Your Mom Is Always Right

 

Moral High Ground

Let's face it, a blow-job from an adult (albeit dim) young woman and a campaign to promote stability and commitment amongst Gay Folks just isn't as bad as looting for lobbyists or enabling cruising of teenagers for congressmen, to say nothing about arranging the death of 2,800 US servicepeople and 100,000+ Iraqis.

A new poll by Newsweek indicated the Foley scandal was doing significant damage to the Republicans' political fortunes and could sink their chances of holding onto control of Congress on Election Day, Nov. 7. The poll found that 52 percent of Americans, including 29 percent of Republicans, believe Hastert was aware of Foley's Internet communications with underage pages and tried to cover up Foley's actions. More of those polled, 42 percent, now say they trust Democrats to do a better job handling moral values than Republicans; 36 percent favored Republicans on the values question.

Gabba Gaaba Hey Hey Hey Goodbye!

Punk venue CBGB's closing after 33 years

NEW YORK - Legs McNeil remembers the night back in 1975 when he walked into the dingy storefront club perched in the even dingier Bowery neighborhood. The band onstage, four guys in leather jackets and torn jeans, was the Ramones. McNeil sat at a nearby table, watching their set with Lou Reed.

It was unforgettable. But as McNeil would soon discover, it was just a typical night at CBGB's, the club that spawned punk rock while launching the careers of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Blondie, the Talking Heads and the Ramones.

"Every night was memorable, except I don't remember 'em," said a laughing McNeil, co-author of the punk rock history "Please Kill Me."

After Sunday, memories are all that will remain when the cramped club with its capacity of barely 300 people goes out of business after 33 years. Although its boom years are long gone, CBGB's remained a Manhattan music scene fixture: part museum, part barroom, home to more than a few rock and roll ghosts.

The Rest (In Punk) is here.

A Night In Hastertville

GT12 spent another great great evening in St Charles IL, visiting some our very best friends. Charlie town is a major upscale burgh in Dennis Hastert's congressional district. They are all quite ashamed. Our favorite Republican now calls herself an Independent (leaving us to find another favorite Republican).

as RL Burnside observed: "It's bad you know..." 

No One Is Safe Any Longer

...from the responsibility-dodging authoritarian misdirection of Dick Cheney.

The is no honor among thieves...... 

Caption Contest!

 

Turn The Page

 

 

Can't Disagree With This

A Real Live Plan! From Democrats! And It's Even Reasonable!

From WaPo:

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is thinking 100 hours, time enough, she says, to begin to "drain the swamp" after more than a decade of Republican rule.

Day One: Put new rules in place to "break the link between lobbyists and legislation."

Day Two: Enact all the recommendations made by the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Time remaining until 100 hours: Raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, maybe in one step. Cut the interest rate on student loans in half. Allow the government to negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for Medicare patients.

Broaden the types of stem cell research allowed with federal funds _ "I hope with a veto-proof majority," she added in an Associated Press interview Thursday.

All the days after that: "Pay as you go," meaning no increasing the deficit, whether the issue is middle class tax relief, health care or some other priority.

To do that, she said, Bush-era tax cuts would have to be rolled back for those above "a certain level." She mentioned annual incomes of $250,000 or $300,000 a year and higher, and said tax rates for those individuals might revert to those of the Clinton era. Details will have to be worked out, she emphasized.

"We believe in the marketplace," Pelosi said of Democrats, then drew a contrast with Republicans. "They have only rewarded wealth, not work."

A Victim Of Project Runway?

Yves St. Laurent collapsed in the road outside his boutique just hours after his latest "catwalk triumph".

YSL is 70 and has lived a life characterized by lots of drugs and a healthy dose of mental instability.

None-the-less GT12 wishes to believe that someon just told him that Laura made it to the Project Runway final four.

BETTER = NO HELMET NECESSARY

Although you will still have to circle the Airport for an hour due to mortar fire. 

Something Nice For A Friday

Mr Dan and I visited The Chicago Botanical gardens last Saturday (there was a big bulb sale). I am a big fan of Japanese Gardens. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Timing is everything and, predictably, we never pick optimal time to visit. 

