A Spork in the Drawer

For No Reason Whatsoever:

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A Bit Of William Henry Fox Talbot

Oak Tree in Winter, 1842.

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If It's Not Hookers It's Cars

Powell:

No foreign diplomat has been closer or had more access to President Bush, his family and his administration than the magnetic and fabulously wealthy Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia.

Prince Bandar has mentored Mr. Bush and his father through three wars and the broader campaign against terrorism, reliably delivering — sometimes in the Oval Office — his nation’s support for crucial Middle East initiatives dependent on the regional legitimacy the Saudis could bring, as well as timely warnings of Saudi regional priorities that might put it into apparent conflict with the United States. Even after his 22-year term as Saudi ambassador ended in 2005, he still seemed the insider’s insider. But now, current and former Bush administration officials are wondering if the longtime reliance on him has begun to outlive its usefulness.

[...]

Robert Jordan, a former Bush administration ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said the Saudis’ mixed signals have come at a time when King Abdullah — who has ruled the country since 1995 but became king only in 2005 after the death of his brother, Fahd — has said he does not want to go down in history as Mr. Bush’s Arab Tony Blair. “I think he feels the need as a kind of emerging leader of the Arab world right now to maintain a distance,” he said.

[...]

A few nights after he resigned his post as secretary of state two years ago, Colin L. Powell answered a ring at his front door. Standing outside was Prince Bandar, then Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, with a 1995 Jaguar. Mr. Powell’s wife, Alma, had once mentioned that she missed their 1995 Jaguar, which she and her husband had traded in. Prince Bandar had filed that information away, and presented the Powells that night with an identical, 10-year-old model. The Powells kept the car — a gift that the State Department said was legal — but recently traded it away.

I've long regretted not having a law degree or a business degree; I thought that they were passports to riches.

But it turns out that none of those things matter.

So, can someone introduce me to a Saudi prince?

'Cuz I'd like a new car.

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Interesting

Washinton Post:

Miz Julia was the pseudonym for Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the woman at the center of a sex scandal that has caused a deputy secretary of state to resign and has lawyers calling around town trying to keep their clients' names out of public view. A one-time law student, Palfrey ran for 13 years what she insists was a legal escort service. Federal prosecutors allege she was providing $300-an-hour prostitutes, and a grand jury indicted her in February on federal racketeering charges.

[...]

Sibley also filed notice that he intends to depose political consultant Dick Morris in a separate civil proceeding. Morris would not comment.

Is this story going somewhere?

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Eeek

Every once in a while I come across bad writing. I mean, really bad writing.

I give you Ray Weaver:

Ms. Goodman's premise is that since men are without a uterus, they should not pass judgment on what is inside the uterus. Even as a man, I was once in one. Facts are independent of the sex of the scientist, philosopher or theologian. The question is, "When does life begin?" All of the rambling in these pieces was pure emotional and political fluff.

Does anyone want to translate that into English?

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Idiot

Jack Kelly:

It's remarkable that Democrats, as a matter of policy, are siding with America's enemies in time of war. It didn't work so well for them when they did that during the Civil War. And it is questionable political strategy to make a swift retreat from Iraq the centerpiece of their legislative agenda. But more remarkable is how clumsily Democrats are executing the strategy they've chosen.

[...]

Have Democrats invested so much political capital in defeat that good news is as unwelcome to them as news of Sherman's capture of Atlanta was to the Copperhead Democrats in 1864? Is their insistence on precipitous retreat driven by fear we might win?

Is Jack Kelly the worst columnist in any US newspaper?

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Mere Commas

It never ends:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military said nine soldiers had been killed in Iraq on Friday and Saturday.

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Saturday Palate Cleanser

Bill Murray and Scarlet Johansson:

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Whoops!

Comb-Licker has a problem:

Friday evening, the committee was debating whether to explicitly recommend that Wolfowitz resign, according to the sources, who spoke on condition they not be named, citing an ongoing probe into leaks.

Wolfowitz is finished.

Tick-tock tick-tock.

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To Hell With The Associated Press

Headline:

Clinton says her sometimes Southern twahng thahng is a virtue

Put me somewhere and I'll start talking in the local accent within 5 minutes.

2 if I'm drinking.

This is Dowd-worthy nonsense.

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It Just Goes To Show...

...that Mother Nature wants us dead:

A moderate earthquake rattled parts of southeast England Saturday morning, toppling chimneys from houses and rousing residents from their beds.

[...]

There are thousands of moderate quakes on this scale around the world each year, but they are rare in Britain. Saturday's quake was the strongest in Britain since September 2002, when a 4.8-magnitude quake struck the central England city of Birmingham.

