Been There, Done That

When you reach a fork in the road, by all means take it. But there comes a time in each man's life when the best course of action is probably to heed the STOP sign.

DaMeathook Makes Bank

Dmitri Young's rebound took a nice bounce earlier this week when he signed a 2-year, $10-million contract extension with the Washington Nationals. Um, for those of you not keeping score at home, that's 5 very large bills a year.




Personally, I'm psyched for DaMeathook. You all read the tear-jerkin' bio a few posts back, and just by way of an update, D's still in the top 10 in batting with a .330 average, and he's among the league leaders in several other offensive categories. Brother Delmon has pushed his average all the way up to .287.




My brother Matt and I are heading Back East next week for a little roadie with all our boyz. First it's the B-Boyz in Brooklyn on the 9th, then we're gonna hook with D in DC. Matt's hoping to collect on that 2-bucks D borrowed that one time at the PI in Cambodia.




We'll let y'all know how it goes.

POP!

There's just no way anyone's gonna spin good news out of this.

July 31 (Bloomberg) -- American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. shares
plunged 90 percent after the lender said it doesn't have cash to fund new loans,
stranding thousands of home buyers and putting the company on the brink of
failure.


Investment banks cut off credit lines, leaving American Home without money
yesterday for $300 million of mortgages it had already promised, the Melville,
New York-based company said in a statement today. It anticipates that $450
million to $500 million of loans probably won't get funded today, and the lender
may have to sell off its assets.

As Atrios pointed out today, the quick calculation would say that 15-hundred people, give or take, didn't close today on that home they thought they were buying. I would suppose an equivalent number will be disappointed tomorrow. Who knows what comes after that, but the trickle-down impact will certainly be huge, and that's a helluva a lot of money no longer pumping through the economy.

Senator Ted Stevens

This is Senator Ted Stevens. He's a Republican from Alaska, the longest-serving Republican senator in American history. He's also in a lotta hot water right now, what with the FBI raiding his house and charges of bribery and favoritism being bandied about. Mark my words, he's going down.

The Atheist's Nightmare: The Banana

The other day we posted a ridiculous video in which one of those creationism charlatans claimed that the fact that you never find "new life" inside an unopened jar of peanut butter was disproof of evolution. [If the logic of that explanation escapes you like it did me, I suggest you go back and watch the clip again. I promise you still won't understand.]


Well, I think we've found an evolution skeptic who tries to sow his doubts with an even more faulty argument. In fact, this may be the weakest anti-evolution argument yet. I believe the assertion is based on the claim of irreducible complexity, that is, the notion that something that occurs in nature is so perfect it must have been created by God.




Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: the banana.





And yes, that's former child star Kirk Cameron looking on in amazement at the irreducible complexity of the banana.




UPDATE: I just did a little checking, and I could be wrong (or I could be a mutant), but I believe I have 4 ridges on the "far side" of my hand and 3 on the "near side."


Dear God...

Bus Stop Observation

At the risk of sounding elitist, I wonder what the incidence of smokers is among people who ride the bus as compared to the general population. Because those folks down at the bus stop in my neighborhood sure are puffing away while they wait, let me tell you.




They don't look all that happy, either.

Peace of Shit

More great stuff at Kenyon Bajus' website

What Should Happen to Women Who Have Illegal Abortions?

Exposing the gray area in an otherwise black-and-white issue: What should happen to women who have illegal abortions?

"You know, I never really even thought about that."

Anna Quindlen at Newsweek helps move the debate:

A new public-policy group called the National Institute for Reproductive
Health wants to take this contradiction and make it the centerpiece of a
national conversation, along with a slogan that stops people in their
tracks:
how much time should she do? If the Supreme Court decides abortion
is not
protected by a constitutional guarantee of privacy, the issue will
revert to the
states. If it goes to the states, some, perhaps many, will ban
abortion. If
abortion is made a crime, then surely the woman who has one is
a criminal. But,
boy, do the doctrinaire suddenly turn squirrelly at the
prospect of throwing
women in jail.


[...]


You have rarely seen people
look more gobsmacked. It's as though the guy
has asked them to solve
quadratic equations.


[...]


The great thing about video is that you can see
the mental wheels turning
as these people realize that they somehow have
overlooked something central
while they were slinging certainties. Nearly 20
years ago, in a presidential
debate, George Bush the elder was asked this
very question, whether in making
abortion illegal he would punish the woman
who had one. "I haven't sorted out
the penalties," he said lamely. Neither,
it turns out, has anyone else. But
there are only two logical choices: hold
women accountable for a criminal act by
sending them to prison, or refuse to
criminalize the act in the first place. If
you can't countenance the first,
you have to accept the second. You can't have
it both ways.

If you don't want an abortion, don't get one.

Iraqi Soccer Captain Thinks Like Most Iraqis

Lost in all the feel-good stories about the Iraqi national soccer team winning the Asian Cup was this choice quote from the team's captain:

Younis Mahmoud called for the United States to withdraw its troops from his
nation.


“I want America to go out,” he said. “Today,
tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, but out. I wish the American people didn’t
invade Iraq and, hopefully, it will be over soon.”
Mahmoud also said
he will not return to Iraq to celebrate.


“I don’t want the Iraqi people to be
angry with me,” he said. “If I go back with the team, anybody could kill
me or try to hurt me.”

The Media Whitewash Continues

What really chaps my hide about the media's coverage of the Iraq War is that, to this day, the people who were wrong -- dead wrong -- about everything (Thomas Friedman, Ken Pollack, Bill Kristol) are still trotted out and valued as Very Serious People for their opinions on the state of affairs "over there," while those who were right from the beginning (Robert Scheer, Helen Thomas, Scott Ritter, Paul Krugman) continue to be marginalized and treated like they are crackpots who have no clue.




This website alone is proof enough of who was right.

If There Was Ever Any Doubt

If there was ever any doubt about FOX News and its motives and practices, this 2003 case pretty much closed the lid on that debate.

In February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an
assertion by FOX News that there is no rule
against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States.

Any questions?

FBI Raids Republican Senator's Home

WASHINGTON -- Agents from the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service raided the Alaska home of Republican Senator Ted Stevens yesterday as part of a broad federal investigation of political corruption in the state that has also swept up his son and one of his closest financial backers, officials said.


Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator in history, is under scrutiny by the Justice Department for his ties to an Alaska energy services company, Veco, whose chief executive pleaded guilty in early May to a bribery scheme involving state lawmakers.


Contractors have told a federal grand jury that in 2000, Veco executives oversaw a lavish remodeling of Stevens's home in Girdwood, an exclusive ski resort area 40 miles from Anchorage, according to statements by the contractors.

Gonzales' Rope Gets a Little Shorter

Congressman Jay Inslee of Washington will introduce a bill today calling for an impeachment investigation against Attorney Genreal Alberto Gonzales. Let's see how many of those Republicans who were so critical of him last week will be willing to step up and put their names on a vote.




Here's the resolution:

Resolved: That the Committee on the Judiciary shall investigate fully
whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to impeach
Alberto Gonzales for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Big man, pig man, haha, charade you are

With Bill O'Reilly still on his jihad against Daily Kos this week, the lefty blogosphere has been firing back.




