Oh Shit

Georgie-Ann Geyer reports:

Friends of [the presidents] from Texas were shocked
recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping
himself on the chest three times while he repeated I
am the president! He also made it clear he was setting
Iraq up so his successor could not get out of our
countrys destiny.

Hysteria Driven Law Making Leads To Foolish Enforcement

Crusader's Son Arrested on Sex Charge

Son of crusader against sex predators Is charged with sexual conduct with minor.
The Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio

The son of a man who became a national crusader for tougher sex-offender laws after his 9-year-old daughter was kidnapped, raped and killed has been accused of sexual conduct with a minor, authorities said.

Joshua Lunsford, 18, son of Mark Lunsford, was arrested May 18 after a woman accused him of fondling her 14-year-old daughter twice, at a skating rink and outside a shopping mall, according to police. He has pleaded not guilty to the felony charge.

Mark Lunsford's daughter, Jessica, was kidnapped from the bedroom of her Florida home in February 2005, raped and buried alive. The exact family relationship between Joshua and Jessica was unclear Wednesday night.

After his daughter was killed, Mark Lunsford traveled the country, testifying before state legislators on bills that would toughen laws against sex offenders that prey on young children. More than a dozen states have passed versions of Jessica's Law.

The girl Joshua Lunsford is accused of fondling was a willing participant in the contact in March, according to a statement by the girl's mother to the German Township Police Department. Ohio law prohibits anyone 18 or older from having sexual contact with anyone younger than 16.

Mark Lunsford, of Homosassa Springs, Fla., told The Tampa Tribune it has not been proven that his son has done anything wrong. Even what has been alleged cannot compared with the crimes of the pedophiles he has helped put in prison through his work with the Jessica Marie Lunsford Foundation, he said.

"We're talking about Romeo and Juliet here, not some 36-year-old pervert following around a 10-year-old," Lunsford said.

Attorney Mark Gelman, who was a liaison between the Lunsfords and authorities during the investigation into the death of Jessica Lunsford, said Mark Lunsford was not Joshua's custodial parent.

"I've always heard that Josh is a good kid. I would just tell people not to jump to any conclusions," Gelman said.

A woman who answered the phone at Joshua Lunsford's home Wednesday said he had no comment. A message seeking comment was left for Mark Lunsford.

John Evander Couey, who lived in a mobile home 150 yards from the Lunsford home, was convicted of killing Jessica Lunsford in March, and a jury has recommended the death penalty.

The Nutshell

I've been following sullivan's recent exploration of the etiology of the term 'enhanced interrogation techniques. I have been too distracted to whittle it down for GT12.

Politcal Wire does the job nicely:

"Enhanced Interrogation"

Andrew Sullivan: "Critics will no doubt say I am accusing the Bush administration of being Hitler. I'm not. There is no comparison between the political system in Germany in 1937 and the U.S. in 2007. What I am reporting is a simple empirical fact: the interrogation methods approved and defended by this president are not new. Many have been used in the past. The very phrase used by the president to describe torture-that-isn't-somehow-torture - "enhanced interrogation techniques" - is a term originally coined by the Nazis. The techniques are indistinguishable. The methods were clearly understood in 1948 as war-crimes. The punishment for them was death."

I Need To Think About This

Andrew Sullivan (professed Goldwaterian Conservative)has been showing signs of Obamamania these last few months but I never predicted this ...

Nixon Republican Wanted

For "peace-with-honor." Ross has the ad they need. But who? The GOP has rather painted itself into a corner on Iraq, declaring anything that isn't "lets-keep-doing-what's-failing" as a "white flag." So McCain and Giuiani are non-starters. Romney could do it, of course. He could stand for anything, if it got a him a few percentage points. Fred Thompson? I'm sorry but I haven't seen a whiff of seriousness about the war on terror from the guy - except rhetoric. So if we're looking for a Nixon in '68, Obama may be the best bet, however strange the analogy, however different the men.

Because They're bullies, Not Christians

From Political Wire:

Giuliani Winning Over Social Conservatives

Rudy Giuliani, "whose positions on abortion and homosexuality mark him as the most socially liberal Republican presidential candidate in more than a generation, is so far winning the contest for the support of social conservatives, according to a new analysis of recent polls," reports The Politico.

"Widespread perceptions that Giuliani is the most electable Republican in this year’s field are driving his support among social conservatives." If Giuliani’s success continues, "this apparent willingness to support a candidate who fails what were once regarded as litmus-test issues would mark a landmark shift in the political behavior of a constituency that has been a pillar of the modern GOP. Already the shift is spurring sharp debate among prominent Christian conservative leaders, some of whom warn that Giuliani backers are abandoning core principles."

We Still have Work To Do ... Like Re-Negotiating The Civil War

News From The United States Of Jesus via Raw Story

Alabama site classifies environmental activists, gay rights supporters as possible terrorists

The Alabama Department of Homeland Security has taken down a webpage that listed environmental, anti-war, and gay rights groups as possible terrorists, according to a report from the Associated Press.

"The director of the department, Jim Walker, said his agency received a number of calls and e-mails from people who said they felt the site unfairly targeted certain people just because of their beliefs," the AP reported. "He said he plans to put the Web site back on the Internet, but will no longer identify specific types of groups."

The site described the various groups as "single-issue terrorists" who include "people who feel they are trying to create a better world."

Excerpts

What Matters To GT12 Is Important To The Onion

The by-line may read New York, but we are at the pictured spot everyday on our way home from work. For the record, GT12 takes 'Cumberland North' to get out of traffic.

The Onion Covers the Holiday Weekend.

Nation Mobilizes For Beautiful Weekend

NEW YORK—"It may mean sacrificing TV shows and even chores, but we cannot sit idly by as this gorgeous weather rolls in," said one resident, checking multiple forecasts.

Putting Things In Perspective

Jesus' General helps us understand Monica's role:

Just a few innocent mistakes

I hope we can all get past this whole Justice Department scandal now that Monica Goodling has admit ed she made a mistake and broke the law by vetting civil service applicants for ideological and theistic correctness. After all, everyone makes a mistake. Goodling and the Administration who worked for should be entitled to a few as well.

It's not like this administration is completely mistake-ridden. These are the only mistakes I could come up with after thinking about it for a whole 5 minutes.

1. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior Julie A. MacDonald sends a confidential endangered species document to a guy she met on an on-line role-playing game. Her unofficial online consultant, apparently lacking an email account of his own, asks her to send it to his father's email account.

2. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks David P. Smith tracks Biff the Elderly Buffalo to a corner of his pen and successfully bags his arthritic trophy by shooting him in the eye.

3. Al Hurra, the government owned and operated public relations television network broadcasts terrorist messages, including exhortations to commit violence against Jews, to the Middle East. The mistake is excused because none of the management speaks Arabic.

4. Upon taking Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld stations troops to defend the Oil Ministry against looters while leaving museums, arms depots, and nuclear facilities unguarded.

5. The Vice President's Chief of Staff makes a mistake when he lies to the FBI and a federal grand jury.

6. White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and Chief of Staff Andrew Card attempt to strongarm a drugged, semi-coherent, hospitalized John Ashcroft into approving a state security apparatus operation against the people.

7. Jose Padilla is arrested for plotting to explode a dirty bomb. The charges are later changed and Padilla is accused of plotting to turn on the gas in a number of apartments and then light a match to them. Those charges were eventually dropped and currently, Padilla is charged with being a Chechen Resistance recruiter and filling out an application to be a terrorist.

8. 8.8 billion dollars is placed on pallets and transported to Iraq where it is never heard from again.

9. In preparation for Hurricane Katrina, a FEMA contractor makes a web site inquiry about renting buses to evacuate New Orleans residents. The contractor finally orders the buses 18 hours after storm makes landfall.

10. The Department of Defense releases an 105 year old man from Guantanamo after it is determined he isn't a terrorist.

11. The White House Press Office issues credentials to an ideologically correct manwhore.

12. The US Government transports Maher Arar, a Canadian Citizen, to Syria to be tortured. He is released a year later when it was determined that he is innocent.

13. The President picks an ideologically correct horse show judge to run FEMA.

14. 380 tons of explosives disappear from the Al QaQaa arms depot in the weeks between the fall of Iraq and the day the Pentagon decides to finally secure the facility.

15. Nuclear waste is taken from the Tuwaitha nuclear waste dump during the weeks between the fall of Iraq and the day the Pentagon finally sent troops to guard the facility.

16. Ahmad Chalabi, the man who supplied much of the intelligence about Iraq's WMD capabilities, and was the Defense Department's choice to lead the first Iraq government, is arrested for telling the Iranians that we had broken their codes.

17. President Bush, forgetting a briefing where he was told that Katrina would likely breach New Orleans levies, tells the world that no one could have predicted it.

18. President Bush and his consort, Condoleeza Rice declare that no one could have foreseen the events of 911. Later, Sec. Rice confirms that just one month before 911, she and the President discussed a Presidential Daily Briefing titled "Bin Laden determined to attack inside the U.S.," in which the threat of hijacked planes being flown into buildings was mentioned.

19. The Department of Defense fails to plan for anything after the fall of Iraq.

News For Fox News Viewers

Study: 38 Percent Of People Not Actually Entitled To Their Opinion

CHICAGO—In a surprising refutation of the conventional wisdom on opinion entitlement, a study conducted by the University of Chicago's...

Annals Of Gay Parenting - Yuck Edition

The Anti-Christ's grandbaby is spawned

Reason Enough To Respect John Edwards' Decision Making

From Politcal Wire:

Shrum Blasts Edwards in New Book

The New Republic reviews No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner, the long-awaited memoir of Democratic strategist Bob Shrum.

"As befits a canny campaign veteran, the book is self-serving in some places and remarkably tough in others... But no one comes in for rougher treatment in this book than Shrum's former client, John Edwards... Shrum's constant swipes at Edwards feel like axe-grinding. Why the bitterness? The source close to Edwards cautions that Shrum had sought a bigger role in Edwards's campaign than the candidate was willing to grant."

Of course, with a record of leading eight presidential campaigns to defeat, who can blame Edwards?

Say No More!

How come police officers are never interested in my motivations when I go too fast?

She Speaks! Sort of:

... Goodling eventually relented, admitting, “I crossed the line of the civil service rules.”

Scott clarified, “Rules? Laws. You crossed the law on civil service laws. You crossed the line on civil service laws, is that right?”

She said, “I believe I crossed the lines. But I didn’t mean to.”

Crying For ... ?

Monica is sad ...
From Salon ...

Dont it make your brown eyes blue?
All I ever wanted to do was serve this president and
this administration and this department. -- Regent
University Law School graduate and Justice Department
White House liaison Monica Goodling in a teary
conversation with Associate Attorney General David
Margolis on March 8, 2007.
In an interview released by the House Judiciary
Committee yesterday in advance of Goodlings immunized
testimony today, Margolis says Goodling came to his
office on the evening of March 8 -- about a month
before she resigned from the Justice Department -- and
asked if Kyle Sampson had talked with him. When
Margolis said yes, Goodling proceeded to bawl her eyes
out. How long did the crying last? It seemed like
forever, Margolis says, but it was probably only 30 or
45 minutes.

What had Goodling so upset? Could it have been her
involvement in the firing of U.S. attorneys last year?
Her failure to brief some of her colleagues on just
how involved the White House was? Her efforts -- for
which shes now under investigation -- to block a local
U.S. attorney from hiring a line prosecutor because
she thought he was too liberal?

Well, an inquisitive or responsible or even mildly
sympathetic man might have asked Goodling what was on
her mind. But in Alberto Gonzales Justice Department,
Margolis figured it was better not to ask. I wasnt
anxious to hear so I didnt probe, Margolis tells a
House investigator. I -- I changed the subject to give
her -- to try to make her laugh, which didnt work, and
to give her some personal advice, which she didnt
take.

It's Monica Day!

Who will eat Who's lunch? After the cave-in yesterday of the Dems, I'm not so sure we'll win this one either......

Annals Of Gay Parenting

LONDON (AFP) - A pair of gay flamingos have adopted an abandoned chick, becoming parents after being together for six years, a British conservation organisation said Monday.

Carlos and Fernando had been desperate to start a family, even chasing other flamingos from their nests to take over their eggs at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) in Slimbridge near Bristol.

But their egg-sitting prowess made them the top choice for taking an unhatched egg under their wings when one of the Greater Flamingo nests was abandoned.

The couple, together for six years, can feed chicks by producing milk in their throats.

"Fernando and Carlos are a same sex couple who have been known to steal other flamingos' eggs by chasing them off their nest because they wanted to rear them themselves," said WWT spokeswoman Jane Waghorn.

"They were rather good at sitting on eggs and hatching them so last week, when a nest was abandoned, it seemed like a good idea to make them surrogate parents."

