deadissue.com

Gingrich after Columbine: “I want to say to the elite of this country – the elite news media, the liberal academic elite, the liberal political elite: I accuse you in Littleton…of being afraid to talk about the mess you have made, and being afraid to take responsibility for things you have done, and instead foisting upon the rest of us pathetic banalities because you don’t have the courage to look at the world you have created.” (Source)

My ears are ringing, because I’ve heard this all before from a couple of “SEND ME YOUR MONEY” evangelicals, known to follow the Gingrich-method in this regard, always eager to strike while the iron’s hot:

Pat Robertson after 9/11: “I therefore believe that that created an environment which possibly has caused God to lift the veil of protection which has allowed no one to attack America on our soil since 1812.”

Jerry Falwell after 9/11: “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians…the ACLU…all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen.” (Source)

On ABC’s This Week, host George Stephanopoulos asked Gingrich if he would apply those same words to the Virginia Tech tragedy. Gingrich said “yes”. (Source)

Larry Johnson from No Quarter tells George Tenet (hoping to cash in on a book) to give his Medal of Freedom back. Being an ex-CIA agent, Larry’s take on this is great.

The Osterley Times is on top of the scandal that may mean the end of Tony Blair: “Cash-for-honours: Blair aides await fates as inquiry ends”

Docstrangelove with a great rundown of especially “subhuman” right-wing words following the Virginia Tech massacre

Welcome to Pottersville with my weekly Saturday night fix – Frank Rich: Iraq Is the Ultimate Aphrodisiac

Blue Hampshire covers John Sununu’s bullshit vote on stem cell research…the one that prevents an override of Bush’s veto…keep in mind that this was the guy who was elected thanks to the RNC engaging in phone-jamming

Barack Obama’s response to the SCOTUS decision on late-term abortions

#1 show I’ve downloaded this year so far: Grateful Dead 1981-03-28 Rockpalast Festival Grugahalle Essen Germany (NTSC) — Get it at The Traders Den

US Army Reserves Colonel (Retired) Ann Wright:
Rohrabacher said if European countries did not cooperate with the United States and go along with whatever the Bush administration wanted, they were condemning their countrymen to death by not using extralegal methods to imprison terrorist suspects…Then, much to the shock and disbelief of everyone in the hearing room, Rohrabacher said to those who had expressed displeasure at his statements: “I hope it’s your family members that die when terrorists strike.” (at a House Committee Hearing!)

I’ve got a feeling of dread right now…knowing how they like to jump right on the big story. In the “going too far” category, I don’t know of any show or entertainer that does it as often as they do, with the consistent comedy requirement needed to get away with it. Howard Stern certainly tops South Park in this regard over the long haul, but over the past 2 seasons, Trey Parker has been on another planet.

Kind of like Trey Anastasio on some nights, you can almost picture the spirit swell within the virtuoso, understanding the entire time that the blessing of your appreciation constitutes one of those pings of the tuning fork, and as it reverberates, the sensation is what reassures your soul, soothes your mind and makes up for what the body will always lack – more as it withers old age – in a moment you’re mesmerized or laughing in whoops like an idiot…the sustenance of temporary tombstone inscriptions telling the cosmos you understo od something and that you were here, awestruck satisfaction provided by the great ones who just knew what the hell they were doing.

This makes the fact that there’s no more Phish tour, no more Phil Lesh & Friends with the Warren Haynes, Jimmy Herring, John Molo and Rob Baracco lineup…shit, no more nothing that takes place outside of this house entertainment-wise, but there is South Park and it continues to kick me in the ear often enough that I’d actually worry about something like all the kids sitting in the classroom with sidearms…Timmy with a grenade…self defense, since the shootings taught everyone who lived in the town that in order to survive, they’d need a lot more bullets in a lot more guns, safeties off, in the hands of everyone old enough to squeeze the trigger. If they did go there…

What the hell am I worried about? They could pull off anything at this point. Right?

Update:  Wow – I was way off.  The homeless…very very very wrong.

