Liberal Redneck Information

Today is the 50th birthday of one of my favorite shapes–the peace symbol (Washington post). Symbolizing not only peace, but of hope, never has the peace symbol been more relevant or more needed than it is today. Happy 50th, circle and three sticks!

Meanwhile, back at CNN headquarters, Captain planet has begun trying to talk Ted Turner down. He genuinely thinks Soylant Green will become a reality (Newsbusters). Soon, claims turner, global warming will cause mass cannibalism! A scary thought indeed, when you realize those of us carrying some extra meat will likely be the first to go.

For something a little more appetizing, perhaps we could visit Cumberland County, Tennesee, where people are up in arms over a Flying Spaghetti Monster sculpture (Crossville Chronicle). For those unfamiliar with the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM), it is a religious symbol created as a counter-argument to people against teaching evolution. I, for one, am sort of impressed to see such openness to other kinds of ideas displayed by officials. Bravo! Now someone pass the giant shaker of parmigiano!

Democratic challenger Steve Beshear has been elected as Kentucky’s new governor, defeating one-term incumbent Republican Ernie Fletcher.

Read on (WLEX, pops)

“I took a city that was full of pornography and licked it to a large extent.”– Rudy Giuliani, quoted by the New York Daily News.

Hat tip: Political Wire.

Apparently, Shirley MacLaine thinks Dennis Kucinich saw an alien spacecraft in his back yard (Big Head DC, pops). Well, while it wouldn’t be entirely out of the question that an evolved, intelligent species from another planet would want to come to earth and contact the potential next leader of the free world, does anyone, ANYONE think this is going to be Kucinich? Surely, if the aliens do think him to be our next leader, they must not be as intelligent as one would imagine beings capable of conquering light speed travel to be.

Kucinich’s day isn’t getting much better, as fake conservative newscaster, Stephen Colbert, finishes in fifth place in a poll of democratic candidates (fishbowl NY, pops). Colbert, who announced last week his intentions to run as both a democrat and republican in the South Carolina primaries, finished with 2.3%, whereas both Kucinich and Governor Bill Richardson got a measly 2.1%.

What’s next for ol’ Denny? I think he might start seeing ghosts and if he does, I know just who to call–The Ghostbus…erm…the CIA (Wonkette, pops).

I am not usually one to put much weight into conspiracy theories involving massive cover ups and rampant (well, more rampant than usual) corruption, but sometimes while reading the news, I am struck by how true some of the conspiracy theory noise seems to ring. In news that could turn me into a conspiracy theorist, robotic dragonflies were seen buzzing around political rallies, including an antiwar rally (Fox News–O RLY?–Ya, RLY!–Pops):

Witnesses are buzzing about recent sightings of robotic-looking dragonflies seen at Washington and New York political events. And U.S. government and private agencies have admitted to striving for the spy technology, The Washington Post reports, though no one has confessed to deploying the bugged bugs.

As scary as flying robotic spy bugs are, what is scarier is that it is almost like the White House goes out of their way to eliminate all credible ways to find out information about Al-Qaeda. After a small private security agency found a breach in security in Al-Quaeda’s website and was able to access an unreleased bin Laden video, they let the president in on their little secret. Soon, everyone knew about the breach, including the press, ruining a year long surveillance operation (Washington Post, Pops):

Within 20 minutes, a range of intelligence agencies had begun downloading it from the company’s Web site. By midafternoon that day, the video and a transcript of its audio track had been leaked from within the Bush administration to cable television news and broadcast worldwide.

Meanwhile, on CNN’s “Larry King Live”, Mexico’s ex-president Vincente confirmed that there is a plan to make the Amero, a regional curency to be shared by the United States, Canada and Mexico. Apparently, it was all Bush’s idea (WorldNetDaily, Pops):

Fox answered in the affirmative, indicating it was a long-term plan. He admitted he and President Bush had agreed to pursue the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas – a free-trade zone extending throughout the Western Hemisphere, suggesting part of the plan was to institute eventually a regional currency.

And speaking of conspiracy theories, did you hear what Nixon called ol’ Fred? The man who brought you the Watergate scandal declared Fred Thompson to be “dumb as hell” (ABC News, Pops).

Just when you thought news of the upcoming elections couldn’t get any weirder, two stories hit the press in one day. The first is hardly shocking. Seems Rudy has found a new way to exploit 9/11 (Yahoo News, Pops):

According to the invitation, “$9.11 for Rudy” is an “independent, non-denominational grass-roots campaign to raise $10,000 in small increments to show how many individual, everyday Americans support `America’s Mayor.’”

Grassroots? I call shenanigans!

The other story comes via the Examiner, which says that Bush has been advising Hillary and other top democrats (Pops) just in case, you know, they become president.

Bolten said Bush wants enough continuity in his Iraq policy that “even a Democratic president would be in a position to sustain a legitimate presence there.”

You may now be saying to yourself, “Wait a second. Is she saying that Bush is trying to tell the next president how to run the war in Iraq?” When you stop laughing and peeing your britches, you will find that my answer is: Yes, yes he is. Your next thought might be, “Isn’t that a little bit like Courtney Love trying to give advice on how to stay off drugs and lead a normal life or Dick Cheney teaching a gun safety course?” My answer is: yes, yes it is. Doesn’t seem he is delusional enough to think they will actually listen to him, but he is certainly hoping though:

“First of all, I expect them to criticize me. That’s one way you get elected in the Democratic primary, is to criticize the president,” Bush replied. “I don’t expect them to necessarily take advice from me. I would expect their insiders to at least get a perspective about how we see things.”

That’s cute, with a touch of crazy and a pinch of desperate. He seems to be sending out the big guns, by pretending he is running for president again:

“If I were a candidate running for president in a complex world that we’re in, I would be asking my national security team to touch base with the White House just to at least listen about plans, thoughts,” he said.

Thankfully, there are term limits to prevent him from trying to run again. God helps us all if he could. With US snipers setting traps for other human beings, I have to wonder what a third term might bring. My guess? The apocalypse.

According to an article in the Washinton Post, the war in Iraq is costing $720 million a day. This breaks down to $500,000 in a minute or $8,333 a second.

The money spent on one day of the Iraq war could buy homes for almost 6,500 families or health care for 423,529 children, or could outfit 1.27 million homes with renewable electricity, according to the American Friends Service Committee, which displayed those statistics on large banners in cities nationwide Thursday and Friday.

This comes in a week when news came out that the Treasury says we are about to hit the debt ceiling of $8.965 Trillian and asked that it be raised and the dollar is no longer as mighty as it once was when compared to both the Euro and the Loonie.

If you want to be truly depressed, check out the Nation Debt Clock.

Thank God the southern drawl is spreading or I’d be completely bummed.

Kudos and a golf clap for MoveOn’s new ad.