“I didn't write it; I didn't approve it; I wasn't even consulted. My name shouldn't be associated with it, because I had nothing to do with it, and didn't even know about it until after the bill was done and was filed.”

“We have a problem with how bills like this are put together. On occasions, appropriations staff will take the initiative to insert language they believe will be non-controversial. They do this with the approval of full committee staff, but without the knowledge or approval of subcommittee chairman like me. That is what happened in this case.

“We have a chain of command problem over whether the subcommittee staff are ultimately accountable to the full committee staff—who represent the full committee chairman—or to the subcommittee chairman. The subcommittee chairman should never be bypassed like I was in this case. I will work to fix this as part of the reorganization of the appropriations committee that will take place during the next several weeks."

posted by Jerry Bowles 3:31 PM

What Would You Do?

My favorite sports team in the world, DC United, just won its fourth MLS Cup two Sundays ago.

The Washington Post yesterday printed this article on the owner of DCU. His name is Phil Anschutz, and he's poster boy of everyone I hate in the Right. Here's some quick snippets of his bio:

Anschutz has supported socially conservative causes. In 1987, Anschutz's family foundation gave Focus on the Family founder James Dobson an award for his "contributions to the American Family." According to its Web site, the Denver-based group works to "counter the media-saturating message that homosexuality is inborn and unchangeable" and one of its policy experts called legalized abortion an example of when "Satan temporarily succeeds in destroying God's creation."

In 1992, Anschutz contributed $10,000 to a group called Colorado Family Values, to support an amendment to the state constitution that invalidated state and local laws against discrimination based on sexual orientation. Anschutz's money helped pay for an ad campaign that said such anti-bias laws gave gays and lesbians "special rights." The U.S. Supreme Court later overturned the amendment as discriminatory.

Anschutz is an active Republican donor. Since 1996, he, his companies and members of his family have given more than $500,000 in campaign contributions to GOP candidates and committees.

Now, I have had season tickets for all nine years of DCU's existence. Soccer is by a large margain my favorite sport and DCU has been my favorite team. RFK, when the fans are passionate - or more passionate than usual; did anyone watch the DCU-New England conference final? It was like being in England at a Premiership derby between Chelsea and Spurs - RFK literally shakes from fans jumping up and down.

But, I'm giving money to this asshole Anschutz. I suppose I could have figured out who he was when he acquired the team, but didn't, but now I know and wonder: Even though my allegiance is to the uniform and the players wearing the uniform, knowing all this about Anschutz somehow changes things for me. Should it? Does Anschutz, and his politics, and his actions regarding his politics, reflect the majority of his peers in ownership? It is practically impossible to root for a team whose owner I wouldn't despise? What are my options? What would you do?

posted by Blackdogred 1:26 PM

Jude 1:2 (Revised)


This guy is hysterical.

posted by Jerry Bowles 11:05 AM

Yellow Back Black Radio Broke Down

The American electoral system is thoroughly broken and it can’t be fixed because the people who are in a position to fix it don’t want it to be fixed. Where there is ambiguity, there is theft, and there are enough gray areas in American election law to allow those in power to rig the system in favor of themselves. Naturally, they avail themselves of this opportunity. As a result, elections—on all levels, from the local precinct to the White House--are increasingly unfair, unrepresentative, obscenely skewed by money and influence, and, quite possibly, stolen.

There has to be a better way and the most important task that all of us have—Democrats and Republicans and Independents—is to build a new system that is transparent, fair, truly bipartisan, and as independent of incumbent and money influences as possible. I have no idea how this can be done; in fact, I’m fairly sure it can’t be, but I do know what should be done. Here are some ideas:

1. Eliminate the Electoral College. If one person, one vote is good enough for Afghanistan, it’s good enough for us.

2. Hold all primaries on three consecutive Tuesdays in March. Before each election cycle, put all the state names in a hat, pull out 16; that’s the first Tuesday; next 16 is the following Tuesday; final 18 on the last Tuesday. This prevents a few thousand people in small states like Iowa and New Hampshire from designating a candidate or frontrunner before the rest of us get to vote.

3. Put all campaign contributions of more than $500 in a blind trust. The candidate gets the money but doesn’t know who gave it to him or her.

4. Adopt a uniform standard national electronic voting system that produces a verifiable paper trail and gives each voter a receipt. Have mandatory auditing of every state’s results by an independent accounting firm. Expensive, yes, but worth it to restore confidence in an age of statistically improbable outcomes.

5. Bring back the League of Women Voters. When the good ladies handled presidential debates they were lively, fair and balanced. Now, representatives of both sides negotiate the groundrules in advance, each jockeying for advantage, and the result is usually a sterile, no surprises affair.

6. No more gerrymandering. One redistricting every ten years, with lines drawn by a state-appointed, bipartisan (five Democrats, five Republicans, five independents) commission.