Senator Arlen Specter made statements on Sunday, ahead of tomorrow’s hearing to determine whether or not Attorney General Alberto Gonzales can remember his lines, suggesting that the fired US Attorneys who were let go without proper cause be reinstated. We’ve seen this movie before, with the former judiciary committee chairman ramping up into something involving the Bush administration like a man who has the republic’s best interests at heart, only to then back off and allow whatever sham initiative his party favors take over. It happened with warrantless wiretapping, the decision to not make Gonzo take the oath prior to testimony (this incident sparking an argument with Senator Feingold in front of everyone), signing statements, torture, habeas corpus…the Senator will talk tough in the days leading up to the showdown, and then fold like a lawn chair once its time to back up his words with action.

He retains a certain amount of respect from everyone for supposedly standing up for what’s right, but a close look at his record clearly indicates that he is indeed, a hack. Not a shameless hack like the people he provides political cover to so often, simply because his ability to know right from wrong is obvious based on his tough talk leading up to historical moments in Congress, but that only makes him worse in my opinion. At least when a hack like Gonzales is speaking, everyone (including himself) knows that what’s being said is complete bullshit. When Specter comes out a day or two before Gonzo is about to testify with a statement like, “(paraphrasing) questions hanging over the dismissals are sufficiently large that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should consider reinstating the eight”, you know he’s merely paying lip service to that voice inside of him, the one that urges him to stand up and defend his principles for the sake of what’s right, and perhaps even do something that would qualify his mention in a postscript in a future reprinting of JFK’s ‘Profiles in Courage’.

That ship has sailed. His moment came and went, and he was a hack throughout. As welcome a development his becoming an honorable man at this point would certainly be, until he actually follows up his words with action, he’s still a hack in my book. Right there in the same category as Orin Hatch and Jeff Sessions, Senator Arlen Specter will most likely go on being the con artist he is and hope that historians aren’t as wise as his contemporaries are. (Source: McClatchy, Privacy and Security Law Blog,

Protests in the United States have been easier to ignore in the age of oblivion, with more than enough channels and free pornography out there to keep the majority busy, background checks prior to getting hired for a dream job, and of course the prerequisite for rioting in this country has been resigned to when sports teams win championships, a seriously troublesome swing of the ‘when to riot’ pendulum from outrage to drunken celebration. Thousands of Americans were detained for a couple days in cages somewhere within NYC during the GOP convention in 2004, apparently for being alive outside of a designated zone, but outside of the apple it hasn’t been all that rowdy from what I can tell.

To ‘go Moscow’ on someone, is a phrase I created to describe a powerful entity going hard on someone who is little, not only to punish them for their transgressions of thought against ‘the leader’ or ‘management’, but to set an example that will convince other like-minded little ones to shut up and do what they’re told. China had Tiananmen Square, the United States had 6 years of Nixon, and Russia is open for business 7 days a week, 52 weeks each year, with enough clubs, poison and pressure hoses to last from now until there’s no water left. Vladimir Putin and his top-notch thug apparatus is good at killing the disloyal, and perhaps even better at pummeling the shit out of protesters.

One of these protesters I’ve been reading about more and more over the past couple years is a man named Gary Kasparov. Meaningful to me, in that he was the world chess champion during the years I was playing in tournaments as a kid, now even more that he’s the most recognizable face amongst the hundreds and sometimes thousands of protesters calling out Putin’s government on a regular basis. His words are crafted in a way that gets me excited, and his profile is that of a national hero to Russians because of how well he represented the country playing chess.

Kasparov, upon his release from prison, seemingly unfazed by his detention, stood atop the courthouse steps said, “It is no longer a country…where the government tries to pretend it is playing by the letter and spirit of the law. We now stand somewhere between Belarus and Zimbabwe…”

Important to note that he is not protesting the government via satellite from somewhere nice, he wasn’t wearing a pink t-shirt, or doing it exclusively through editorials and a blog, but instead is right there in the thick of it, getting his skull thumped and thrown in jail with the rest of them. It makes a former and current chess geek like yours truly happy to know that leadership and bravery are still vital ingredients in the formula of greatness, and in the face of Moscow, someone like Kasparov defines what this means in the sort of way our treasured “founding fathers” might have.

