Bus Driver Is Sexist Prick

I'm going to try not to go into a cursing fit in this post, but this German bus driver piece of shi...um...turd-brain is making that very hard for me:

A German bus driver threatened to throw a 20-year-old sales clerk off his bus in the southern town of Lindau because he said she was too sexy, a newspaper reported Monday.

"Suddenly he stopped the bus," the woman named Debora C. told Bild newspaper. "He opened the door and shouted at me 'Your cleavage is distracting me every time I look into my mirror and I can't concentrate on the traffic. If you don't sit somewhere else, I'm going to have to throw you off the bus.'"

Cause, you know, it is ever so hard to concentrate on your job when a pair of boobs have the audacity to be present at the scene. A considerate woman would do everything in her power to hide them under multiple layers of clothing (summer be damned), or even better, just leave the dirty pillows at home.

The driver evidently feels that his attraction to this woman is her own fault. Not only that, but he seems to feel that she should know it (you know, with her womanly psychic powers) and immediately remove herself from his delicate vision.

Gawd forbid he actually do his job and keep his eyes on the friggin' road!

In a move that makes me wany to choke someone, the driver's bosses applaud his jerk-tastic move:

A spokesman for the bus company defended the driver.

"The bus driver is allowed to do that and he did the right thing," the spokesman said. "A bus driver cannot be distracted because it's a danger to the safety of all the passengers."

Sheesh. What next? Someone with a foot fetish threatening to boot anyone who wears flip-flops?

Update: Jeff Fecke has a good post about this story at Shakesville.

Republicans Give Away Bit Of Texas History

Once again, Republicans show that they care nothing about the people, history or valuable landmarks of the state of Texas. In their zeal to save a few more pennies to refund to the rich, they are now going to give away a piece of Texas' heritage.

On September 1st, our Republican-controlled state government will give away the Texas State Railroad, which runs between Rusk and Palestine in East Texas. They are turning the railroad over to a private company -- American Heritage Railways. AHR is paying the state NOTHING! If AHR runs the railroad for the next eight years, then the state will turn over ownership of the railroad to the private company, including its vintage fleet of locomotives.

The railroad has been closed since July 8th, when a storm washed out a section of track. But adding insult to injury, the state government is going to spend $2 million to help repair the tracks before it gives away the railroad.

Why are our Republican state leaders wanting to give away this valuable bit of state history? They say it costs too much, and the state can't afford to keep it. That's just sheer nonsense!

Last year the railroad generated $1 million in income, but its upkeep and running costs are about $2.3 million a year. Texas Parks and Wildlife officials say the only way to "save" the railroad is to give it to a private company that has more "business savvy". I say maybe it's time to replace these Parks officials with people who have more "heritage savvy".

Our parks, landmarks and historical possessions are not and were never meant to be "for-profit" businesses. Their purpose is to save our historical heritage and provide recreational opportunities for all Texans. If they provide some revenue that is a plus, but they are too important to the people of Texas to give away -- even if they don't completely pay for themselves.

Republicans have just given several billion dollars in tax cuts, mostly to the rich (I bet if you were middle or working class you didn't see much of a cut). They have also set aside several billion dollars to give more tax cuts to the rich. But they want to give away part of our heritage because it would cost a tiny fraction of that money.

Texas Republican leaders should be ashamed of themselves!

Repub Candidates Snub Texas Straw Poll

Texas Republicans have a big party planned in Fort Worth for the Labor Day weekend. They are planning to meet at the Fort Worth Convention Center, listen to their presidential candidates and conduct a straw poll. They have invited anyone who was a delegate at any of the last four state conventions or the last two national conventions.

They were planning to listen to the candidates and then conduct a straw poll. The idea was that this would show the relative strength of the Republican candidates in Texas. But it looks like the major candidates have spoiled the show.

The three leading candidates -- Giuliani, Romney and McCain -- have all declined their invitation to attend the event. Fred Thompson was also invited, but did not even bother to respond. Ron Paul is still trying to make up his mind about attending (and he's a Texan).

The only candidates who have confirmed they will attend the event are the minor candidates -- Tancredo, Brownback, Huckabee and Hunter. It certainly won't be a star-studded gathering.

