This Google search for "Dennis Rader" wichita comes up with quite a few hits.  Church President, Supervisor of Park City Kansas.  But all the pages are inaccessible.  Maybe this is why.

A Bush voter jumps ship.

 

p.s. don't ask me how all of these "punk" people could be "punk" and for Bush, the preppie, frat-boy son of a U.S. President.  You need to sit down with Ian.

DO NOT DRINK LIQUIDS AND VIEW THIS LINK--LAUGHTER WILL CAUSE THEM TO COME OUT YOUR NOSE.

Sean Hannity has a dating service.  Republicans--they always overreach.  WARNING--NOT A PARODY.

A feud is brewing between wingnut heavies Powerline blog, and young upstart Pharyngula.  PZ Meyers, the blogger behind Pharyngula argues that Powerline is out of the mainstream because they believe in creationism.  Powerline counters:

[T]his is the state of so much of today's left -- unwilling and/or unable to argue political issues (or scientific ones, as far as appears) on the merits. Under leftist logic, the fact that one of us doesn't believe a piece of scientific orthodoxy demonstrates, what, that our attacks on liberal political orthodoxies, falsehoods, and forgeries shouldn't be taken seriously?

Naturally, the Iron Mouth editors were compelled to respond via E-mail:

Big Trunk, I see that you assert ("Call Me Stupid"), that the Left is "unwilling and/or unable to argue political issues (or scientific ones, as far as appears) on the merits." I beg to differ.

First, since the efforts of religious conservatives to discredit the theory of evolution in school text books is certainly a political issue, discussion of it definitely has a place in the poltical discourse. Furthermore, I think its safe to assume that a professor of biology like the blogger you mention, who spends a huge amount of time on his blog discussing evolution, (indeed the very name of the blog indicates that evolution v. Creationism is the main topic of the blog), isn't going to go into the details of his position on the subject in a single post on the blog.

Indeed, the post which prompted Prof. Meyers to post on the subject is simply conclusory--there is no evidence to back up the assertions about evolution other than: "I think that Darwin’s theory of macroevolution is plainly wrong, on strictly scientific grounds." Much like the post of Prof. Meyers which you singled out for criticism, the statement on evolution in your post was conclusory.

Indeed, there is plenty of evidence to support evolution. First, it is clear that evolution does occur in the natural world now. There is a reason the doctor tells everyone to take all of the antibiotics which they are prescribed--because otherwise, a resistant strain of bacteria will evolve out of the non-resistant strain the patient is infected with.

The only question is whether or not that process also created the forms of life we see today. It is clear that there are fossil records of extinct life forms almost everywhere on Earth, some of which can be dated using objective scientific methods--dated to millions of years in the past. These forms are different from our own.

Creationists like those on www.Powerlineblog.com would have us believe that a process proven to occur in the world today to result in changes to the forms and genetic code of living beings simply did not work in the past. This statement is hard to swallow for most people with science backgrounds, as well as for much of the general public. It seems to go counter to Occam's Razor, which calls for the most parsiminous explanation to be credited.

The fact that bloggers on your site support creationism without providing any real evidence for it does call their judgment into question. It seems to indicate that they do not do their homework and operate on belief rather than reasoning. Rob W

We await a response.

Hunter S. Thompson, dead at 67.

 Mr. Bush also repeatedly worried that prominent evangelical Christians would not like his refusal "to kick gays."

Really?

Rove Denies Gannon Connection.

This just in: Rush Limbaugh to visit the troops in Afghanistan.

In other news, Opium production skyrockets in Afghanistan.

Who to blame in the NHL debacle?  The man who started the fight--Gary Bettman.  Remember, this wasn't a strike, it was a lockout. 

From BBC4, The Donald Rumsfeld Library of Quotations.

Right-wing National Review Online commentator Ramesh Ponnuru on Republican's claims that Howard Dean is a racist for commenting that "the GOP couldn't fill a hotel ballroom with "people of color" unless they brought in the hotel staff:"

Give me a break. Dean is saying, hyperbolically, that there aren't many blacks or other nonwhites in the Republican party. He's right. I've been to many, many Republican dinners where most nonwhites present have been serving the food. (Or giving the keynote.) If Republicans are bothered when people make that observation, they should try to make it less true.

Score one for the man.

If there were a such thing as the Lion Award, going to a person with courage--the first award should go to William Howard Taft IV--who, from within the Bush Justice Department argued that the U.S. did not have the right to suspend the Geneva conventions when it came to treating the Taliban captured in the Afghanistan campaign.

