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Thursday, June 15, 2006
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Only on The Colbert Report:
Westmoreland co-sponsors bill on the Ten Commandments and can't even name them   Colbert was priceless last night. His guest was Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland and I guess he never heard of The Colbert Report before. He will now.
Video-WMP Video-QT (rough transcript)
Colbert: You have not introduced a single piece of legislation since you entered Congress.
Westmoreland: That's correct.
Colbert: This has been called a do nothing Congress. Is it safe to say you're the do nothingest?
Westmoreland: I, I, ..Well there's one other do nothiner. I don't know who that is, but they're a Democrat.
Colbert: What can we get rid of to balance the budget?
Westmoreland: The Dept. of Education.
Colbert: What are the Ten Commandments?
Westmoreland: You mean all of them?--Um... Don't murder. Don't lie. Don't steal Um... I can't name them all. emailer Ruth asks: Does this guy deserve a $3,300 pay raise?
The guy co-sponsors a bill about the Ten Commandments and doesn't even know them. Priceless.
(h/t Vincent)
emailer Ruth asks: Does this guy deserve a $3,300 pay raise?
(Via Crooks and Liars.)
8:05:58 PM 
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Lee Iacocca, in a recent interview:
Q. “What sort of CEOs do you think George W. Bush and his administration make?”
Lee Iaccoca: “I make speeches for the Washington Speakers Bureau, get $75,000 for 30 minutes, and all I ever say is, “Here’s what management is about. Hire good people and set some basic priorities and objectives.” Well, let’s see how George Bush qualifies.
The people that surround him are just friends, and I think most of them just schmucks, because I know a lot of them. Who runs the country? Cheney, who’s getting old and sick and had this hunting accident. And “Rummy,” Rumsfeld, whom I know real well — they’ve been together forever, and they run the country. They had Condoleezza Rice for lunch. I don’t know what she’s got on Bush, but, boy, he believes in her. Other than those three, the mastermind of them all, the boy genius, is Karl Rove — slime bucket that he is. You’ve got to know him to see how slimy he is.”
(Via Suburban Guerrilla.)
8:00:08 PM
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Looks like the Vice President and al Qaeda share a common goal.
A blueprint for trying to start a war between the United States and Iran was among a "huge treasure" of documents found in the hideout of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraqi officials said Thursday.
[snip]
"We mean specifically attempting to escalate the tension between America and Iran, and American and the Shiite in Iraq," it quoted the documents as saying, especially among moderate followers of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most influential Shiite cleric in Iraq.
"Creating disputes between America and them could hinder the U.S. cooperation with them, and subsequently weaken this kind of alliance between Shiites and the Americans," it said, adding that "the best solution is to get America involved in a war against another country and this would bring benefits."
(Via First Draft.)
7:49:08 PM
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The current issue of The New York Review of Books features this article by physicist Freeman Dyson. The subject is Daniel Dennett's recent book Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. Dyson begins as follows:
Breaking the spell of religion is a game that many people can play. The best player of this game that I ever knew was Professor G.H. Hardy, a world-famous mathematician who happened to be a passionate atheist. There are two kinds of atheists, ordinary atheists who do not believe in God and passionate atheists who consider God to be their personal enemy.
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
Rosenhouse gets to the heart of it here:
Dyson doesn't quite come out and say it, but he sure implies that Dennett is being unfair in rejecting as scientific the visions of saints and mystics. Both here, and in his other writings, Dyson has suggested that such visions count as genuine evidence of a spiritual world. If he really believes this, then I'd like him to explain how he distinguishes the genuine spiritual visions from the various hallucinations and delusions that produce the same effect. Such visions as mystics have seem to occur only when the mind is first placed in a highly suggestive state, either through drugs or deprivation. When a mystic reports having an experience of spiritual realm, surely that by itself does not count as evidence for the existence of such a realm.
(Via ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed.)
7:00:28 PM
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For the 7th Straight Year:
Despite record low approval ratings, House lawmakers Tuesday embraced a $3,300 pay raise that will increase their salaries to $168,500.
The 2 percent cost-of-living raise would be the seventh straight for members of the House and Senate.
Lawmakers easily squelched a bid by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to get a direct vote to block the COLA, which is automatically awarded unless lawmakers vote to block it.
In the early days of GOP control of Congress, lawmakers routinely denied themselves the annual COLA. Last year, the Senate voted 92-6 to deny the raise but quietly surrendered the position in House-Senate talks.
Meanwhile, you know that a move to boost the minimum wage will fail for, I believe, the 12th straight year.
Good luck suckahs...sincerely the GOP Congress.
(Via Rising Hegemon.)
6:50:59 PM
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WWF's WildFinder Lets You Search for Animals by Species and Place - Find What Animals Live Near You
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(Via GoodShit.)
9:14:31 AM
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The philosophy teacher publicly questioned the LDS Church's opposition to same-sex marriage and now he's paying the price. He's fired from his teaching job and fears he'll be booted from the church. (Salt Lake Tribune)
(Via Obscure Store and Reading Room.)
8:35:34 AM
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© Copyright 2006 Steve Michel.
Last update: 7/1/2006; 9:39:15 AM.
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