They say that this practice is “the law” (as if laws can’t be changed), but it sounds like extortion to me.

You want to get out of the war zone that Lebanon is fast becoming? Reach for your wallet.

In a message to American citizens trapped in Lebanon, the U.S. Embassy’s website reads: “The Department of State reminds American citizens that the U.S. government does not provide no-cost transportation.” For those unfortunate enough to be weathering the bombing and also have empty pockets, the government offers a “repatriation loan” - citizens will get a bill once they land safely in the States.

This is in stark contrast to Canada, which advises its citizens that “All costs related to the evacuation of Canadians citizens from Lebanon will be borne by the Government of Canada.”

People trapped there, of course, have little other recourse for evacuation, since the airport and major roads have been bombed.

You’d think that during an election year, people both sides of the aisle would want to jump into action on a crowd-pleasing issue like “we shouldn’t be nickel-and-diming American war refugees”, but I guess the only issues Congress cares about these days are ones that sharply divide the electorate.

I just added two new links to the blogroll. The first is the blog of frequent commenter and excellent blogger Mr. Furious and the other is my friend Rich’s blog The End of the World. Maintaining a links section is one of those little administrative chores of blogging that often falls to the wayside, so I’m sure there are a ton of great blogs that I’m missing. And there might even be a few out of date links that I need to update or delete. If so, lemme know in comments.

Since there are a few million blogs out there, here’s my criteria for getting added to the blogroll. The site needs to be mostly political, frequently updated, and have been around for at least a few months. Most importantly, it’s gotta have some originality. If the site doesn’t have anything to offer I haven’t already seen on the other blogs in the blogrool, then it’s not getting a link. If you’re too modest to ask for a link, feel free to post a comment as Alan Smithee and include your site in a list with a bunch of crap blogs.

Also, since I haven’t mentioned it lately, Glenn Reynolds is a tool.

From TPM Cafe, here’s something good we can say about Joe Lieberman :

As I wrote below, Election Central posed a question this morning to the Lieberman campaign: Would he or would he not rule out a run on the GOP line if he lost the Dem primary and the line were offered to him?

Well, now campaign spokesperson Marion Steinfels has gotten back to me, and the answer is: He rules it out. Completely.

Steinfels said that Lieberman would “absolutely not” run on the GOP line. She added: “He has said he’s always been a Democrat, and he’ll always be a Democrat.”

That is, unless he loses the primary. Then he’ll be a “Lieberman for Connecticut”. By the way, does anyone know how I can go about running for office on the “Lieberman for Connecticut” party’s ticket? I’m a Democrat, but I’ve been looking for a third-party whose platform is based on Republican ass-kissing, moral grandstanding, and political ineptitude.

When most Presidents have used their veto power to send a message to Congress, the message has generally been either “stop the wasteful spending” or “this legislation is too liberal/conservative”. George Bush has finally issued his first veto and the message he’s sending to Congress is (I’m paraphrasing here) “I’m an ignorant, hypocritical, coward who cares about nothing more than the appeasement of the most reactionary extremists within my base”. Everything the Congress has done over the last few years has been acceptable enough to the President to support (or at least pretend to support), but medical research apparently crosses the line.

As the President spoke today about his unprecedented veto, he surrounded himself with children that were concieved via IVF. It seems to me that a man standing on an ethical principle as strong as a “reverence for the gift of life” wouldn’t have to hide behind children to make his point. As he waxed about how “each of these children began his or her life as a frozen embryo”, he didn’t seem to have much to say about the children’s thousands of frozen siblings waiting to be disposed with the rest of the medical waste. Apparently the moral position on this issue is that frozen embryos shouldn’t be mined for “spare parts”, because the Lord wants frozen embryos to get tossed out with the dirty hypodermic needles and used bandages. Thanks for the lecture on “fundamental morals”, Mr. President.

People who oppose this honestly seem to believe the choice is between an embryo becoming a baby or being mined for stem cells when the reality is that the fate of the embryos in question is already sealed. They’re garbage. Just the byproducts of a procedure that none of the stem-cell opponents have the political courage to fight (assuming they really do buy this whole “embryos are people” crap). Regardless of what happens in Washington, they’re going to “die”. So the choice isn’t between life and death, but whether that “death” can be used to “promote a culture of life” (to borrow a phrase from Bush). So anyone who thinks the stem cell issue is analagous to the abortion debate is a moron. If anything, this isn’t much different than the choice of whether or not you want to be an organ donor, but in this case the President has decided that he should be the one to make the choice for all of us.

