Or better yet... blame me! I was born a taxburden, and you can't even claim me as a deductible!

I was born to unwed mother... a widowed, immigrant mother of two to be exact. And we, along with millions of people like us, should have apologized for creating unnecessary burdens on the rest of society. Even if it comes twenty-something years late.

Yesterday's Washington Post article "A Gathering of Young Conservatives: Former Reagan Ranch is Site of Annual Retreat for Politically Active Students" illustrates the serious investments that conservatives continue to make in young leaders.

If you don't think such investments make a difference, look no farther than Ann Coulter. As the article mentions, "Before she became a published author, [Ann] Coulter was sent out on a speaking tour by Young America's Foundation to promote her brash brand of conservatism."

Read on for a glimpse into the experiences of 400 young activists at this annual "conservative boot camp," held on Ronald Reagan's former ranch.

Read more below.

Apparently, 5 state legislatures have criminalized the sale of three anti-war t-shirts that list the names of all 3,461 US casualties of the Iraq War. A similar ban, attached as an amendment to the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act, has already passed the US House.

I don't quite get it.

According to US Supreme Court precedent (including Cohen v. California, which protected the right of an anti-war protestor to wear a jacket emblazened with the message, "Fuck the draft. End the war."), these shirts easily fall within the realm of expressive conduct. Moreso, they embody political speech - the highest level of protected expression.

I can understand relatively conservative states like Oklahoma, Louisiana, Florida, Texas and Arizona passing such a draconian law. But Congress?

Listening to the response (or lack therof) of most Congressional Democrats to Bush's shameless actions regarding the war, I'm reminded of a poignantly funny article from the Onion titled "Democratic Mob Censures Bush in Effigy."

Humor aside, we have to acknowledge that the Democrats' hesitance is tactical folly, as well as unethical.

Bush and the conservatives clearly have no confidence that a Republican will win in 2008. They are setting the stage for a Democratic president to absorb the failure of the war, and to force them into a situation where they have the most awkward, prolonged withdrawl possible.

This is why there is so much reference to Vietnam, and the conservative historical revisionist myth that the war was winnable, but was lost because of the peace movement.

Taking decisive action to oppose Bush is the only way to avert that catastrophe, and start bringing our brothers and sisters home at last. It doesn't matter if the Republicans may filibuster our demands in the Senate - let them become the emblems of callous partisanship. It doesn't matter if Bush keeps vetoing the withdrawl demands - let him continue to brand the war as a Republican failure.

Democracy cannot exist without compromise. But it can just as easily wither under excessive compromise than it can under excessive force. Now is the time for boldness, not deal-making.

Upton Sinclair once said that fascism will come to this country draped in the American flag, and carrying a Bible. Little did he know that its sincerest agents of apologism would come from mainstream academia instead.

In a previous post, I made the argument that one of the Christian Right's greatest achievements has been its mainstreaming of extremist views. I would make the same argument for neoliberal economics. Namely, that market fundamentalists use the ideological cover provided by mainstream economic theory to safely advocate extreme, anti-democratic ideas.

Read more below.

Enter the Campus Progress Conservative Course Catalog Contest!

Those Who Can't Do, Teach

The corridors of right-wing power are looking pretty empty these days. Conservatives, from Rumsfeld to Rove, Harriet to Hastert, and now Al "Mr. Memory" Gonzales, are getting fired or fleeing their jobs faster than you can say "mandate" or "mission accomplished." But don't get too excited -- unless you're David Horowitz. Because, as they say, those who can't do, teach. Karl Rove already has announced his intention to do some teaching. More and more right wingers may soon be pontificating at a college campus near you, and their next nefarious scheme may be how to administer a particularly nasty blue book exam.

So Here's Your Homework

Campus Progress wants you to write the next course description for our Conservative Course Catalog, whether it's for Ann Coulter's Diplomacy, Newt Gingrich's Defense of Marriage, Lewis Libby's How To Shape Press Coverage, or Larry Craig's Airport Restroom Etiquette. The best entry will receive a $250 gift certificate suitable for buying textbooks or any books you want. You don't have to be a student to enter and win.

Click here for more details!

Recently the NY Times ran a story on the development of a conservative alternative to wikipedia. Citing an anti-American, anti-Christian, liberal bias, the site is modeled on wikipedia but aptly called conservapedia.

The site prides itself upon using the "Christian-friendly" B.C. and A.D. rather than the pagan B.C.E. and C.E. abbreviations when referencing time (B.C.E. = before Common Era v. B.C. = before Christ). Jesus would be so proud.

I have to admit I found the whole concept hilariously stupid, so I decided to browse. First entry: Global Warming. Conservapedia writes: "It should be noted that these scientists are motivated by a need for grant money in their field of climatology. Therefore, their work can not be considered unbiased, though no more than any scientist in any other field. Also, these scientists are mostly liberal atheists, untroubled by the hubris that man can destroy the Earth which God gave him.[4].

Right Wing Watch

The Terrorism Awareness Project (TAP) is a new national program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center. It was launched last week to alert the American public--and particularly American college students--to the threat posed by radical Islam by placing ads of the project in college newspapers.

So far 15 colleges have been approached to run TAP's ads, Purdue, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Michigan--have rejected the ad, while six universities, including San Francisco State, Berkeley and Duke have accepted the ad for publication.

    It is generally agreed among the gay community that between 4 and 6% of the population is homosexual.  For the matters of this blog entry, let's call it an even 5%.  That means there are approximately 1.5 million gay people living in the United States right now.  (The number seems small to me, but that's an argument for a different day.)

    It is also understood that recent cultural phenomenon have made the homosexual lifestyle more relevant in today's society, and although there is still a huge backlash against the gay community, we have become much more mainstream and widely accepted.  Evidence of this can be found everywhere:  gay networks, gay politicians, gay advertising (what company wouldn't want to tap in to a mostly untouched market sector containing 1.5 million previously ignored citizens with disposable income up the, uhm...whazoo?), gay travel destinations, gay university theory classes etc.

Let me tell you a story about how the Democrats screwed things up once again.  Way back in '06, when you were just a glimmer in the eye of your mommas, the Democrats stormed the Capitol and took back control of the House and Senate for the first time in 12 years.  Nancy Pelosi, the new Speaker of the House, made conservatives tremble across the country using her "mother of five" voice to rant about crazy things like increasing the minimum wage and repealing taxes to the wealthy to implement the 9/11 Commission's recommendations.  Progressive activists cheered and the middle class gave a huge sigh of relief.

 Two whole years in power--albeit two years with a veto-happy neocon at the helm--lay ahead, and the Democrats promised change for the better.  Hillary Clinton spent an unprecedented 30 Million dollars on her presi--I mean, on her Senate race.  Chuck Shcumer temporarily channeled the ravings of Karl Rove stating his intention to create a permanent Democratic Majority.  Things looked real good for the Democrats...

Then things started to go wrong.  Terribly, terribly wrong.  In the small time between the actual election and the time the Democrats took power, things began to unravel.  The Republicans stalled all legislation so they could dump their under funded programs in the lap of newly elected democrats on January 1st (Happy New Year, we've  all pitched in to give you 20 billion dollars worth of under funded programs).  In-house fighting began to go public between different factions of the party.  Blue Dog's courting moderate Republican constituents refused to jump on board with radical Nancy's ideological agenda.  Within the party there were 217 different plans to improve our course in Iraq, and the Republicans who got us into the war sat back while we fought amongst ourselves.

More after the fold...