For starters, DKos has been data mining O'Reilly's own site for hateful posts by his aged, grammatically-challenged, xenophobic viewers/listeners. You won't be surprised to learn it was a pretty shallow mine. Here are a few samples:

Posted By: Navigator (3950 posts) 21 Jul 2007 - 3:38 PM PT
Reply: RE: Future San Francisco Disasters
Given their distaste for the
Federal Government and in particular the Military, IMO we should strike now by
letting our legislators know they should propose and pass a law that when the
next disaster strikes San Francisco "WE" the government WILL NOT assist in any
way shape or form.




Posted By: D. Morgan Saunders (2510 posts) 21 Jul 2007 - 3:22 PM PT
Reply: RE: The O'Reilly Factor (Fri 07/20) - Who's looking out for John Doe?,
Handling criminal aliens on the local level, more...
The Democrats Are Weak
On Defense - The "Do Nothing Congress" - * And Moan - While Our Troops ( Our
Loved Ones ) put their heart and soul on the line 24-7-365 - While our borders
are wide open for more terrorists to join their brothers right here in our own
back-yard - our Homeland! I certainly Agree - Until all these "Towel Heads"
Stand-Up for America and Its Citizens - They Can All Go To Hell - And Get The
Hell-Out-Of-Our-Country!! Thank "God" for Sean Hannity - Rush - Larry Kudlow -
and Bill O'Reilly- for keeping America Great and Safe! Most of us are "Proud To
Be American's" We love our Freedom and Country! May God Continue To Bless
America - Our President - Our Government - Its Citizens - AND OUR TROOPS!!




Posted By: Monty (2615 posts) 11 Jul 2007 - 5:27 PM PT Reply: RE: The
O'Reilly Factor (Wed 07/11) - The culture war goes to the ballpark, Should we be
worried about terrorism?, Drugs, cheating and sports, more...
I have been to
many ballgames and I never saw heterosexuals slobbering over each other all over
the place. There might be a few who do it, but it was obvious that the
homosexuals were doing what they always do when they have a stage and that is
flaunt their fagginess to an "in your face extreme".

Another (unattributed):

Harry Reid playing politics? I wonder who's pulling his strings... I am ready
for the new surge. Oh Keep your guns loaded. Mine are.
If she wins which
hopefully she won't. My guns are loaded for the revolt are yours??
President
Hillary Rodham Clinton no way I am keeping my guns loaded if she is elected
because there will be a civil war.

And:

They hate children-abortion-sexual perverts-hate the military thus hate us and
the US.

And:

Maybe it's time to burn down the capitol building like Hitler did with the
Reichstag building.

Nice, huh?




Now, you may recall the case of Andrea Makris v. Bill O'Reilly? Well, a while back this paragon of certitude and virute found himself in a little legal trouble. It seems he was harassing this woman, Andrea Makris, by calling her on the telephone and engaging in... shall we say... one-sided phone sex. Bill's real problems -- aside from the psycho-sexual ones -- began when he learned Makris had taped the phone calls. He quickly settled her lawsuit, and the tapes were never heard. But the transcripts were filed in court as part of the case.




Here are some highlights (and as a word of caution, you may want to hide the children before reading on):

Line 78, in which the falafel appears: You would basically be in the shower and
then I would come in and I'd join you and you would have your back to me and I
would take that little loofa thing and kinda' soap up your back ... rub it all
over you, get you to relax, hot water .... and um ... you know, you'd feel the
tension drain out of you and uh you still would be with your back to me then I
would kinda' put my arm -- it's one of those mitts those loofa mitts you know,
so I got my hands in it ... and I would put it around front, kinda' rub your
tummy a little bit with it, and then with my other hand I would start to massage
your boobs, get your nipples really hard ... 'cuz I like that and you have
really spectacular boobs....

So anyway I'd be rubbing your big boobs and getting your nipples really hard,
kinda' kissing your neck from behind ... and then I would take the other hand
with the falafel (sic) thing and I'd put it on your pussy but you'd have to do
it really light, just kind of a tease business...

That's Bill O'Reilly people!! [As an added bonus, he doesn't know the difference between a loofa and a falafel!] Hit the link, there's much more comedy gold there.




And from the sublime to the absurd (sic), one entrprising composer has written an entire baroque oratorio -- I'm not kidding -- based on the Makris v. O'Reilly case.


The music is quite good.

Wolf Blitzer, Professional Journalist

Wolf Blitzer was all over the John Roberts story today:

BLITZER: He's 52 years old, the chief justice, John Roberts. And we wish
him a speedy recovery. Dana, thank you very much. I know Dana and our entire
team of reporters working this story. As we get more information, we'll share it
with you here on CNN.


Presidential politics is venturing into new territory all because of
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's attire. Who would have thought we would ever be
talking about a presidential candidates cleavage? Let's go to CNN's Carol
Costello, she is watching the story for us in New York. Why is everyone talking
about this story now? Give our viewers a little sense of the background.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You know, it's just so odd, Wolf. It was the
number one story on The Washington Post Web site for a couple of days. Who knew
showing a little cleavage was a woman's way to say, hey, I'm comfortable with my
sexuality and my intelligence and I'm going to show it off on the Senate floor?
That's either incredibly demeaning, or, as The Washington Post asserts,
sassy.


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)


COSTELLO (voice-over): The Washington Post calls it an exceptional kind of
flourish. Cleavage Clinton-style on the floor of the Senate caught on C-SPAN.
You might be thinking, let's not go there. But plenty have. It started with
Robin Givhan's article headlined "Hillary Clinton's Tentative Dip Into New
Neckline Territory." Soon just about everyone was going there, from David
Letterman...to YouTubers.


[...]


BLITZER: As you know, Carol, though, a lot of people are making the point
that is very, very different. That this is really sexism.


COSTELLO: Yes. A lot of people are saying that, but Givhan says Clinton's
cleavage is news because it's out of the ordinary and says something about the
way that people want to be perceived.


BLITZER: Carol Costello, thanks very much. Carol is watching that story for
us. We're standing by to get some information on the chief justice, John
Roberts.

CNN: All cleavage, all the time.

Iraqi Parliament Begins Vacation

As promised, the Iraqi parliament has adjourned for a month-long August recess. Legislators failed to pass several key measures aimed at improving security and will not reconvene in Baghdad until September 4.




I hope Maliki and his colleagues have fun waterskiing in Monaco or whatever it is they plan on doing.




American troops will fight on regardless. 3651.

A Side of Pessimism

In many ways, the real problem with enacting economic or political change in today’s society is that most Americans have their noses so firmly affixed to the grindstone that they don’t have the time or the inclination to look around at how the system is keeping them down. Crippling debt, $50 tanks of gas, $3000 deductibles and $100 co-pays can tend to weigh on the mind and occupy a good deal of one’s spare time.




When it comes to issues like health care reform, wage and wealth inequality, job security, product safety, outsourcing, retirement planning and a debt-based economy, I’m afraid things are going to have to get much worse before they get better.




That's just the way it is with revolutions.

Tom Snyder Dead at 71.

Legendary talk-show host Tom Snyder has died at 71. Snyder, you may recall was the chain-smoking, slightly clueless talker who hosted The Tomorrow Show on NBC. He was parodied to brilliant effect by Dan Akroyd on Saturday Night Live.

To his credit, and to the pleasant surprise of many (and the unpleasant surprise of many others), he offered up his airtime to a series of punk rock acts in the late '70s and early '80s, giving voice to Iggy Pop, the Clash, the Jam, Joan Jett, the Plasmatics, The Ramones, John Lydon and many more.

Watch here as Wendy O. Willams and the Plasmatics perform "Master Plan," and in the process blow up a car on stage. I'm pretty sure this audience had no idea what hit them.