Austin Power!

A Friday morning shout out to regular GT12 commenter Alex who's new blog has some great stuff on it. Austin TX resident Alex, whose nom-de-net is 'Unwired', has taken the time to think through recent administration attacks on the constitution as well as exploring what it means to be named 'Tony Perkins'.

Check it out here

Headline Of Hope

From the New York Times today:

Evangelicals Fear the Loss of Their Teenagers

“I’m looking at the data,” said Ron Luce, who organized the meetings and founded Teen Mania, a 20-year-old youth ministry, “and we’ve become post-Christian America, like post-Christian Europe. We’ve been working as hard as we know how to work — everyone in youth ministry is working hard — but we’re losing.”

...Genuine alarm can be heard from Christian teenagers and youth pastors, who say they cannot compete against a pervasive culture of cynicism about religion, and the casual “hooking up” approach to sex so pervasive on MTV, on Web sites for teenagers and in hip-hop, rap and rock music. Divorced parents and dysfunctional families also lead some teenagers to avoid church entirely or to drift away.

Over and over in interviews, evangelical teenagers said they felt like a tiny, beleaguered minority in their schools and neighborhoods. They said they often felt alone in their struggles to live by their “Biblical values” by avoiding casual sex, risqué music and videos, Internet pornography, alcohol and drugs.

Or ir could just be that kids are smarter than we give them credit for being.

Probably not though. Read it all here

Olberman Today

I know, I know. Even I worry that he's dancing close to the bottomless pool on the other side of the shark...

But we here gave him GT12 honor's before any other blog realized what he was doing. He's our guy and, well, he was pretty good today.

The President of the United States — unbowed, undeterred, and unconnected to reality — has continued his extraordinary trek through our country rooting out the enemies of freedom: The Democrats.

It defies belief that this President and his administration could continue to find new unexplored political gutters into which they could wallow.

Yet they do.

It is startling enough that such things could be said out loud by any President of this nation.

Why has the ferocity of your venom against the Democrats, now exceeded the ferocity of your venom against the terrorists?

Why have you chosen to go down in history as the President who made things up?
In less than one month you have gone from a flawed call to unity, to this clarion call to hatred of Americans, by Americans.

If this is not simply the most shameless example of the rhetoric of political hackery, then it would have to be the cry of a leader crumbling under the weight of his own lies.

We have, of course, survived all manner of political hackery, of every shape, size, and party.

We will have to suffer it, for as long as the Republic stands.

But the premise of a President who comes across as a compulsive liar — is nothing less than terrifying.

We May Be Learning

Maybe the best Dem campaign this year:

"I'm not going to take a lecture on morality from a party that took hush money from a child predator."-- Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-TN), quoted by ABC News, deflecting criticism that he "parties with Playboy Playmates."

Biggest Loser

 

The Passion of the Hastert:

"I think the base has to realize after awhile, who knew about it? Who knew what, when? When the base finds out who's feeding this monster, they're not going to be happy. The people who want to see this thing blow up are ABC News and a lot of Democratic operatives, people funded by George Soros."

"If it's members of my staff, or they didn't do the job, we will act appropriately. If it's somebody else's staff, they ought to act appropriately as well." -

House Republican candidates will suffer massive losses if House Speaker Dennis Hastert remains speaker until Election Day, according to internal polling data from a prominent GOP pollster, FOX News has learned.

"The data suggests Americans have bailed on the speaker," a Republican source briefed on the polling data told FOX News. "And the difference could be between a 20-seat loss and 50-seat loss."

From Time:

Two-thirds of Americans aware of the congressional-page sex scandal believe Republican leaders tried to cover it up — and one quarter of them say the affair makes them less likely to vote for G.O.P. candidates in their districts come November....

The poll suggests the Foley affair may have dented Republican hopes of retaining control of Congress in November. Among the registered voters who were polled, 54% said they would be more likely to vote for the Democratic candidate for Congress, compared with 39% who favored the Republican — a margin that has jumped by 11 points from a similar poll conducted in June....

Almost 80% of respondents were aware of the scandal, and only 16% approve of the Republicans' handling of it....