Gay flamingos are not uncommon, she added.

"If there aren't enough females or they don't hit it off with them, they will pair off with other males," she said.

Bring Another Fifth Over Here Please!

From Raw Story

Former Rove aide pleads the Fifth on White House contacts with convicted lobbyist Abramoff

Susan Ralston, the former executive assistant to top White House adviser Karl Rove, invoked her rights against self-incrimination while she was being asked to answer questions by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the Committee's Chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, announced in a memo Tuesday. The deposition for which she sat concerned contacts between convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Rove, as well as the White House more broadly.

"The subjects this morning that she will be unable to testify to...are the subjects of the relationship between Jack Abramoff and his associates and White House officials, including Ms. Ralston, and the subject of the use by White House officials of political e-mail accounts at the RNC," Ralston's lawyer, Bradford Berenson said, during the May 10 deposition. "She has material, useful information about both of those subjects."

According to Waxman's memo, which was sent to Oversight Committee members, Ralston is seeking immunity from prosecution.

Read The Rest

Clean Living! Not.

From the "Things We Didn't Need to Know" Department, TPM Muckraker brings us the following excerpt from a new book on disgraced, convicted and resigned GOP Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham:

"Even [defense contractor Brent] Wilkes drew a line on what he would do for
the congressman. For one thing, Wilkes was totally disgusted by the hot tub
Cunningham put on [his] boat's deck during the autumn and winter. What repelled
Wilkes -- and others invited to the parties -- was both the water Cunningham put
in the hot tub and the congressman's penchant for using it while naked, even if
everybody else at the party was clothed. Cunningham used water siphoned directly
from the polluted Potomac River and never changed it out during the season."

Retaining Good(ling)

I guess you have to go to a good law school to understand that immunity requires honesty and cooperation. From Salon:

Goodling: I've got documents, but you can't have them

Monica Goodling, who served as Alberto Gonzales' liaison to the White House, is scheduled to testify Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee about her role -- and, presumably, others' -- in the firing of federal prosecutors last year. One catch: The committee still doesn't have all the documents Goodling has, and Goodling's lawyer says she won't hand them over until the Justice Department says she can.

Late last week, the committee served a subpoena in which it demanded that Goodling turn over all documents in her possession regading the "termination, resignation, hiring, appointment, replacement, formal or informal evaluation or employement interview of United States Attorneys, Assistant United States Attorneys or other Department of Justice employees" -- including, but not limited to, any "communications to or from any White House personnel" relating to those issues and any "representations or preparations of representations" made to members of Congress about them.

In a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Goodling's attorney, John Dowd, says that his client has "copies of . . . electronic documents and emails" that would be responsive to those requests, "including un-redacted copies of documents produced to date only in redacted form" by the Justice Department. However, Dowd says that Goodling can't give the documents to the committee because Justice Department guidelines prohibit former employees from producing department documents "without prior approval of the proper department official." Dowd says he notified the Justice Department of the Judiciary Committee's document subpoena over the weekend but hasn't heard anything in response yet.

Conyers is not amused. In a letter back to Dowd today, Conyers cites a number of reasons why the Justice Department regulations in question don't apply in this case, then reminds Dowd and his client that the Justice Department has "repeatedly stated that it intends to cooperate fully" with the congressional investigation into the firing of the U.S. attorneys. Conyers writes -- and we'll assume that he's engaged in a bit of sarcasm here -- that he "cannot imagine" that the department "would at this point object" to Goodling's production of "relevant documents" in her possession.

A Map Of The World

or at least the Blogosphere

Mo Faux

Bit Player

... but a key component of the Goodling initiative (from ThinkProgress):

Von Spakovsky and the ‘vote-suppression agenda.’

McClatchy ran a detailed profile today on Hans von Spakovsky, the top Bush administration official who many in Congress believe is “a key player in a Republican campaign to hang onto power in Washington by suppressing the votes of minority voters.”

“Mr. von Spakovsky was central to the administration’s pursuit of strategies that had the effect of suppressing the minority vote,” charged Joseph Rich, a former Justice Department voting rights chief who worked under him.

He and other former career department lawyers say that von Spakovsky steered the agency toward voting rights policies not seen before, pushing to curb minor instances of election fraud by imposing sweeping restrictions that would make it harder, not easier, for Democratic-leaning poor and minority voters to cast ballots.

Von Spakovsky, who was recess-appointed to the Federal Election Commission in December 2005, is scheduled to appear at a June 13 Senate confirmation hearing. Much more on his record at Mahablog, TPMMuckraker, and Hullabaloo.

In Summation

Wolcott finds the succinctest of all debate wrap-ups

For those who missed the Punch & Judy Show that Rudy Giuliani and Ron Paul performed the other night as a shiny array of business-suited window-display mannequins stood rooted behind their Jeopardy lecterns, fret not--Roy Edroso keenly distills the salient highlights:

BROWNBACK: If you're raped, you should have a baby.

ROMNEY: I am recently and totally pro-life.

TANCREDO: I hate Mexicans. These guys love Mexicans.

McCAIN: Well, at least Mexicans aren't Muslims.

ROMNEY: Mexicans shouldn't get a special pathway. Or doorway. Citizenship! (applause)

McCAIN: Why's everyone looking at me? Abortion!

GIULIANI: I'm not soft. I'm hard! I'm America's Mayor! We need tamper proof IDs! And a fence!

HUNTER: I built a motherfucking fence.

PAUL: We really fucked up in Iraq. (applause)

GIULIANI: 9/11! 9/11! (cheers, gunfire)

It Was You Fredo, All Along ...

Fair And Balanced

More Bush Than Churchill

What will happen when the Republicans hire a documented incompetent?

Giuliani Aide Disputes 9/11 Role

As former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) "runs for president, his image as a chief executive who steered New York through the disaster of Sept. 11 has become a pillar of his campaign," reports the New York Times. "But one former member of his inner circle keeps surfacing to revisit that history in ways that are unflattering to Mr. Giuliani: Jerome M. Hauer, New York City’s first emergency management director."

"In recent days, Mr. Hauer has challenged Mr. Giuliani’s recollection that he had little role as mayor in placing the city’s emergency command center at the ill-fated World Trade Center. Mr. Hauer has also disputed the claim by the Giuliani campaign that the mayor’s wife, Judith Giuliani, had coordinated a help center for families after the attack."

