The Jurors could not agree on a verdict.
Given the nature of the case, my guess is that it was 11-1 or 10-2 for acquittal, but we’ll find out.
As I’ve said before, this was literally a federal case over someone using their secretary and the office fax machine.
But he’s a prominent Democrat, so the the Bush DoJ went after him.
Boston Globe columnist James Carroll looks at what might be driving Russia’s hostility to recent NATO actions, and comes to the conlusion that it’s completely justified:
Carroll quotes George Kennan describing NATO expansion as, “the most fateful error of American policy in the entire post-Cold War era.”
The list of countries that have invaded Russia in the past few hundred years includes, “Poland, the Ottoman Empire, Sweden, Austria, France, Great Britain, and Germany”, though he leaves off the US’s direct military participation in White Russian revolts of the 1920s.
I would argue that Carroll does not go far enough.
If one looks at the Hart-Rudman Commission of the late 1990s looking at coming threats to America, and the behavior of Lynne Cheney, who continuously called for an immediate military strike on China, and resigned when she was created like a crazy aunt by everyone else, inclucing other Republicans, and juxtaposes it with the report that Francis Fukuyama said that “There was actually a deliberate search for an enemy because they felt that the Republican Party didn’t do as well“, I think that this is actually a deliberate strategy.
The Republican party needs an external enemy to succeed, and that this actions taken recently, particularly the missile shield, are part of a deliberate attempt to recreate the Cold War for partisan political gain.
In the spirit of L. Ron Hubbard, who once declared, “I’d like to start a religion. That’s where the money is!*, I hereby declare myself the first Senior Ecclesiastic Authority of The Church of Ronald Reagan. I declare myself to be the supreme confessor and Pontifex Maximus.†
My inspiration is the inimitable Digby, who notes that when the Republicans discovered that Ronald Reagan was rated by historians as mediocre, “They put millions in to the project and succeeded in changing the names of airports, schools and highways all across the country. They have plan to put Ronnie on Rushmore and the ten dollar bill. Over time I would expect that someone will come up with the idea to declare Reaganism a religion.”
You know, designing and analyzing useful things, much like Hubbard’s few pennies a word, are not a great way to make a lot of money, but as Pontifax Maximus, the revenue possibilities border on endless.
Just think of that lucrative “selling tortillas with Reagan’s visage on eBay” market.
I would be set for life.
*Full disclosure, I have met editor Sam Moskowitz, one of the sources of the quote, though I don’t recall talking with him, I think that I was just in the audience at an SF con.
†This is a reference to the Roman Emperor’s role as head of the state Church, not the Pope. Both terms derive from the word for “bridge”.
The Appeals court has ordered former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman released from prison pending his appeal. They overturned the ruling of his judge at trial, Mark E. Fuller, who is also a political foe of the former governor.
He’s been in custody for some time, one of the reasons that Judge Fuller has dragged his feet on releasing the transcript, without which you can’t even start filing an appeal.
Also, the House Judiciary Committee is requesting his testimony.
We have lack of money, an orgy of back biting, and general disaffection of the true believers at the state level as well as at the federal level.
Pass the popcorn.
Matthew Yglesias, who I think is sometimes contrarian for its own sake, nonetheless nails it in this essay.
The best point for me is here:
For veteran Washington hands—wheelers and dealers in the lobbying game or at the major interest groups—the new system is worse than dull. It’s emasculating. This is why political elites find polarization so distasteful. In a polarized world, elections and procedural rules largely determine policy outcomes; there’s little room for self-styled players to construct coalitions on the fly, and enhance their own power in the process. The growth in the lobbying industry might seem to belie the point, but consider Tom DeLay’s post-1994 “K Street Project”—which pressured lobbying firms who wanted access on the Hill to hire more Republicans—or the swing of the pendulum back after the Democratic takeover in 2006. Power in Congress is firmly in the hands of the party leadership; lobbyists become less powerful, not more, in a polarized system.
The fact is that outside of the beltway, no one really cares what David Broder thinks, or what gets said at Sally Quinn’s parties, and if you have a political system in which party affiliation actually means something, neither do the members of Congress or the Executive branch.
They answer to the voters under those circumstances.
It appears that we’ve got our first astroturf, Tankerblog.com, which has been anonymously registered, where they brethlessly reveal that A330 tanker cannot refuel the V-22, while the 767 could.
The blog describes itself as, “The blog is moderated by Mike Reilly who spends his days at the Center for Security Policy and a bipartisan group of legislative assistants who spend their days, and most nights, working on Capitol Hill.”
These “staffers” are from the Seattle no doubt, and the CSP has among it members, Richard Perle, Douglas J. Feith, , Frank Gaffney – Project for the New American Century, Monica Crowley and , Laura Ingraham. (You can get a line on their right wing nut supporters here)
No reasons given for why the difference, and in the real world, if refueling were needed it would be done by a KC-130 turboprop, since using a jet to refuel a turboprop that has to operate below 15k feet because it is not pressurized is just nuts.
A bit of humor at this “blog” though, they have a poll on whether congress should stop the deal, and the pro EADS sides in winning.Tanker War Blog, unnamed bipartasin staffers in congress, from Washington state, no doubt. http://tankerblog.blogspot.com/ look at their poll…good yucks.
The kicker is that Northrop Grumman says it can refuel the V-22, “said on Monday its aerial tanker based on the Airbus A330 could refuel the V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft flown by the Marine Corps.”
Nice to see some defense procurement related humor.