When will one of our national heroes build up the courage to not only stand atop a platform and say something at a permitted rally, but put feet on the ground and become a real unassailable thorn in the sides of our own Putins? Spit in the face of whichever right-winger carries out a Cindy Sheehan (little becoming big) attack on them, and most importantly, be willing to go down with the ship along with the little people as well. An agent and publicist’s nightmare…a nation’s dream. (Sources: AP, NYTimes)

“By the end of 2006, there were almost two million Iraqis living as refugees outside their country—most of them in Syria and Jordan…American policy held that these Iraqis were not refugees, that they would go back to their country as soon as it was stabilized. The U.S. Embassies in Damascus and Amman continued to turn down almost all visa applications from Iraqis. So the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world remained hidden.” – ‘Betrayed‘ by George Packer, The New Yorker

Take this essay to the right-winger who laments over how much of a humanitarian crisis would ensue if we were to leave Iraq. Chances are they won’t be all that moved by it, and think this way because of what I heard about our own refugees from New Orleans after Katrina struck. To expect a white right-winger in this country to shine a spotlight on murder and injustice in far away lands, you’d really have to assume that the politicians they voted for were responsible for creating the problem in the first place. Otherwise, it’s likely to be a cold day in hell before any story like the one I linked to above gets a second of airtime in right-wing world. The entire premise of the piece is offensive to these folks, as our gift of freedom provided by the liberator, should not be used to bad mouth the liberator. “You’ve got problems? I had to pay an extra 15 cents for gas this week, Hispanics are buying up another house two blocks from where I live, and now I can’t even hear Imus on my way to work in the morning…so you see, we’ve all got problems, and if you can’t go back to Iraq, then simply pull yourself up by your sandal-straps and find 2nd and 3rd jobs like the illegals here do.”

This is a small excerpt from an article in Harpers from 1895 that has to do with a period of history I’ve been trying to study up on lately, the insurgent Arabs in Algeria who were living under French imperial rule:

“Can you trust these Turcos and Spahis in case of war?” I asked him. To this he replied by telling a story. That he had once been in the position here he was able to save a great Arab chief from disgrace and beggary. That chief had been friendly with him for many years, and was so overwhelmed by gratitude that he brought the general costly present. “I never accept presents from natives,” said the general, in parenthesis. “Whoever accepts a present from an Arab loses his authority at once.” The chief was very much chagrined at the general’s determination, and sought in vain to alter it. Finally, in a fit of uncontrollable emotion, and with a choking voice, he raised his hand solemnly and said:

“General, you have saved me from dishonor. I owe you all I have. Let me make you a gift more valuable to you than any precious stone. It is one word of advice: Never trust an Arab – not one-not even ME!” With which strange, not to say paradoxical, warning the chief disappeared. That happened several years ago,”said the general, “but each day I realize more fully the value of that strange gift. The Arab has his nature, which is not YOUR’s or mine. He may live twenty years with you; respect and admire you; serve you faithfully; even spill his blood for you–but all that counts for nothing. The next year he may cut your throat.” I asked him if he was not satisfied with the progress made towards converting the Arabs to French ways. “I have never heard of a real Arab converted to Christianity or French civilization. In fact, the Arab remains Arab in spite of all the missionaries in Africa. It makes me smile when I hear of societies organized to convert Jews and Arabs.” “But then,” I said, “what is to become of this great Franco-African colony if the Arabs are to remain hopelessly hostile?”

“The locomotive and the telegraph are our best allies here. Look at that map; you see our rail way policy—our military policy. We must cut the desert at right angles with the coast; cut off one tribe of Arabs from the other; make their combinations difficult; make ours easy. “The Arab does not love us – but he is no fool. When he sees a train of cars running daily through his territory he knows that French troops can be massed at any point on that line much more quickly than his own. Where we have railways we have no insurrection.” I remarked that rail ways in the desert could hardly be a profitable investment.

“Investment!” said he, with emphasis. “Who cares for the cost when it is a question of national prestige!’ And this is the last word on the subject of colonial expansion. France has an annual deficit on account of her colony here of many millions of francs; she has costly railways climbing through barren mountain passes and terminating in fields of sand; there is no immediate prospect of improvement…

Readers of deadissue know how I loved this guy. My heart goes out to his family, friends, fans and every character to escape from his mind onto the pages upon pages upon pages of timeless thoughts and words all destined to outlive everyone.