"And he has contradicted Mr. Giuliani’s assertions that the city’s emergency response was well coordinated that day, a point he made most notably to the authors of Grand Illusion, a book that depicts Mr. Giuliani’s antiterrorism efforts as deeply flawed."

Show Me The Money

Political Wire follows the money:

DSCC Doubles NRSC Fundraising

Senate Democrats "have raised twice as much money this year as have their Republican counterparts, adding more difficulty to the electoral equation for Republicans next year," writes the New York Times.

"The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee reported raising $4.6 million in April, bringing its total for the year to $18.3 million, compared with the Republican totals of $2.1 million for the same month and $9.1 million for the year. Democrats also have more cash in the bank.” However, “Democrats also owe about $5 million while Republicans are debt free."

To help You Prepare For Our Own Monica

Monica Goodling will finally testify this Wednesday, all decked out in her shiney new limited immunity cloak. To bring you up to date (if you haven't been following) click here to see all of GT12 Posts on the subject.

Studio 60 On The Thursday Night Line-up

We'll get to see how the show ends as the final six episodes start airing this Thursday.

What "Family Values" Really Stands For

Let's move past words like hypocrisy and all that. 'Family Values' is an Authoritarian Slogan. If someone uses it, they are not talking about Mom and apple pie and most definately not the love and compassion of Jesus' Arms.

We can see too that the new ban on 'my space ' is not about keeping info from our troops. It's about keeping their PTSD-colored reprts from reachng us. Probably not a bad thing actually...

From Raw Story:

Dr. Laura son linked to lurid Web page
Site contained violent, sex-oriented images one official called 'repulsive'
By Matthew D. LaPlante The Salt Lake Tribune
The soldier son of talk radio relationship counselor Laura Schlessinger is under investigation for a graphic personal Web page that one Army official has called "repulsive."

The MySpace page, publicly available until Friday when it disappeared from the Internet, included cartoon depictions of rape, murder, torture and child molestation; photographs of soldiers with guns in their mouths; a photograph of a bound and blindfolded detainee captioned "My Sweet Little Habib"; accounts of illicit drug use; and a blog entry headlined by a series of obscenities and racial epithets.

The site is credited to and includes many photographs of Deryk Schlessinger, the 21-year-old son of the talk radio personality known simply as Dr. Laura. Broadcast locally on 570 KNRS, "Family Values Talk Radio,"

...

"Yes . . . F---ING Yes!!!" said one blog entry on the Schlessinger site. "I LOVE MY JOB, it takes everything reckless and deviant and heathenistic and just overall bad about me and hyper focuses these traits into my job of running around this horrid place doing nasty things to people that deserve it . . . and some that don't."

Deryk Schlessinger joined the Army in 2004, telling a crowd of Santa Barbara, Calif., Army reservists gathered for an appearance by his mother that he resented the way Americans criticize the war without recognizing soldiers' sacrifices.

... Deryk Schlessinger's Web site indicated the 21-year-old soldier is stationed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where, the site's author writes, "godless crazy people like me," have become "a generation of apathetic killers."

The site indicated Schlessinger's team has survived numerous mortar, rocket and roadside bomb attacks. It also included several graphic cartoons. In one of the stick drawings, a top-hatted man laughs as he rapes a bound and bleeding woman in front of her family. In another depiction, a man forces a boy to perform oral sex at knifepoint as the child's mother pleads for her son's life.

It's unclear who created the cartoons, but Army spokesman Robert Tallman said the drawings "are repulsive and not anywhere near being acceptable," for a soldier's personal Web page.

High Alert!!!!!

Report: Only 7 Band Names Remaining

NEW YORK—According to data released Monday by the International Registry of Rock Band Names, only seven of the estimated 518 million...

Christopher Hitchens On Falwell

This must have been taped early to mid-afternoon because Hitch doesn't seem quite as soused as he usually is.... and therefore comes close to his written eloquence.

GT12 QuickQuiz

Which of These Is Satan?

Could This Be Where Our Friend From Austin Has Been Keeping Hisself?

Professor Sees Parallels Between Things, Other Things

AUSTIN, TX—University of Texas professor Thom Windham once again furthered the cause of human inquiry in a class lecture Monday, as he...

Let's Go Back To Domestic Spying

Comey Breaks Silence: White House Tried To Force Incapacitated Ashcroft To Back Spying Program

In March 2004, President Bush’s warrantless domestic spying efforts were temporarily suspended after then-acting Attorney General James Comey refused to sign on to an extension of the program “amid concerns about its legality and oversight.”

Today, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Comey detailed the extraordinary and potentially illegal efforts made by Alberto Gonzales and Andrew Card — then White House counsel and chief of staff, respectively — to attempt to force John Ashcroft to overrule Comey, despite the fact that Ashcroft was debilitated in a hospital with pancreatitis.

In his testimony today, Comey spoke for the first time about:

– The high-speed pursuit that took place when Comey learned that Card and Gonzales were on their way to see Ashcroft at the hospital;

– The hospital meeting, in which the seriously ill Ashcroft “stunned” Comey by lifting “his head off the pillow and in very strong terms” rejecting Card and Gonzales’ effort to have him reauthorize the spying program;

– Comey’s admission that he believed he had “witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man, who did not have the powers of the attorney general because they had been transferred to me”;

– Andrew Card’s subsequent “very upset” call to Comey, in which Card claimed that he and Gonzales had visited Ashcroft “just…to wish him well”;

– The White House’s eventual agreement to suspend the warrantless spying in the face of a threat of mass resignations, including from FBI Director Robert Mueller and Attorney General Ashcroft

Rudy Gives The OK For Torture

Which of course they loved in SC...

Audience Applauds As Giuliani, Tancredo Endorse Waterboarding Torture

During tonight’s presidential debates, candidates were asked whether they would support the use of waterboarding — a technique, defined as torture by the Justice Department, that simulates drowning and makes the subject “believe his death is imminent while ideally not causing permanent physical damage.”

Both former mayor Rudy Giuliani and Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) suggested they would support using the technique. Specifically asked about waterboarding, Giuliani said he would allow “every method [interrogators] could think of and I would support them in doing it.” Tancredo later added, “I’m looking for Jack Bauer,” referencing the television character who has used torture techniques such as suffocation and electrocution on prisoners.

Watch it here.

PROS AND CONS OF THE TOP 20 REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

Fair Play for the G.O.P. (not that they'd understand the concept)

1.
RUDY GIULIANI
Pro: Unifying force after 9/11; articulate speaker.
Con: The whole "pro-choice, pro-gun-control, New Yorker, used to live with gay dudes, adultery" thing might hurt him with conservatives. A bit.