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Stop David Broder

Utterly clueless:

After years of cozying up to the man in the White House, and emerging (for better or worse) as the most eloquent defender of Bush's current strategy in Iraq, McCain this week reverted suddenly and dramatically to his 1999-2000 role as the leading Republican critic of politics as usual.

[...]

But for John McCain, there must be at least some relief now in being able to speak his own mind -- whatever the consequences. Candor, even belatedly, becomes him.

Broder must be the most clueless person in Washington DC.

And it has always been thus: See this gem from 1969.

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It's Been One Of Those Days

Blogging resumes now.

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RIP

Mstislav Rostropovich.

A bit of Brahms:

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They Get Letters

Oy:

Let's see stories promoting traditional marriage

It is very unfortunate that the Post-Gazette had such an obviously slanted/biased story in the Magazine section about a gay marriage presentation given by Evan Wolfson ("Native Returns for Marriage Equality Event," April 18).

The Post-Gazette needs to be more balanced in its story selections. The vast majority of people in Pennsylvania feel that marriage is only between one man and one woman. Traditional marriage, as understood for thousands of years and all societies, is the way to bring up the next generation (children). Many studies have found that the best way to raise children is in a traditional marriage with a committed father and mother.

If we allow gay marriage, why not threesome or foursome marriage? Why not bigamy or why not have any marriage arrangement that any two, three or more adults agree to? We can call it the "anything goes" marriage. We do not need to go down the slippery slope of gay marriage. Traditional marriage is the best way for raising children, period. It has worked for thousands of years; we do not need to redefine marriage in Pennsylvania.

MARK SANTUCCI
Ross

Why, if we allow gay marriage I might just marry a negro.

Praise the Lord for Mr. Santucci setting me straight.

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Dancing Queen

Tony Norman:

Two days ago, President Bush got jiggy with an African dance and drum troupe at the White House. Because it was Malaria Awareness Day, the KanKouran West African Dance Company was on hand for observances in the Rose Garden.

Now, it's no secret that whenever Africans are invited to the White House, they're expected to do some drumming during their photo-op.

[...]

Unfailingly polite, the dancers smiled and beat the drums faster, hoping it would discourage the Leader of the Free World from actually doing anything more annoying than clapping off the beat. Alas, Mr. Bush would not be denied the pleasure of the dance.

Our dippy leader:



(REUTERS/Jason Reed)

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Valenti

I can't think of any description of Jack Valenti without thinking of William Manchester's The Death of a President

Larry O'Brien stared at Jack Valenti. This was the first time Larry had seen Jack since yesterday's wind-up conference in Houston before the testimonial dinner for Albert Thomas. He was the same Valenti - alert, intent, straining for some unseen bait - but there was a new zeal about him. He was Sammy Glick in Sammy's graduation photograph, and O'Brien, noticing the throbbing veins in his neck, thought, well, he's on his way now.

-William Manchester, Death of a President, 1964.

I'll always think of Valenti as some low-rent Sammy Glick.

Nonetheless, RIP.

That said, The Death of a President is one of the best books I have ever read. Of course, I hardly believe a word in it.

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Our Friends On The Right

Such moral people:

An explosive device "which could have caused substantial harm" was found Wednesday in the parking lot of an Austin, Texas, women's clinic where abortions are performed, authorities said.

"It was configured in such a way as to cause serious bodily injury or death," Austin Police Assistant Chief David Carter told reporters Thursday.

I'm sure their god is very proud.

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Tenet

Former CIA director George Tenet begins his campaign to rehabilitate his reputation (good luck with that, George) and complains that "slam dunk" is being misused:

When CIA Director George Tenet uttered the now-infamous phrase "slam dunk" at a 2002 White House meeting, he says he was referring broadly to the case that could be made against Saddam Hussein — not his alleged weapons of mass destruction.

"We can put a better case together for a public case. That's what I meant," Tenet said, explaining his remark for the first time in an interview to air Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes." Short excerpts were released Thursday.

[...]

In the "60 Minutes" interview, Tenet said the administration misrepresented his comment and used it to shift blame as the debate heated up about the legitimacy of the Iraq invasion. Tenet, who served as CIA chief from 1997 to 2004, called the leak to Woodward "the most despicable thing that ever happened" to him.

[...]

Tenet said the hardest part has been listening to officials including Vice President Dick Cheney repeat the phrase. "I became campaign talk. I was a talking point. 'Look at the idiot (who) told us and we decided to go to war.' Well, let's not be so disingenuous," he said.

So Tenet left the administration nearly three years ago and only now decides to set he record straight? I'm not impressed.

scout_prime has more.

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Get Out That Veto Pen...

