Fine.  I admit it.  I'm an angry liberal.  One of those loonies on the left that just has to rant.  If you're of the inclination and have a moment, indulge my latest:

So an associate of mine sent an email to a billion people encouraging me to wear red on Fridays to "support the troops".  It was no one on this site and no one I engage with socially, in case you're wondering.  It's about the sixteenth time I've received it (not all from the same person, that would be worse) and each time it pisses me off a little bit more.  In case you're thinking of sending this email or forwarding it along, I submit this email in the hopes of a pre-emptive strike.

First the chain email.  Then the reply I wish I had the balls to send back. Maybe it will make its way around the internet and get back to where it started. Here's hoping.

I live in Georgia.  Suburban Georgia.  It's worse than you think.  Lately though, friends have been asking (whispering - conspiratorially) that they just may be willing to vote Democratic this year and who do I like (I suspect many of them simply will not vote in November, but I allow the possibility).  At first it was jaw-dropping - I have long been the subject of largely good-natured ribbing (email, tennis practice, at the grocery store, you name it) because of the big capital D that would come after my name if I ran for political office.  But now that this phenomenon is becoming more commonplace, I need your help.

None of my friends, that I've talked to so far anyway, claim to have voted for Huck.  As a matter of demographics they are all higher income, college educated, Christians, and painfully white. The majority of my friends that I have talked to/emailed claim to be duly ashamed at their state choice (they prefer McCain or Romney almost evenly if they had to pick a GOP candidate, which they'd rather not).  They asked me what I thought of Huckabee.  I did some quick research and emailed the snippets below to them.

A neighbor of mine, who I get along with fairly well (we play poker together each month), is also a Republican.  In Georgia, this usually means more than it does elsewhere (take Lynn Westmoreland, for example.  Please).

Anyway, we send each other all the funny stuff that we come across in our email or on the internet, with one exception - anything concerning politics.  Today, he let one get through which discusses Donald Wildmon and the American Family Association's concern with the National Educational Association.  Basically, the NEA has a resolution that says they don't think we should hate anyone.  Wildmon hates LOTS of people, but especially Jews and homos.  And now I was being encouraged to (righteously, of course) hate me some homos, too.

So I hit the "reply all" button and included what you'll find below the jump:

Remember when America was the Good Guy?  Remember when we were the antithesis to the Evil Empire?

I remember when the Soviet Union eroded civil liberties, spied on its citizens, did not tolerate dissenting opinions, invaded sovereign nations, tortured people in gulags, disseminated propaganda as news, and was led by irrational, autocratic leaders -- promoting fear in the name of national security.

Welcome to Amerika, comrades!

Lots of Iraqi Constitution diaries.  But I haven't found any (although I'm sure they're out there, I just didn't find any) that address a very salient point brought to my attention by The Rude Pundit.  This Constitution is great and I have no idea why we shouldn't support it.

The "catch" is, of course, below the fold.

I live in suburban Georgia.  My Senators are Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson and my Congressman is Nathan Deal.  They are very, very Republican.  This is not their problem, it is mine.

Their problem is trying to justify their bullshit to me.

I wrote a letter and email to both Senators some time ago noting my contempt for the treatment of American-held prisoners following the Koran "incidents" in Guantanamo Bay.  

I received a response from Senator Chambliss and have included it below, along with some commentary, and my response.

A new Washington Post--ABC News poll finds that "a clear majority of Americans say President Bush is ignoring the public's concerns and instead has become distracted by issues that most people say they care little about."

Shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you.

Bush and his Republicans have been in power for some time now.  What have they demonstrated over the last several years to be their most primary goals?

One man's list follows:

See if you can figure out where this took place:

Abu Ghraib?  Gitmo?  Bandar?  Nope.

Reidsville, Georgia

An open letter to our family:

Unless and until something changes with the Roman Catholic Church, I and my family are not attending Catholic Church nor participating in Catholic rituals.  This is not a decision we have made lightly or without a GREAT DEAL of thought and discussion.

See why below.

I have neighbors whose kids' "dinner" consists of a Lunchables packet.  Or a frozen burrito.  Not once in a while.  Almost every night.  Heck, I've been know to throw in a pack of mini-corn dogs for the kids, but it usually includes a side of broccoli or cauliflower or one of those "Garden Mix" packs.  I'm all for the OCCASIONAL trip to Mickey D's, but not every stinkin' day.  Not once every stinkin' week even.  

I was raised on the Mandatory Dinner Composition rule [Meat, Starch (potato, rice, noodle), Vegetable] and we pretty much stick to it.  Our kids love spinach.  They beg us for more carrots.  They're not "weird" kids; they still hate brussel sprouts (and really, who doesn't?).

So what am I bitchin' about?  I am sick and frickin' tired of other people's kids showing up at our back door, every freakin' night, at about 5:15 -- "Hey is Kyla here?  Can I stay for dinner?"  Spoken as one as-if-the-punctuation-wasn't-there thought.

The first question being superfluous.  I am not surprised.

I live in Georgia where, politically speaking, it sucks.  And yet, I try to be involved.  I write and call my Senators and Representative.  I donate to Democracy for America and have joined Georgia for Democracy, although I have yet to make a meeting.  I add my name and demographics to almost every damn petition that clogs up the inbox.

But its hard when the wall you're batting your head against is solid bricks of Georgian Red.

Case in point:

I sent a letter to my Senators (Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson) letting them know that, as a constituent, I was against the "nuclear option" and was of the belief that One-Party Rule was bad for Georgia and bad for the Country.

Bang.  Smooshed on that very, very red brick wall.

I'm still in a rage about the Schiavo thing.  I can't get started.  And since Hunter, mistersite, scottbateman, and others are doing an EXCELLENT job on this rant, I offer another.

From Cheers and Jeers this morning, I am aware of a year-old USA Today gay marriage article: "In 1958, nine years before the Supreme Court struck down bans on interracial marriage, a Gallup poll found that more than nine in 10 Americans objected to black-white unions.  By 2002, just one in 10 thought they should be prohibited."  

Well great.  Now "just" 29 MILLION+ Americans STILL think interracial marriage is wrong?  Wanna guess what they think about gay marriage and on what political side of the spectrum they fall?

Hate is wrong.

Continuing the Diary Police rant started (continued?) by Bob Johnson, I have an entry as well.  What are my qualifications?  Well, this IS my third diary.  Well, technically my only diary of a remotely original nature.  But I still want you to read it.

Seriously.  

C'mon.  What are ya, chicken?

Seeking to distance the Bush Administration from the Jim "Jeff Gannon" Guckert debacle, the US Attorney General's first public decision on a legal matter is:

Porn.

I shit you not.

More below.

Update: My Diary search abilities SUCK. Done first by hekebolos here

I shit you not.

From John Aravosis and friends

quoting The LA Times

Gulf War pilots tortured by Iraqis fight the Bush administration in trying to collect compensation

It would be ironic if it weren't so tragic.  

During the 1991 Gulf War, some American soldiers -- pilots whose planes were downed -- were tortured, beaten and abused by Iraqis. It took place, of course, mainly in Abu Ghraib.

The soldiers banded together, sued Saddam Hussein's murderous regime, and were awarded nearly $1 billion. Hurrah!

But according to the LA Times, Bush is now standing in the way of those 17 victims of torture to keep them from collecting, saying that the Iraqis are now the good guys and need the money. American POWs, tortured and beaten, returning home as bona fide American Heroes, are now being told by their country that they matter less than the country that tortured them.

There's more . . .