Won't anybody think of the children?

So the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of expanding the program that provides health coverage to children from low-income families. The problem, is that even though 19 Republican senators supported the bill, Dubya appears likely to veto it, calling it a "big government bill" (nevermind the fact that he's been running huge budget deficits for the last six years and flushing billions down the toilet that is the Iraq war).

The curious aspect of this whole debate is how it relates to what everyone seems to feel is the inevitablity of socialized medicine in this country.

For instance, many on the left have adopted a position of "lets watch the politicians and insurance companies piss so many people off that they eventually demand universal single-payer healthcare." It's the whole "let it break down" position. You let your opponents neglect something for so long that an opposite reaction eventually occurs.

So while some of the dimmer Republicans like John Cornyn of Texas grouse that this bill is a step toward socialized medicine, the more astute ones (like Sen. Bob Corker) realize that a small compromise such as this one will actually delay a radical reorganization of healthcare and preserve the status quo.

Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, said those fears were unfounded.

“What will move our country toward socialized medicine is not this bill, which focuses on poor children, but the lack of action to allow people in need to have access to private affordable health care,” Mr. Corker said.

Message board atom bomb

I happened to be reading one of the message boards over at Slate, and one poster took umbrage at a conservative poster's statment that Republicans "know the difference between wrong and right." Somehow, this was his insane/somewhat funny reply. disclaimer: who the hell knows if half of this stuff is even true or who compiled any of it in the first place. so please don't sue me for libel. ;) ....

Republicans know the difference between wrong and right.." ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?! DO YOU NOT KNOW OF THE MYRIAD OF SEX SCANDALS THE RETHUGS HAVE BEEN CAUGHT UP IN? * Republican prosecutor John David Roy Atchison was arrested for soliciting sex from a 5-year old girl. At the time of his arrest, Atchison was an "assistant U.S. attorney" appointed by President Bush's attorney general. * Republican city councilman John Bryan killed himself after police began investigating allegations that he had molested three girls, including two of his adopted daughters, ages 12 and 15. * Republican legislator Ted Klaudt was charged with raping girls under the age of 16. * Republican city councilman Joseph Monteleone Jr. was found guilty of fondling underage girls. * Republican congressional aide Jeffrey Nielsen was arrested for having sex with a 14-year old boy. * Republican County Commissioner Patrick Lee McGuire surrendered to police after allegedly molesting girls between the ages of 8 and 13. * Republican prosecutor Larry Corrigan was arrested for soliciting sex from 13-year old girls. * Republican Mayor Jeffrey Kyle Randall was sentenced to 275 days in jail for molesting two boys -- ages ten and 12 -- during a six-year period. * Republican County Board Candidate Brent Schepp was charged with molesting a 14-year old girl and killed himself three days later. * Republican Congressman Mark Foley abruptly resigned from Congress after "sexually explicit" emails surfaced showing him flirting with a 16-year old boy. * Republican executive Randall Casseday of the conservative Washington Times newspaper pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a 13-year old girl on the internet. * Republican chairman of the Oregon Christian Coalition Lou Beres confessed to molesting a 13-year old girl. * Republican County Constable Larry Dale Floyd pleaded guilty to charges of soliciting sex from an 8-year old girl. Floyd has repeatedly won elections for Denton County, Texas, constable. * Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation. * Republican Party leader Bobby Stumbo was arrested for having sex with a 5-year old boy. * Republican petition drive manager Tom Randall pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 14, one of them the daughter of an associate in the petition business. * Republican County Chairman Armando Tebano pleaded guilty to fondling a 14-year-old girl. * Republican teacher and former city councilman John Collins pleaded guilty to sexually molesting 13 and 14 year old girls. * Republican campaign worker Mark Seidensticker is a convicted child molester. * Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls. * Republican Mayor Tom Adams was arrested for distributing child pornography over the internet. * Republican Mayor John Gosek was arrested on charges of soliciting sex from two 15-year old girls. * Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison. * Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17. * Republican Committeeman John R. Curtin was convicted of molesting an underage teenage boy and sentenced to serve six to 18 months in prison. * Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida. * Republican zoning supervisor, Boy Scout leader and Lutheran church president Dennis L. Rader pleaded guilty to performing a sexual act on an 11-year old girl he murdered. * Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor. * Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl. * Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child. * Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile. * Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl. * Republican advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer was sentenced to six years in prison for molesting two 8-year old girls, one of whom appeared in an anti-Gore television commercial. * Republican fundraiser Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s. * Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s. * Republican Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail. * Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos. * Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children. * Republican campaign chairman Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child and was arrested again five years later on the same charge. * Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page. * Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter. * Republican Judge Ronald C. Kline pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer. * Republican congressman and anti-gayactivist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar. * Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped. * Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Republican Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD. * Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography. * Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media. * Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced prison after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him. * Republican talk show host JonMatthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl. * Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her. * Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison. * Republican election board official KevinCoan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl. * Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy. * Republican legislator Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children). * Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was found guilty of molesting a 15-year old girl. * Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a male child. * Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl. * Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters. * Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl. * Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy. * Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison. * Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000. * Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession. * Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet. * Republican city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a "good military man" and "church goer," was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison. * Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter. * Republican campaign worker, police officer and self-proclaimed reverend Steve Aiken was convicted of having sex with two underage girls. * Republican director of the "Young Republican Federation" Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison. * Republican president of the New York City Housing Development Corp. Russell Harding pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer. * Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was found guilty of raping a 15-year old girl. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women. * Republican Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the rape of children in Iraqi prisons in order to humiliate their parents into providing information about the anti-American insurgency. See excerpt of one prisoner's report here and his full report here. AND THESE ARE THE ONE WE KNOW ABOUT!

Yes, we really blog about this crap

Blogger just added a new mini-feature that allows you to look at what photos people are posting to their blogs in real time. It's gimmicky, yes, but it interesting to see what ridiculous photos people are blogging about at any given time.

The day Rove left and never came back

This Onion article about Karl Rove leaving the Bush White House is just classic.

While sneaking the departing official out to a waiting town car, Secret Service agents were briefly able to deceive Bush by telling him Rove was just running down to the cellar to get him some ice cream. But when Bush heard the car's engine start in the driveway, he burst outside to stop Rove.

"I'll never forget the sight of the president, watching Rove's face in the back window becoming smaller and smaller as the car pulled away forever," Rice said.