I don’t really understand the whole concept of a politician “pardoning” a turkey. In this MSNBC video Sarah Palin pardons a turkey however, while being interviewed, you can see others being slaughtered behind her. (WARNING THIS VIDEO IS NOT FOR ANYONE WHO DOESN’T WANT TO SEE HOW TURKEYS ARE KILLED)

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 45 million turkeys are cooked and eaten in the U.S. at Thanksgiving. That’s alot of birds!

Want to do something to takepart on Thanksgiving? Visit http://www.volunteermatch.org/ and find volunteer opportunities to participate in on Thanksgiving. Volunteer Match pairs volunteers up with volunteer opportunities.

Maybe it’s the Boyz II Men I’m listening to, but this video almost made me feel bad for Bushy Boy (note I said almost)

Oh Bushy Boy - It is so hard to say goodbye to yesterday isn’t it? I wonder if there will be any sunshine after the rain for you Mr. (almost former) President?

takepart to say hello to today!

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past eight years, it’s hard to ignore the dismal human rights record of George W. Bush. Where can one begin when you reflect on the human rights abuses, violations of international agreements and government-sanctified torture policies of the Bush Administration? By intimately exploring the stories attached to the infamous photos from Abu Ghraib, our film, Standard Operating Procedure, helped to give us a clearer understanding of the prison which cemented our country’s anti-human rights record and image to the world. Human rights were systematically violated and our global leadership was marginalized because of our policies during the past eight years.

However, since the election, the tide has turned and things are finally looking brighter. President-elect Obama has already indicated a desire to reshape our human rights policies, including closing Guantanamo.

However, for many of the policies changes to occur, the new president and Congress needs to hear from citizens like you and me.  Human Rights First is has made the following a priority for the Obama Administration : the closure of Guantanamo, protection for Iraqi refugees, stop the flow of arms to Darfur and end torture of prisoners in US custody.  Help to make these important goals a reality by signing their letter which will be published in newspapers worldwide.  We voted against torture on November 4th. Let’s help to show the world that we can help to change our policies and have our country return to being the visionary beacon for human rights that we once were. takepart today to sign Human Rights First’s letter.

(photo by habacuc_1988)

Let’s say you’re the outgoing administration, and you’re pretty sure that the new guys coming in are going to try and undo everything you’ve done on environmental policy, in part by replacing the people that made these policies.  What do you do to try to cement your policy, keep these people in jobs, and make it slightly harder for the next administration to do their thing?  The Washington Post has one idea, and it’s called burrowing:

Just weeks before leaving office, the Interior Department’s top lawyer has shifted half a dozen key deputies — including two former political appointees who have been involved in controversial environmental decisions — into senior civil service posts.

This means that some key jobs which were Bush appointments now are civil service jobs, which obviously do not roll over every new president.  Now, to be fair, this is certainly not new.  The Post states that, “In its last 12 months, the Clinton administration approved 47 such moves, including seven at the senior executive level.”

It’s interesting that so many of these shifts, though, are happening where environmental policy are made.  It seems that the Bush people think they’ve hit on some pretty good rules concerning taking care of nature.

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Adding to the list of irreparable damages left for a legacy, President Bush and his cronies are now set to open 10,000 acres of public land in eastern Utah, to allow for drilling of natural gas and oil.  The Bureau of Land Management plans to auction off the tracts of land, which border three national parks, conveniently one month before Bush leaves office, making it difficult for the next administration to reverse the plan.  According to the New York Times:

National Park Service officials say that the decision to open lands close to Arches National Park and Dinosaur National Monument and within eyeshot of Canyonlands National Park was made without the kind of consultation that had previously been routine.

This is a lasting impression we can’t afford to let Bush leave behind.

takepart by supporting the National Parks Conservation Association and help protect these natural treasures.

Related:  Inconvenient Truth of the Day

Photo: Arches National Park, NYTimes

A few months back, I wrote about the unexpectedly welcome news that President Bush asked his cabinet for a plan to protect the waters around some of the most remote islands in the Pacific Ocean, including the Mariana Trench, the deepest spot on earth.  We read that, and we thought, “Huh.  That’s pretty awesome.  We’ll put this one in the win column for this administration.”