Witless, Insufferable Chickenhawk

Right-wing Ohio Congressman, Michael Turner, tried desperately to smear military expert Lawrence Korb during his question and answer period at a House Armed Services Committe meeteing this week. Turner started off his smear attacks against Korb by questioning his credentials to speak before the panel:

TURNER: I was looking at your bio…that incorrectly I believe referred to you as
Doctor Korb. And you do not have a PhD.


KORB: I do.


TURNER: You do have a PhD?

Uh.... moving on.




After grandstanding for nearly his entire allotted time, Turner refused to allow Korb time to respond, quickly standing up to leave the room as Korb tried to speak. Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) told Turner to sit down and listen to Korb’s response.

Don't Look Back in Anger

People keep saying that Lindsay Lohan should just hire a driver, but John Belushi had a driver, and we all know what happened to him.









I wish I had a driver.

Santa Barbara News-Press; One Year Later

Back in July of 2006, the Santa Barbara News Press was hit by a mass-exodus/firing scandal that saw six top writers and editors all walk out on the paper in protest of heavy-handed management by the publisher. More soon followed. A report on the story as it was happening can be found here.




In a nutshell:

Those who have left the News-Press, as well as some still working at the
151-year-old daily newspaper, say the resignations came as a result of
inappropriate meddling on the part of the owner — local billionaire Wendy McCaw
— and Armstrong in the news section.


In the held article, Roberts and Todd mentioned several examples of this
violation of standard newsroom ethics, including the decision by upper
management not to print a second story about Armstrong’s arrest for drunk
driving, the reprimanding of three editors and a reporter for printing actor Rob
Lowe’s address, and Armstrong’s promotion to publisher. Todd said — and Roberts
agreed during his interview — that along with his responsibility over the
business side of the paper, Armstrong has been given complete authority to
change news articles as he sees fit.


“The job of the newsroom is not to maximize profit,” Roberts said. “You can
look at almost any industry in America and it’s hard to find some place where
your job is not to maximize profit. Your job is to tell the truth, and to tell
the truth independently of any influences that are involved in the profit-making
operation of the newspaper.”

By way of follow-up, blogger Craig Smith, who has been chronicling the controversy since its beginnings, posted a list of personnel who have left the New Press since the scandal broke a year ago.

Anniversary Week. Monday, July 2, 2007. Don't expect too many jokes out of
me over the next few days. This week marks the one year anniversary of the
"meltdown" of the News-Press. Don Murphy, deputy managing editor resigned in the
early afternoon of July 5, 2006. George Foulsham, the managing editor, quit
later that afternoon.


The following day, Thursday, editor Jerry Roberts, who had also tendered
his resignation but had offered to stay on for 30 days to ease the transition,
was escorted out of the building, having been barely given time to pack his
brief case. By the end of the day, city editor Jane Hulse, business editor
Michael Todd and columnist Barney Brantingham had also quit.


Ever since then, scores of people have left the paper. Many voluntarily,
some squeezed out, some outright fired.

The list can be found here, and bear in mind we're talking about 44 people leaving a small-town paper with a circulation of only about 40,000.

I Thought We Abolished Slavery in 1865

Funny, I thought the United States abolished slavery way back in 1865. But it appears that the 13th Amendment is just another piece of the Constitution to be ignored by the reckless outlaws in the Bush administration. New allegations surfaced last week that contractors may be using forced labor to build the $592-million US embassy in Baghdad.

Rumors of labor trafficking and abuse have plagued building contractor now
completing the $592 million Baghdad embassy building project, but a State
Department Inspector General investigation reported finding nothing untoward.
Now an IraqSlogger exclusive reveals previously unreported instances of
appalling living conditions, abuse, and coerced labor, making clear that the
allegations against the contractor managing the embassy project remain
unresolved.

In congressional testimony last week, Rory Mayberry, a former subcontractor employee for First Kuwaiti Trading & Contracting Company, gave a statement:

Mr. Chairman, when the airplane took off and the captain announced that we were
heading to Baghdad, all you-know-what broke out on the airplane. The men started
shouting, it wasn’t until the security guy working for First Kuwaiti waved an
MP5 in the air that the men settled down. They realized that they had no other
choice but to go to Baghdad. Let me spell it out clearly: I believe these men
were kidnapped by First Kuwaiti to work at the US Embassy… I’ve read the State Department Inspector General’s report on the construction of the embassy. Mr. Chairman, it’s not worth the paper it’s printed on. This is a cover-up and I’m glad that I’ve had the opportunity to set the record straight.”

This is explosive, disturbing testimony.


What do you suppose the Iraqis make of all this? We spent years ridiculing the opulence of Saddam Hussein's former palaces (although we now use one as American HQ in the Green Zone), while George W. Bush is building a $592-million embassy -- the world's largest -- right there in the country we effectively destroyed.


I'm reminded of that old bumper sticker that says: "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."

TMI on Mini-Dubya's Big Little Package

More than you needed to know about the mini-Dubya flight-suit doll:

By far the most compelling confirmation of the phallic meaning of the
president's aircraft-carrier cakewalk was found on the hot-selling "George W.
Bush Top Gun action figure" manufactured by Talking Presidents. I originally
ordered one to use as part of the cover design for this book. The studly
twelve-inch flyboy not only comes with a helmet and visor, goggles and oxygen
mask, but underneath his flight suit is a full "basket" --- a genuine fake
penis, apparently constructed with lifelike silicone.

But leave it to Digby to link that bit of nonsense to the GOP's child-like worship of Frederick of Hollywood.

I've been calling them The Baby Party for a long time. They are now
literally reverting to infancy.


These Republicans need to see some professionals about this problem. Tiny
silicone penises on action dolls and fantasies of a big gruff manly man with a
"strong pair of hands to hold us" are cries for help and this country needs to
hold a massive intervention. November 2008 sound good to you?

Stonewall, Thy Name is Snow

Keeping in mind that he opens this press briefing by noting that a Congressional committee has recommeded contempt proceedings against Harriet Myers and Josh Bolten for ignoring congressional supoenas, and noting that Congress has issued a supoena for Karl Rove's testimony (also expected to be ignored), watch Tony Snow turn the whole world upside down in under 5 minutes:







Lest we forget there are also some 5 million(!) emails the White House has refused to release to Congress as part of its investigation. What part of the word cooperation does the man not understand? It's an artful thing the lying these press secretaries do.




As Reagan era DoJ official Bruce Fein described Tony Snow last week on Hardball: “He’s Ron Zeigler during Watergate.”

Remind Me Again, Why Are We There?

From the NY Times, via Talking Points Memo:


"Iraq’s national government is refusing to take possession of thousands of American-financed reconstruction projects, forcing the United States either to hand them over to local Iraqis, who often lack the proper training and resources to keep the projects running, or commit new money to an effort that has already consumed billions of taxpayer dollars.
The conclusions, detailed in a report released Friday by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, a federal oversight agency, include the finding that of 2,797 completed projects costing $5.8 billion, Iraq’s national government had, by the spring of this year, accepted only 435 projects valued at $501 million.


...


The United States often promotes the number of rebuilding projects, like power plants and hospitals, that have been completed in Iraq, citing them as signs of progress in a nation otherwise fraught with violence and political stalemate. But closer examination by the inspector general’s office, headed by Stuart W. Bowen Jr., has found that a number of individual projects are crumbling, abandoned or otherwise inoperative only months after the United States declared that they had been successfully completed...


