Music Fridays - Gym Class Heroes

Go ahead an play it again so you can watch that little man dance.

Infected

The miga from a BBC article yesterday:

The head of the Catholic Church in Mozambique has told the BBC he believes some European-made condoms are infected with HIV deliberately.

Maputo Archbishop Francisco Chimoio claimed some anti-retroviral drugs were also infected "in order to finish quickly the African people".

and...

"Condoms are not sure because I know that there are two countries in Europe, they are making condoms with the virus on purpose," he alleged, refusing to name the countries.

"They want to finish with the African people. This is the programme. They want to colonise until up to now. If we are not careful we will finish in one century's time."

Holding Out Hope

Republican San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders

Best for Last

I'm late on publishing this post, but here's what I had written up about...well, you'll see:

I really enjoyed Buenos Aires, but the real gem of my trip was Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. It's my new second favorite city. The place is a UNESCO world heritage site, and it isn't hard to see why.

Important: I rode around on a moped all day (and now I want a motorcycle) and I took over a hundred pictures (84 of which I posted, the last new pictures that will show up there--links to new stuff here).

Begala Lays the Smackdown...

I'm interested to see where everyone stands on the now infamous MoveOn "Gen. Betray-Us" advertisement. I know many have come out to condemn it and our Congress sees fit to discuss it officially. Begala talks about why the focus shouldn't be engaging Bush on the repudiation. He gives it to us hard-hitting-like via the Huffington Post:

But perhaps the worst was what was done to John Kerry. Kerry earned five major medals in combat: the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. And yet supporters of Bush and Cheney decided to smear his war record. The despicable, dishonest Swift Boat attacks alleged that Kerry fabricated reports that earned him the Bronze Star. The Swifties also suggested that Kerry's wounds were insignificant - and that one was even self-inflicted. Kerry's wounds were certainly more serious than Mr. Bush's, who suffered a cut on his finger from popping a beer can while avoiding his duty in the Alabama National Guard. At the 2000 GOP convention, rich, white Republicans were photographed gleefully putting Band-Aids with purple hearts on their chubby cheeks. Mr. Bush refused to condemn the attack - blandly noting he didn't like 527 groups generally - and later nominated one of the men who financed the smear to be Ambassador to Belgium.

Mr. Bush is a coward and a bully. He knows he'll never be the kind of hero his father was. He knows he lacks the heroism of John Kerry or Max Cleland, so he overcompensates with bluster and bravado. In fact, he told bloggers recently that he wishes he were fighting in Iraq. The Washington Post's Dan Froomkin reported that Bush told a blogger in Iraq that he'd like to be carrying a 50-pound pack and an M-16, but, "One, I'm too old to be out there. And, two, they'd notice me."

So Mr. Bush is too old to fight in Iraq, and he was too rich and well-connected to fight in Vietnam. But he's itchin' for a fight with a progressive interest group. Does anyone believe he'd have the same outrage if a right-wing group were attacking war heroes? Of course not.

No Homo

From the Times live-blog of the Iranian President's speech today at Columbia University:

Updated, 2:53 p.m. | Asked what he hoped to achieve when he expressed a desire to visit the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan, Mr. Ahmadinejad said he wanted to “show my respect.”

He added: “Regretfully, some groups had very strong reactions, very bad reactions. It’s bad to prevent someone from showing sympathy to the families of the victims of the 9/11 event, a tragic event.” He added that he was puzzled when told that some viewed his desire to visit ground zero as an insult. “This is my way of showing my respect,” he said. “Why would you think that?”

Updated, 2:51 p.m. | In response to a question about the treatment of homosexuals in Iran, Mr. Ahmadinejad was initially evasive, instead talking about the death penalty, which, he pointed out, exists in the United States. “People who violate the laws by using guns, creating insecurity selling guns, distributing guns at a high level are sentenced to execution in Iran,” he said. “Very few of these punishments are carried out in the public eye.”

Pressed by Dean Coatsworth on the original question about the rights of gay men and lesbians in Iran, Mr. Ahmadinejad said: “In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country. We don’t have that in our country.”

The audience booed and hissed loudly. Some laughed, uncomfortably.

“In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon,” Mr. Ahmadinejad continued, undeterred. “I do not know who has told you that we have it. But as for women, maybe you think that maybe being a woman is a crime. It’s not a crime to be a woman. Women are the best creatures created by God. They represent the kindness, the beauty that God instills in them. Women are respected in Iran.”

Zach's take via Gchat:

Zachary: right. yea "we don't have that problem here. end of story" i think that might give people in kansas a new argument [sic]

Burn...

Michael Brindley at the Nashua Telegraph delivers some noteworthy embers on the Grand Old Party and education:

When Republicans were asked to name their most important issue, education didn’t even register enough responses to make it on the list.

and:

“So far, in four Republican nationally televised debates, there hasn’t been a single question on education. I find that appalling,” said Bramante, who is also the state co-chair for Republican candidate Mike Huckabee’s campaign.

and:

“It requires and deserves national leadership, and what we’ve had so far is a fair amount of lip service from the candidates.”

M-D is for Militarily-Driven

New Maryland high school is a career academy focused on providing an education that will help students understand the "new reality" and prepare them for the world of homeland security:

Volrath maintains that Joppatowne High will remain above the fray. "The school's built around the marketplace that surrounds the defense industry," he explains, "but the program's not involved in war or peace. Still, there are some realities about good guys and bad guys that will surely be discussed."

Students might even get to learn "Arabic or some other nontraditional, Third World-type language." Then later they can be the kind of people Blackwater recruits, eh?

Things you can't believe...

Sundays are for link parades, because you deserve ample reading material on Sundays. Today, things you can't believe:

- that people hate cilantro this much

- that Matt Taibbi's (Rolling Stone's) newest was this biting

- that goat sacrifices continue to this day

- that the Air Force is this inept

- that graphic history could be this interesting

- that if we're back on the 'gutting the military' charges I want to defect this much

Music Fridays: New Kanye

That punk woulda liked this...