Category: Politics

In Other Unsurprising News, the MPAA is a Bunch of Lying Jackals*

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Well, Harold Feld ads some fact checking to MPAA claims that, “40% of industry loses from internet piracy could be traced to file sharing at universities.”

LEK Consulting Services, which did the research for the MPAA, has now released its methodology, and based on their own numbers, the file sharing through university computing services is about 3%.

They used this study to justify attempts to use legislation to coerce universities to lock down their networks in very expensive ways, and to make the penalties for such activities worse than murder.

*No offense intended to Jackals.

Iraq’s de-Baathification, Heck of a Job, Bushie

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Yes, it appears that the new de-Baathification law that the Iraqi parliament passed, the one that Bush and His Evil Minions™ have been crowing about, isn’t a de-Baathification law, it’s actually an even more aggressive purge of Baath party members, and Sunnis, than the previous law.

And it gets even better, because everyone’s favorite double crossing thief, Achmed Chalabi, is heading the de-Baathification commission.

Missouri: Matt Blunt Not Seeking Reelection

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The decision by right wing Missouri Matt Blunt, son of House Minority Whip Roy Blunt not to run for another term has come as a surprise, as he had already raised millions of dollars for his campaign.

The Fired Up! Missouri blog suggests a scandal and lists about a dozen potential ones, and mentions that he spent $100k in legal fees.

If baby Blunt is in legal trouble, his dad is too, as Blunt won’t take a crap without his dad’s permission.

FISA Bill in Limbo

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Harry Reidwants a one mongh extension to the disgraceful “Protect America Act”, so that they can have time to work on the bill.

Once again, the Republicans are going with an all or nothing approch, with Kit Bond and Mitch McConnell blocking the extension in an attempt to give Bush and His Evil Minions™ everything that they want.

Um….Guys, this is a clue….In 11½ months Hillary and Her Evil Minions™, or Barack and His Evil Minions™ may have the reins of the state security apparatus, and one of the things that I like about her is that, unlike Bill, she appears to have an inclination for vengeance.

You don’t want to go there.

FWIW, the case for the changes provided by Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell has proven to be completely fraudulent.

Bush Begging People Who Sowed the Seeds of 911

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Yep, this is the result of 6 years of failed Bush policies, he goes to the House of Saud to beg for help.

This must be some sort of definition of “returning honor and dignity to the White House” that I was unaware of:

……These days, President George W. Bush needs the world’s biggest exporter of crude more than it needs him.

With oil at about $90 a barrel, the U.S. economy at risk of sliding into recession and American banks trying to raise cash to ride out the subprime-mortgage crisis, Bush has become a supplicant for Saudi financial help.

….

Senator Hillary Clinton tried to turn it into an object of derision by describing Bush as “begging the Saudis” to cut the price of oil. “How pathetic,” she said.

I got your back on this statement, Hill.

Pathetic.

The Cash Crunch is Hitting the Primaries, But Only for Republicans

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While Obama and Clinton are considering Super Bowl ads, Republican candidates are running short on cash.

Romney appears to be considering spending some more of his own money on the race, while in the Huckabee campaign, some aides are not being paid, and others have left, and insiders in the McCain campaign are admitting that things are tight.

Gee, if you screw up the economy badly enough, I guess that Republican donor Rodney Richpigge* won’t crack open his check book, because high taxes on some profits is better than no taxes on losses.

*Internet high 5 if you pick up the reference.

The US Attorney Firing Scandal Continues

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It appears that the investigations by the DoJ’sof Inspector General (OIG) and the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) are picking up steam.

Investigators from these offices have been questioning whether senior officials lied to Congress, violated the criminal provisions in the Hatch Act, tampered with witnesses preparing to testify to Congress, obstructed justice, took improper political considerations into account during the hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys and created widespread problems in the department’s Civil Rights Division, according to several people familiar with the investigation.

The internal Justice Department probe cannot bring charges but can refer findings to a U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia or a special prosecutor, who could then pursue a criminal investigation. One source close to the investigation expects the offices to issue a scathing report within the next three months, but they have not announced a timeline for their joint inquiry.