Aaaaaannnnnd…not so fast.  There are objections to the plan.  And, not from the most helpful of places.  Richard Dreyfuss The Penguin Vice President Dick Cheney is not onboard with this idea, at all.  The Washington Post reports (and, yes, sorry about the cheap dig at the Vice President…they’re not even original jokes, and all joking aside, I have heard he’s a nice man, in person):

Vice President Cheney and some officials in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands have argued that the plan could hurt the region’s economy by barring fishing and energy exploration.

Ah, yes.  Money.  It always comes down to money.

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These are dark times for these United States.

War in Iraq. Stock market going all Louganis. War in Afghanistan. Home foreclosures driving little old ladies to shoot themselves. War against Iran if Dick Cheney gets his 2008 Christmas wish. And Tampa Bay is four wins from the World Series.

Apocalypse, if not now, may be really friggin’ soon. (Tampa Bay?! Srsly?)

Despite the impending calamity, our nation — President Ronald Wilson Reagan’s shining city upon a hill — looks ahead optimistically. As cool fall air blows and the leaves turn, we gird ourselves for the next installment in our democratic tradition: Town Hall Smackdown ‘08! — Barack Despite What the MSM Say, My Middle Name Really Is Hussein Obama versus John Can I Finally Go Balls-Out Negative On This Punk (Like The Viet Cong Did To Me, As You Might Recall)? McCain. Truly, prosperity is just around the corner.

Yet before we bid farewell to last week’s VP undercard, an overlooked portion of that debate deserves closer examination. While it did not go completely unnoticed, it was obscured by BlinkGate, Say-It-Ain’t-So-Joe-Mania, and Exceeding-Preposterously-Low-Expectations-Palooza. And it portends doom for the Land of the Free.

Two simple words…

Biden cried.

You saw it. 70 million of you saw it. Well, minus the ones who flipped to Ace Of Cakes.

What in the holy name of Brian’s Song was THAT about? Senator, just who do you think you are? Hillary?

In a post-9/11 world, crying does not cut it.

You know who cries? This guy:

Here’s the caption of this photo (from the National Archives):
A Frenchman weeps as German soldiers march into the French capital, Paris, on June 14, 1940.”

A Frenchman weeps.

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Hopefully this is the beginning of good news for women today (at least women in these 13 states): Several medical associations and 13 state attorney generals are protestint Bush’s proposed federal rule that offers stronger job protection for doctors and health care works who refuse to participate in abortions because of personal beliefs on the issue. And some fear that this proposed rule can stretch the definition of abortion to include birth control.

“It threatens to drastically discourage and even deter a woman’s right to choose,” Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said. “This proposed rule unconscionably puts personal agendas before patient care … failing even to acknowledge the rights of rape victims and others to access birth control and related vital health services.” [AP]

So to review, not only can medical services, advice and referrals be denied, but now doctors who don’t believe in a woman’s right to choose may have receive better job protection.

It is a  frightening time to be a women in this country.

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In the “is this actually happening?” section of today’s paper, we get the somewhat-surprising yet completely-welcome news that President Bush has instructed members of his cabinet to devise a plan to protect some of the Pacific’s “most remote and unspoiled islands, atolls and coral reefs from fishing and deep-sea mining.”

The Los Angeles Times reports the the President has asked for ways to protect parts of the Mariana Trench, numerous atolls and reefs, as well as the waters surrounding the land. Per the Times article,

The proposal, expected to be finalized before Bush leaves office, could establish marine sanctuaries or national monuments extending as far as 200 miles from each island or emergent reef that breaks the surface of the water.

Agencies are scrambling right now to come up with plans to meet Bush’s unofficial deadline (obviously he would like these changes to be made under his letterhead), and are considering using the Antiquities Act of 1906,

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President George W. Bush was heckled yesterday at a Fourth of July naturalization ceremony speech he gave at Monticello. Members of the activist group Code Pink protested the Iraq War and the Bush Administration’s policy towards civil liberties in the middle of an address the President was giving at Thomas Jefferson’s gorgeous estate in the rolling hills of the Virginia countryside.

Code Pink protesters hurled the words “war criminal” and “fascism” at Bush almost as soon as he took the stage to address the assembled crowd. After the activists were quieted, or whisked off, by security the President told the gathering. “To my fellow citizens to be, we believe in free speech in the United States of America.” You can see video of the incident below:

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