One thing you’ve gotta give the Bush Administration credit for is that they’ve got an amazing knack for thinking three steps ahead. Case in point, the recent Supreme Court decision that obliterated the Administration’s legal justifications for torture, NSA wiretapping, etc. The beauty of the decision wasn’t that it settled a legal dispute, but that it reaffirmed the letter of existing law. In other words, the court said “I don’t care what your fancy lawyers say, you’re still bound by the law”. The Bushies thought having their legal team invent extra-constitutional grounds for breaking the law would free them of their legal obligations (as an aside, I long for a day when we have leaders who don’t consider the law an “obligation”), but the Supreme Court made it clear that the “I’ve got a shitty lawyer” defense doesn’t fly.

Which bring us to the brilliance of the Bush Administration strategy. Not only have they done their best to stack the courts with judges who think the executive branch should be able to act with impunity, but they’ve rigged another important part of the puzzle as well. If one wanted to bring federal charges against the President, they’d have to be filed by the Justice Department which is now being run by the “shitty lawyer” mentioned above. If I remember correctly, a lot of us thought it was a really bad idea to give a promotion to the guy who strained to find ways to excuse the President’s use of torture. Unfortunately that view wasn’t held by any of the Republicans in the Senate (or a certain fair-weather Democrat fighting for his political life)

In case you hadn’t seen it at every other blog, George Bush’s Frankenstein-ian backrub of German Chancellor Angela Merkel is hilarious. And her raction pretty much sums up how I feel about every aspect of his presidency these days.

Have you ever hard a band for the first time and instantly thought “Oh my god, this is one of my favorite bands and I’ve never heard them.” That’s sorta the way I felt last week when I saw Belle and Sebastian at the Hollywood Bowl. Since then I’ve listened to them non-stop. I gave them an obligatory listen a few years back and concluded that they were just another sad-bastard band. My bad. They’re more like a perfect mix off Love, the Left Banke, and the Zombies.

I tend to shy away from commenting on Israel for pretty much the same reasons mentioned by Kevin, but with the escalating violence (and rising Rapture Index), I can’t help but look at this as an enormous test of the President’s ability to lead. Will the President use his leverage with Israel to try to force a cease-fire? Is he strong-willed enough to ignore the pro-Israel partisans on the right and avoid being dragged into this mess? Can he diplomatically engage Tehran and Damascus to keep them from joining the conflict (assuming they aren’t already involved)? Trying to calm the tensions would be a difficult task for a great leader, so it’s a damn shame we’re stuck with a mediocre one. Let’s just hope somebody else will step up to the plate.

Another war fueled by longstanding ethnic tensions has errupted in the Middle East. When I see the destruction on television and think about the enmity between the Arab world and Israel, I can’t help but wonder if this conflict could end up being a catalyst for the next world war, with every nation expected to eventually chose sides. I haven’t been following it too closely because, to be honest, the whole thing kinda freaks me out.

For some of America’s evangelical extremists, however, a bloody, drawn-out war in the Middle East is a cause for celebration (via C&L) :

“For the first time in my Christian walk, I have no doubts that the day of the Lords appearing is upon us. I have never felt this way before, I have a joy that bubbles up every-time I think of him, for I know this is truly the time I have waited for so long. Am I alone in feeling guilty about the human suffering like my joy at his appearing some how fuels the evil I see everywhere. If it were not for the souls that hang in the balance and the horror that stalks man daily on this earth, my joy would be complete.”
. . .
“How can we not be excited, our redeemer cometh. We should pray always for the lost. But he is coming. Amen Amen ever so come lord Jesus.”
. . .
“Ready, waiting and excited here! Still telling others whenever possible that the rapture could take place at any time because this world is in such a big MESS and evidently it goes through one ear and right out the other.”
. . .
“I am excited beyond words that the struggle of this life may be over soon and I can finally be FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!”
. . .
“I too am soooo excited!! I get goose bumps, literally, when I watch what’s going on in the M.E.!! And Watcherboy, you were so right when saying it was quite a day yesterday, in the world news, and I add in local news here in the Boston area!! Tunnel ceiling collapsed on a car and killed a woman of faith, and we had the most terrifying storms I have ever seen here!! But, yes, Ohappyday, like in your screen name , it is most indeed a time to be happy and excited, right there with ya!!”
. . .
“Lets keep the excitement going!!!!!”
. . .
“Days like today it’s all I want. Other days because of others I want one more. But what a privilege to be apart of the rapture. I can hardly wait!!”

As my wife said, “they sound like they’re ready to put on Nike’s and drink some Kool-Aid.”

From CatsThatLookLikeHitler.com