...


In one of the most recent cases, a $90 million project to overhaul two giant turbines at the Dora power plant in Baghdad failed after completion because employees at the plant did not know how to operate the turbines properly and the wrong fuel was used. The additional power is critically needed in Baghdad, where residents often have only a few hours of electricity a day."

No One Left to Defend Alberto Gonzales

According to FOX News Sunday host Chris Wallace, there's no one left to defend beleaguered US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Said Wallace:




“By the way, we invited White House officials and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to defend Attorney General Gonzales. We had no takers.”

State of Fear

It's beginning to look like the story of the cheese smuggling terrorist airplane bombers was a bunch of baloney. Probably just one more trick up the Bush administration's sleeve as a means of keeping Americans frightened and in compliance.

...Four [TSA] seizures were described this way:
San Diego, July 7. A
U.S. person either a citizen or a foreigner legally here checked baggage
containing two ice packs covered in duct tape. The ice packs had clay inside
them rather than the normal blue gel.


Milwaukee, June 4. A U.S. person's carry-on baggage contained wire coil
wrapped around a possible initiator, an electrical switch, batteries, three
tubes and two blocks of cheese. The bulletin said block cheese has a consistency
similar to some explosives.


Houston, Nov. 8, 2006. A U.S. person's checked baggage contained a plastic
bag with a 9-volt battery, wires, a block of brown clay-like minerals and
pipes.


Baltimore, Sept. 16, 2006. A couple's checked baggage contained a plastic
bag with a block of processed cheese taped to another plastic bag holding a
cellular phone charger.

CNN followed up with a report indicating none of the allegations held water:

The Transportation Security Agency's national security bulletin issued was
based on bogus examples that were combined to give the impression of ominous
terrorist plotting, CNN reports.


"That bulletin for law enforcement eyes only told of suspicious items
recently found in passenger's bags at airport checkpoints, warned that they may
signify dry runs for terrorist attacks," CNN's Brian Todd reported Friday
afternoon. "Well it turns out none of that is true."


Todd highlights the case of Sara Weiss, who was detained in San Diego after
two ice packs covered in tape were found in her baggage. Weiss, who works for a
faith-based organization, also was carrying a survey about Muslim Americans,
which CNN says also raised law enforcement provisions.


"The FBI now says there were valid explanations for all four incidents in
that bulletin, and a US government official says no charges will be brought in
any of these cases," Todd reported.
Weiss says she was held for three hours
and questioned by San Diego Harbor Police and two other men who did not identify
themselves. She told CNN one of the men asked her if she knew Osama bin
Laden, which she described as "a ridiculous question."

The federal Transportation Security Administration; protecting you in ways you never thought possible -- or necessary.

Single Sentence Illustrations of Complex Problems

This morning on Face the Nation, the guests were reviewing the scandalous week in sports (Tour de France doping allegations/NBA referee point-shaving allegations/Barry Bonds steroid allegations/Michael Vick dog-fighting allegations etc...) when the discussion turned to the sense of entitlement to which athletes become so accustomed. Author John Feinstein offered to illustrate the point in the simplest way possible:

"Athletes always park in handicapped spaces."

"There's nothing like a little blackmail" to get things done.

I think Michael Moore may be on to something with this idea.

You now have the opportunity to print and carry your very own "'SiCKO' Health
Care Card." Playing the 'SiCKO' card has worked for a family in DeBary, Florida,
whose daughter suffered profound hearing loss and was denied a cochlear implant.
Her father sent a letter to Cigna asking, "has your CEO ever been in a film before?" Before he knew it, his daughter's denial was overturned. It also worked for a family in Flint, Michigan who was stuck with a $66,000 medical bill until they posted their healthcare horror story on YouTube. Click here to see what happened next.

Letter to the Editor, Wingnut Style

A letter to the Anderson, South Carolina Independent Mail:


Harry Potter is ‘sorcery,’ not entertainment

America has given herself over to sorcery if the millions spent for Harry Potter
indicate anything. Some think it’s just entertainment. The Bible issues stern
warnings against sorcery: “Then will I come near to you for judgment; and I will
be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers, against
false swearers and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the
widow, and the fatherless…” (Malachi 3:5)


I believe God’s marking angels
that have charge over each city are now marking those who groan over America’s
gross sins. Judgment must soon follow and it has begun at God’s house.


Terrorists are here and marking cities also. But few are taking this
seriously. Many are benumbed with Harry Potter or too busy screaming at
President Bush, “Get out of the war!”


Our great opportunity in this
window before the next attack is to repent. Jesus Christ, the only way to God,
is still crying out: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”


Is
anyone listening?




REV. ELVA MARTIN, COORDINATOR, ANDERSON PRAYER TASK
FORCE, ANDERSON

I'm reminded of this post on Eschaton:

Harry Potter is Luke Skywalker's Father!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

John Edwards Makes a "Funny" Commercial

Steadman

Was Pat Tillman Fragged?!?

The story the Bushies don't want you to know about.

Army medical examiners were suspicious about the close proximity of the
three bullet holes in Pat Tillman’s forehead and tried without success to get
authorities to investigate whether the former NFL player’s death amounted to a
crime, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.




“The medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as
described,” a doctor who examined Tillman’s body after he was killed on the
battlefield in Afghanistan in 2004 told investigators.




The doctors - whose names were blacked out - said that the bullet holes
were so close together that it appeared the Army Ranger was cut down by an M-16
fired from a mere 10 yards or so away.

No wonder the White House claimed executive privilege on the Tillman case.




Firedoglake has more.

Internet Flame War

This story brings a whole new meaning to the term "flame war."

Russell Tavares got mad when someone mocked him as a "nerd" over the Internet,
climbed into his car and drove 1,300 miles from Virginia to Texas. He recorded
his progress by posting photos online showing welcome signs at several state's
borders. Then he burned down the other guy's trailer.


[...]


The feud started when Mr. Anderson, who runs a haunted house
attraction near Waco, joined a picture-sharing Web site and posted his artwork
and political views. After he blocked some people from his page because of
insults and foul language, they retaliated by making obscene digitally altered
pictures of him, he said.


Mr. Anderson, who went by the screen name
"Johnny Darkness," traded barbs with Mr. Tavares, a.k.a. "PyroDice."


Investigators say Mr. Tavares boiled over when Mr. Anderson called
him a nerd and posted a digitally altered photo making Mr. Tavares look like a
skinny boy in high-water pants, holding a gun and a laptop under the words
"Revenge of the Nerds."

GOP Candidates Duck Republican YouTube Debate

"Daylight and reason are like wingnut kryptonite..."

During the Democratic YouTube, many people in the
comments suggested that the GOP candidates could never survive this format.
That without a reliably neutered journalist who cared too much about access to
Lynn Cheney’s fabulous chili to risk putting any of them on the spot, they
really wouldn’t be able to function. That looks to be somewhat
prophetic. They’re all looking like a bunch of girl’s blouses and are
refusing to commit to CNN’s GOP YouTube debate.




I really liked the YouTube format — I found the questions fresh and often
fearless, and with it CNN managed to attract the 18-34 year-old audience in
record numbers. I have no doubt that Mitt Romney and his penchant for
dissembling looked upon the spectacle with horror. Canned hunts and canned
audiences are GOP specialties, because the fantasy life of lizard brains can
only survive in hermetically sealed environments. Daylight and reason are like
wingnut kryptonite (but lo hear them caterwaul about the value of “free speech”
when you don’t want their racist, genocidal ranting in your comment section —
suddenly they’re all Bobby Seale).