In the meantime, we are starting to see people worrying that Congress will go xenophobic, and queer the contract which would threaten weapons sales in Europe. *cough* JSF *cough*
As to what Boeing is arguing about, it appears that a lot of this is the spacing between wingtips while parked. The USAF reduced this on the basis of what had actually observed.
Additionally, Boeing complained that the Combined Mating and Ranging Planning System (Cmarps) system which was used to develop operational scenarios for the bidding, was something that NG was more familiar with, but seeing as how the software is over 20 years old, I think that this is more another example of how Boeing was being petulant in the bid process.
Aviation Week (subscription required) also lists the following issues:
For what it’s worth, Airbus tanker is already in test, see picture:
There are 767 tankers flying, but they are substantially different from what was pitched to the USAF.
OK, my opinion of Benedict has improved a bit, though he is still a reactionary idiot.
The title is not mine though, I whole heatedly approve the hed, and will defend it, but that bon mot is not mine, so I cannot take credit for it.
It appears that Pope Benedict XVI has refused an audience for Condolleza Rice.
She had requested an audience in August (you know, in order to play politics with the conventions and the November election).
The pope has denied this request, ostensibly since it was his August holiday, but really for two reasons:
Condoleeza Rice should not be too upset by this, “Instead of meeting the Pope, Ms Rice had to make do with a telephone conversation with the Vatican’s number two, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who was visiting the US during August on other business.”
So, he won’t talk to her, but his number two will talk to her on the phone.
Girlfriend, maybe he just ain’t into you…You know.
There is really not much that I can add to this:
I Knew Gene Kelly. The President Is No Gene Kelly. – New York Times
Re “Soft Shoe in Hard Times” (column, March 16):Surely it must have been a slip for Maureen Dowd to align the artistry of my late husband, Gene Kelly, with the president’s clumsy performances. To suggest that “George Bush has turned into Gene Kelly” represents not only an implausible transformation but a considerable slight. If Gene were in a grave, he would have turned over in it.
…..
Patricia Ward Kelly
Los Angeles, March 16, 2008
Read the whole thing.
I’m not sure if this is real, or if the prosecutor, a Chertoff crony, is looking for something that won’t appear to be a political hit job.
Cruel, but oo funny not to post.
One wonders who authorized the investigation, but that will have to wait until January 22, 2009.
Specifically, I agree with David Freddoso when he says that a call to return Spitzer donations is patently absurd.
His money is neither the product of illegality, nor is is an attempt to buy access for an illegal or unsavory cause.
His quote at the end is prize:
If their PR pain threshold is low enough, then I suppose the candidates will return the money or give it to charity (perhaps to battered women’s shelters or something). But I’d actually admire any one of them who has the courage to keep the money and say:
“Well, at least this $2,300 won’t be spent on a whore!”
Then again, that may not be entirely accurate. It is being spent on candidates for Congress…
Amusing.
OK, this is not the sort of thing that I was expecting from Elliot Spitzer. He has, “been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month.”
I’ve noticed that he has some problems with overreach and arrogance, but this is a shock to me.
I’m not sure where it goes from here, though I am sure that any sympathy one feels should be reserved for his wife, Silda and his three children.
Yes, any Republicans reading this, Schadenfreude is normal, and probably justified at this point, though obviously I’m not feeling this at this point.
And yes, the phrase, “Shanda before the Goyim” does dome to mind here.
This is going to be an infrequent feature of my blog, basically, whenever the muse grabs me:
Hillary 43:21
Yes, and she will be like an avenging angel unto the Republicans, and she shall smite them, and yea verily, they shall cry out, and retreateth to the bathroom stalls, where they shall tappeth their feet.
Yea though they get down upon their knees, the Republicans shallst not be offering homage to God, but shall be doing geometric things to each other, and they shall proclaimeth that they not beith gay, but rather that a great misunderstanding hath overtaken them.
Yea verily, they shall declare, we have turned over a new leaf, just as soon as we shall get to the bottom of the page.
Have I mentioned that I’m going to hell for this?
Pelosi finally notices that John McCain is embracing a man who thinks that she, and all Catholics, worship the devil, and calls him on it.
Ummm…Hello??? You are a leader of the Democratic Party, 3rd in line for the presidency, the most politically powerful Catholic in the nation, and it’s taken you this long to notice that McCain is cavorting with anti-Catholic bigots like Hagee?
Me bad, it was a small bomb in Times Square, doubtless set by some nutter.
Of course, Fox News and Michael Chertoff will be screaming that this is the end of the world.
I’m sure that Dick Cheney has a stiffie about the possibility of exploiting this for political gain.
Citadel Broadcasting, which owns her station, KSFO, had declined to renew Malanie Morgan’s contract, see here and
here.
I wish that it was a sign that there are going to be limits to how scummy you can be, but a more likely reason is that they were trying to save cash.
Citadel is losing money hand over fist, and is also cutting extensively at their Chicago station, WLS, in what is described as bloodbath.
It appears that Seattle-area politicians are flipping out over the USAF tanker decision. No big surprise there.
Then again, this was the result to be expected if decided on the merits. The A-330 is larger, longer ranged, more modern, and not much more cost than the 767, which has never had the advances in manufacturing that were developed for the 777 and 787 incorporated back into its line.
That won’t prevent a knock down drag out fight, and it pretty much ensures that McCain loses Washington State, as he was the one who called out the USAF on the first tanker deal, correctly to my mind, on being a sweetheart deal for Boeing.
Special assistant to the President in the White House’s Office of Public Liaison,, Tim Goeglein, has been found to have plagiarized 20 of 38 columns that he wrote for the The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel had been extensively plagiarized.
This seems the rule, rather than the exception, for the Bush administration clown show.