%.
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This is priceless.
Over the sci-fi show’s first two seasons, many conservatives saw it as a pitch-perfect metaphor for the United States’ post-9/11 battle against Osama bin Laden and his Muslamonazi horde. Galactica, which has become something of a surprise hit on the Sci Fi Channel, takes place in a post-apocalyptic universe where humanity has been decimated by a nuclear strike launched by an enemy race of robots known as the Cylons. Most of the action revolves around a noble band of 50,000 survivors who hurtle through space searching for a new home planet. Along the way, they have had to deal with Cylon sleeper agents, suicide bombers, and even a sinister pack of left-wingers who use violence to try to force humanity to make peace with their enemies.
“The more I watch the new Battlestar Galactica series, the more the Cylons seem like Muslims,” wrote “Michael,” the author of the Battlestar Galactica Blog, back in March. “They believe they are killing humans for their god. This is very much like the Muslim concept of jihad, which instructs Muslims to spread their religion through war.”
National Review’s Jonah Goldberg, who writes regularly about Galactica’s politics on NRO’s group blog, The Corner, also picked up on parallels between the show and the war on terror. Goldberg took particular glee in attacking Galactica’s anti-war movement, which he said consisted of “radical peaceniks” and “peace-terrorists” who “are clearly a collection of whack jobs, fifth columnists and idiots.” Goldberg also praised several characters for trying to rig a presidential election. “I liked that the good guys wanted to steal the election and, it turns out, they were right to want to,” wrote Goldberg. Stolen elections, evil robots, crazed hippies … what more could a socially inept right-winger want from a show?
But alas, this love affair between Galactica and the right was not to last: in its third season, the show has morphed into a stinging allegorical critique of America’s three-year occupation of Iraq. The trouble started at the end of the second season, when humanity briefly escaped the Cylons and settled down on the tiny planet of New Caprica. The Cylons soon returned and quickly conquered the defenseless humans. But instead of slaughtering everyone, the Cylons decided to take a more enlightened path by “benevolently occupying” the planet and imposing their preferred way of life by gunpoint. The humans were predictably not enthused about their allegedly altruistic rulers, and they immediately launched an insurgency against them using improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers. Needless to say, this did not go over very well in the Galacticon camp.
“The whole suicide bombing thing … made comparisons to Iraq incredibly ham-fisted,” wrote a frustrated Goldberg, who had hoped the struggle against the Cylons would look more like Le Resistance than the Iraqi insurgency. “The French resistance vibe … is part of what makes the Iraq comparison so offensive. It’s a one-step remove from comparing the Iraqi insurgency to the (romanticized) French resistance.”
Conservative posters at the message boards over at the SciFi network were apoplectic over the suicide bombings early this season. Apparently, wingnuts don’t like everything they see in the mirror. Some were even threatening to sell their DVDs and never watch the show again!
BSG is tremendous science fiction. Like all great SF, its allegory shines a harsh light back on ourselves.
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Dear Friend,Today is Monday, the 30th of October. There are only eight days left until election day!
I am locked in a heated battle with my opponent Ted Strickland. We differ on many issues, but only I have the prescription that will lead Ohio to a brighter future.
A new, nonpartisan report finds that Ohio has the 2nd largest local and state tax burden in the nation. And while in Congress, Ted Strickland voted for tax increases and against tax cuts 83 times! Ohio cannot afford another Taft-like tax-raising politician such as Ted Strickland.
Today, my campaign began running an ad featuring former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani . Please take a moment to view the spot at KenBlackwell.com .
Rudy Giuliani knows that I am the only candidate who has the leadership ability and the qualifications to be Ohio’s next governor. I am spreading this message as I travel throughout Ohio’s 88 counties, I need your financial support to broadcast my positive, tax-cutting job-creating agenda to undecided voters. (Please click here to contribute! )
Ohio’s future is at stake, so please stand with me one last time . With your help, we will win on November 7th and put Ohio back on a path to job creation and economic prosperity. (Please click here to contribute! )
God Bless,
Ken Blackwell
P.S. If you donate $25, $50, $100, or $200 today , you will help me buy more airtime for this Rudy Giuliani TV ad . Please contribute today!
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Oft repeated by global warming deniers is that it’s “too expensive” to fight global warming, and to even do something as simple as imposing emissions limits would cripple the economy (be sure to read the “about us” page on that site).
The UK believes the exact opposite.
A report by economist Sir Nicholas Stern suggests that global warming could shrink the global economy by 20%.
But taking action now would cost just 1% of global gross domestic product, the 700-page study says.
Tony Blair said the Stern Review showed the scientific evidence of global warming was “overwhelming” and its consequences “disastrous”.
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From yesterday’s Dispatch:
Now comes GOP gubernatorial nominee J. Kenneth Blackwell, trailing badly in the polls, with an October surprise against Democrat Ted Strickland. With homophobic bloggers serving as campaign adjuncts to spread rumors that Strickland, married for 18 years, is gay, Blackwell accused Strickland of harboring a pedophile on his payroll.
Moreover, Blackwell twisted a vote Strickland cast in Congress to suggest that Strickland supports sex between adults and children.
Voters won’t believe the unbelievable. It defies logic — particularly when the only evidence is innuendo — that a married, ordained Methodist minister and psychologist with an ethically spotless 12-year record in Congress is a pedophilia-supporting homosexual.
I have to agree with Paul over at BSB: while it’s not working this time, it has worked time and time again – once so well it created a new word.
The reason it works? Because the media is too afraid to call a lie a lie. In the interest of being “fair and balanced,” good journalism has become giving each side a soundbite or quote, while refusing to contrast what those sides are saying with the known facts.
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Michael J. Fox and Sherrod Brown are hosting a rally at Drinko Hall on the Ohio State Campus (law building) at 10:30AM today.
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J Matthew Yuskewich is the treasurer for this retarded issue 4 thing- you know, the “smoke less ohio” constitutional amendment that is on the ballot this year thanks to the millions of dollars worth of signatures paid for by big tobacco companies.
Anyway- 30 seconds of searching reveals that this guy is some kind of professional Treasurer-for-Hire…
He’s also treasurer for the Ohio House Republican Campaign Committee.
Oh- and he’s connected to caveman-lawyer Scott Pullins.
Big fucking surprise!
I’m not sure if anyone has done any polling on this- but this issue NEEDS TO FAIL.
Given the current polical situation- a single commercial SHOWING THAT THIS IS A REPUBLICAN SPONSORED ISSUE should do it.
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In today’s Dispatch:
“This is a really, really important election,” [David] Barton said during a speech at Potter’s House Church of God on the West Side.
“Take your Sunday school class to vote, and you’ve got to start breaking fingers if they don’t,” he said.
Barton, a former Christian school teacher, vice chairman of the Texas Republican Party and founder of WallBuilders, has become a conservative icon because of his research showing what he says is the Christian heritage of the Founding Fathers and other key figures of American history.
How Christ-like of him!
Barton’s group, Wallbuilders, ironically is busy trying to tear down the “wall” of church-state separation. (Interestingly, Wallbuilders also claims that a flat-tax is mandated by the Bible.) And I’m not even going to get into the “Christian nation” BS right now.
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The inexorable march towards fascism…
by Brian on October 31, 2006 · Comments
This is apparently because nearly 1 million children were born to unwed mothers in their 20s in 2004. Of course, the only reasonable solution is for these unmarried women to stop having sex, right?
All in all, it’s just another brick in the wall…
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