I do not, however, believe, that on the basis of your draft memorandum I can advise either the President or the Secretary of State that the obligations of the United States under the Geneva Conventions have lapsed with regard to Afghanistan or that the United States is not bound to carry out its obligations under the Conventions as a matter of international law.

The point of this memorandum is to not lose hope.  There are men and women out there of good faith who are doing there best to see that the cause of good is advanced.  This administration, when confronted with a choice between a morally correct but difficult course and an easy, immoral course, has always taken the easy way. 

We've just upgraded our version of our blogging software.  If anyone has any problems commenting--please drop us a line at ironmouth@gmail.com.  More blogging to follow.

Blah blah blah blah fake Bush memos.  Blah blah blah Dan Rather should be fired.  Blah Blah Blah Rathergate.  Blah blah blah the power of bloggers is ending the MSM.  Blah Blah Blah.

Blah blah blah looking into fake reporter planted by the GOP J.D. Guckert is stalking and wrong.  Blah blah blah its a gay witchunt

What?  Nothing about the power of blogs?

For the last year, the White House has issued a daily press pass in the name of Jeff Gannon of Talon News.  Mr. Gannon is known for tossing softballs at Scotty “Little Mac” McClellan, major general of the White House Press Room podium.  Many a time Gannon's puffballs have saved Scotty from answering tougher queries by other reporters.  Indeed, Bush himself asked him a question at his last press conference. Check out this humdinger from the campaign:

JEFF GANNON (Talon News): Since there have been so many questions about what the President was doing over 30 years ago, what is it that he did after his honorable discharge from the National Guard?
Did he make speeches alongside Jane Fonda, denouncing America's racist war in Vietnam? Did he testify before Congress that American troops committed war crimes in Vietnam?
And did he throw somebody else's medals at the White House to protest a war America was still fighting?
What was he doing after he was honorably discharged?

So what is Talon News?  Turns out it isn't news at all--it is associated with the infamous GOPUSA, a partisan website.  Scandal you say?  Not quite yet.

You see, Mr. Gannon was subpoenaed in the investigation into Plamegate, the investigation into the outing of the CIA wife of Ambassador Joe Wilson, who debunked the President's claim in the 2003 State of the Union Address that Iraq was trying to obtain yellowcake uranium alloy from Niger.  Turns out Mr. Gannon suprised Mr. Wilson during an interview by mentioning that his wife was a CIA agent.  Certainly this is turpidue enough to start the media digging to find more.

Not quite--it gets better.  It turns out that “Jeff Gannon” is a pseudonym.  Despite the fact that married women reporters who keep their maiden name professionally are required by this Administration to keep press passes in their husbands' name, Mr. Gannon is allowed to keep his pass in his fake name.

So the folks over at Daily Kos went to work trying to find out who this gentleman is.  They think they have a prime suspect: Mr. James Dale Guckert.  Mr. Guckert owns www.jeffgannon.com and key details of his life match those of Gannon's own biography.  Certainly enough to trigger the “Gannon Affair“, right?

Once again, not enough--turns out that the blossoming story includes the key ingredient to any great scandal--sex.  You see, the detectives over at Daily Kos assert that they have found that Mr. Guckert also owns some very interesting web domains, such as:

www.jeffgannon.com
www.Hotmilitarystud.com
www.Militaryescorts.com
www.Militaryescortsm4m.com

Wow.  So, research seems to indicate that the fake GOP reporter who attacks Democrats in White House press conferences, possibly leaks the name of a CIA agent in an unsolved national scandal, turns out to be either a gay pornographer or pimp? 

I don't make this shit up, people. 

Update, Wed. 10:48: Gannon quits Talon News--there must be something else to his story or he wouldn't give up so easily.

Google Maps.  Unbelievable.  If you have Firefox, zoom in, type anything at all and Google maps will search and find anything in its database with that name in the space you are looking at.  From, where else, Metafilter.

Feast your eyes on the owners of the blog the Black Republican, a conservative blog.  I first went there because of my interest in conservative African Americans.  They even have a category entitled Race and Prejudice.

If the country ain’t gung-ho enough for you yet, read these two stories from Thursday:

Marine General: It's 'Fun to Shoot People'

Thursday, February 3, 2005 Posted: 4:16 PM EST (2116 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A three-star Marine general who said it was "fun to shoot some people" should have chosen his words more carefully, the Marine Corps commandant said Thursday.

Lt. Gen. James Mattis, who commanded Marine expeditions in Afghanistan and Iraq, made the comments Tuesday during a panel discussion in San Diego, California.

"Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot," Mattis said, prompting laughter from some military members in the audience. "It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling.

"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil," Mattis said. "You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/03/general.shoot/index.html

 

'Adopt a Sniper' Fund-Raiser Shot Down

Thursday, February 3, 2005 Posted: 5:10 PM EST (2210 GMT)

CHICAGO (Reuters) -- A Catholic university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has blocked an attempt by Republican students to raise money for a group called "Adopt a Sniper" that raises money for U.S. sharp-shooters in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The students were selling bracelets bearing the motto "1 Shot 1 Kill No Remorse I Decide".

"Clearly the rhetoric of that organization raised some questions and we had some strong objections as a Jesuit university," Marquette University school spokeswoman Brigid O'Brien said Thursday.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/03/life.sniper.reut/index.html

I know its been a while since I've been posting regularly but Mrs. RM and I have been pretty busy this last month.  Our son, William Thor Madson, was born December 30, 2004 in Knoxville, TN.  Baby and parents are doing really well and you may see more of this guy sometime in the future.

Best Wishes from The RM Family

Here's what I found the most sickening, and even one good thing, about the president's State of the Union address last night:

1) His remarks about constitutionally banning gay marriage. This is a HATE CRIME, and I think a president ought not participate in that.

2) His constant praise for FDR -- whose great plan for the poor, Social Security, Bush plans to ruin for the gain of the wealthy.

3) The teary theater of that KIA's mother hugging the Iraqi voter. How hard did they have to look to find a pro-Bush Iraqi?

And the one thing I liked about it was his again saying there should be a Palestinian state. He's said that all along. But it should be noted he hasn't lifted a finger about it in four years, and really it's the biggest sore spot in the minds of all the Middle East.

Are we racing toward war with the Ayatollah? Here's a list of everything Bush has said about Iran in all his State of the Union addresses (Clinton, in 2000, was the only other post-Cold War president to mention Iran, in 2000. See below):

2005: Today, Iran remains the world's primary state sponsor of terror -- pursuing nuclear weapons while depriving its people of the freedom they seek and deserve. We are working with European allies to make clear to the Iranian regime that it must give up its uranium enrichment program and any plutonium reprocessing, and end its support for terror. And to the Iranian people, I say tonight: As you stand for your own liberty, America stands with you.

2004: America and the international community are demanding that Iran meet its commitments and not develop nuclear weapons. America is committed to keeping the world's most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the most dangerous regimes.

2003: Different threats require different strategies. In Iran, we continue to see a government that represses its people, pursues weapons of mass destruction, and supports terror. We also see Iranian citizens risking intimidation and death as they speak out for liberty and human rights and democracy. Iranians, like all people, have a right to choose their own government and determine their own destiny -- and the United States supports their aspirations to live in freedom.

2002: Iran aggressively pursues these weapons [of mass destruction] and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom.

2001: (Inaugural address, no mention)

2000 (Clinton): We must meet this threat by making effective agreements to restrain nuclear and missile programs in North Korea, curbing the flow of lethal technology to Iran, preventing Iraq from threatening its neighbors, increasing our preparedness against chemical and biological attack, protecting our vital computer systems from hackers and criminals, and developing a system to defend against new missile threats, while working to preserve our ABM missile treaty with Russia. We must do all these things.

As some diligent readers of this blog know, J. Scott Barnard is probably our most conservative commenter.  His comments are always welcome as an antidote to our generally centrist ravings.  But even he must be dismayed by what the White House had to say today to L.A. Times reporters about their plan to “fix” Social Security by privatizing it:

In a significant shift in his rationale for the accounts, Bush dropped his claim that they would help solve Social Security's fiscal problems — a link he sometimes made during last year's presidential campaign. Instead, he said the individual accounts were desirable because they would be "a better deal," providing workers what he said would be a higher rate of return and "greater security in retirement."

A Bush aide, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity, was more explicit, saying that the individual accounts would do nothing to solve the system's long-term financial problems.

That candid analysis, although widely shared by economists, distressed some Republicans.

"Oh, my God," one GOP political strategist said when he learned of the shift in rhetoric. "The White House has made a lot of Republicans walk the plank on this. Now it sounds as if they are sawing off the board."

That's right--even the White House now admits that its strategy to “fix” Social Security won't even solve the problem at all.  So if this isn't a solution--why even apply the fix?  Ask the money manangers of Wall Street.

Update: If you are interested in reading more from Scott, check out his conservative blog, Burton Terrace.  Just don't expect tons of posts this weekend--the Supa Bowl is in his home town of Jacksonville, FLA.