Heard it on the radio. He won’t be serving out his term.
Is there an indictment coming? Or perhaps some “Minneapolis bathroom action” is due to break.
Category: Politics
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TalibanTX) Will Not Be Running for Re-Election
More Politically Motivated Prosecutions, This Time in Mississippi
Seems strikingly similar to the Siegelman case in Alabama, but this time in Mississippi.
The case fits a familiar pattern. The corruption Mr. Minor was charged with was disturbingly vague, as it was with Ms. Thompson [Wisconsin where her case was overturned on appeal as “beyond thin”], whose only “crime” was awarding a contract to the lowest bidder, and Mr. Siegelman, who was convicted for fairly routine political behavior.
We will be paying for the Damage inflicted by for years to come.
Unconstitutional Republican Earmarks
The Congressional Research Servicw has released a memo about the constitutionality of Alaska Representative’s Don Young’s earmark on the Coconut Road Interchange in Florida’s Lee County, which benefitted some real estate contributors of the then head House transportation panel (Corruption from north to south and from east to west).
It was inserted after both houses voted on, and passed the bill, so it is an earmark that was never voted on by anyone in congress becomes “law” (there is an appeal to the Supreme court over this).
Seriously, Republican corruption is so twisted that your average snake would be unable to follow it.
Virginia Democratic Candidates Having a Fundraising Bonanza
Mark Warner and Tim Kaine each have over $1 million in campaign cash on hand.
Obviously, Warner’s money is about his Senate run, but Kaine’s money is about getting more Dems into the statehouse (VA Governors are limited to one term).
One could say that Virginia is trending blue, though it would be more accurate to say that Northern Virginia is Blue, and growing relative to the rest of the state.
I don’t think that Virginia will go blue this cycle (anything is possible), but it will be interesting to see where everything is following the 2010 census.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot??? Obama and Cheney are Cousins?????
So, Dick Cheney and Barack Obama are 8th cousins. There’s not much that I can say to add to that, but there is something that I can sing (to the tune of the Patty Duke Show Theme Song):
Meet Barack, who’s lived as you can see,
From Jakarta to Hawaii.
But Dickey’s only seen the sight.
A goon can see while avoiding sunlight
What a crazy pair!
From Jakarta to Hawaii.
But Dickey’s only seen the sight.
A goon can see while avoiding sunlight
What a crazy pair!
But they’re cousins,
Identical cousins all the way.
One pair of matching bookends,
Different as night and day.
Where Barack adores a good debate,
True equality, and fighting hate,
Our Dickey loves to play the troll,
And babies blood makes him lose control —
What a wild duet!
Still, they’re cousins,
Identical cousins and you’ll find,
They laugh alike, they walk alike,
At times they even talk alike —
You can lose your mind,
When cousins are two of a kind.
Kausgoat Scandal!!!!!
Yep, the latest scandal is that Mickey Kaus orally sodomizes goats.
It first showed up in the comments of a Matthew Yglesias post about how bone headed (pun not intended*) Kaus was about claiming that some dumb ass phony rumors of a John Edwards affair:
Mickey Kaus’ long post here about John Edwards’ alleged affair with Rielle Hunter is almost self-refuting. Basically, we have an anonymous source saying Hunter said she had an affair with Edwards, versus Hunter, on the record, saying that’s not the case. Then there’s Edwards, also saying it’s not the case. But Kaus initially deems Edwards’ denial too vague and non-specific.
Then someone posted something about Mickey Kaus having carnal knowledge of a goat, which soon escalated into oral sodomy with said ruminant.
It should that Mr. Kaus has issued no denial, so we must assume that this is true.
In any case, it soon found its way to Atrios, and then to his Wikipedia entry.
It’s also been mentioned on Wonkette , Sadly No, Oliver Willis, Kos, The Group News Blog, and many others.
I wouldn’t mention it, but Mickey Kaus has STILL not offered a denial, so by the standards of…Mickey Kaus…Mickey Kaus blows goats.
Yes, I know that this is irresponsible, and that I should feel bad about this, but piling on a wanker is fun sometimes.
*OK, the pun was intended, and I’m glad.
White House to Give Senate Intel Committee SOME Surveillance Program Documents
Well, it appears that the White House willgive the Senate Intelligence Committee SOME documents from their surveillance program. It appears that the Democrats saying that there would be no retroactive surveillance got Bush and His Evil Minions™ to back down.
The question is why such a paranoid and secrecy obsessed group of people would cave over the possibility of some telephone companies being in legal jeopardy.
The only conclusion is that Bush and his people are concerned that the telcos will cut a deal, with disclosure of what they did, and who they targeted, and that this would do profound damage to Bush.