Why are the major candidates thumbing their noses at Texas Republicans? After all, few states have as many delegates as Texas does. You'd think they would be eager to win a share of the many Texas delegates.

I think this is a case of their own action (or inaction) coming home to roost. A couple of months ago, our Republican-dominated House and Senate decided to leave our Texas primary in March, instead of moving it up to February as many other states have done.

Because of this, Texas is once again being ignored by the candidates. I think most of them believe the race could be virtually over before Texas voters get a chance to vote (and they very well could be right). So instead of coming to Texas, they're going to concentrate on the early primary and caucus states. Texas is left with a few also-rans who have no chance of winning.

They should have known this would happen. When was the last time Texas had a real voice in choosing a presidential candidate?

--------------------

But while the Republican's party may have pooped, it's not the only gathering scheduled for Fort Worth on Labor Day weekend. Texans for Peace is planning some anti-war rallies in Fort Worth that weekend. They want to show Republicans just how strong the anti-war movement is in Texas.

Rep. Lon Burnam says he and others from the Dallas Peace Center will be there. Sounds like a good event. If you are against the Iraq war, make plans to be in Fort Worth that weekend.

Hope to see you all there!

Will Money Rule Texas Senate Race ?

With the ending of this last campaign reporting period, we know who the candidates are that corporations and rich people would like to see elected. They have made that clear with their donations.

The rich would like to see either Republican "Box Turtle" John Cornyn or Democrat Mikal Watts elected. I understand why. These are the candidates who would most likely protect the interests of the rich. "Box Turtle" John long ago sold out to the corporations, and Watts is himself one of the extremely rich. Frankly, the more I learn about Watts, the less difference I see between the two of them.

Fortunately for the people of Texas, there is a "people's" candidate about to enter the race -- a candidate who believes that ALL Texans deserve to partake of the American Dream. State Rep. Rick Noriega (pictured above) will announce next week that he is forming an exploratory committee to examine running for the senate. This will allow him to begin collecting donations also.

Noriega will be starting out far behind in campaign money. "Box Turtle" John raised $2.1 million in the last period, giving him a total of $5.4 million. Watts raised $1.1 million in the last period, and combined with his own contributions to his campaign, has a total of $4.9 million.

But even though Noriega may be starting out behind in money, he does have a couple of things working in his favor. He is the candidate supported by the blogs and most Democratic grassroots organizers. This should not be underestimated. The ability to get voters to the polls can trump a lot of money spent on TV and newspaper ads.

Noriega is also a Lt. Colonel in the National Guard and an Iraqi veteran, giving him a better understanding of the situation in Iraq than either of the other candidates. This could be very valuable in a campaign where Iraq will probably be one of the major issues.

But this doesn't mean that Noriega will not need money to compete -- he will, and lots of it. With my next paycheck, I plan to make my first donation to the Noriega campaign. I urge you to do the same.

Let's replace "Box Turtle" John with a real senator of the people. A senator we can be proud of -- Rick Noriega.

The Fence Is Still A Stupid Idea !

The right-wing seems convinced that the only way to protect ourselves is to build a fence on the border. Of course no one is talking about building a fence on our northern border (after all, those are white people). It's just those brown people on our southern border that they want to keep out.

Of course the fence idea is ridiculous. As one politician said, if you build a 10-foot high fence, you'll just sell a lot of 12-foot ladders. A fence won't keep people out any better than the wall in Berlin kept people in. Desperate people have always found a way to get around fences, and they always will.

And by the way, there is still not a single verified instance of a terrorist entering our country by illegally crossing our southern border. And why should they? There is no reason to risk such a dangerous journey. All they need is a little paperwork and they can fly in or drive across our northern border (as many have). And they have the money to buy the best paperwork available.

The people crossing our southern border are not terrorists. They are fathers and mothers desperate to find any kind of job so they can feed, clothe and shelter their families. In their situation we would do the same (and if you wouldn't, then you're not much of a parent).