Fiscal Management

If we really want to solve some our country's more pressing fiscal problems, might I suggest we raise (or eliminate) the cap on FICA taxes? The payroll tax is currently capped at $97,500 in annual income, an absurdly low level in this gilded age of wealth and income disparity.




The FICA tax is the most regressive tax on the books, with those earning less than $97,500 paying on 100% of their earned income (less standard deductions), while those earning more pay progressively less as an overall percentage of income.




For example, an individual earning $25,000 pays FICA taxes on 100% of their total income, ($1913 based on the 7.65% tax rate), while someone making $195,000 pays on only 50% of total income ($7459, an effective rate of 3.83%). Taking it one step further, an individual making $292,500 (three times the cap) still pays only $7459 (an effective rate of 2.5%), rather than the $22,376 that a 7.65% tax would yield.

All I Want Is Some Truth

Pepsi comes clean about its Aquafina bottled water. Coke's Dasani not far behind.

NEW YORK — PepsiCo Inc. will spell out that its Aquafina bottled water is
made with tap water, a concession to the growing environmental and political
opposition to the bottled water industry.


According to Corporate Accountability International, a U.S. watchdog group,
the world's No. 2 beverage company will include the words "public water source"
on Aquafina labels.

Harper's Index

I think we're being generous when we call Clarence Thomas laconic.




From Harper's Index August 2007:

Number of words spoken by Clarence Thomas during Supreme Court oral arguments since Feb. 2006: 132

Number by Samuel Alito, the Justice who spoke the second-fewest words: 14,404

The Dog Days of Summer

Bueller? Bueller? Anyone? Bueller?

BAGHDAD — Missing from Thursday's session of the Iraqi parliament were about
half of the members, including the speaker, the former speaker and two former
prime ministers.




Also missing: a sense of urgency.




American
officials have been pressing Iraqi leaders to prove their commitment to ending
sectarian strife by enacting landmark legislation before mid-September, when the
Bush administration is to present its next report on Iraq to Congress.




But even as parliament's monthlong August break approaches, key issues
aren't being discussed. Quorums are marginal, or fleeting.




Despite the
high stakes here, the Iraqi parliament appears to be deliberating at a pace to
rival plodding legislative bodies around the world.




Thursday's session,
the 50th of the year, convened half an hour late.




A bell rang in the
Convention Center in the fortified Green Zone reminding members to take their
seats and raise their hands for roll call (the electronic system is broken). It
showed 145 in attendance. That dropped to 137 as some members walked out after
the first vote. The speaker on occasion has dismissed parliament for falling
below the quorum of 100 legislators, but on Thursday, they proceeded. The
opening Muslim prayer and 275-name roll call took half an hour, a quarter of the
time, in what turned out to be a roughly two-hour session.

And that's in the lead-up to their August vacation.




What are we fighting for again?

FBI Director Says AG Gonzales Lied Under Oath

What was that about impeachment proceedings?




During today’s Judiciary Committee hearing, two key points made by Attorney General Gonzales were contradicted by FBI Director Robert Mueller.




Sordid details available at Nancy Pelosi's website The Gavel.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller said Thursday the government’s terrorist
surveillance program was the topic of a 2004 hospital room dispute between top
Bush administration officials, contradicting Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’
sworn Senate testimony.


Mueller was not in the hospital room at the time of the dramatic March 10,
2004, confrontation between then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and presidential
advisers Andy Card and Gonzales, who was then serving as White House counsel.
Mueller told the House Judiciary Committee he arrived shortly after they left,
and spoke with the ailing Ashcroft.

Video:

Evolution Disproved, in a Jiffy

Creationist Chuck Missler with probably the best anti-evolution argument yet.

Universal Health Care

When it comes to universal health care, many naysayers dismiss the notion out of hand, in large part because they believe it will lead to higher taxes, and we Americans are all about not paying taxes.




What I don't understand is why those same people can't see that paying $5,000 or $10,000 a year -- and sometimes much, much more than that -- just for the pleasure of having a health insurance policy that includes a deductible and co-pays and exclusions and denials of care, is actually far worse than any tax. If we had a decent universal health care plan, all of that would go away.




The bottom line is this: For profit health insurance companies are not in the business of paying health insurance claims. They are in the business of making money.

Housing Crunch Officially a Squeeze

In an effort to encourage construction of more affordable housing, LA city zoning officials are considering increasing downtown residential density to allow units as small as 250-square-feet.

The tiny apartment is a fairly new concept in Southern California, which
has a long history of suburban sprawl and larger spaces.


But in New York, Boston, San Francisco and many European and Asian cities,
residents have squeezed into tiny apartments for decades, usually because the
lure of the downtown area is so great — and the prices for larger places so
high.


Gretchen Broussard, who co-owns Tiny Living, a Manhattan store that sells
furnishings for small spaces, lived in a 200-square-foot apartment in that New
York borough until five years ago."


I couldn't even turn around in the space," Broussard said. "I maxed out
every inch of the wall space, mounted everything to get it off the floor …"

BillO vs. DKos

Bill O'Reilly and the bats in his belfry are on an epic jihad this week against the folks over at the Daily Kos. Some of them are so beaten down they are asking for mercy.




Clearly clueless, hopeless and helpless, O'Reilly lifted one or two outrageous comments from the (literally) tens of thousands the site receives every day and painted the entire enterprise as a "hate site" whose denizens are on par with the Nazis and the KKK. If he weren't so pathetic he might be funny.




Well, DKos blogger BarbinMD undertook the thankless task of digging through the comment section at O'Reilly's website and, wouldn't ya know it? Look what she found:

• Harry Reid playing politics? I wonder who's pulling his strings... I am ready for the new surge. Oh Keep your guns loaded. Mine are.
  If she wins which hopefully she won't. My guns are loaded for the revolt are yours??
  President Hillary Rodham Clinton no way I am keeping my guns loaded if she is elected because there will be a civil war.
  




• Is the US ready for a black President? You forget Hillary! Obama should be in a car accident, or fall off a balcony, in about 6 months! He's dealing with Bill Clinton, who wants that Power back! It'll be interesting to watch what happens!




• Is the US ready for a black President? The question should be, during a time of war with terrorism, Is America ready for a MUSLIM president? Barak Hussein OBAMA.. it is the pride of Muslims to name their children OSAMA.. and the closest thing to OSAMA is OBAMA... Please.... They will have pulled of the biggest HUDNA of all... a MUSLIM president right under our noses.. in front of our eyes.. while he denies he's a Muslim, he belongs to a very unconventional "christian" church. A closer study of the man, his backers and his history should PREVENT him from ever holding HIGHER offices... lvs

Aw, what the hell, I'll let Stephen Colbert explain it all to you:

And BTW, the clip has one of the snarkiest lines ever: "Watching Hannity and Colmes is like watching Dorian Gray and his picture."

At Least He's Good at Something, Even if It's Screwin' Up

President George W. Bush is really making a strong run at the title "Worst President Ever." While anyone reading this is probably already of that mind, a new Washington Post poll finds that plenty of Americans are coming around to that appraisal.

President Bush is a competitive guy. But this is one contest he would
rather lose. With 18 months left in office, he is in the running for most
unpopular president in the history of modern polling.