7. Term limits, term limits, term limits. Make it 12 years but not a day longer.

Who else has suggestions and how can we get it done?

posted by Jerry Bowles 9:56 AM

2008 Prospects - Former Governor, Now Senator Evan Bayh
Infielder, Leading Hitter and Mystery Player


A Democrat who gets more votes (62 percent) than Bush (60 percent) in a Red State is somebody to watch and that is precisely what Evan Bayh did this year in his bid to be elected to a second term in the Senate, after serving for two terms as governor of Indiana. Although we said we weren't considering senators, Bayh qualifies for the lineup because he was a governor first. He’s doing something right…actually he is doing a lot on the right and may appear to be in the wrong uniform, making him a mystery player on the national Democratic circuit.

Evan (I hope he gets a nickname) is well positioned in his two key Senate committee appointments--Select Committee on Intelligence and the Armed Services Committee--thereby giving him important credentials and knowledge about crucial issues on the national level.

However, he voted to support (up for defeat in 2006) Rick Santorum’s pet project, partial birth abortion, and on other issues that Democrats should not have to think twice about, he has been ambivalent. For example, he is undecided on a school prayer amendment. He is a favorite of the DLC which should automatically make him suspect with progressives. But, on every score card he lands somewhere in the middle—and that may be what it takes to win the White House back in 2008.

On the God-thing he belongs to that obscure and aloof group of wealthy churchgoers called Episcopalians, sort of half Catholic, half Protestant, but he's not a WWJD-type or one of those gun- and Bible-toting Baptists that are running amok these days. So there are no bonus points with Reverend Falwell here.

In 2007 he will be younger than Bush was when he ran for President the first time. This kid is only 49 years old right now. Like Bush, he is the father of twins, boys. He remains something of a mystery with not much information available about him.

Scouting Report: He is from the DLC farm team and played so well there that he is now the captain (chairman) of the DLC. He waits for his issues, but is likely to surprise everyone on both sides with his hitting and fielding.

Anybody know anything more about this guy?

posted by Josh 9:29 AM

The Al-Shrubka network...

As the United States further isolates itself from its “allies” the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the “war of lies” in Iraq is costing Americans between $4 billion and $9 billion per month. Most Americans still think that the “insurgents” are linked with Osama bin Laden. John McCain told NBC yesterday that the US needs to send an additional 50,000 troops to Iraq. Elections in January... all part of the Al-Shrubka "non exit exit strategy." Unlikely any big time Dems will admit the US policy they blindly supported is responsible for creating “Al Shrubka". Maybe this is the reason why.

posted by Groom 2:07 AM

Surprise! Surprise!

You're never going to believe this. Now that the election is over, commanders in Iraq are saying they need more troops. Who would have guessed? Not the 60 million clueless Americans who voted for the alpha jerk.

posted by Jerry Bowles 12:03 AM

Sunday, November 21, 2004

These Curious Times

Nurse Frist is denying any knowledge of a provision that someone slipped into the just passed 1,000-page spending bill that would have allowed two committee chairmen to view the tax returns of any American. "I have no earthly idea how it got in there," Frist said on CBS's "Face The Nation." "Nobody is going to defend this."

Here's a clue. Drudge says it was this wannabe Nazi and Johnny Depp lookalike:


Meanwhile, Red Staters, you'll be happy to learn that while you're having bake sales to buy your kids body armor to use in Iraq, our totally and utterly Republican-dominated Congress found $2 million to set aside to try to buy back the presidential yacht, Sequoia.

Can't wait until somebody finds the provision about abolishing all future elections and having presidents appointed by the House of Representatives.

posted by Jerry Bowles 10:56 PM

A Little History Lesson For The Extrahistoric Administration

Michael W. Kauffman, in his new biography of John Wilkes Booth, "American Brutus," explains how his sympathies extend to Booth's co-conspirators, who were brutally treated after their arrest, held in hoods and quasi-medieval manacles in the suffocating confines of Navy ironboats, and then tried by a military tribune intent on dispensing swift justice:

"It is not easy to put aside the barbarous image of people in hoods and chains," observes Kauffman. "Prisoners had not been treated that way since 1696, and would not be again until 2001."

When future histories of torture are written, alongside the names of Torquemada, Mengele and Vlad the Impaler will go the names Bush, Rumsfeld, and Ashcroft. Quite a legacy there, eh?

posted by Michael 7:35 PM

One More Reason Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz Should Be Strung Up to the Nearest Oak Tree

Acute malnutrition among young children in Iraq has nearly doubled since the United States led an invasion of the country 20 months ago, according to surveys by the United Nations, aid agencies and the interim Iraqi government. Washington Post, 11/21/04.

posted by Jerry Bowles 12:32 PM

Guess who's coming to dinner?

Brighter, more hands-on and more geopolitically adept than anybody in the Bush inner circle, Musharraf could actually be more powerful than the POTUS hisself. When China and India are your neighbors there are no "slam dunks." Rumor has it that Rummy wants pied de cochon on the menu.

posted by Groom 5:05 AM