Written by Zen Ferret So what does Ron Paul believe in? Lets find out how's he's rated by votes and comments: How has he voted? Voted YES on banning gay adoptions in DC. (Jul 1999) Voted YES on ending preferential treatment by race in college admissions. (May 1998) Rated 67% by the ACLU, indicating a mixed civil rights voting record. (Dec 2002) [ A mixed record NOT a strong pro civil rights record.] Don't ask, don't tell is a decent policy for gays in army. (Jun 2007) Anti corporate power? Nope Voted NO on allowing stockholder voting on executive compensation. (Apr 2007) Voted YES on Bankruptcy Overhaul requiring partial debt repayment. (Mar 2001) Opposes "hate crimes" legislation. (Sep 2007) Present scientific facts that support creationism. (Sep 2007) Equal funds for abstinence as contraceptive-based education. (Sep 2007) Tax-credited programs for Christian schooling. (Sep 2007) Guarantee parity for home school diplomas. (Sep 2007) Voted NO on allowing Courts to decide on "God" in Pledge of Allegiance. (Jul 2006) Voted NO on $84 million in grants for Black and Hispanic colleges. (Mar 2006) Voted YES on vouchers for private & parochial schools. (Nov 1997) Abolish the federal Department of Education. (Dec 2000) Supports a Constitutional Amendment for school prayer. (May 1997) Voted NO on starting implementation of Kyoto Protocol. (Jun 2000) Voted NO on raising CAFE standards; incentives for alternative fuels. (Aug 2001) Voted NO on prohibiting oil drilling & development in ANWR. (Aug 2001) Repeal the gas tax. (May 2001) Rated 5% by the LCV, indicating anti-environment votes. (Dec 2003) Rated 76% by the Christian Coalition: a pro-family voting record. (Dec 2003) Voted NO on establishing nationwide AMBER alert system for missing kids. (Apr 2003) Minimum wage takes away opportunities, especially for blacks. (Sep 2007) No "sexual orientation" in Employment Non-Discrimination Act. (Sep 2007) Voted NO on restricting employer interference in union organizing. (Mar 2007) Voted NO on increasing minimum wage to $7.25. (Jan 2007) Voted YES on zero-funding OSHA's Ergonomics Rules instead of $4.5B. (Mar 2001) Rated 47% by the AFL-CIO, indicating a mixed record on union issues. (Dec 2003) Rated 30% by the ARA, indicating an anti-senior voting record. (Dec 2003) I have never voted for a tax increase; and never will. (Nov 2007) Voted YES on making the Bush tax cuts permanent. (Apr 2002) Voted YES on eliminating the Estate Tax ("death tax"). (Apr 2001) Overhaul income tax; end capital gains & inheritance tax. (Dec 2000) No Fairness Doctrine: no equal time if morally objectionable. (Sep 2007) Voted NO on establishing "network neutrality" (non-tiered Internet). (Jun 2006) Voted YES on disallowing the invasion of Kosovo. (May 1999) Voted NO on treating religious organizations equally for tax breaks. (Jul 2001) If you think Al Gore and 99% of the worlds scientists are right about Global warming, Ron Paul is NOT your man. Is is rated 5% by the League of Conservation voters. One of the only things he actually does take strong stands is against the environment. Yay? Maybe he isn't a kook but he is a very conservative Republican. Or at best? Worst? a right wing libertarian. Bart's Note: But, for a Republican, he seems kinda sane.

A fire has damaged US Vice President Dick Cheney's ceremonial office in a building overlooking the White House and forced more than 1000 government workers to evacuate.

Hmmmm....... I wonder what potentially incriminating files have been "lost" in this mysterious blaze.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/12/19/spears.sister.ap/index.html  In a bit of unexpected news today, parents all over the country found out that Jamie Lynn Spears, star of the tween show Zoey 101 will be joining their ranks. While many are agonizing over what to tell their children about this supposed scandal, they are overlooking the positive choices that Jamie Lynn made, such as deciding to keep her child out of the limelight. While her sister is seen as the epitome of bad celebrity parenting, it seems that younger may be wiser as the teen star prepares for motherhood.

Bye, Bye, Tom Tancredo. Thanks for forcing us to remember that there are still people that are incredibly stupid and bigoted and that unfortunately bigots can make up part of our govenment. Also, thanks for wasting people's money and time on a absolutely fucking ridiculous campaign. Hope you enjoyed your short time in the spotlight now crawl back into your little cave.