I myself feel that our country, for whose Constitution I fought in a just war, might as well have been invaded by Martians and body snatchers. Sometimes I wish it had been. What has happened, though, is that it has been taken over by means of the sleaziest, low-comedy, Keystone Cops-style coup d’etat imaginable. And those now in charge of the federal government are upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography, plus not-so-closeted white supremacists, aka “Christians,” and plus, most frighteningly, psychopathic personalities, or “PPs.” – Vonnegut in a 2003 interview

From the AP story ‘White House considers war overseer‘:

“The White House is looking into creating a higher profile position that would have the single, full time focus on implementing and executing the recently completed strategic reviews for both Iraq and Afghanistan,” Johndroe said.

Translation…“The White House is looking into somehow circumventing the information dissemination process in place today, to hopefully reduce the negative impact that non-Rumsfeld-tainted Pentagon reviews are increasingly having, and to ultimately minimize the amount of added stress being felt by our increasingly weary corps of propaganda catapult operators.”

From ‘Another Enemy of the People‘ by Professor Walter F. Murphy, emeritus of Princeton University:

“…When I tried to use the curb-side check in at the Sunport, I was denied a boarding pass because I was on the Terrorist Watch list. I was instructed to go inside and talk to a clerk. At this point, I should note that I am not only the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence (emeritus) but also a retired Marine colonel. I fought in the Korean War as a young lieutena nt, was wounded, and decorated for heroism. I remained a professional soldier for more than five years and then accepted a commission as a reserve office, serving for an additional 19 years. I presented my credentials from the Marine Corps to a very polite clerk for American Airlines. One of the two people to whom I talked asked a question and offered a frightening comment: “Have you been in any peace marches? We ban a lot of people from flying because of that.” I explained that I had not so marched but had, in September, 2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and put on the Web, highly critical of George Bush for his many violations of the Constitution. “That’ll do it,” the man said…”

I’ve been writing tonight over at a site I’d known about for a while, but for some reason hadn’t registered at (SternFanNetwork). Since I debate politics online 95% of the time or more, the connection hadn’t been made until now. Turns out there’s a politics message board over there, and thus far I’ve been motivated to really let it fly, just go on a topic until the trail ends, forget about whether or not I should censor the curse words that my brain thinks I should type, click ‘post’…blah. Came to realize that if a right-winger is a Stern fan, then I assume there’s hope. A hell of a lot more hope than I feel writing on all the GOP sites I’ve gone into battle on and been booted from over the years! And then I remember that Right Thinker was a Stern fan, with opinions that sounded like nails on a chalkboard some days, though at the end of whatever thread we were babbling on, I still considered him a friend and was glad he took the time to read and write on here. Anyways, the one I was responding to tonight was a right-winger named VacateTheWord, in a thread titled ‘Iraqis flock to city for anti-US protest‘: Continue reading →

I’m sure there are betting lines out there for all this, but I’ve only got about 30 minutes until the first episode of this final season kicks off. One name I feel has a grave-bound destiny by the hands of that Chucky-looking, short maniac in the NY crew, and it’s Benny. Prior to landing this role, the actor was Doogie Houser’s neighbor and a member of Sgt. Bilko’s platoon, but his first significant contribution to the Sopranos storyline was in becoming the unlucky “somebody down there”, a makeshift amplifier and speakers carrying the tune of virtuoso Phil Leotardo’s lead pipe arrangement, a piece he chose not to title, but simply dedicate to Tony Blundetto.

Payback for Benny came when he was given the assignment of rigging up one of Leotardo’s joints with explosives, then setting them off remotely (IED anyone?) as Phil and the bimbo he was with were walking across the street towards it. The tit-for-tat scenario isn’t really important besides the fact that another one of Phil’s guys had been down to Jersey and never made it back on account of his smart mouth. Consensus being that Tony’s crew is still one up on NY. That’s supposed to be all straightened out now, but Phil’s a rage-driven, vindictive killer who’s liable to switch moods quicker than Frank Rizzo on a Wild Turkey bender. Taking out Chris Moltisanti is what he wants to do, but that’s over-the-top even for him I’d imagine. I mention Chris only because it was the first name that came to mind when I started thinking on this earlier today. Continue reading →

I’m shooting for an entirely fact-based formated blog post, and here’s one on a casualty of the politicization of the Justice Department. The woman’s name is Georgia Thompson, and her life was ruined for the sake of a Republican’s campaign for Governor in Wisconsin in 2006.

1. Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle (D) was up for reelection in 2006
2. Mark Green (R) is recruited to run against him, secures nomination (3/27/06)
3. National Press cites ongoing investigations into Doyle’s fund raising practices (WaPo)
4. US Attorney Steven Biskupic brings charges against Georgia Thompson (a top Doyle administration official)
5. Thompson is convicted, sentenced to 18 months (9/22/06)
6. US Atty Biskupic insists she begin her sentence immediately
7. Rick Wiley, executive director state GOP: “efforts to portray Thompson as the lone gunman, the Lee Harvey Oswald of Travelgate, are ridiculous at best.“
8. 4 months into her sentence, the conviction is overturned by a three judge panel in Chicago

Judge Diane Wood: “I have to say, in comparison to some of the cases this court has seen, that’s a pretty thin set of facts to show some sort of tight political relationship. Am I missing something?”
Judge William Bauer: “Did you go after the governor or the Adelman people criminally? So the people you think were responsible for all this were Adelman and the governor, but she (Thompson) carries the sack?”
Governor Jim Doyle: “she was prosecuted for doing her job…an innocent woman who was used as a political football. Republican officials spent millions of dollars running ads that turned Thompson into a symbol of corruption.”
Attorney Stephen Hurley: “(Thompson) had lost her job, her life savings, her home and her liberty…At sentencing, the government urged a longer period of incarceration because Georgia did not accept responsibility.”

Local Blog Coverage:

Biskupic Wimps Out – Plaisted Writes / Pleasing the boss? – Garvey Blog / 10/20/05 GOP “Travelgate” enthusiast – Badger Blogger / Real Debate Wisconsin – Good Read / How Was Biskupic Rated? – Brew City Brawler
1/31/06 Talk Radio Host Jeff Wagner, WTMJ 620AM: “Frankly, having a political hack like Joe Wineke (Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin) accuse a dedicated public servant like Steve Biscupic of engaging in “partisan politics” is like Courtney Love calling Laura Bush “classless”.

Chuck Missler debunks that evolution is real: “If the theory of evolution is viable, then when I open this jar of peanut butter, not often, but on occasion new life will come out of there”. – This is otherwise known as the “Chewbacca Defense”

“Porn, Narratives, Causes and Women” by Apostate – Very smart, flowing prose on feminist topics I’m rarely exposed to. Much thought has taken place on many of the ideas expressed in this essay in the past day or two. If I’m to have a daughter some day, I suspect that she will benefit from those thoughts, and so might yours as well. The writer describes herself as, “I’m a Pakistani woman, raised as a Muslim in Saudi Arabia, and an atheist since the age of 17. I am now 24 — and fast approaching middle age”.

“What bin Laden and Bush Took Away” by Robert Stein – Six sentences that sum it up perfectly in my opinion

“The Permanent Conservative Movement” by Larry Hamelin, aka “The Barefoot Bum”

Senator Feingold on the Iraq War (VIDEO) – Courtesy of The Osterley Times (UK)

From tonypierce.com “the eharmony thing didnt work out so i went back to dating the old fashioned way, by hitting on waitresses at Dennys in the valley…” – It gets very ‘Ordinary Tales of Madness’ from this point on, so be prepared. That said, this cat can write!

“The ‘Pull Out of DC’ Email” – Jim gets agitated over people trivializing the war