2.
JOHN MCCAIN
Pro: Comforting resemblance to character actor Gavin MacLeod.
Con: Murray from The Mary Tyler Moore Show lacked leadership qualities and Captain Stubing from Love Boat got a little goofy whenever Charo was a guest star, leaving executive branch vulnerable to Charo impersonators who are actually Al Qaeda operatives.

3.
MITT ROMNEY
Pro: Named after Mittens, the family cat, later shortening name to "Mitt." People love cats.
Con: Religious beliefs could create problems, as many Americans may not be ready to accept worshiper of ancient Egyptian god Ra.

4.
ZOMBIE RONALD REAGAN
Pro: Probably the most Reaganesque candidate available; if stoked with the brains of the living, should operate in an acceptable fashion.
Con: Long-dead eyes lack that magic twinkle; inhuman groans negatively impact "Great Communicator" status.

5.
FRED "TOMMY" THOMPSON
Pro: Diverse résumé includes stints as governor of Wisconsin, senator from Tennessee, cabinet secretary, and several TV acting gigs.
Con: Contractually bound to appear in all 319 Law & Order programs currently in production.

6.
MIKE HUCKABEE
Pro: Lost 110 pounds due to health concerns, potentially allowing him to serve as healthy example for overweight Americans.
Con: Those 110 pounds have reconstituted into a diminutive all-fat Democratic consultant who knows Huckabee's every moveI Heart Huckabees was pretty uneven-->.

7.
SAM BROWNBACK
Pro: Serves as a positive role model for ethnic brownbacks all over the country.
Con: Such an ethnicity does not technically exist; lacks the pen-gripping power of Kansas Senate predecessor Bob Dole.

8.
NEWT GINGRICH
Pro: Well known.
Con: See above.

9.
EDDIE VAN HALEN
Pro: I tell you what, he would bring the nations of the world together through ROCK! He'd be all deedly-deedly-deedly-DEE-DEE-DEE! on his guitar and the bosses of the other countries would be all, "Whoa! Let's stop fighting and start rocking!"
Con: Drunken wretched mess.

10.
DUNCAN HUNTER
Pro: Appears to be some sort of politician who wants to be president, I guess. That's all anyone in the entire nation knows about him, including himself and his family.
Con: Born with two last names, though this liability could be mitigated by teaming with Texas Representative Ron Paul, who is also running.

11.
ROBOTIC SUPER BEES
Pro: Programmed mandate to destroy enemies with unrelenting deadly force could be an advantage in contentious general-election fight and when facing down hostile nations or other bees.
Con: Murderous instinct less advantageous in delicate diplomatic negotiations and the parsing of complex tariff issues.

12.
BIGFOOT
Pro: Available; independent; tall.
Con: Elusive; smelly; once elected he could disappear into the woods around Camp David and we'd never see him again.

13.
YOUR MAMA
Pro: Strong personality; nurturer; kind; strict when she has to be; always shows up at soccer games or school plays; skilled at managing a busy family.
Con: Upon her election, nation would be instantly vulnerable to any number of verbal attacks about president being so fat, so ugly, so stupid, etc.

14.
OHIO STATE CENTER GREG ODEN
Pro: Size; soft hands; positive attitude; high basketball IQ; given America's recent losses abroad, nation is automatically eligible for first pick in upcoming draft, so he will be available.
Con: Once his rookie contract is up, Oden would be free to sign with any other nation on the planet for bigger money.

15.
KENNY LOGGINS
Pro: Is all right; therefore, no one needs to worry about him.
Con: Gonna take you right into the danger zone.

16.
CHUCK HAGEL
Pro: Could potentially deliver his home state of Nebraska to the Republicans.
Con: Risks losing votes of near-sighted supporters of Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Heidegger, and Nietzsche who think the ballot says "Hegel."

17.
A HUGE BARREL OF OIL
Pro: Coveted; influential; beloved by business community; understood by allies and enemies alike.
Con: Unlikely to support biodiesel-fuel development in the Midwest, potentially hurting chances in Iowa primary; slick.

18.
A WOMAN OF SOME SORT
Pro: Could win support of other women.
Con: Women are not allowed to join the Republican Party.

19.
CHEERS
Pro: Pretty funny show to watch when there's nothing else on.
Con: Frustrated voters may want to be able to pick and choose which part of the show to vote for, preferring the Shelley Long years over the Kirstie Alley years or stocking up on mostly Lilith episodes, but it doesn't work like that. You have to vote for the whole show.

20.
OHIO
Pro: Could deliver crucial votes in Ohio.
Con: President would spend way too much time agonizing over the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; sleeping arrangements in new White House, which would span hundreds of square miles, could get contentious.
- - - -

PROS AND CONS OF THE TOP 20 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

I've been behind, so I'll post the whole thing and not make you look for it at McSweeney's,

1.
HILLARY CLINTON
Pro: Known commodity; strong fundraiser.
Con: Polarizing; unlikely to woo those already opposed to her.

2.
BARACK OBAMA
Pro: Articulate; resembles foxy actor Blair Underwood.
Con: L.A. Law was kind of overrated now that you think about it.

3.
JOHN EDWARDS
Pro: Has strong appeal to working-class voters.
Con: As a resident of two Americas, he must raise twice as much money and spend twice as much time campaigning.

4.
BILL RICHARDSON
Pro: Appeals to all Latino voters with the last name "Richardson."
Con: New Mexico is legally part of Mexico; therefore, he's constitutionally ineligible.

5.
JOE BIDEN
Pro: Technically still running for president.
Con: Dude. Come on.

6.
DICK CHENEYIN AN ELABORATE LATEX DISGUISETHAT TAKES FIVE HOURS TO APPLY
Pro: Trojan horse, my friend. Trojan fucking horse.
Con: Ruse would be so exciting that he would surely drop dead of a massive stroke about a month before Iowa.

7.
OPTIMUS PRIME
Pro: Size; power; ability to emit short-range optic blasts.
Con: Potential attack ad: "Sometimes Optimus Prime is a robot, other times a truck. Which is it, Mr. Prime? America deserves a leader that doesn't transform whenever it's convenient."

8.
ROSS PEROT
Pro: Hilarity.
Con: None.

9.
DENNIS KUCINICH
Pro: Solid anti-war stance; adorable; strong to the finich.
Con: Election laws limit magical pixies to only one term in office.