Alex Koppelman, Salon, December 19, 2007 Maverick Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has been dogged by questions about his supporters throughout the campaign. Commentators have pointed to the collection of New World Order conspiracy theorists and white supremacists who make up a small proportion of his constituency and to previous questionable statements on race at least partially attributable to the Texas congressman. Paul's campaign doesn't seem to be afraid of the charges, though. According to a spokesman for Paul, the campaign will be keeping one donation that has raised a few eyebrows. Read More Here

Harold Meyerson, The New York Post, December 19, 2007 As Christians across the world prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, it's a fitting moment to contemplate the mountain of moral, and mortal, hypocrisy that is our Christianized Republican Party. There's nothing new, of course, about the Christianization of the GOP. Seven years ago, when debating Al Gore, then-candidate George W. Bush was asked to identify his favorite philosopher and answered "Jesus." This year, however, the Christianization of the party reached new heights with Mitt Romney's declaration that he believed in Jesus as his savior, in an effort to stanch the flow of "values voters" to Mike Huckabee. My concern isn't the rift that has opened between Republican political practice and the vision of the nation's Founders, who made very clear in the Constitution that there would be no religious test for officeholders in their enlightened new republic. Rather, it's the gap between the teachings of the Gospels and the preachings of the Gospel's Own Party that has widened past the point of absurdity, even as the ostensible Christianization of the party proceeds apace. The policies of the president, for instance, can be defended in greater or (more frequently) lesser degree within a framework of worldly standards. But if Bush can conform his advocacy of preemptive war with Jesus's Sermon on the Mount admonition to turn the other cheek, he's a more creative theologian than we have given him credit for. Likewise his support of torture, which he highlighted again this month when he threatened to veto House-passed legislation that would explicitly ban waterboarding. It's not just Bush whose catechism is a merry mix of torture and piety. Virtually the entire Republican House delegation opposed the ban on waterboarding. Among the Republican presidential candidates, only Huckabee and the not-very-religious John McCain have come out against torture, while only libertarian Ron Paul has questioned the doctrine of preemptive war. Read More Here

This week’s Scribe begins with a slightly renditioned song…

Come and listen to a story about men named Junior and Jeb Rich, bratty, snots, always well-fed Junior has a nack for shootin his mouth off so rude, And makin comments far worse than crude. Oily they are, rich from black gold, and Texas P. Well corpses and oil have made them trillonaires, Us plain folk wish dey’d get da hell outta hair! Fuckin up dah country from Harlem to Californi-eh Leavin our children with lotsa bills to pay Hills of bills, that is. Swimmin pools full, gay reporter porno stars. Don’t be so quick to say good-bye to Jeb, Junior und kin. They’re eager to give ya a gift you fer kindly droppin in. You’re all invited back again to this locality Have more heapin helpins with Rudy, Mitt or Huckabee Set your ass back down for spell. Take your underwear off. Put it on your head. Ya’ll shut up now, y’hear?