Only 38% of respondents in the TIME poll now support President Bush's decision to invade Iraq, down from 42% three months ago.

Almost two-thirds (65%) of respondents disapprove of President Bush's handling of the war, while 54% believe he "deliberately misled" Americans in making his case for war — a figure that has increased by 6 points over the past year.President Bush's overall approval rating, according to TIME's poll, now stands at just 36%, down from 38% in August.

The Smartest Man In America

Flees Child Porn charges via Thailand.
Gets in similar trouble with the Thai's.
Gets's America to have the Thai's Drop The Charges, fly him home first class all the while starring in the most compelling travesty of manipulated media all year.
After a few weeks, California drops the original charges against him.

I want this guy running the war on terror. 

Barack to Roll?

From Political Wire...

Is Obama Ready to Run?

Jonathan Alter says a 2008
presidential campaign bid by Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)
might not be as far-fetched as some think. In fact,
while there are plenty of personal reasons not to run
-- he has young children -- his advisers think there
are no political reasons not to make the race.

The Obama campaign right now was described to me as a
concept rather than a plan. The concept is that Obama
is a positive, aspirational figure who appeals to a
yearning in the country for a unifying, almost
spiritual vision that moves beyond the tired arguments
of left versus right. At a more prosaic level, the
concept would call for a massive
black-voter-registration campaign in the South while
continuing his crossover appeal to moderate white
voters. On the Iraq war, the critical issue for
Democratic primary voters, Obama is perfectly
positioned. He opposed the war from the beginning,
with an articulate denunciation of the Bush policy as
a distraction from the war on terror. In other words,
he was four years ahead of the curve. By contrast,
John Edwards is in the uncomfortable position of
having said he was wrong to support the war. Hillary
Clinton is even worse off. She has yet to acknowledge
the obvious: that if she knew then what she knows now,
she would have voted against the war instead of for
it. If both Obama and Clinton run, he would quickly
best her on this issue, which all of her early money
would do little to counteract.

Now Or Never

From Political Wire. The key sentence is the last one.

It Takes a Sex Scandal

Howard Fineman: "An Iraq war that has cost us nearly half trillion dollars -- and the good will of the world -- might not have done it. Runaway federal spending that allowed the national debt to reach $8.5 trillion might not have done it. George Bush's low approval ratings, the lack of comprehensive immigration reform, the historical pattern of an anti-incumbent 'six-year itch' in presidencies, the cascade of stories about administration ineptitude and dissembling and congressional financial and lobbying corruption -- none of these issues seemed destined to end the Republicans' 12-year reign in Congress.""Then came the Foley Scandal.

If the Democrats can't take the Hill now, they deserve to go the way of the Whigs."

Spin Off

Boy, talk about your sleight-of-hand 

A Winning Team

Brownie. Bushie, Foley 

Libertarian Democrats

Where can Goldwater Republicans go? Markos says the choice is obvious:

The case against the libertarian Republican is so easy to make that I almost feel compelled to stipulate it and move on. It is the case for the libertarian Democrat that has created much discussion and not a small amount of controversy when I first introduced the notion in what was, in reality, a throwaway blog post on Daily Kos on a slow news day in early June 2006.

But that post—as coarse, raw, and incomplete as it was—touched a surprising nerve. It generated the predictable criticism from libertarian circles (Reason and several Cato scholars piled on) as well as from conservatives who perhaps recognized their own slipping grasp of libertarian principles but were unwilling to cede any ground to a liberal. But more surprising (and unexpected) to me was the positive reaction: there’s a whole swath of Americans who are uncomfortable with Republican/conservative efforts to erode our civil liberties while intruding into our bedrooms and churches; they don’t like unaccountable corporations invading their privacy, holding undue control over their economic fortunes, and despoiling our natural surroundings; yet they also don’t appreciate the nanny state, the over-regulation of small businesses, the knee-jerk distrust of the free market, or the meddlesome intrusions into mundane personal matters.

Read The Future (?) here.

 

Congressmen IM The Darndest Things

Now that I'm 48, I blush.....