Let’s connect the dots:
- Former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio said that he was asked to participate in this surveillance program on February 27, 2001, almost 7 months before 911.
- The Bush Administration was largely unconcerned about terrorism prior to 911, Condi Rice going as far as saying that the real area of concern would be a resurgent Russia asserting itself on the world stage*.
- We have the 911 commission report confirming that the political appointees in the Bush Admin were unconcerned with terrorism.
- We have a large number of former Bush administration officials, starting with John Dilulio, who have said that there was no policy apparatus in the whitehouse, just a political one, and that all decisions were made on the basis of political expediency.
So there is no reason for such a program except for a surveillance fetish, and spying on political enemies.
Misusing the state security apparatus for this purpose is an impeachable offence, period, full stop.
*Nice to know that your work as head of the NSC and as Secretary of State has prevented that. Heck of a job there Condi.
Tsongas Wins Special Election for Congress
Here.
Ut was closer than it should have been, a 6% spread in a solidly Democratic district, largely because Niki Tsongas, Paul’s widow, ran a lackluster campaign, and she had largely been installed by the local machine in the primary, which left a lot of bad feelings, though there are also a lot of people who had hoped that the Dems would get us out of Iraq by now too.
Conservative in Maryland Finds That His S-Chip Vote is Not Playing Well
Out in Western and Northern Maryland (Maryland has seriously Gerrymandered districts), the Congressman is Rosco G. (the Neanderthal) Bartlett, who is generally (he’s a realist on global warming) to the right of Atilla the Hun.
This is a rather conservative region in Maryland, and so when he voted against S-Chip, I rather imagine that he thought that it would play well there. It appears that he was wrong
“The war does not divide Roscoe from this district,” said Ms. Dougherty, a Democrat who was the mayor of Frederick from 2002 to 2006. “But S-chip is a Main Street issue. It affects family after family — our family health, our family’s pocketbook, and our grandchildren. All politics is local, and this is a local issue.”
If you live in Bartlett’s district, call his office, and tell him to vote for the override.
I might that you look at Andrew Duck for Congress. He ran against Bartlett in the last cycle, and he did reasonably well with absolutely no support from the DCCC or other national Democratic orgs.
Hillary Clinton Pledges to End War “Immediately” When Taking Office
She appears to have made that statement at a fund raising meeting of the Eleanor Roosevelt’s Legacy Committee.
There were no cameras, or recorders at the event, which is odd for such a significant statement.
Also, what does “ending the war immediately” mean? My guess is that her commitment to this is about the same as Bill’s to Gays serving honorably and openly in the military.
When she does the gasbag circuit, and explains what it means, I’ll believe her.
Repub Leaders Pressuring Doolittle to Retire
Too much corruption, I guess. His home got raided by the Feds this year, and he tried to blame his wife, who was his “campaign consultant”, and so pocketed something like a quarter of his campaign spending last cycle.
They are afraid that he will lose his his seat, as well he should.
Good for Barack Obama
Senator Obama has put a hold on the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky to the Federal Elections Commission. The Republicans are threatening to filibuster any vote which is not up or down on all four nominees, and if there are no nominations, the FEC would have only two commissioners, and would not be able to do business.
Hans von Spakovsky is the worst person in the Bush administration with regards to suppressing minority votes, let me repeat: Hans von Spakovsky is the worst person in the Bush administration with regards to suppressing minority votes, in fact, he developed most of the voter suppression techniques used by the Bush administration and NO FEC is better than an FEC with him on it.
He is a very bad man, and he should not be allowed anywhere near any government bureaucracy, particularly one that is about free and fair elections.
McConnell aide Smeared 12 Year Old Child In S-Chip Debate
BTW, go to the end, and see the two year old saved by S-Chip. The Republicans are going after her too.
The “pro family crowd” are claiming that here parents were “irresponsible” for having her when they were poor.
Even most Republicans think that S-Chip is a good idea, so they can’t argue the merits, so they are trying to slime children.
Of course, none of this would have an issue except for the fact that the reporters have have the email accusing the Forsts of fraud.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s spokesman acknowledged yesterday that he alerted reporters last week to questions bloggers raised about the financial circumstances of a 12-year-old boy Democrats had used to urge passage of an expanded children’s health insurance program.
But Don Stewart, the Kentucky Republican’s communications director, said he also wrote a follow-up e-mail later the same day that said a blogger he respected had determined that there was no story and that “the family is legit.”
Huh…That day? More like the next day, and late the next day at that.
Stewart said there was no effort by McConnell to discredit 12-year-old Graeme Frost, of Baltimore, or cast aspersions on the family.
“It would be kind of hard to ‘slime’ somebody when I was telling reporters there’s no story here and the family is legitimate,” Stewart said yesterday.