Ye Olde Scribe Presents: Presidential Gold; Texas P. Here at the headquarters of YOS International and Booby Hatch Defumigating Company: deep within the BOWELS where… if you’re unlucky, you might find his secret laboratory, Scribe’s most recent acquisition is being tested. A “gift” sent by some secret Santa; probably a pissed off Secret Service Agent… after all would you enjoy guarding this little turd? This agent must have known he would pay a high price if caught culling what Junior wants no one to test… yes, maybe even multiple costs, or fee-ces if you wish. Pause. Relax. Scribe certainly danced a lot around the humor based mulberry BUSH to set up that one, didn’t he? Yes, indeedie do, Junior can’t poop like normal folk. He has to have his own private privy. How would you like to have that duty? Well, he that do dis, or did dit, or done did dat: choose any meat cleaver rending of syntax you wish… scooped a slimy, stinky sample from that port-a-john for a potty mouth Pres: put it in a shipping box and tied with a bow after wrapping it all in Christmas paper. Then it was sent it by special Currier and Ives… (That’s what the ghost of Burl Ives has been doing all these years… setting himself up an earthly bound shipping service.) …directly to Scribe’s secret labs. Homeland Insecurity didn’t even blink. What did you expect? They stink at protecting anyone’s ass, or ass-SETS… if you wish. What follows is an analysis… drummers and their drums pipers and their Jeff Gannon-endowed pipes lords no longer a-leaping, ladies known to have been dancers milkmaids Several swans and a hell of a lot of water geese and their partial-birth aborted eggs golden rings calling birds and calling girls Freedom fry feed French hens, turtle doves, a partridge and remains of a pear tree Nah… Scribe is just yanking your chain. The analysis showed what we already knew would be there: a massive cocktail (for one cock… Cheney gets the big Dick version) of drugs including those force fed to extreme psychotics, cocaine, Draino (unsuccessful assassination attempt), Barney 1, 2 and 3 (four will be on the table tonight), more cocaine, Lithium and Valproate for his manic-depressive states, more Draino (second unsuccessful assassination attempt), Crack (as in both cocaine and from chewing out anyone who dares do disagree with his hinneyness.), GABAergic mood stabilizers and anticonvulsive drugs such as gabapentin, lithium, carbamazepine, and divalproex to control his rage, anabolic steroids to make him feel more a he-man and enhance his rage when necessary, puppies, kittens, Jimmy Hoffa (still sticking to the ribs after all these years) and the kinder, gentler, more sane, more human, only slightly digestable Cheney who thought we shouldn’t invade Iraq. (Digestive half life longer than the half life uranium-238.) Junior prefers his reprogrammed Cheney-bots who come out of their secret liar's lairs every once in a while to say something insane. The rest was of the same chemical makeup as normal poo, and the same as who excreted it. Yes, Junior really is full of…