Maf54 (7:25:14 PM): hey Auto response from

[redacted screenname] (7:25:14 PM): scrounging for food...brb

Maf54 (7:25:25 PM): ok

Maf54 (7:25:35 PM): kep scrounging

[redacted screenname] (7:31:51 PM): boo

Maf54 (7:32:13 PM): bo dude

[redacted screenname] (7:32:17 PM): lol

[redacted screenname] (7:32:26 PM): whered ya go this afternoon

Maf54 (7:33:39 PM): i am in pensecola...had to catch a plane

[redacted screenname] (7:33:47 PM): oh well thats fun

Maf54 (7:34:04 PM): indeed

[redacted screenname] (7:34:14 PM): what are you doing in pensecola

Maf54 (7:34:21 PM): now in my hotel room

[redacted screenname] (7:34:39 PM): well ..like why did you go there

Maf54 (7:35:02 PM): for the campaign

[redacted screenname] (7:35:29 PM): have you officialy announced yt

Maf54 (7:35:45 PM): not yet

[redacted screenname] (7:36:06 PM): cool cool...

Maf54 (7:37:27 PM): how my favorite young stud doing

[redacted screenname] (7:37:46 PM): tired and sore

[redacted screenname] (7:37:52 PM): i didnt no waltzing could make you sore

Maf54 (7:38:04 PM): from what

[redacted screenname] (7:38:34 PM): what do you mean from what

[redacted screenname] (7:38:42 PM): from waltzing...im sore from waltzing

Maf54 (7:39:32 PM): tahts good

Maf54 (7:39:32 PM): you need a massage

Maf54 signed off at 7:39:37 PM.

Maf54 signed on at 7:40:35 PM.

[redacted screenname] (7:40:44 PM): got kicked off?

Maf54 (7:41:24 PM): must have

[redacted screenname] (7:41:57 PM): ugh tomorrow i have the first day of lacrosse practice

Maf54 (7:42:27 PM): love to watch that

Maf54 (7:42:33 PM): those great legs running

[redacted screenname] (7:42:38 PM): haha...they arent great

[redacted screenname] (7:42:45 PM): thats why we have conditioning

[redacted screenname] (7:42:56 PM): 2 days running....3 days lifting

[redacted screenname] (7:43:11 PM): every week

[redacted screenname] (7:43:14 PM): until the end of march

Maf54 (7:43:27 PM): well dont ruin my mental picture

[redacted screenname] (7:43:32 PM): oh lol...sorry

Maf54 (7:43:54 PM): nice

Maf54 (7:43:54 PM): youll be way hot then

[redacted screenname] (7:44:01 PM): haha...hopefully

Maf54 (7:44:22 PM): better be

Maf54 (7:46:01 PM): well I better let you go do oyur thing

[redacted screenname] (7:46:07 PM): oh ok

[redacted screenname] (7:46:11 PM): have fun campaigning

[redacted screenname] (7:46:17 PM): or however you spell it

[redacted screenname] (7:46:18 PM): lol

[redacted screenname] (7:46:25 PM): ill see ya in a couple of weeks

Maf54 (7:46:33 PM): did any girl give you a haand job this weekend

[redacted screenname] (7:46:38 PM): lol no

[redacted screenname] (7:46:40 PM): im single right now

[redacted screenname] (7:46:57 PM): my last gf and i broke up a few weeks agi

Maf54 (7:47:11 PM): are you

Maf54 (7:47:11 PM): good so your getting horny

[redacted screenname] (7:47:29 PM): lol...a bit

Maf54 (7:48:00 PM): did you spank it this weekend yourself

[redacted screenname] (7:48:04 PM): no

[redacted screenname] (7:48:16 PM): been too tired and too busy

Maf54 (7:48:33 PM): wow...

