I mean that he’s leaving the senate, not the other sense.
I’m sure that the gag writers for Leno and Letterman are in mourning.
Category: Politics
Confronted With Truth Bush and His Evil Minions™ Squeal Like Stuck Pigs
Well, it looks like the Bush admin and his toadies in the Pentagon are claiming that the GAO report calling Iraq a failure was just too tough.
Tell that to dead and maimed troops, and their loved ones, butcher boy.
Political News, Thompson in, Warner Out*
Va. Senator Warner is out for 2008, and Fred Thompson is in for 2008.
Neither big surprises. Warner raised something like 12 cents in the past few quarters, and Thompson has been under investigation by the FEC for “exploring” too enthusiastically.
*No, I mean not running for re-election, not Senator Craig out.
This is Unbelievably Stupid
So, Moqtada al-Sadr orders a freeze in operations of his militia, but the US Military is continuing to aggressively raid his offices.
Sadr’s message came the day after he issued a public statement to his Mahdi Army to cease its operations for up to six months so he could restructure the group. But Sadr was forced to reconsider after a raid Thursday by U.S. and Iraqi forces on his office in the southern city of Karbala led to the deaths of six Mahdi Army members and the arrest of 30 others, the officials said.
It’s almost like someone in the White House or Pentagon is looking for a fight to excuse the failure of the surge or to have an reason to attack Iraq.
Oh
My
God
Gay Marriage Ruled Legal in Iowa
The judge subsequently stayed his order, but one marriage was conducted in the interim.
Iowa??? Gateway to the big square states?
Not the place I expected to be at the head of this train,
Leaked GAO Report Says Iraq a Failure
It appears that a draft of a GAO report has been leaked to the Washington Post.
Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for political and military progress, according to a draft of a Government Accountability Office report. The document questions whether some aspects of a more positive assessment by the White House last month adequately reflected the range of views the GAO found within the administration.
It’s been leaked because one of the writers knew that it would be censored by Bush and His Evil Minions™ in its final version.
In a related note, the Pentagon, “Said Wednesday that it won’t make a single, unified recommendation to President Bush during next month’s strategy assessment.”
This means that they don’t want to be Bush’s bitch on Iraq any more.
Gonzalez Replacement Will Signal New Biparisan Approach for Bush
On another bipartisan note, monkeys will be flying out of my butt.
It appears that we have a number of papers (here, and here) suggesting that George Bush will reach across the aisle in a non-partisan spirit.
What the frack are they smoking? Did they see the official announcement? It was angry announcement was angry and petulant. He’ll flip the bird to the congress.
My guess is that it will be Ted Olson, since his wife was killed on 9/11, it allows them to pull out that card.
Of course, there that whole lying under oath thing, where he claimed to not to be close to R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. under oath, the guy who manufactured the Paula Jones crap, despite the fact that he was best man at his wedding.
I won’t bet on that, but I would bet that whatever choice it is, it will be a big $%#@ you to Congress.
Warner to Announce Plans for 2008 Elections
From Politico.com.
If I bet on politics, and I don’t because my record sucks, I’d guess that he’s not running.
Silly Thought of the Day
I don’t think that Henry of Crooked Timber is being serious, but his theory as to the timing of the Gonzales resignation, that it was timed to correspond with the Daily Show’s two week haitus, is internally consistency.
Nice Take Down of the National Sales Tax
And it’s in the WSJ of all places. This editorial shows how the numbers are bogus, and deliberately so.
Bruce Bartlett’s basic points:
- This idea originally sprung from the head of Scientology, because of their clashes with the IRS¹.
- It assumes growth rates in the US economy that appear to come from the planet Skaro.
- They use very bad math to misquote the percentage of tax².
- It has the federal government paying the tax to artificially inflate revenues.
- It applies the tax to everything, including education and health care.
- It creates a de facto national welfare program.³
- It understates the rate needed to balance the budget.
It should be noted that this Mr. Bartlett was senior economic staff under Bush I, this is no Democratic partisan here.
¹Basically they claim that a 30% tax is a 23% tax by figuring it backward. If you take $1.00 and add 30%, you have $1.30, but $0.30 is only 23% of 1.30.
²The required tax rate for this to replace revenues 57%, it goes up to 64% if it exempts things like food, education, and health care, and 89% if there are problems with evasion.
³It creates a transfer payment system in which people get money back on a weekly basis depending on wages.
David S. Broder Please Retire Now
Well, it looks like “the Dean” is at it again. He writes about how he longs for 3rd party candidates for president, specifically a Hagel-Bloomberg ticket.
The idea is that the American public longs for “post partisan” politics.
He thinks that candidates who differ on abortion, gun laws, gay rights, taxes, public schools, and role of religion in the public sphere, can somehow find common ground. This is like the bite of a dog into a stone, it is a stupidity.