You sent an email around saying that they were welfare cheats. How on earth is that NOT an attempt to “slime”.
McConnell’s alleged role in depicting the Frosts as something other than what they claimed to be has been fodder for The New York Times op-ed page, bloggers and Democratic officeholders, among others.
Stewart’s comments were the first detailed explanation of the role McConnell’s office played in the controversy.
Matthew Miller, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in an e-mail yesterday that “spreading false rumors about a 12-year-old boy is despicable for any reason.”
“No matter how McConnell’s office spins it now, the e-mail makes clear that they were part of the campaign to smear a child who had the nerve to stand up and say children’s health insurance shouldn’t be cut,” Miller said.
…
All this kid did was to tell the truth about what happened to him.
BTW, those kids that Michelle Malkin is going after? Some pictures:
India-US Nuke Deal Off For Now
Thank God!
The US-India civilian nuclear deal was supported by Bush and His Evil Minions™ because it was a big wet kiss (and no small subsidy to) the American civilian nuclear industry.
It cemented India’s position as a nuclear power, and in so doing stoked the fire of the nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan, and as I’ve said before, (see also here), this accellerates Pakistan’s program, and makes the loss of one or more weapons during civil unrest (Pakistan is in some ways bordering on being a failed state) to lord knows who.
Thank you to the Indian Communist party* for apparrently killing this deal. Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister has apparently killed the deal for now.
*One of the joys of the Bush and His Evil Minions™ is that on at least a weekly basis I am saying things, at least to myself, that I would never have thought possible.
An SS and a Wehrmach Side of the CIA?
That’s one of the quotes in Ken Silverstein’s Harper’s article.
Well over a year ago I reported on a brewing revolt within the CIA over the Bush Administration’s use of renditions, “enhanced interrogation” techniques (otherwise known as torture) and other tough tactics employed in the “war on terrorism.” One former official with whom I spoke at the time told me, “There are people who fear that indictments and subpoenas could be coming down, and they don’t want to get caught up in it.” This person went on to describe a split at the CIA, saying, “There’s an SS group within the agency that’s willing to do anything and there’s a Wehrmacht group that is saying, ‘I’m not gonna touch this stuff’.”
Since then, it’s become clear that dissent within the agency on these matters has become even more intense….
He then goes on to explain Michael Hayden’s retaliatory investigation of the CIA’s inspector general, and relating the resignation of a senior CIA Lawyer over Bush’s pro torture policies.
Not only is Bush breaking the military, he’s breaking the intelligence agencies too.
Joel Kovel Specifically, and US Greens Generally are Idiots
Joel Kovel ran against Hillary Clinton for Senate as a Green, and he typifies the smug, sanctimonious, and ineffective mindset that is the US Green Party.
I concur with Brad Delong. Where was Kovel when Al Gore was proposing a BTU tax to reduce carbon emissions in 1993.
People like Kovel are personally comfortable with the status quo, but want to feel virtuous, so they set the bar so high that it can never be attained, while they can still feel smug, superior, and sanctimonious.
Quote of the Day: From Hillary Clinton
The New Yorker has an essay on Hillary Clinton’s laugh, they find it genuine, but they quote this little gem from Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.’s journals:
In later entries, Schlesinger writes of Hillary’s “charm and humor” and her “infectious joie de vivre.” But it must be said that she doesn’t always laugh, even when something’s funny. In 1998, at the height of the Full Monica, Schlesinger, then eighty-one years old, is seated next to the First Lady at a formal White House dinner celebrating the National Humanities Medals, one of which he has just been awarded. They’re having a jolly, dishy time—she’s “very easy to talk to”—when Arthur gets a little too expansive:
I made the point that the liberals had stood by Clinton while the DLC [Democratic Leadership Council] people had deserted him and described the miserable [Senator Joseph I.] Lieberman as a “sanctimonious prick.” Hillary said, “Well, he is certainly sanctimonious,” but showed no eagerness to pursue this line of thought.
(emphasis mine)
Of course Lieberman is no prick. A prick has a head.
Rep. David Hobson (R-OH) to Retire
Rep. David Hobson (R-OH) to Retire
12 Republicans so far this year, and at least two from Ohio.
General Calls Iraq a Nightmare in Stars and Stripes
Ricardo Sanchez calls the Iraq war, “A nightmare with no end in sight”, and he does so in a an interview in Stars and Stripes which is is close as you can come to being the Army’s newspaper and not be a part of the Pentagon budget.
The Republicans, of course, going after him in ways that makes Moveon’s dumb-ass “Betray Us” ad seem like a bloody love in, but the fact that this is in Stars and Stripes is significant.
As to Sanchez himself? I think that he is looking at his place in history, and a possible life sentence in the Hague, and trying to backtrack.