Will the Bush administration’s daily harangue of the “liberal press” help Republicans in their mid-term reelection bid in November? We doubt it, especially since we now know the architect of modern day liberal press bashing, Rush Limbaugh, needs Viagra to get it up these days.

Here are a couple of pieces to flesh out the debate for the initiated and uninitiated alike. Don’t be fooled people. This is nothing but politics.

Bush administration officials have been lining up to condemn The New York Times for revealing a program to track financial transactions as part of the war on terrorism. But if the Times’ revelation about a program to monitor international exchanges is so damaging, why has the administration been chattering about efforts to monitor domestic transactions for nearly five years?

White House NYT Bashers Hypocrites

President Bush calls the conduct of the New York Times “disgraceful.” Vice President Cheney objects to the paper having won a Pulitzer Prize. A Republican congressman wants the Times prosecuted. National Review says its press credentials should be yanked. Radio commentator Tammy Bruce likens the paper to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

Even by modern standards of media-bashing, the volume of vitriol being heaped upon the editors on Manhattan’s West 43rd Street is remarkable - especially considering that the Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal also published accounts Friday of a secret administration program to monitor the financial transactions of terror suspects. So, in its later editions, did The Washington Post.

Piling On the Liberal Press for Story on Secret Program

Need we say more?

Savage Love

by Dan Savage

Q. I’m a straight female who’s been in a loving relationship with my boyfriend for three years. I’m also a politically connected woman, a very “in control” type, and when I say “no” I mean “no.” I was born in Alabama, play the piano, and was a professor at Stanford University for a while. I currently hold a high-ranking position in Washington, D.C., and I have a tattoo of George W. Bush on my right breast. Other than that, I’ve always been an average gal, especially in bed, but now I’m in a real “state.”

My problem goes back to the beginning of the relationship. In the very beginning, my boyfriend tried to lick and finger my ass. I very firmly told him to stop, that anal sex totally disgusted me, and that I would never allow anything - his cock included - into my butt. Needless to say, I hurt his feelings, but for a couple of years he respected my demands. However, during the past year I’ve allowed him to perform analingus on me, finger me there, and even let him insert a narrow vibrator. At first I found this disgusting, but I let him play there just to avoid hurting his feelings. Soon I came to enjoy the sexual stimulation it gave me, but I didn’t tell him that I liked it. Last month, after way too much to drink, he tried to slip his cock in my ass, and I finally let him in. Oh my God! What a fantastic experience. Talk about fireworks! Just thinking about it turns me on. But at the same time I feel guilty for having done it, because I think it’s dirty and that only sluts do that. I never told him how much I liked it. We’ve made love since then, but he avoids my butt like he used to. I’d love to do it again, but can’t bring myself to ask for it. Is there any way that I can have the best of both worlds? Thank you. Can’t Openly Naturally Discuss Interest

PS: If possible, could you please print this letter? He reads your column faithfully, and if he sees it he just might get up his courage and try again.

A. Here’s your letter, CONDI. Hopefully your boyfriend will read it, recognize you, and find the courage to bang away at your ass without making you beg for it first, thereby preventing you from having to admit what a dirty little butt-sex-obsessed slut you are.

Well! It looks like my work here is done. But before we move on, a word of warning to others out there who think they recognize CONDI. This butt-sex-obsessed slut included tons of identifying details in her letter: age, height, weight, profession, hair color, location - everything short of a Google map to her apartment. CONDI did this, of course, because she wanted to make damn sure her boyfriend recognized himself and her when he read the letter. What CONDI didn’t anticipate, it seems, were the odds that her friends, family, and co-workers might also read the letter and recognize her. Since I’m pretty certain CONDI didn’t intend to out herself to everyone she knows as an ankle-grabbin’, pillow-chompin’, butt-sex-lovin’ slut, I changed one or two identifying details in an effort to preserve her anonymity.

Unfortunately, there is now a small risk that CONDI’s boyfriend won’t recognize himself or her, which would defeat the whole purpose of running CONDI’s letter. (Hint for CONDI’s boyfriend: She doesn’t really have a George W. Bush tattoo on her right breast - I made that part up!) There’s also a chance that the details I invented to throw CONDI’s friends and family off her musky scent might match some other woman out there whose personal and professional history, by sheer coincidence, happens to match the one I’ve invented for CONDI. This could result in that person being on the receiving end of some unwanted anal attention. That’s a risk we’re just going to have to take.

Village Voice: Savage Love

The much talked about Al Gore documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” will be opening at the Rave Theater in Vestavia (Vestavia 10) this Friday, June 30.

The Alabama Rivers Alliance, Black Warrior Riverkeeper, and Cahaba River Society say they would like to have a good showing of environmentally conscious citizens at opening night, so they are inviting everyone to come out - and wear a green shirt. They will meet in the parking lot of the theater at 6:45 p.m. on Friday, June 30. The event may sell out in advance. You can order tickets online at https://www.movietickets.com/purchase.asp?perf_id=20495077.

You can also call or visit the theater at 1911 Kentucky Ave, Vestavia Hills, 35216 - (205) 978-3655.

The clubs also urge people to carpool, ride a bike or the bus to show a committment to the fight against Global Warming.

There are also some other events planned for the evening. The Sierra Club will have a Hybrid Parade and Si Reasoning is organizing a biker’s presence at the opening. For more information on these events, please contact: the Sierra Club’s Peggy Griffin at Peggie.griffin@sierraclub.org or 256-538-3885 or SI Reasoning si@choosepeace.info.

To learn more about the film, visit climatecrisis.net or stopglobalwarming.org.