From the Land of Rugs Comes Religious Freedom

This just in from CNN. But as Rummy has said before, "Democracy is messy."

ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Italy has offered asylum to an Afghan Christian convert who had faced the death penalty, but members of the Afghan parliament condemned his release from jail and voted not to let him leave the country.

Abdur Rahman, 41, was jailed this month for abandoning Islam and could have faced trial under Islamic sharia law that stipulates the death penalty as punishment for apostasy.

He was freed from prison on Tuesday after pressure from Western states whose troops helped bring the Afghan government to power. His whereabouts were not immediately known and the United Nations says he is seeking asylum abroad.

Censure or Impeachment

Will the Democrats ever show some balls?

Sen. Feingold suggests that we censure Bush for his unconstitutional action with the NSA. How about impeachment? Well, if it was up to me . . . censure. We do not improve our desparate situation by impeaching George Bush and substituting Cheney, he of the itchy trigger finger.

But we read that Democrats, who have benefited politically from Bush's troubles in Iraq and have started to make inroads on Bush's signature issue of national security, fear that Sen. Feingold's measure goes too far and could alienate centrist voters.

What? They feel criticizing Bush is one thing, but they worry that a move to humiliate Bush could make them look mean, out of touch and perhaps irresponsible--not to mention energizing the Republican base. . . .

Total shit.

Let's ask the American people. Wait, someone has.

American Research Group

Do you favor or oppose the United States Senate passing a resolution censuring President George W. Bush for authorizing wiretaps of Americans within the United States without obtaining court orders?

3/15/06 Favor Oppose Undecided

All Adults 46% 44% 10%
Voters 48% 43% 9%

Republicans (33%) 29% 57% 14%
Democrats (37%) 70% 26% 4%
Independents (30%) 42% 47% 11%

Based on 1,100 completed telephone interviews among a random sample of adults nationwide March 13-15, 2006. The theoretical margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points, 95% of the time.


Do you favor or oppose the United States House of Representatives voting to impeach President George W. Bush?

3/15/06 Favor Oppose Undecided

All Adults 42% 49% 9%
Voters 43% 50% 7%

Republicans (33%) 18% 80% 2%
Democrats (37%) 61% 30% 9%
Independents (30%) 47% 40% 13%

Based on 1,100 completed telephone interviews among a random sample of adults nationwide March 13-15, 2006. The theoretical margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points, 95% of the time.

Americans are split over the US Senate censuring George W. Bush, but more Americans are opposed to the US House of Representatives voting to impeach Bush.



Bush Job Approval Rating
2/21/06 Approve Disapprove Undecided

Overall 38% 58% 4%
Economy 37% 58% 5%

George W. Bush's job approval ratings remain unchanged even as Americans become less pessimistic about the national economy and more optimistic about their personal financial situations. Details from the nationwide survey conducted February 18-21 are available at The National Economy. Results from the March survey will be available on March 22.

Holy Shiite, Batman. Has the Nation Founds Its Collective Balls?

First we get the expected news: people are distrusting Geoge W. Bush and Dick-in-my-hand Cheney even more than they did yesterday. According to the latest CBS poll Dubya has 34 percent of the country behind him. Do you also read that as one-third? Oh, and of those 34 percent support of Dubya (why you ask), half don't respect Cheney. He is at 18 percent which is not even a good percent of three-point shots.

And then we have this wonderful paragraph from Lewis Lapham, the outgoing editor of Harper's:

"I don't know why we would run the risk of not impeaching the man. We have before us in the White House a thief who steals the country's good name and reputation for his private interest and personal use; a liar who seeks to instill in the American people a state of fear; a televangelist who engages the United States in a never-ending crusade against all the world's evil, a wastrel who squanders a vast sum of the nation's wealth on what turns out to be a recruiting drive certain to multiply the host of our enemies. In a word, a criminal--known to be armed and shown to be dangerous."

And then we have this from Garrison Keiller:

These are troubling times for all of us who love this country, as surely we all do, even the satirists. You may poke fun at your mother, but if she is belittled by others it burns your bacon. A blowhard French journalist writes a book about America that is full of arrogant stupidity, and you want to let the air out of him and mail him home flat. You hear young people talk about America as if it's all over, and you trust that this is only them talking tough. And then you read the paper and realize the country is led by a man who isn't paying attention, and you hope that somebody will poke him. Or put a sign on his desk that says, "Try Much Harder."

Do we need to impeach him to bring some focus to this man's life? The man was lost and then he was found and now he's more lost than ever, plus being blind.