10.
JIMMY CARTER
Pro: Nobel Prize winner; available; just as good at not knowing what the hell to do about Iran as anyone else.
Con: Judging by photos, approximately 415 years old.

11.
ALLEN IVERSON
Pro: Instant offense.
Con: Selfish with the ball; may have lost a step.

12.
IRA GLASS
Pro: Thoughtful; self-effacing; like many Americans, enjoys cable television.
Con: At present, no budget line item exists for moody introspective music to underscore every statement president makes in order to make it sound more poignant.

13.
BONO
Pro: Knowledgeable about global health issues; everyone seems to like him; Joshua Tree album.
Con: Too busy hugging everyone to actually execute the duties of office; no one likes the sound of "Vice President the Edge" or "Secretary of Health and Human Services Larry Mullen Jr."; the whole "Zoo TV" thing.

14.
AL GORE
Pro: Knows how to get to the White House, where to park, location of restrooms.
Con: Wants to accomplish something meaningful.

15.
WALTER MONDALE
Pro: Has spent last 22 years going over tape, reviewing mistakes, plotting, scheming, waiting, watching, preparing to pounce like a 79-year-old Minnesotan panther.
Con: None.

16.
JESUS CHRIST
Pro: Could draw some initial interest from the Christian right until they research his actual positions in a deeper way; likable; strong leadership qualities.
Con: Unkempt; pretty far left; messianic complex.

17.
THAT ONE GUY WHOSEEMED REALLY COOL
Pro: Remember? He was a senator or congressman or something? It was a while ago. He seemed super-smart but also normal. I saw him this one time.
Con: Crap, what was his name? Or was it a lady? Do you know who I'm talking about? Crap.

18.
ZOMBIE LYNDON JOHNSON
Pro: Could sway red-state voters as well as Fangoria crowd; '60s-era campus unrest has died down.
Con: Tendency to groan instead of talk could hurt chances in live debates; constant need to feed on fresh brains could limit campaigning.

19.
OPRAH WINFREY
Pro: Popular; influential; could rally the silent masses already violently opposed to Jonathan Franzen.
Con: May only exacerbate nationwide Maya Angelou plague that has decimated much of the nation.

20.
YOU
Pro: Gained valuable exposure as Time magazine's Person of the Year; seems to be Internet-savvy.
Con: Ever since the Time thing, you've been awfully smug.
- - - -

Jerry Falwell dies At 73

Big news, but definitely in the 'if you can't say anything nice ...' category.

Dept. Of Evil: 'All Of You Must Die'

WASHINGTON, DC-The department warned that all necks would feel the steely bite of its soul-thirsty axe as soon as funding is approved.

Surprise! It's Karl Pulling Monica's Strings

From Wash. Post via Raw Story

Rove fingered five of the US Attorneys slated for dismissal

The Washington Post continues to break news on the US Attorney firing scandal, which has largely vanished from the rest of the US media.

According to the Post story, slotted on page A4, nearly half of the US attorneys slated for removal were targets of Republican complaints that they were lax in prosecuting voter fraud, "including efforts by presidential adviser Karl Rove to encourage more prosecutions of election- law violations, according to new documents and interviews."

"Of the 12 U.S. attorneys known to have been dismissed or considered for removal last year, five were identified by Rove or other administration officials as working in districts that were trouble spots for voter fraud -- Kansas City, Mo.; Milwaukee; New Mexico; Nevada; and Washington state," writes the Post's Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein. "Four of the five prosecutors in those districts were dismissed."

Excerpts

Well, I Guess We Saw This Coming

and we're more saddened by the fact that it wasn't all that good than that it will not get better.

NBC cans 'Studio 60'

NBC, the first of the broadcast networks to unveil a new schedule to advertisers this week, canceled "Crossing Jordan" and the high-profile failure "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." Another critical favorite that hasn't found a big audience, "Friday Night Lights," was renewed.

Monica - The Goods

The NY Times has a nice piece on our current bete' noir, W's very own Monica:

Colleagues Cite Partisan Focus by Justice Official

WASHINGTON, May 11 — Two years ago, Robin C. Ashton, a seasoned criminal prosecutor at the Department of Justice, learned from her boss that a promised promotion was no longer hers.


“You have a Monica problem,” Ms. Ashton was told, according to several Justice Department officials. Referring to Monica M. Goodling, a 31-year-old, relatively inexperienced lawyer who had only recently arrived in the office, the boss added, “She believes you’re a Democrat and doesn’t feel you can be trusted.”

... Ms. Goodling also moved to block the hiring of prosecutors with résumés that suggested they might be Democrats, even though they were seeking posts that were supposed to be nonpartisan, two department officials said.

... [Goodling] joined the department in the press office. Soon after, two lawyers said, Ms. Goodling complained that staff members in Puerto Rico had used rap music in a public service announcement intended to discourage gun crime.

“That is just outrageous,” she told one department lawyer. “How could they use government money for an ad that featured rap music? That kind of music glorifies violence.”

...In one case, Ms. Goodling told a federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia that she was not signing off on an applicant who had graduated from Howard University Law School, and then worked at the Environmental Protection Agency.
“He appeared, based on his résumé, to be a liberal Democrat,” Ms. Goodling told Jeffrey A. Taylor, the acting United States attorney in Washington, according to two of the department employees who asked not to be named. “That wasn’t what she was looking for.”

Mr. Taylor ultimately found a way to go around Ms. Goodling in hiring the applicant.
She appeared to take similar concerns about political leanings into account when making decisions about promotions and special assignments for Justice Department lawyers.

Robert Nicholson, a career lawyer from the Southern District of Florida, was asked some unusual questions when he applied for a post at the Justice Department headquarters, according to two department lawyers, including Margaret M. Chiara, the former chief prosecutor Western Michigan.

“Which Supreme Court justice do you most admire and why? Which legislator do you most admire and why? And which president do you most admire and why?” Mr. Nicholson was asked by Ms. Goodling, according to Ms. Chiara and the other lawyer, who asked not to be named.

... Hundreds of applications for the honors slots were winnowed by career lawyers, then reviewed by top political appointees, who removed many candidates, the letter said. “Most of those struck from the list had interned for a Hill Democrat, clerked for a Democratic judge, worked for ‘liberal’ causes, or otherwise appeared to have ‘liberal’ leanings,” the letter said.

More Warren!