The latest
Washington Post-ABC News survey shows that 65 percent of Americans disapprove of
Bush's job performance, matching his all-time low.


In polls conducted by
The Post or Gallup going back to 1938, only twice has a president exceeded that
level of public animosity -- Harry S. Truman, who hit 67 percent during the
Korean War, and Richard M. Nixon, who hit 66 percent four days before resigning.


The historic depth of Bush's public standing has whipsawed his White
House, sapped his clout, drained his advisers, encouraged his enemies and
jeopardized his legacy. Around the White House, aides make gallows-humor jokes
about how they can alienate their remaining supporters -- at least those aides
not heading for the door. Outside the White House, many former aides privately
express anger and bitterness at their erstwhile colleagues, Bush and the fate of
his presidency.


Bush has been so down for so long that some advisers maintain it no longer
bothers them much. It can even, they say, be liberating.

One point shy of Nixon. It nearly boggles the mind. With close to two years to go in his presidency, the smart money sez Dubya can catch Tricky Dick.

Here's You Feel-Bad Story of the Day

Did somebody say racism is a thing of the past in America? Oliver doesn't think so:

You turd-stains screw up everything that is good.

A Boise State University running back who scored the winning points in the
Fiesta Bowl, then proposed to his cheerleader girlfriend on national television,
has hired security for his weekend wedding because of racial threats, a
newspaper reported Tuesday.
Ian Johnson, who is black, and his fiance, Chrissy Popadics, who is white, are due to be married Saturday in Boise.

Here's a Youtube highlight reel of that remarkable football game.

Astronauts Aim Really High

Lindsay Lohan doesn't need rehab, she needs to join the space program.

CAPE CANAVERAL -- At least twice, astronauts were allowed to fly after
flight surgeons and other astronauts warned they were so drunk they posed a
flight-safety risk, an aviation weekly reported Thursday, citing a special panel
studying astronaut health.


The independent panel also found "heavy use of alcohol" before launch that
was within the standard 12-hour "bottle-to-throttle" rule, according to Aviation
Week & Space Technology, which reported the finding on its Web site.

Bennelong's Blues

Here's a cool one I've had tacked on the wall forever:




You're here again, old friend.


You strut around like a ragtag redcoat


bellhop, glance up for a shooting star


& its woe, & wander & out the cove


you rendezvoused with Governor Phillip


after Wil-le-me-ring speared him beside a beached


whale. We've known each other for years.


You're unchanged. But me, old scapegoat,


I never knew I was so damned happy


when we first met. Each memory


returns like heartbreak's boomerang.


You didn't tell me you were a scout,


a bone painter, a spy,


someone to stand between new faces


& gods. I didn't know your other four


ceremonial names, hero in clownish clothes,


till another dead man whispered in my ear.


--Yusef Komunyakaa

Is It Getting Hot in Here?

Like a frog in pot on his way to a boil, the still seemingly implacable Alberto Gonzales may never notice the heat rising around him, but make no mistake about it, The. Heat. Is. Rising.

It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Gets....

We laugh and have schadenfreuderiffic fun at the expense of the David Vitters of the world, but there are lots of times these wingnut hypocrites actually hurt somebody (besides their own families) without paying for the pleasure (or the diapers) ahead of time. This is one of those times.




No less a hypocrite than any other sanctimonious Chirstianist Republican yahoo, 32-year-old Michael Flory is was head of the Michigan Federation of Young Republicans, and if that doesn't sound like a Nazi splinter group I don't know what does. Well, given the events of this week, Flory is probably looking at hard time. This smug bastard pled guilty to sexual battery to avoid a stiffer penalty on 12 counts of rape.

Flory gained some notoriety at age 18 when he gave a televised speech to the
Republican National Convention in the Houston Astrodome in 1992. The Michigan
Young Republicans' Web site once hailed him as "one of the rising stars of GOP
politics in America" and declared that "Mike has earned a great name for
himself."

Like all these other a-holes, you have to check the scorecard to figure out which Republican presidential candidate the amoral law-breaker is backing in 2008. In Flory's case, it's John McCain.




You'd think Flory might have been a least a little contrite, given his guilty plea in front of the judge, the victim, his family, the public and the eyes of the Lord, but you'd be wrong:

The teary-eyed college student he overpowered in a downtown hotel room
gasped and dabbed her eyes as Flory replied to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas
Judge Peter Corrigan’s question, “Are you indeed guilty?”




“Sure — yeah,” Flory said.

If Bush Were a Girl, He'd Be a Beeee-yotch

From the Booman Tribune:

BUSH: "I also want to recognize [ABC News reporter] Bob Woodruff here. He is a — he himself was wounded, severely wounded, and went through the system, to a certain extent. And we welcome you back, and we’re glad you’re with us. And we would hope that any wounded soldier, any person in uniform would receive the kind of care and theability to return to work, just like you have done. And so we’re glad you’re with us, Bob. Congratulations on the will to recover…

When Woodruff later stood and posed a question regarding whether the fereral government was doing enough to help families affected by the war, Bush brushed him off:

“Just because I recognized you, Bob, doesn’t mean I’m going to answer your
questions here.”

If That's His Baby, He Needs Help

Joe Biden gives one of my favorite answers of the Youtube debate:

Looking at the Bright Side Dept.

How's that sub-prime, no-money-down mortgage working out for you?




The Los Angeles Times reports today that home loan foreclosures have hit a record high of 17.4%. The trajectories alone on the chart attached to the story are enough to give anyone nightmares:

At least one southern California financial advisor did find a silver lining, however.

The good news, as seen byRich Toscano, a financial advisor with Pacific Capital
Associates in San Diego: "I don't envision a 'Grapes of Wrath' scenario
where we all have to pile in the family car and look for harvesting
work."

ITMFA

The headline and realted website were originally designed to deal with the embarrasment in the Oval Office, but it's becoming clearer every day that Alberto Gonzales has got to go.

Two Members of Congress who were part of the Gang of Eight said if Gonzales
approached Ashcroft about something that had been part of their discussions, it
could only have been the terrorist surveillance program, whose existence the
president confirmed in December.


“That doesn’t make any sense to me,” Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.)
said of Gonzales’ testimony. She said the TSP was “the only program we were ever
briefed about.”



Harman was ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee at the time,
and confirmed that she attended the March 10 meeting referenced by
Gonzales.


Similarly, Senate Intelligence Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said
there was only one program that the Gang of Eight was briefed on, and it was the
program the president already has confirmed. Plus, both Harman and Rockefeller
said the Congressional briefings were limited in scope.


“We were briefed on the operational details — period — not the
legal underpinnings,” Harman said.

Nickname Department

Best new nickname of the young Campaign 2008 season:

"Frederick of Hollywood"

Leave it to the cartoonists

Mike Luckovich illustrates "How to Tell When Alberto Gonzales is Lying"

Turn the Tide

Michael Moore has announced a new contest aimed at getting folks to take their Republican friends to see his new movie SiCKO. Personally, I fail to see how having Michael Moore come over to sift through one's dirty laundry would appeal to anyone -- let alone those who already hate him -- but it's a contest nonetheless.




Wonkette explains:

The idea, presumably, is that you are a libtard do-gooder who also,
somehow, has a Republican friend, and that this Republican friend is so down and
out that he or she will attend a documentary by GOP favorite Michael Moore about
socialized medicine with you, so that you can mail in the ticket stub (do
Republicans get different ticket stubs?) and then possibly punish your
Republican friend by sending Michael Moore to your so-called friend’s home,
where Michael Moore will fill up the washing machine with the Republican
household’s dirty clothing and then, presumably, just hang around through the
cycle, then load up the dryer, hang around for that — maybe making small talk
about socialized medicine, or interesting pets, or? — and then, maybe, fold the
clothing and put it all away and say good-bye.