Maf54 (7:48:34 PM): i am never to busy haha

[redacted screenname] (7:48:51 PM): haha

Maf54 (7:50:02 PM): or tired..helps me sleep

[redacted screenname] (7:50:15 PM): thats true

[redacted screenname] (7:50:36 PM): havent been having a problem with sleep though.. i just walk in the door and collapse well at least this weekend

Maf54 (7:50:56 PM): i am sure

[redacted screenname] (7:50:57 PM): i dont do it very often normally though

Maf54 (7:51:11 PM): why not

Maf54 (7:51:22 PM): at your age seems like it would be daily

[redacted screenname] (7:51:57 PM): not me

[redacted screenname] (7:52:01 PM): im not a horn dog

[redacted screenname] (7:52:07 PM): maybe 2 or 3 times a week

Maf54 (7:52:20 PM): thats a good number

Maf54 (7:52:27 PM): in the shower

[redacted screenname] (7:52:36 PM): actually usually i dont do it in the shower [redacted screenname] (7:52:42 PM): just cause i shower in the morning

[redacted screenname] (7:52:47 PM): and quickly

Maf54 (7:52:50 PM): in the bed

[redacted screenname] (7:52:59 PM): i get up at 530 and am outta the house by 610 [redacted screenname] (7:53:03 PM): eh ya

Maf54 (7:53:24 PM): on your back

[redacted screenname] (7:53:30 PM): no face down

Maf54 (7:53:32 PM): love details

[redacted screenname] (7:53:34 PM): lol

[redacted screenname] (7:53:36 PM): i see that

[redacted screenname] (7:53:37 PM): lol

Maf54 (7:53:39 PM): really

Maf54 (7:53:54 PM): do you really do it face down

[redacted screenname] (7:54:03 PM): ya

Maf54 (7:54:13 PM): kneeling

[redacted screenname] (7:54:31 PM): well i dont use my hand...i use the bed itself

Maf54 (7:54:31 PM): where do you unload it

[redacted screenname] (7:54:36 PM): towel

Maf54 (7:54:43 PM): really

Maf54 (7:55:02 PM): completely naked?

[redacted screenname] (7:55:12 PM): well ya

Maf54 (7:55:21 PM): very nice

[redacted screenname] (7:55:24 PM): lol

Maf54 (7:55:51 PM): cute butt bouncing in the air

[redacted screenname] (7:56:00 PM): haha

[redacted screenname] (7:56:05 PM): well ive never watched myslef

[redacted screenname] (7:56:08 PM): but ya i guess

Maf54 (7:56:18 PM): i am sure not

Maf54 (7:56:22 PM): hmmm

Maf54 (7:56:30 PM): great visual

Maf54 (7:56:39 PM): i may try that

[redacted screenname] (7:56:43 PM): it works

Maf54 (7:56:51 PM): hmm

Maf54 (7:56:57 PM): sound inetersting

Maf54 (7:57:05 PM): i always use lotion and the hand

Maf54 (7:57:10 PM): but who knows [

redacted screenname] (7:57:24 PM): i dont use lotion...takes too much time to clean up

[redacted screenname] (7:57:37 PM): with a towel you can just wipe off....and go

Maf54 (7:57:38 PM): lol

Maf54 (7:57:45 PM): where do you throw the towel

[redacted screenname] (7:57:48 PM): but you cant work it too hard....or its not good

[redacted screenname] (7:57:51 PM): in the laundry

Maf54 (7:58:16 PM): just kinda slow rubbing

[redacted screenname] (7:58:23 PM): ya....

[redacted screenname] (7:58:32 PM): or youll rub yourslef raw

Maf54 (7:58:37 PM): well I have aa totally stiff wood now

[redacted screenname] (7:58:40 PM): cause the towell isnt very soft

Maf54 (7:58:44 PM): i bet..taht would hurt

[redacted screenname] (7:58:50 PM): but you cn find something softer than a towell i guess