So here’s a quick recap, so much to dig into If I got paid I could not cover it all: 1) Hillary is sinking. This is not the most important story of the week, but I guess it has the most interest. What a surprise. A candidate turns her back on the activist base of her party to appeal to people that will never vote for her. You know why Hillary? Because your name is Clinton and THEY HATE YOU. Just look at what Steve Adubato had to say on MSNBC: "What’s really ironic about Clinton’s argument is that it has been the Clinton campaign that has been exceedingly secretive about disclosing the former First Lady’s records when she was in the White House. Bill and Hillary want the media to focus on are only the positive aspects of her experience but won’t say a word about such topics as “Travelgate;” “Whitewater;” exactly how Vince Foster died; missing billing records; or Hillary’s role as architect of the failed effort for universal healthcare." *(lifted from TPM) I thought all these issues where already explored and settled. Guess not. These are the people Hillary is pitching to hoping to win their votes. If there is a definition of self defeatism it is this campaign. What happens when you show up to your coronation and find that other people are challenging the throne? The base of right wing Democrats and liberal Republicans Hillary is aiming at is so narrow it would not fill a decent sized state.Good luck to you Hillary, the country can live without your ego, arrogance and tone deafness, we are sure you will be fine. 2) Obama is the big winner. OK, I am not sure, maybe he is. I still see him as a very inexperienced nice guy. His drug admissions are not going to help. Even the biggest drug users don’t want to explain to their kids they can experiment with drugs and grow up to be President of The United States. I will say one thing about Obama, I think he is an attractive candidate and having somebody as influential as Frank Rich practically endorse you does not hurt.I do not like Oprah, but I understand she has a very broad appeal across many demographics, that does not hurt either. Many people bring up the racial issue. I refuse to believe that we as a society are so racist and if he is the nominee, specially with an opponent like the Huckster, he has a very fair chance of winning. Once in office however, being a realist; it only takes one wing-nut with good aim. I am sure he has considered this possibility and he is either very brave or much more egoistic than we have been led to believe. 3) I see Edwards as the big winner from the Hillary self destruction and the qualms about Obama’s experience. True Edwards was only in the Senate one term, but that was 4 years more than Obama.He was a VP Candidate, and a very smart lawyer. His populist message appeals to the left wing of the party. The Kucinich base that wants to win. There was a telling moment over the weekend, when Obama said, (paraphrasing) he wants to bring all the people to the table to affect change,(speaking of healthcare reform, Obama said we had to negotiate with the drug companies and HMOs to arrive a satisfactory solution.) Edwards responded (paraphrasing again), these people will never give up any of their power and anybody that thinks they will is naïve. Well we have no change expected with Hillary and naïve ideas with Obama. Edwards right now is playing a very good hand. 4) Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, like the sands on an hourglass…The only thing to wonder about in Rudy’s campaign is who will be the next Mrs. Giuliani. Oh right, you think after Judith helped to entirely bury his already dismal campaign she will be around much longer. Rudy is about Rudy, Judy is about Judy and the two shall never mix. Well at least something good came out of this campaign. Judy can go back to killing dogs and Rudy can go back to who the fuck cares, just get off my TV schmuck. 5) So last week’s traitor Harry Reed could not wait to prove me right. Damn you Harry, do you have to make it so easy? On Monday the dishonorable Harry in the Senate tried to pass a version of the telecom spying bill with retroactive immunity for the telcos. Good move Harry, protecting your base again, of course now we know your base is ATT and other telcos, your voters, “fuck them.” There is no reason why we should ever know who, or why, for what, or for how long we were illegally spied on. There you go defending that damn piece of paper again. Hey harry, here’s a clue, our Constitution is in The Library of Congress, I suggest you go there and read it. That piece of paper George gave you last time he stepped out of the bathroom, may be brown and old looking but it’s not The Constitution. 6) So Chris Dodd stepped in this week to stop crazy Harry from passing his illegal wiretapping bill. Kudos to Sen. Dodd. Really. In today’s climate anybody stepping up to protect our Constitution and civil rights should be applauded. Of course it would be so much more significant if the person standing up was not running for president at the time. Mr. Dodd, really, when was the last time you took a brave stance in defense of the people? But really shameful was where was Hillary and Obama standing next to Chris Dodd, proving they will stand up for us and demand change? Really embarrassing both of you. 7) Senator John McCain managed to snag the highly prized Joe Lieberman endorsement. It’s still not clear which voters he hopes to attract with this endorsement, but there is a rumor there are a large number of secret voters living under ground and will arise to vote according to Joe’s wishes. It is still not clear how they will get here and vote as it is said they are living in another country without newspapers, radios, or internet. Just to remind you, saint Joe vowed to support a Democratic nominee for president in 2008 after having lost the Democratic primary to Ted Lamont. Damn I hate to bring this up but, Hillary, Chuck Schumer, Chris Dodd, all refused to campaign for their party’s nominee but did campaign for holy Joe. Damn these people are smart. No dupes these guys. 8 So speaking of no dupes: Chuck Schumer is so smart, it embarrasses his mother, she told me so. He was the sponsor for the Mukasey nomination for attorney General. He endorsed him and praised him from coast to coast. Until of course Mukasey did not know what torture was. Water-boarding? I don’t know. Should not this be the time when six strong guys walk into the senate floor, tie up the SOB, cover his nose and stuff his mouth with a rag and then perform the procedure on him for about 5 minutes and then ask the SOB, “Is water-boarding torture?” I bet he would know the answer then. This was troubling to Chuck but not as troubling as the embarrassment of having to admit he’d been duped by a Bush puppet so he along with that other senile woman from California that should just go off and enjoy her millions, HEY DIANE, RETIRE YOU USELESS ASSWIPE, voted in committee to bring the nomination to the senate floor. Of course promising they would pass a bill to explicitly ban water-boarding. Of course the fact that it was already illegal should not matter. If this administration does not understand the law, we will rewrite it so they understand it. After all, “ignorance of the law is no excuse,” only applies to us civilians. The predictable followed. A bill to ban water-torture was put forth in the Senate only to be tabled by the too light in the loafers JAG lawyer, Lindsay Graham. So no, that bill did not even make it to the floor. Then the torture tapes scandal broke, basically the CIA destroyed torture tapes that they were told many times they had to keep. A special prosecutor was asked for. What did our new honest Attorney General do? A perfect Alberto, blocked all investigations, inquiries and special prosecutors. Gee Chuck, what would we do without you to protect us? 9) In war news: A) The US helped Turkey invade the Kurds in Northern Iraq, our only allies in the country. Good for George, the bigger the war, the bigger the peace, in 100 years we’ll all realize how great his strategenic thinking really was. B) We are losing in Afghanistan. Nothing new except that now it appears the country is back to where it was when we first invaded six years ago. Now that is progress. C) Gaza is closed off, people have no access to food, water, electricity, are starving and dehydrating in the streets when they are not being shot at from helicopters. This was the Sharom plan all along. Isolate Gaza, take the Jewish population out and then if the rest of the people die, who cares? They are only Palestinians or Camel jockeys if you like that better. That peace plan is moving right along. Believe it or not, many other things happened this week, but we can only concentrate on so many at one time. Tomorrow is my birthday. No, not doing anything special, it just reminds me I survived another year of this insanity. One more year to go.