This is why we don’t have a national health system in the United States:
Everyone is mentally ill.


PS — French social workers don’t just routinely show up and do your laundry
in France, by the way. But if you’re just home from the hospital with a new
baby, you have the option of having someone come by and help you out with
household chores, which is pretty awesome and, of course, totally civilized and
how things are in all rich countries, except for this one.

None So Blind as Those Who Will Not See

For wingnut Minnesota congresswoman Michelle Bachman, Iraq isn't really like an Indiana marketplace in the summertime. It's more like the Mall of America.

This month, Bachmann traveled to Iraq, and despite more GOP defections from
Bush's base of support, she returned as firm as ever in her conviction that the
war is justified. Al-Qaida, she said, "doesn't show any signs of letting up."
The congressional delegation met with Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in
Iraq, in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces.


What was the palace like?


"It's absolutely huge," she said. "I turned to my colleagues and said
there's a commonality with the Mall of America, in that it's on that proportion.
There's marble everywhere. The other thing I remarked about was there is water
everywhere. He had man-made lakes all around his personal palace -- one for
fishing, one for boating."


She said she was heartened after visiting soldiers hospitalized in Germany.
"The first thing a soldier says when they come out of anesthesia is, 'Let my
sergeant know I'm ready to go back. When can I go back?' They're determined not
to leave, determined to go back and finish the mission."

Shite and onions!

Bush Holds the Line

At this point I suppose you almost have to begrudge the man some credit just for holding the line.




Bush ties al Qaeda in Iraq to Sept. 11

CHARLESTON, S.C. — President Bush made provocative new assertions Tuesday
about Al Qaeda's role in Iraq, using recently declassified information to make
his case that the global battle with the terrorism network — and Americans'
safety at home — hinges on keeping U.S. troops there to fight.




Bush's comments were met with skepticism by some terrorism experts and
former U.S. intelligence officials, who said the president exaggerated or even
misrepresented the facts in Iraq. For a transcript of the president's remarks, click
here.




Speaking to about 300 troops at Charleston Air Force Base, Bush said that
Al Qaeda in Iraq was essentially the same organization that attacked the U.S. on
Sept. 11, 2001, and that it was by far the biggest threat facing Iraqis and
U.S.-led coalition troops there. Bush said that its leaders took orders from Al
Qaeda officials coordinating the organization's worldwide jihad, or holy war,
and that they would be killing civilians somewhere else if they were not in
Iraq.

Meanwhile, over there.... we're at 3637 soldiers down.


For the Iraqis, every day is a living nightmare.

Who's Hurt Most by Barry Bonds?

There's a lot of talk these days about Barry Bonds and his pursuit of Henry Aaron's all-time home run record. As I write this, Bonds sits at 753, two short of tying the Hammer's 755.

The controversy swirling around Bonds' chase blows fitfully to-and-fro like a hot dog wrapper lost and meandering in the right field corner of San Francisco's blustery Candlestick Park, former home of the Giants. Should Commissioner Bud Selig be present or not?; what does Hank Aaron think?; will the record be legit?; does Barry get into the Hall of Fame?

Well, I'm here to tell you who is most harmed by Barry Bonds' steroid-fueled assualt on baseball's most hallowed record. And no, it's not Henry Aaron. It's not Babe Ruth. It's not Bud Selig, or the fans or the "intergrity of the game."

I'm here to tell you about, to remind you of... Ken Griffey Jr.

Junior Griffey?, you ask. What's he got to do with it? Well, take a look. Ken Griffey Junior is on a bit of quest of his own. In 19 major league seasons, 4 of them shortened by injury to fewer than 83 games, Griffey has, with one of the sweetest swings in the game, put 587 baseballs into the seats. In due time, Griffey will surely surpass 600 homers, a feat accomplished by only 5 other men: Aaron, Bonds, Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa*. (*who deserves an asterisk of his own for his steroid-suspicious mashes). He's a sure-fire 1st ballot Hall of Famer and he's done it all without a hint of the juice.

Should Griffey play another couple years, he'll find himself creeping up on Mays at 660. Through 86 games this year, Griffey boasts a .291 career average, with 1666 RBIs, 461 doubles and a .558 slugging percentage. He has won ten Gold Gloves in centerfield. All without the taint of the cream or the clear.

If not for the plague of injuries that befell him, Griffey would likely have at least two additional full seasons under his belt. He'd already be pushing Willie Mays at 660, and he'd likely be on the road to 700 and Ruth and Aaron beyond. All without a trace of andro or HGH.

If not for Barry Bonds and his miserable, arrogant, surly ascent up the home run ladder, we'd all be talking about Junior and his sweet swing right about now, because he's accomplished his feats the old fashioned way... he earned them.

GOP Obstructionists

Next time you hear some talking head chastizing the Democrats because they can't pass any legislation even though they control both houses of Congress, just refer to this handy chart and repeat after me: "It's the Republicans' fault. It's the Republicans' fault. It's the Republicans' fault."

As McClatchey reports:

Seven months into the current two-year term, the Senate has held 42
"cloture" votes aimed at shutting off extended debate — filibusters, or
sometimes only the threat of one — and moving to up-or-down votes on contested
legislation. Under Senate rules that protect a minority's right to debate, these
votes require a 60-vote supermajority in the 100-member Senate.




Nearly 1 in 6 roll-call votes in the Senate this year have been cloture
votes. If this pace of blocking legislation continues, this 110th
Congress will be on track to roughly triple the previous record number of
cloture votes — 58 each in the two Congresses from 1999-2002, according
to the Senate Historical Office.

FOX News Primer

Here's how they do it. No credit given to the intelligence of their viewers. If this were some kind of an exam, they'd be oh-for-4. Flat zero percent.




Sheldon Whitehouse is a Democrat.


Mark Foley was a Republican.


Scooter Libby was found guilty.


Arlen Specter is a Republican.




No wonder FOX News viewers are the least well-informed people on the planet. Would somebody please tell those ignoramuses that the Red Sox finally won the World Series?

Why the US Attorney Firings Matter, and Why Gonzales Must Go

Perhaps no misdeed by the Bush administration is more misunderstood or under-reported than the US Attorney firings and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' role in those firings. This scandal, most keen observers will tell you, is actually the one that could ultimately bring down the Bush administration. Not the Iraq War, not the mishandling of Katrina, no the hijacking of the EPA, or the FDA, or NASA. No, it will be the criminal wrongdoing (and subesquent, ongoing) coverup of the politically motivated firings of nine US ATtorneys that could ultimately reveal the Bushies for the lawless thugs that they are.




Hunter has a post at DKos that lays this whole sordid tale out in the plainest English I've seen yet. It's certainly a story that's far to byzantine and labrynthian to ever be explained in detail on the nightly news, and given that nobody ever goes beyond paragraph 4 in any newspaper article, there's no way this travesty of justice could be imparted to the masses through the newspaper. So, this is real, and it's serious. I give you Hunter:

Alberto Gonzales has lost a wide swath of his underlings to scandal
already; he himself remains only because he has maintained himself within a
fortress of supposed stupefying ignorance as to their actions. His department
has unequivocally been politicized, certainly in violation of Department of
Justice policies and quite probably in violation of federal law: the prime
remaining questions revolve around how it happened and how far into the White
House the decisions went, not whether it happened. Under his direction, his
department is refusing to cooperate with congressional investigative and
oversight efforts into any of the failures and scandals within his department:
that in and of itself represents a breach of the public trust that cannot stand.
His department has even been blocked from enforcing the will of Congress, by
preemptively announcing that the department will not prosecute contempt charges
leveled against administration officials refusing to testify about the scandal
within his department.




