The [Republican] party's main, almost sole, purpose has been to ensure that as much money as possible goes to those who need it least and that as little as possible goes to those who need it most. -- Jacob Heilbrunn review of The Making of the American Conservative Mind

Thus the condundrum: accepting the reality of climate change is one thing....But accepting that Al Gore was right about climate change, well...hoo... That throws a wrench into the personality-based Republican justification machine. – Laura Turner on what prevents conservatives from accepting the reality of climate change

When I last used the above graphic, George Bush had just been re-elected (or finally won without an assist depending upon your frame of reference) and things looked awful bleak for the reality-based community which would be the people who expect a minimum of competence and truth out of their elected officials. – tbogg

Since 1996, thanks to the Republican addition of Section 912 to that year's welfare reform bill, the federal government has spent over a billion dollars funding "abstinence only" sex education programs for teens. Recently, however, the Bush administration rewrote the rules so that programs can only get funding if they promote avoidance of sex at any age until you're safely ensconced in a traditional marriage of one man and one woman. – Kevin Drum

Fully armed Russian long-range strategic bombers flew UNDETECTED into U.S. airspace during a training exercise over the Arctic Ocean recently. The U.S. military is now investigating why it was unable to see them on radar. – The Raw Feed

Blogger is slower than George Bush on Jeopardy right now … tbogg

Quotes of the Day: From the 1985 movie “Bliss”. “The entire economy of the Western world is built on things that cause cancer.”

Bill of Rights - Security Edition is a copy of the Bill of the Rights (the first ten Constitutional Amendments), printed on a metal plate small enough to fit in your pocket. As you walk through the security checkpoint at an airport, go ahead and give up your Rights by tossing it into the plastic bin. If you take your rights through a metal detector, it will probably sound off an alarm, in which case a security officer may ask you to forfeit them. (from Strange New Poducts)

A former president of Delta said that the branding is done with a hot coathanger. The former president, George Bush, a Yale senior, said that the resulting wound is "only a cigarette burn."

George W. Bush’s plan on intelligence is the opposite of the old saw that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. His is “if it ain’t broke, break it.'’ Then put the fix in.