75/1 – Odds on the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series this year (Vegas)
12/1 – Odds on the Boston Red Sox
4/1 – Odds on the Evil Empire
7 – Months of state-side recovery time given to HQ 4th Infantry Division from Fort Hood, Texas before the deployment to Iraq that begins now (1)
10.5 – Months of state-side recover time given to 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, NY before also deploying to Iraq
13 – Percentage rise in civilian deaths throughout all of Iraq according to their government’s own data (1a)
1,645 – Number of Iraqi civilian deaths in February
1,861 – Number of Iraqi civilian deaths in March
2002 – Year in which MZM founder Mitchell Wade, currently under indictment for corruption involving Duke Cunningham (R-CA), was awarded its first federal contract (2)
50 – Number of competing contracts MZM bid against
140,000 – Dollar amount of the contract for providing computers, office furniture, and specialized computer programming services to the office of the Vice President
3 – Number of years Mitchell Wade worked underneath (then Secretary of Defense) Cheney
12/4/2006 – On this date the New York Post publishes a column written by marine Corporal Matt Sanchez concerning harassment of the military on the campus of Columbia University (3)
2 – Number of times Sanchez subsequently appeared on Fox News (Hannity and Colmes – VIDEO) (The O’Reiley Factor – VIDEO)
3/2/2007 – On this date the American Conservative Union honored Matt Sanchez with the Jeane Kirkpatrick Academic Freedom Award at the 34th annual CPAC (4)
200 – Dollar amount required for a man to pay Sanchez for sex (5)
3 – Number of gay porno films Sanchez is known to have starred in
12,000 – Amount of money the Marines have accused Sanchez of stealing from various donors to fund a fictional deployment to Iraq (6)
3 – Number of weeks it took to cure the former President of the National Association of Evangelicals (Reverend Ted Haggart) of his homosexuality (7)
202 – Number of appearances at the White House made by right wing non-journalist, gay prostitute Jeff Gannon (Guckert) during the Bush Jr. Presidency (8)
? – Number of sexual encounters between Karl Rove and Jeff Gannon in the Lincoln bedroom during that time
47 – Number of Republican Senators who voted in favor of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in June 2006 (9)

John Ashcroft leaves government to become a lobbyist, and with the inherent credibility boost that comes with having once been the Attorney General, he aimed to score clients that were looking to cash in on the Homeland Security bonanza using through the corruption of his contacts within the government. On its face this was a move that most former AGs wouldn’t have made, for the sake of their reputation and the work they did while holding the post, but I’d bet that the sanctity of the Justice system they presided over would have played just as much of a role. Think of how our country would suffer if the Justice Department began to look like Congress and the Military in terms of the conflict of interest prevalent in many post-government occupations, where ability is meaningless compared to access and connections, the ability to grease certain wheels, the knowhow and more importantly the know-Who that comes with being a truly effective and well compensated agent of corruption.

The game Ashcroft chose to play after leaving government has been a part of government since time in memoriam. In developing countries like China, corruption is as much a part of the social order as the law itself, if not moreso. We in America are exposed to corruption in passing for the most part, as headlines on our newspaper once in a while. Most of us do not carry around cash in our pocket every day specifically for bribes that must be paid along the way just to earn a living and put food on the table. It is unlikely that any one of us could be arrested for a crime we did in fact commit, only to be let go after paying off the cops.

Some will say that lobbying the government is a legit expression of a business’s 1st Amendment rights, and that it cannot be compared to the type of corruption I’ve detailed above. For the most part they would be correct, but in the United States today it is more or less the same thing, because of who specifically is doing the lobbying for a business and what that person’s history does to stack the deck against the public and in favor of their client. And so it comes to a question of whether or not the individual changing hats is an honest person with a high amount of integrity. John Ashcroft may be an honest man when being asked questions that don’t require self-reflection, but it is a certainty that the man has zero integrity. While there are many stories out there to back up this assertion, I will stick with one that is playing out currently in Washington DC.

Satelite radio has experienced difficulty since the launch of XM and Sirius, as the market is clearly not ready for competing products at this time. The stock prices of both companies, along with their price to earnings ratios aren’t pretty to look at, and in spite of strong growth in subscribers month to month, the future does not look good if these companies were to remain as competitors in a media market that is as consolidated, unregulated and prepared to kill new competition than its has ever been. And so, the idea for a merger takes shape, and an announcement is made. In walks John Ashcroft.

He approached XM executives with an offer of his consulting and lobbying services, no doubt touting his ability to corrupt the appropriate players in government in getting the merger approved. XM turned him down on his offer. Fast forward to today and it turns out that Ashcroft whored himself out to the organization on the exact opposite side of the merger debate, the National Association of Broadcasters. He has conducted an analysis of why the merger would be bad for customers and has written a letter to current Attorney General Alberto Gonzales urging him to block the merger in some way. His letters have also been distributed throughout Congress. And so we have the most recent “former” Attorney General simply selling his influence to the highest bidder, while the current one is stammering like an idiot every day about his poor father, protecting the children, amnesia, being a minority, how he can’t remember, etc. As a pair they’re far less sneaky than people give them credit for, as to get anywhere in today’s GOP, unprincipled behavior is a prerequisite.