The people crossing our southern borders are also not criminals. Most of them are too afraid of being caught and deported to commit foolish crimes and draw attention to themselves. I have been employed in various aspects of law enforcement in Texas for over 25 years, and I can tell you the vast majority of criminals in Texas are US citizens.

There are drugs crossing our southern border, but anyone with any sense knows these are entering by boat, airplanes or trucks. If the only way to get drugs into our country was to walk them across our southern deserts, our drug problem would have been eradicated a long time ago.

A fence on our southern border will do nothing to protect us from terrorists or criminals. It will only cut off our farmers and ranchers from the river, endanger the area's wildlife and create ill-feelings between the US and Mexico.

The fence was a stupid and racist idea when it was proposed, and it still is.

The Emotive Argument -- Backfires?

[Note: I reserve the right to qualify or retract some of the following; I'm really pretty pissed off right now]

2 minutes ago Sen. Hutchison made a statement like the following, on Lehrer's News Hour (not word-for-word, just from memory)

"I have talked to mothers, to wives [of slain soldiers in Iraq], and they grab me and tell me 'Please don't let them have died in vain..."

The distinguished gentlewoman is making an emotionally powerful, but logically vacant, argument for maintenance of the status quo in Iraq, and frankly it gets me pretty pissed off.

Tragic news: some of the thousands of soldiers who have died in Iraq can be said to have "died in vain". But please note carefully:

It is not the people who want to get the hell out of Iraq that are making their deaths "in vain". It was the commander(s) in chief who started a wholly illegitimate war. As I said, it's tragic and it ought to piss you off, in my opinion.

But if I see Sen. Hutchison, I'm going to grab her and tell her "Please don't let any more people die in vain..."

Organized Crime?

At 12:13 this afternoon, my phone rang. A look at the caller id showed that it was my Sooner friend.

CC: Hey, what's up?

Sooner Friend: Are you on lunch?

CC: Just got back. What's going on?

SF: It's kinda stupid, but I had to call you.

CC: That's what I'm here for.

SF: I just heard on the radio that a prostitution ring was broken up in Bedford.

CC: Yeah, I heard about that last night.

SF: Then you know that they only arrested one man and two women.

CC: Mmm hmm...not exactly a "ring".

SF: I think "triangle" would be a better description! How freakin' stupid. You'd think it was a major bust the way they talk about it!

CC: (laughing)

SF: Anyways, that is all I wanted to say. I'll let you go now.

CC: Alright, I'll talk you later.

Lots o' Moles May Mean Slower Aging

According to this article, moley people tend to age better than their not-so-moled counterparts. Wow! Something good may actually come out of my being covered with them from head to toe!

King's College London scientists compared key ageing DNA with the number of moles in a study of 1,800 twins.

They found the more moles a person had, the more likely their DNA was to have the properties to fight off ageing.

And to think people look at me like I'm insane when I say I'll never age past my twenties.

The difference between the two mole groups was equivalent to six to seven years of ageing.

Oops, nevermind. I guess I'll be seeing my thirties after all. Drats!

At least I'll benefit from all the moles.

Dr Kat Arney, of Cancer Research UK, said: "While this is an intriguing finding and deserves further investigation, it's important people know that having a large number of moles can increase your risk of skin cancer.

Well hell! The benefit isn't so great when looked at from that angle!

Doctors, Dust Off Your Bicycles

Garrison Keillor of A Prairie Home Companion* wrote a piece for the Star-Telegram outlining for American doctors the new rules they can expect to be implemented by DHS:

Nonetheless, the fiasco in London is bound to bring new directives from the Department of Homeland Security forbidding doctors and nurses from operating motor vehicles. It only makes sense. Where there is smoke, there is fire. The war on terror must be pursued wherever it leads, and right now it points towards people with stethoscopes.

It is the DHS that requires us to remove our shoes at the airport and put our toothpaste in a little plastic bag, all in homage to previous unsuccessful terrorists, and so a new rule from Secretary Shirtsoff seems inevitable. What evil lurks in the hearts of men, the secretary knows.

Doctors have been shown to constitute a security threat; therefore they must not be allowed to drive cars or have backpacks or briefcases, which can conceal bombs. They should carry their possessions in clear plastic bags, and they should go barefoot at all times.