Because We Still Love Him,

Because he was an Excitable (and exciting)Boy

Warren's Big Hit done by one our true true true heroes, David Lindley (Bass Player, BTW, is Zevon's partner in crime Jorge Calderon)

Don't It Make you wanna rock-n-roll?!

From 1976, after release of his first Asylum Album. Two years before Werewolves'

Mohammed's Radio

Life'll Kill Ya

finished the Warren Zevon book. Let's play some videos!

From a GT12-beloved show "Nightmusic" - Zevon was horrified to find himself surrounded by musicians 'who can't rock' and so got his ertswhile mananger to fly to NY to play guitar with the band.

Splendid Isolation

Jeannie Needs A Shooter from a show at a venue the Boss knows well, The Capital Theater, Pasaic NJ

A Start

Obama adresses Habeas Corpus in Virginia

"We need to bring to a close this sad chapter in American history, and begin a chapter that passes the might of our military to the freedom of our diplomacy and the power of our alliances. And while we are at it, we can close down Guantanamo and we can restore habeas corpus and we can lead with our ideas and our values."

The Triumph Of Evil

From The Chicago Tribune:

"Contrary to being gunshy, this process is somewhat liberating," Gonzales said in response to a question from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) about whether the criticism he had endured would make him shrink from confronting prosecutors who aren't pursuing departmental priorities.

In contrast to the Senate hearing, when several Republicans criticized him for evasiveness and mismanagement and one even called for him to resign, House GOP panel members were almost uniformly supportive.

Several didn't bother to ask any questions at all about the dismissed prosecutors and others disdained the Democrats' pursuit of the topic.

A Ninth Attorney?

Hey, if it smells like election tampering, it's gotta be our DOJ.

From Salon:

Alberto Gonzales won't remember this, either

Reading between the lines of an article in the Kansas City Star, Josh Marshall thinks he has discovered that the Bush administration canned a ninth U.S. attorney last year.

The victim: Missouri U.S. attorney Todd Graves.

The clues: Graves was on the list of prosecutors the Justice Department had targeted for firing; he resigned suddenly in 2006; while Graves said at the time that he was resigning voluntarily, a spokesman for Missouri Sen. Kit Bond tells the Star that, upon Graves' request, Bond "personally called the White House to gain [him] extra time to wrap up case work before his departure"; and a source tells the Star that the White House rejected Bond's request on Graves' behalf because of alleged "performance" concerns about him.

The questions: If you're resigning voluntarily, why do you need to get a senator to ask the White House to give you more time on the job? And if a prosecutor is resigning voluntarily, why would the White House refuse that request?

Graves was replaced by Bradley Schlozman, whose name may be familiar to Salon readers. As Mark Follman, Alex Koppelman and Jonathan Vanian reported back in March, Alberto Gonzales used a loophole passed as part of the reauthorization of the Patriot Act to appoint Schlozman as a U.S. attorney without Senate confirmation.

Why replace Graves with Schlozman? A Justice Department official told Salon that Schlozman was "one of Gonzales' guys," a proponent, as head of the voting rights section of the Civil Rights Division, of the sort of "vote fraud" actions popular with Republicans looking for a way to keep a lid on the Democratic vote. "Schlozman was reshaping the Civil Rights Division," Joe Rich, a former chief of the voting rights section, tells the Boston Globe. "

Schlozman didn't know anything about voting law ... All he knew is he wanted to be sure that the Republicans were going to win." Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking Republican member Arlen Specter this week asked Schlozman to appear before their committee. In doing so, they cited reports indicating that before he resigned "voluntarily," Graves -- the man Schlozman replaced -- had refused to endorse a Justice Department suit that charged the state of Missouri with not doing enough to prevent vote fraud.

-- Tim Grieve

M*I*C*K*E*Y* I*S*L*A*M

From Reason Magazine's blog:

A program using a Mickey Mouse-like character to urge Palestinian children to fight Israel and the West and work for world Islamic domination has been pulled off Hamas's television station for "review," Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti said Wednesday.

Barghouti said the use of the cartoon character in such a role represented a "mistaken approach" to the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation.

Barghouti wrote that following a request from his ministry, the program was pulled from the Hamas-affiliated Al Aksa TV and "placed under review."

Barghouti complained that the Mickey Mouse story continued to receive attention by "some American television stations" after it was resolved, and that media did not broadcast video of Israeli human rights violations supplied by his ministry in recent weeks.

"Fascist Gay Abortionist Also a Plushie"

That's Rudy on the right. (thanks to Wonkette)

Will The Dems Stand For Something?

"Having disgracefully abdicated that responsibility back in September because they wanted to win the midterm elections, Democrats -- now that they have won -- can cleanse their historic sin only by committing themselves, not symbolically but in actuality, to the restoration of habeas corpus. Whether they are willing to do so will speak volumes about their true character and about whether their November victory will result in anything other than some televised hearings. If Democrats are too afraid even to take a stand against the Bush administration in defense of this centuries-old core American liberty, it is impossible to imagine any even minimally risky stands they are willing to take,"

- Glenn Greenwald, Salon.

Satan's In Utah And No One Will Do Anything About It! And He's Brown!!!

I Shit You Not:

Convention ends with Satan and immigrants

CALEB WARNOCK - Daily Herald

Utah County Republicans ended their convention on Saturday by debating Satan's influence on illegal immigrants.

The group was unable to take official action because not enough members stuck around long enough to vote, despite the pleadings of party officials. The convention was held at Canyon View Junior High School.

Don Larsen, chairman of legislative District 65 for the Utah County Republican Party, had submitted a resolution warning that Satan's minions want to eliminate national borders and do away with sovereignty.

In a speech at the convention, Larsen told those gathered that illegal immigrants "hate American people" and "are determined to destroy this country, and there is nothing they won't do."

Illegal aliens are in control of the media, and working in tandem with Democrats, are trying to "destroy Christian America" and replace it with "a godless new world order -- and that is not extremism, that is fact," Larsen said.

At the end of his speech, Larsen began to cry, saying illegal immigrants were trying to bring about the destruction of the U.S. "by self invasion."

Republican officials then allowed speakers to defend and refute the resolution. One speaker, who was identified as "Joe," said illegal immigrants were Marxist and under the influence of the devil. Another, who declined to give her name to the Daily Herald, said illegal immigrants should not be allowed because "they are not going to become Republicans and stop flying the flag upside down. ... If they want to be Americans, they should learn to speak English and fly their flag like we do."

Senator Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, spoke against the resolution, saying Larsen, whom he called a "true patriot and a close friend," was embarrassing the Republican Party.