Amidst all of it, the Attorney General sits before a body of the
legislative branch and is self-professedly unable to offer any insights or
explanations. He cannot explain the workings of his own department, the actions
of his own deputies, or the meaning of papers with his own signature on them. He
is in the very best case scenario, an incompetent; in the worst, he is a
perjurer, an unapologetic political apparatchik, and a corrupter of the laws he
has been tasked with upholding.

Here are just two tastes of today's duplicitous, arrogant, smirking testimony by Gonzales:

SCHUMER: I'll let you speak in a minute, but this is serious, because
you're getting right close to the edge right here. You just said there was just
one program -- just one. So the letter, which was, sort of, intended to deceive,
but doesn't directly do so, because there are other intelligence activities,
gets you off the hook, but you just put yourself right back on here.




GONZALES: I clarified my statement two days later with the
reporter.




SCHUMER: What did you say to the reporter?




GONZALES: I did not speak directly to the reporter.




SCHUMER: Oh, wait a second -- you did
not.


(LAUGHTER)


SCHUMER: What did your spokesperson say to the
reporter?




GONZALES: I don't know. But I told the spokesperson to go back and clarify
my statement...




SCHUMER: Well, wait a minute, sir. Sir, with all due respect -- and if I
could have some order here, Mr. Chairman -- in all due respect, you're just
saying, "Well, it was clarified with the reporter," and you don't even know what
he said. You don't even know what the clarification is. Sir, how can you say
that you should stay on as attorney general when we go through exercise like
this, where you're bobbing and weaving and ducking to avoid admitting that you
deceived the committee? And now you don't even know. I'll give you another
chance: You're hanging your hat on the fact that you clarified the statement two
days later. You're now telling us that is was a spokesperson who did it. What
did that spokesperson say? Tell me now, how do you clarify this?




GONZALES: I don't know, but I'll find out and get back to you.

And then there's this exchange with Arlen Specter (as liveblogged at FDL):

S: How can you get approval from sedated Ashcroft?
G: Can I
continue?


S: No, answer my question.


G: Obviously there was concern about Ashcroft's condition. There are no rules governing when Ashcroft decides he is
well enough.


S: He had given us AG duties.


G: We knew he was ill...


S:Not making progress. Moving on. Do you think constitution govt can survive if
Pres has unilateral authority to reject congress inquiries for Exec Privilege
and prevent prosecution of claim?


G: Ongoing matter, I am recused, I cannot
answer.


S: I am asking about constitutional law.


G: You are talking about an on-going issue.


S: No. Answer.


G: I won't answer - it is ongoing
controversy and I am recused.


LEAHY: Calls for decorum (room is
protesting).


S: Won't pursue. This is hopeless. You are not just AG, you are
a lawyer. This is a fundamental issues separate from USA resignations. Other
subject. Do you have a conflict regarding the firing of US AGs?


G: Yes.


S: Do you have a conflict of interest about Miers?


G: Yes. I won't
answer.


S: Let's find one you will answer. How about death penalty case?
Charlton contacted your office and said case was not appropriate for dp.
Testimony that AG spent 5-10 minutes on the issue...is this accurate?


G: I have no specific recollection of this case. But we have a detailed process for
capital case review.


S: I am not interested in that. I want an answer to my
question. You don't remember a case regarding a man's execution?


G: I have no
recollection of the conversation.


S: Do you disagree with the
testimony?


G: I can't agree or disagree.

It's time to impeach Alberto Gonzales. Now.




UPDATE: Here's a Youtube clip of Gonzales and Specter.


Shorter Alberto Gonzales:

"There are no rules."

Sidenote

It’s been brought to my attention that perhaps some of the content herein is a bit dark and depressing. Well, we live in dark and depressing times, so you will note a serious slant to this blog. My humor is going to run more toward gleeful schadenfreude and/or bitter irony, wherever it may be found. Not that I am opposed to frivolity and lightheartedness, of course, but I do hope to convey the seriousness of the dark forces we are up against.




Additionally, it was requested that I post my email address, so I have updated my profile and you can find it there if you wish to send a comment directly.

Newt Gingirch: His Delusions Run Deep

What the hell? What planet is Newt living on these daze? From the SF Examiner via DKos:

"If, in mid-October, it's quite clear that one or more of the current
candidates is strong enough to be a serious alternative to a Clinton-Obama
ticket, you don't need me to run," the former House Speaker said at a breakfast
sponsored by the American Spectator. "If it becomes patently obvious, as the
morning paper points out, that the Democrats have raised a hundred million more
than the Republicans, and at some point people decide we are going to get
Hillary unless there's a radical change, then there's space for a candidate," he
added. "So you'll know by mid-October one of those two futures is
real."




Asked by The Examiner if he was prepared to commit to a run, Gingrich said,
"I'm perfectly happy to do what I do," he said. "Whether that leads to the
presidency is the country's problem, not mine. ...




Pressed by The Examiner about whether his political baggage renders him
unelectable, Gingrich compared himself to a famous French statesman. "This is
like going to De Gaulle when he was at Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises during the
Fourth Republic and saying, 'Don't you want to rush in and join the pygmies?'"
he said.

Somebody he'p me, what the heck is Newt talking about?

Now We Know Where David Brooks Gets His Stats (hint: it's a dark place close to his backside)

Bob Woodward and David Brooks discussed the Iraq War with Tim Russert on last Sunday's Meet the Press. Check out this exchange:

RUSSERT: "Is there any way to achieve, in Washington, a bipartisan
consensus on what to do about Iraq?"




BROOKS: It's based upon this unknown: I don't think there's any possibility
that within five years that we're going to see a drastic diminution of violence.
So we could be losing 125 Americans every month for five years. On the other
hand --




WOODWARD: I mean that's politically impossible --




BROOKS: But, so you think "OK, get out." On the other hand, if we
leave....we could see 250,000 Iraqis die -- you had the John Burns quotation
earlier in the program. So are we willing to prevent 10,000 Iraqi deaths a month
at the cost of 125 Americans? That's a tough moral issue, but it's also a tough
national interest issue, because we don't know what the consequences of getting
out are. And the frustration of watching the debate in Washington, very few
people are willing to grapple with those two facts: that there's gonna -- the
surge will not work in the short term, but getting out will be cataclysmic. And
you see politicians on both sides evading one of those two facts, but you've got
to grapple with them both....




WOODWARD: And the problem, though, is we don't know. People can say, "Oh,
it's going to be a disaster." I mean, you've -- you cite numbers which are
pulled out of the air -- "10,000 dying" -- I mean that's -- where does that come
from?




BROOKS: Well, A, it comes from John Burns. Second, it comes from the
national intelligence...




WOODWARD: Well, no, he doesn’t say 10,000.




BROOKS: Well, no, no, but it talks about genocide.




WOODWARD: Yeah.




BROOKS: So I just picked that 10,000 out of the air.

These are the people trying to influence policy and public opinion.