What he derides as “partisan” politics is actually the legitimate give and take of differences in policy, but sitting where he does, living in the continuous cocktail party known as Sally Quinn’s Washington, it’s all too inconvenient.
These differences get in the way of a pleasant party, and the policies have very little effect on him, being paid to pontificate being one of the lifestyles least effected by significant policy decision.
He is not effected when other people’s children die in Iraq, or when other people’s children lack medical care and die because Bush and His Evil Minions™ believe that it’s worse to provide government funded health care to one relatively well off kid than it is for 1000 poor children to to have no access to health care.
He is the personification of what is wrong with the culture of Washington, DC.
Ted Nugent Wets His Pants to Avoid Combat
Facing a draft, Nugent bravely wet his pants
Rocker is all talk as he calls Obama, Hillary vile namesAugust 27, 2007
BY RICHARD ROEPER Sun-Times Columnist
So Ted Nugent roams a concert stage while toting automatic weapons, calls Barack Obama “a piece of —–” and says he told Obama to suck on one of his machine-guns. He also calls Hillary Clinton a “worthless bitch” and Dianne Feinstein a “worthless whore.”That Nugent, he’s a man’s man. He talks the talk and walks the walk, right?
Except when it was time to register for the draft during the Vietnam era. By his own admission, Nugent stopped all forms of personal hygiene for a month and showed up for his draft board physical in pants caked with his own urine and feces, winning a deferment. Creative!
…
I can’t speak to what I would have done in that situation, but I’m not advocating sending someone else’s children off to war. When he had the chance to be a stand up guy, he did not stand up.
To quote Keith Olbermann, Ted Nugent is today’s worst person in the world.
Your Mouth to God’s Ear
This was from the comments section.
TPMmuckraker August 27, 2007 2:42 PM:
Now that the Justice department is finished with it’s house cleaning, The rest of the deal Bush made to spare himself impeachment will begin. The Cheney resignation will be forth coming within the time frame I estimated last week. There are three weeks left on that clock. If you look through obscure posts from three weeks ago until last week, you will see my original predictions about Rove (perfectly timed) and Gonzales (also one week prior as stated) Deny my accuracy and attribute it to coincedence or guessing if you like, but within three weeks from this day the dark one falls. The deal has been made and the substance of it is out. I am not a mystic and do not own a crystal ball. I do however own many devices that are able to communicate messages through the air. These have been put to great use.. Cheney is next, and you heard it here first. AS I STATED WITH MY OTHER POSTS MARK THIS ONE! Do not talk of it, Just mark it! It will be a great remebrance!
Me, I’m not such an optimist.
Free Trade Inevitably Leads to Democracy….NOT!!!
Microsoft and Yahoo have signed an agreement with the Chinese to persecute political dissent.
He who fights wih monsters should be careful least he thereby becomes a monster. When you stare at the abyss, the abyss stares back at you.
–Friedrich Nietzsche
TheHill.com – Johnson makes public return in Sioux Falls
Good news, Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) has made his first public appearance.
He needs a cane, at least, and his speech is halting, but he seems to be doing well in his recovery from his brain hemorrhage of almost a year ago..
Congratulations and best wishes to him and his family.
Two Years Ago, Grover Norquist Achieved His Goal
New Orleans, two years ago today.
Another Corrupt Rat Leaving the Ship
Buh bye!
My guess is that given that it’s a competitive district, and Renzi is being investigated for crooked land deals, campaign law violations, and a significant roll in the US attorney firings, he though that it was time to get out of dodge.
On the brighter side, unlike some other people who have returned to private life *cough* Gonzalez *cough* Rumsfeld *cough* Bremer *cough*, he won’t have to worry about being hauled off to the Hague.
Corrupting the Military for Politics
Well, it looks like the Pentagon is setting up a propaganda office to sell their phony report.
I am so not surprised.
FWIW, a Pentagon propaganda operation directed at the American public is technically illegal, but that’s never stopped Bush and His Evil Minions&trade before.
Schadenfreude, Closet Edition
The news about Senator Larry Craig is actually sad. No one should have to deny themselves to hold a political position.
What is more telling is how many closeted gays/bis there are at relatively high levels in the Republican party, Larry Craig, Lindsay Graham, Ken Mehlman, and persistent rumors about Karl Rove and Denny Hastert, for example.
The flip thing to do would be to suggest that people who hate themselves tend to be Republicans, but I think that it is something far more mundane. Closeted gays are non-threatening.
No matter how energetic they might be, or how devoted they might be to the cause, they are always going to be in subordinate positions, because if the try for the brass ring, they know that their fellow Republicans will destroy them.
Heavily criticized plane is defunded
Finally, the graft supported DP-2 aircraft is to be defunded. Duncan hunter’s favors for campaign cash (he’s gotten $36K from Anthony duPont, president of duPont Aerospace, over the years) is at an end.
Now, I want to see investigations for wrongdoing.