In addition, it appears that the Senate Ethics Committee has spent money to send investigators to Arizona, where former US Attorney David Iglesias alleged that Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) pressured him to engage in prosecutions for political gain.

We have allegations of violations of the Hatch Act and obstruction of Justice by some of the people involved.

The Hill expects for a report to be issued in the next few months, but I think that the DoJ will get it pushed back until after the elections.

It’s the 35th Anniversary of Roe V. Wade

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As a political issue, it’s always been a proxy for the SCOTUS decision to allow the IRS to strip tax exempt status from segregated institutions, but it bears note.

My take, not one step back on the terrorists whose goal is to criminalize a woman’s right to choose.

What’s more, we should go PATRIOT act on the asses of organizations that provide material aid to doctor murderers and clinic bombers.

Military Clamps Down on Obama “Crypto Muslim” Email

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The Boston Globe has noted that the military is telling soldiers not to forward the dispicable “Obama is a Crypto-Muslim” email.

It’s against military and civil service regulations.

My guess is that someone in the military realized that this guy might be C-in-C in under a year, and it was ass covering time.

Anyone know what proportion of this spam is coming from military servers.

OK, Maybe I’ll Console My Self With the Rudolph Clown Show

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The Siena New York Poll has him behind John McCain by 12 points in New York State.

The Freddie Thompson Clown Show may be on its way out, but Rudy is doing a good job to pick up the pathetic humor in the presidential campaign.

After all, Rudy showed up to a NASCAR race, and begged to be allowed to drive the pace car, after making a circuit in his bus, but wasn’t allowed.

He’s a good substitute source of my minimum RDA of Schadenfreude.

Another Day, Another Obama Embrace of a Right Wing Meme

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Well, now Obama is declaring himself to be a “committed Christian”.

I understand that he is trying to answer a disgraceful internet rumor about his being a crypto-Muslim. I’m not exactly sure what the best response is, but this is is the worst response.

He is essentially responding to a demand of an oath of Christianity to qualify for public office. You shouldn’t capitulate to that, you should fight that.

You need to show the people who make this request are un-American, and they need to be removed from mainstream political discussion through ridicule and justified outrage.

Pandering is not the solution.


Orwell Moment of the Day: MLK Memorial Outsourced to Paragon of Human Rights, China

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While I understand that the protests of the Vermont congressional delegation (see also here) is largely an issue of local pride and economics for them, the idea that we are outsourcing this to a government that routinely imprisons dissidents, suppresses free speech, and aggressively uses the death penalty boggles the mind.

This isn’t from The Onion. This is a real story.

Happy Martin Luther King Birthday Holiday everyone.

Blair Unfit to Hold EU Position

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Honestly, I would not trust him as my pastry chef, but the statements by former French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and the former prime minister Edouard Balladur thatTony Blair is unfit to be the next EU president is rather refreshing.

One of their arguments is technical, they feel that the First EU president (the treaty is going the rounds) should go to a country that is a part of the Euro zone, but the other is that, “Both men [d’Estang and Balladur] say Europe’s first president must come from a country which is fully committed to all EU policies, including the euro. Mr Balladur – breaking publicly with President Sarkozy – also says Mr Blair is too close to the United States to be chosen as a “fitting spokesman for Europe”. Their views are echoed, off the record, by senior officials in Belgium and Italy.”

In other words, for this high profile, if largely ceremonial position, he’s simply Bush’s Poodle, and nothing can fix that.

Bernanke supports stimulus package – Jan. 17, 2008

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Bernanke speaks out in favor of a stimulus package, and he is saying that it should help “beleagered consumers” and that it “should be explicitly temporary”.

While he does speak favorably of some temporary tax credits for business investment too, he is not repeating Alan “Bubbles” Greenspans incompetence, and endorsing massive permanent tax cuts.

He’s already put himself well ahead of Ayn Rand’s acolyte in the competence department.

Signs of the Apocalypse, Hillary Clinton Is Very, VERY, Funny

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It’s also very, very savvy, it strokes the ego of her press corps. She
played flight attendant over the loud speaker, welcoming people aboard “Hil Force One”, and declaring, among other things, that, “FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) regulations prohibit the use of any cell phones, BlackBerrys, or wireless devices that may be used to transmit a negative story about me”.