Maf54 (7:58:59 PM): but it must feel great spirting on the towel

[redacted screenname] (7:59:06 PM): ya

Maf54 (7:59:29 PM): wow

Maf54 (7:59:48 PM): is your little guy limp...or growing

[redacted screenname] (7:59:54 PM): eh growing

Maf54 (8:00:00 PM): hmm

Maf54 (8:00:12 PM): so you got a stiff one now

[redacted screenname] (8:00:19 PM): not that fast

[redacted screenname] (8:00:20 PM): hey

[redacted screenname] (8:00:32 PM): so you have a fetich

Maf54 (8:00:32 PM): hey what

[redacted screenname] (8:00:40 PM): fetish**

Maf54 (8:00:43 PM): like

Maf54 (8:00:53 PM): i like steamroom

Maf54 (8:01:04 PM): whats yours

[redacted screenname] (8:01:09 PM): its kinda weird

[redacted screenname] (8:01:14 PM): lol

Maf54 (8:01:21 PM): i am hard as a rock..so tell me when your reaches rock

[redacted screenname] (8:01:23 PM): i have a cast fetish

Maf54 (8:01:27 PM): well tell me

Maf54 (8:01:32 PM): cast

[redacted screenname] (8:01:44 PM): ya like...plaster cast

Maf54 (8:01:49 PM): ok..so what happens

Maf54 (8:01:58 PM): how does that turn you in

[redacted screenname] (8:02:02 PM): i dont know

[redacted screenname] (8:02:04 PM): it just does

[redacted screenname] (8:02:08 PM): ive never had one

[redacted screenname] (8:02:16 PM): but people that have them turn me on

[redacted screenname] (8:02:27 PM): and if i had one it would probably turn me on

[redacted screenname] (8:02:29 PM): beats me

[redacted screenname] (8:02:32 PM): its kinda weird

[redacted screenname] (8:02:50 PM): but along with that i like the whole catholic girl look....thats our schools uniform

Maf54 (8:03:02 PM): ha thats wild

[redacted screenname] (8:03:14 PM): ya but now im hard

Maf54 (8:03:32 PM): me 2

Maf54 (8:03:42 PM): cast got you going

Maf54 (8:03:47 PM): what you wearing

[redacted screenname] (8:04:04 PM): normal clothes

[redacted screenname] (8:04:09 PM): tshirt and shorts

Maf54 (8:04:17 PM): um so a big buldge

[redacted screenname] (8:04:35 PM): ya

Maf54 (8:04:45 PM): um

Maf54 (8:04:58 PM): love to slip them off of you

[redacted screenname] (8:05:08 PM): haha

Maf54 (8:05:53 PM): and gram the one eyed snake

Maf54 (8:06:13 PM): grab

[redacted screenname] (8:06:53 PM): not tonight...dont get to excited

Maf54 (8:07:12 PM): well your hard

[redacted screenname] (8:07:45 PM): that is true

Maf54 (8:08:03 PM): and a little horny

[redacted screenname] (8:08:11 PM): and also tru

Maf54 (8:08:31 PM): get a ruler and measure it for me

[redacted screenname] (8:08:38 PM): ive already told you that

Maf54 (8:08:47 PM): tell me again

[redacted screenname] (8:08:49 PM): 7 and 1/2

Maf54 (8:09:04 PM): ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Maf54 (8:09:08 PM): beautiful

[redacted screenname] (8:09:38 PM): lol

Maf54 (8:09:44 PM): thats a great size

[redacted screenname] (8:10:00 PM): thank you

Maf54 (8:10:22 PM): still stiff

[redacted screenname] (8:10:28 PM): ya

Maf54 (8:10:40 PM): take it out

[redacted screenname] (8:10:54 PM): brb...my mom is yelling

Maf54 (8:11:06 PM): ok

[redacted screenname] (8:14:02 PM): back

Maf54 (8:14:37 PM): cool hope se didnt see any thing

[redacted screenname] (8:14:54 PM): no no

[redacted screenname] (8:14:59 PM): she is computer dumb though

[redacted screenname] (8:15:01 PM): it makes me so mad

Maf54 (8:15:04 PM): good

Maf54 (8:15:08 PM): haha

 

And you know measuring he was referring to. 

Sex Scares

Homophobia Studies has it's own Blog.

Sex Sells

Kevin Drum at Political Animal notes that Mark foley may give Dems what Jack Abramhoff couldn't ... an easy scandal:

This scandal may not expose systemic corruption the way the Abramoff scandal did, but it has plenty of legs. It involves sex, it involves coverups, it involves powerful players turning on each other to protect their own skins, and it involves lots of documentary evidence. Unlike the Abramoff scandal, this one is going to get covered in People magazine and the National Inquirer. It may finally be the GOP's Waterloo.

Well, There It Is Then

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.
Bertrand Russell