Read the whole thing. His sense of humor is a thing of beauty.

*I just recently saw the movie of the same title, which is loosely based on the radio show. I really enjoyed it.

Lesbian Gangs And Pink Pistols

For a long time, I've known that Bill O'Reilly likes to play fast and loose with the truth. But it now seems like he's gone even further into his own imaginary world -- a world where truth has no place.

On his June 21st broadcast, O'Reilly brought on an "expert" to claim that lesbian gangs, many of them carrying pink-colored pistols, are terrorizing our country. The expert said these gangs are operating nation-wide, beating men, raping women and indoctrinating young children into the homosexual lifestyle. The expert claimed that there are 150 of these lesbian gangs in the Washington DC area alone.

Of course, these accusations are nothing but outrageous lies. The lies have already been exposed by many gay and feminist blogs, so I won't bore you with more details of O'Reilly's fantasy journey that night (if you haven't read of this, go to SPLC's excellent website).

I was interested in what kind of expert would go on nationwide television and spread such ridiculous lies. His name is Rod Wheeler (pictured above) and he claims to be an expert on crime and criminal justice issues. He has been a guest expert over 500 times on Fox, MSNBC and Court TV.

One would think he must have a pretty impressive resume to have been called upon that many times for his expertise, right? Well let's examine that resume for a moment and see just how much of a criminal justice expert he really is.

Turns out that he has only seven years experience as a police officer, and was suspended from the force for testing positive for marijuana (I knew he had to be smoking something to come up with such outrageous lies). Spending seven years as a police officer is not nearly enough to qualify anyone as an "expert" in crime and criminal justice issues.

Most of the rest of his career was spent in the security department of the McDonald's Corporation, protecting their hamburgers from terrorists. He claims to have identified 250 points where a Big Mac is vulnerable to terrorist attack during production. Who knew the terrorists were after second-rate hamburgers?

Wheeler currently works for the American Institute of Baking, where he identifies himself as a "food defense specialist". I guess that means he's now protecting our sweet rolls and muffins from the terrorists.

Wheeler is also a member of the Jericho City of Praise -- an ultra-fundamentalist church that is openly and rabidly anti-homosexual. This explains where his anti-gay attitude comes from.

Wheeler has not earned and does not deserve to be called an expert on crime and criminal justice issues. He is simply a poser with an agenda, who will say anything to get on TV.

I would say O'Reilly needs to be more careful about the "experts" he chooses, except I believe he was careful in his choice. He carefully chose the person who would tell him what he wanted to hear.

What an evil joke both O'Reilly and Wheeler are!

Lady Bird Johnson

I'm sure everyone has heard that Lady Bird has passed away. I'm too broken-hearted to come up with any good words, so I'll just share with our readers a few of her quotes:

“The clash of ideas is the sound of freedom.”

“Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest.”

"Walk away from it until you're stronger. All your problems will be there when you get back, but you'll be better able to cope."

Having been instrumental in bringing us the Head Start program as well as the Highway Beautification Act, her contributions to the citizens of this country were invaluable. We were lucky to have her.

She will be missed by those of us here at jobsanger.

Dodgeball Begins

Right on schedule, the presidential candidates have struck up the band and started the say-nothing dance. Examples are legion but today I'll address Giuliani's comments on medicinal marijuana.

"You can accomplish everything you want to accomplish with things other than marijuana, probably better. There are pain medications much superior to marijuana..."

(Src)

Now, obviously the biggest problem with this statement is that it is a lie. Pain relief through cannabis appears to be comparable to morphine, with incomparably fewer side-effects, and incomparably less risk of addiction.

I'd rather talk a bit about how noncommital Giuli's statement is. See, it was in New Hampshire that he said this, and those guys are kinda prickly about their freedom, i.e. being left alone to do what they want if they're not hurting anyone.

If you believe, as Giuli seems to, that pot should be illegal, good on you. I might ask you why tobacco is not only legal, but why the government so generously thanks the tobacco growers for providing it. But in general I respect that you have an opinion. Shouldn't you (Giuli) own up to your own opinion, though? Tell the New Hampshire voters that smoking marijuana is immoral/unhealthy/icky/emboldens the terrorists, or whatever you think it is.