The lesson for XM Satelite radio is obvious. In the United States of America, when a filthy whore like John Ashcroft stops by to visit and promises to corrupt the government just right for the sake of your pending deal…you’d better hire him! And with that said…Welcome to Moscow! (Source – WSJournalOnline, Radio Ink)

How’s THIS for a Sunday morning! I might even skip my coffee today…as a sacrifice to the Gods. From The Largest Minority:

WASHINGTON – The first article of impeachment against President George W. Bush was passed by the House Judiciary Committee in an emergency special session late Saturday. The article appears to have been prompted by new evidence that the FBI had abused its power under the direction of the president, who had blocked further investigations into the matter. Each of the thirty nine members of the committee seemingly voted along party lines on the measure, which passed by a vote of 22-17.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) has issued a statement on the allegations being brought forth; though a full disclosure on the charges of “high crimes and misdemeanors” against the president will be made available to the public during a Monday press conference scheduled at 11AM EST.  Continue reading →

Semester #7 out of 10 is in the books as of 3AM last night, and I’m feeling free-range at the moment because of it. The list of topics I wanted to post on, but simply ended up filing away over the past week or so, is rather large and at this very moment is burning a hole through my head, so I’m gonna drop it like it’s hot right now like Richard Jeni would if he were still alive (RIP):

Republicans and U.S. attorneys (quotes from 1993 and today) – by Glen Greenwald

Rich Keep getting Richer – A new high for the top 1% and a new low for everybody else. The Republican tax cuts are redistributing more wealth upwards than ever before.

George Bush’s Land Mine: If the Iraqi People Get Revenue Sharing, They Lose Their Oil to Exxon – by Richard Behan – A provision in the emergency funding bill for the war has thus far gon e undetected or ignored by Congress, that pertains to Iraq’s oil. This essay sheds some much needed light on what appears to be a trojan horse.

Pat Robertson has a college, and 150 graduates of that school work for the Bush Administration – including Monica Goodling (pleading the 5th rather than testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee)

Jim Cramer’s Guide to Market Manipulation – NYTimes Blog – I had a note written beside this one to search for the source article on TheStreet.com, but Cramer writes about 300 things a day on there, and I ain’t got no time for shuckin’ and jivin’.

Judge in Anna Nicole’s case found smoking marijuana – This guy was a real piece of work, with the way he played it up for the cameras during that hearing on Anna’s remains, crying at the end…I turned to Heather and pointed out the fact that he was a dead ringer for the Finklestein character on Dharma and Greg. So this headline made that observation worthy of another laugh or two, but his 15 minutes are now up. What they’ve got to do now, is somehow get Judge Ito to take a job in Florida and preside over Howard K. Stern’s murder trial.

And finally, some solid words pertaining to that champion of the transgender community, Ann Coulter from ‘The Coulterization of the American right‘ – by Gary Kamiya:

For this isn’t really about Coulter at all. This is about a pact the American right made with the devil, a pact the devil is now coming to collect on. American conservatism sold its soul to the Coulters and Limbaughs of the world to gain power, and now that its ideology has been exposed as empty and its leadership incompetent and corrupt, free-floating hatred is the only thing it has to offer. The problem, for the GOP, is that this isn’t a winning political strategy anymore — but they’re stuck with it. They’re trapped. They need the bigoted and reactionary base they helped create, but the very fanaticism that made the True Believers such potent shock troops will prevent the Republicans from achieving Karl Rove’s dream of long-term GOP domination.

F Jackie!

As useful as a site of this kind can possibly be, Speaker Pelosi’s blog ‘The Gavel‘ (which I have linked to under ‘Politics’) utilizes YouTube a great deal by posting clips of CSPAN in a very short amount of time, and is organized brilliantly. I was viewing clips of the hearing on GSA oversight without realizing I was actually on a government site, and upon finding out that it was run by Pelosi, it dawned on me that a new day has truly arrived.  Continue reading →