Today's Attorney-Gate Post - No Monica!

Although her immunity was cleared by the DOJ this w/e GT12 is passing on Monica to look at how important it is to be murdered for the right reasons if you want anyone to find your killer.

"The idea that I was pushing too hard to investigate the assassination of a federal prosecutor -- it's mind-numbing" that they would suggest that, McKay said. " . . . If it's true, it's just immoral, and if it's false, then the idea that they would use the death of Tom Wales to cover up what they did is just unconscionable.

First Read What Kyle ('lil Karl) Sampson says happened:

D. Kyle Sampson, former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, told congressional investigators that he believes he may have recommended former U.S. attorney John McKay's removal in March 2005 because of conflicts with senior Justice officials over the investigation of the 2001 murder of federal prosecutor Tom Wales, according to congressional aides and Sampson's attorney.

And James Fallows take on that:

For [Wales'] commitment, he was murdered, which was in a deep sense a crime against the entire public. The public in general has no way to punish or avenge that crime, but the law enforcement system does. If an administration has chosen to neglect that effort because – as has now been suggested – it didn’t want to ruffle feathers in the pro-gun camp, that is as low an act as any we have heard of in modern politics. It would take us back to, say, the murders in Philadelphia, Mississippi more than 40 years ago — but with the local officials trying their best to find the truth and the federal government covering up a crime.

I hope it proves not to be true – and that the dismissal of McKay was “simply” a matter of strong-arm partisan politics. That is what now passes for “good news” when it comes to the Administration’s approach to the rule of law.

No Contest...the worst people in the world.

More On The Rahmenator

My street is well paved and safe. How about you?

A Chicago Reporter provides Salon with a Windy-City look at the new Book on my congressman, Rahm Emmanuel:

Election Night 2002 was a gloomy watch for Democrats. Their party, led by a pair of innocuous Midwestern Main Streeters, Richard Gephardt and Thomas Daschle, lost control of the Senate and lost seats in the House, sinking to its lowest ebb since the Roaring '20s.

It was a different story in Illinois. The Democrats won everything. They took the governorship for the first time in 30 years. They captured the state Senate. This despite running a ticket made up of ward bosses' children and in-laws.

... ['Thumpin' author]Bendavid may write for the Tribune, but he seems more familiar with Washington campaign headquarters than Chicago ward offices. If he'd worked a local beat, he could have provided a little more insight into how Emanuel's Chicago background, and not necessarily his years as a Clintonian triangulator, had shaped his politics. In Illinois, politics is not about ideology. Politics is about winning elections so you can give jobs to your family and contracts to your friends. Practical to the core, Illinoisans hate extremists who want to gum up the government with arguments over immigration or the Ten Commandments. The religious right is regularly trounced in Republican primaries, and the activist left is confined to a few neighborhoods of shabby three-flats on the Chicago lakefront. The state's last Republican governor, George Ryan, won by running to the left of his Democratic opponent on gay rights and abortion. In an environment like that, you learn to look for the center.

...[when dealing with governor Dean] Emanuel had witnessed this struggle in Illinois, too: it was the party regulars versus the goo-goos. Emanuel, the Daley protégé, is a regular who believes money and a disciplined organization win elections. He seemed to see Dean as a goo-goo, a good-government reformer with a base of liberal idealists who are more educated and individualistic than your average Democratic machine foot soldier, but less reliable when you need someone to hand out palm cards on Election Day. The machine has been paving over goo-goos since the 19th century. As a beery alderman once put it, "Chicago ain't ready for reform."

... When Emanuel took the job, he never expected to win, but he knew a president's party usually loses seats in the sixth year of his term, and he figured if he could pick up 10 or 12, he'd be rewarded with a leadership position, a step toward his goal of becoming speaker of the House. (He is now chairman of the Democratic Caucus, the fourth-ranking post in the House.) If he makes it, C-SPAN may have to institute a seven-second delay. On Election Night, 10 minutes after CNN called the House for the Democrats, Emanuel climbed up on a table in DCCC headquarters and addressed his cheering, victory-starved staff, celebrating the party's biggest win since 1992. He wanted to wrap up the campaign with a message for the Republicans.

"Since my kids are gone, I can say it," he shouted. "They can go fuck themselves!"

When We Do It Right

Bill Clinton (and Democrat George Mitchell) brokered the historic Good Friday Accords which got these people to stop killing each other. We never fired a shot. But we reach out to parties that were connected to terrorists (on both sides).

And now, a day that I never thought would happen. For those of you less informed Paisley and McGuiness sharing power is akin to Arafat and Sharon joining together to rule Israel.

From CNN:

Power sharing begins in N. Ireland

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- Northern Ireland's major Protestant and Catholic parties joined together Tuesday to form a power-sharing government, marking a "new era of politics" and an end to three decades of sectarian conflict in the province.

Protestant Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley was sworn in as the Northern Ireland assembly's first minister and key player Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein will take on the role of deputy first minister.

The two men bridged the sectarian divide and took oaths of office in front of a quiet assembly room with members foregoing applause out of respect for a recently deceased assembly member and colleague from Paisley's DUP, George Dawson.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern attended the swearing-in ceremony at Stormont, home to the Northern Ireland assembly, near Belfast. (Watch the long path Northern Ireland took to get to this point )

Paisley, 80, and McGuinness, 56, arrived within minutes of each other Tuesday morning and both set an optimistic tone.

"It is a special day because we're making a new beginning," Paisley said. "I believe we're starting on a road which will bring us back to peace and to prosperity."

Paisley's deputy McGuinness, said he was "increasingly confident" that the new government would work, saying it was a "good day."

"The happenings here today are surely going to represent a fundamental change of approach with parties moving forward together to build a better future for the people that we represent," he said.

No Escaping It

I once got into an extended argument with a friend of mine who tool umbrage at my statement that "I'll always be Catholic" ... she felt that my staunch atheism disqualified me.

Well, today I took the test and Voila! Click on the link and see where you wind up.

Which God or Goddess are you like? Your Result: The Christian God You are the Holy Lord. You are the shepherd and those that follow you are your lambs. You are kind and patient, but when need be, you are vile and creul. You are often asked for advise or wisdom, and you willingly give it. Congratulations!! You are God!!
Jesus
Budha
God Zeus
Goddess Bast
Goddess Sekhemet
You are your own God or Goddess
Satan
Which God or Goddess are you like? Make Your Own Quiz