Is Bush Trying To Break Our Army ?

First Bush blunders in Afghanistan by pulling out soldiers before the job was done. Now the Taliban is making a comeback there. Then he blunders again by invading Iraq, even though it posed no danger to our country. After that, he blunders the rebuilding effort in Iraq by putting inexperienced and incompetent people in charge. Finally, he blunders again by misjudging the situation in Iraq and leaving our soldiers in the middle of a civil war.

I'm tempted to wonder whether this fool can do anything without blundering. Then I realize that there is one thing he's doing exceptionally well. He's doing a great job of breaking our Army!

Bush and his incompetent war planners initially thought they would have an easy victory in Iraq and be thanked by a cheering populace. What fools! Anyone who has looked at the Middle East should have known that was wishful thinking.

When things went south in Iraq, a 12 month rotation was established for soldiers. Then it got worse and the troop rotation was lengthened to 15 months. Now it looks like some troops may be there even longer, and other troops will be sent back without sufficient recuperative time at home.

Army Chief of Staff General George Casey had bad news for soldiers and their families as he toured Fort Bliss today. He was asked if he could guarantee that troop rotations would not exceed 15 months, and replied, "I had that same question from the families today and what I told them was I can't guarantee that it won't go beyond 15 months. However, I am personally concerned about the impact on the soldiers operating in that environment, of asking them to stay there longer than 15 months."

He is right to be concerned. Just the psychological stress of asking the soldiers to stay past 15 months puts them in much greater danger. No one can stay at the top of their game in a seemingly unending situation.

Add this to the fact of the Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan, and the fact that the Army has fallen short of recruitment goals for the last two months, and you get a picture of an Army that is breaking down. And it's Bush's fault. He has asked them to do too much with too little.

Our troops have been placed in a no-win situation in Iraq. We must get our soldiers out of this never-ending quagmire before we destroy the effectiveness of our military. The military is supposed to be for the defense of our country, but how will they be able to fulfill that noble mission if Bush breaks them in a futile effort in Iraq?

Since Bush is determined to continue this disastrous policy in Iraq, it is time for the American people to demand that Congress do its job and force Bush to stop. We must withdraw our troops from Iraq immediately. There is no rational alternative.

Climbing On Board The Noriega Train

Until now, I haven't had much to say about the upcoming race for US senate in Texas next year. I guess I've been waiting for a candidate to excite me. But I've been watching and listening to how things are shaping up.

It's now starting to look like it's coming down to a choice between Mikal Watts and Rick Noriega. Quite frankly, being a North Texan, I didn't know much about either one and I've never been able to jump on the bandwagon of a candidate I don't know anything about.

Watts is a rich lawyer, willing to finance much of his own campaign. Noriega is an energy company executive and National Guard officer. To someone not familiar with either, it looked to me like both could really turn out to be DINO's, and Texas already has too many of them.

But slowly, my fellow left-wing bloggers began to help me see the light. Blogs that I really respect such as Boadicea, Dos Centavos, South Texas Chisme, Texas Liberal and McBlogger (among others) let it be known that they supported Noriega. This forced me to take a closer look at the man, and the more I found out, the more I began to like and respect him.

Couple this with the fact that the more I find out about Watts, the more I am scared of him. He seems to be the real DINO in the race. He's already let it be known he doesn't support a woman's right to govern her own body. I suspect he probably wouldn't help poor people very much either.

But the thing that shoved me off the fence finally was a post by North Texas Liberal yesterday. He wrote that Noriega would be in Fort Worth to help celebrate Rep. Lon Burnam's birthday. If you've read this blog much, then you know that Burnam is my favorite legislator. He is a true left-winger and not a bit ashamed of it.

If Noriega is willing to come up to North Texas and stand with Burnam, then he's my kind of candidate. You won't see any DINO's giving Burnam a helping hand.

So today, I'm proudly getting aboard the Noriega for Senate train. It is my fervent hope that Rick Noriega can drive that train all the way to Washington, where I have no doubt that he'll make an excellent senator.