Mr. 28%:

Nonetheless, by a vote of 51-46, the Senate joined the House of Representatives in backing the hotly contested bill that would provide about $100 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year while setting a deadline to withdraw U.S. forces over the next 11 months.

It was the first time the Congress, controlled by Democrats since January, defied the president in more than four years since the conflict began.

Congress actually acting like an independent branch of the government. Amazing.

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Say What?

By way of Holden we find this:

Car bombs and other explosive devices have killed thousands of Iraqis in the past three years, but the administration doesn't include them in the casualty counts it has been citing as evidence that the surge of additional U.S. forces is beginning to defuse tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

President Bush explained why in a television interview Tuesday. "If the standard of success is no car bombings or suicide bombings, we have just handed those who commit suicide bombings a huge victory," he told TV interviewer Charlie Rose.

Words fail.

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KO

Ouch.

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Stonewalling

Defying a subpoena:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday all but said she will not testify to Congress about a discredited justification for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq but agreed to answer questions in writing.

And then Condi plays the imperial presidency unitary executive card:

"But there is a constitutional principle. This all took place in my role as national security adviser and there is a separation of powers and advisers to the president are -- under that constitutional principle -- not generally required to go and testify in Congress," she added. "So I think we have to observe and uphold constitutional principle."

It's time to start chucking these people into jail for contempt of Congress.

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Oh Fer Cryin' Out Loud

Holy Joe Lieberman takes to the WaPo to explain how well the war is going.

I can't even bear to read it.

---

ADDED: Ezra, who has a stronger constitution than I, writes:

And on and on it goes. Every few months, Lieberman pops up to identify this -- this day, this hour, this moment -- as the turning point in Iraq and warn that withdrawal will impede the improvements. Then the country descends even deeper into civil war, and he picks a new instant when everything is on the upswing and only American will stands in democracy's way. And, every time, the nation's newspaper editors let him publish, no new arguments or information needed.

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Astounding

The rumors were true: David "The Dean" Broder has hit bottom, broken through that bottom, and has found a whole new bottom:

Here's a Washington political riddle where you fill in the blanks: As Alberto Gonzales is to the Republicans, Blank Blank is to the Democrats -- a continuing embarrassment thanks to his amateurish performance.

If you answered " Harry Reid," give yourself an A. And join the long list of senators of both parties who are ready for these two springtime exhibitions of ineptitude to end.

The Dean goes on to list the "gaffes" - as he calls them - that Harry Reid has committed. Note to David: Alan Greenspan was "one of the biggest political hacks we have here in Washington."

In the process Broder manages to attack Chuck Schumer and Chris Dodd as well.

Back to Reid:

Given the way the Constitution divides warmaking power between the president, as commander in chief, and Congress, as sole source of funds to support the armed services, it is essential that at some point Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi be able to negotiate with the White House to determine the course America will follow until a new president takes office.

David: The White House doesn't negotiate. It orders. That you haven't figured this out yet shows that you're a hack.

David: Have you seen this poll out just this morning?

President Bush's approval rating slipped to new lows in the most recent Harris Interactive survey, but he's not alone: For the first time since the series began, all of the political figures and institutions included in the survey have negative performance ratings.

Of the 1,001 American adults polled online April 20-23, only 28% had a positive view of Mr. Bush's job performance, down from 32% in February and from a high of 88% in the aftermath of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The current rating is his weakest showing since his inauguration. [Via watertiger.]

28%, David, 28%.

David, you may have a great reporter at one time but it's time that you realize that you've grown old and intellectually lazy. Don't you think it's time to retire and enjoy your sunset years? You could take up wood-working or maybe learn how to tie fishing flies.

But whatever you decide, David, you're obsolete. It's time to realize that.

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Good For Them

More evidence that New Hampshire is turning blue:

HART'S LOCATION, N.H. -- The champagne is on ice at the Notchland Inn on Route 302. Proprietors and longtime partners Ed and Les are ready to raise their glasses to New Hampshire later today, when the state is set to pass a broad civil union bill granting gay and lesbian couples virtually all the same legal rights as married heterosexuals.

Supporters and opponents of the measure agree that it will be approved, and last week Gov. John Lynch, a moderate Democrat, said he will sign it. When he does, it will make New England the first region to have every state granting a measure of legal rights to same-sex couples. Even as the bulk of the country has passed constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and civil unions, New England has stubbornly gone its own way.

I find this statement to be most enlightening:

Nevertheless, opponents of same-sex marriage look at what is going on in New England and express growing concern. "The more states that do this, the less radical and more plausible the idea may appear in others," said Peter Sprigg, vice president for policy at the Family Research Council.

Sprigg is absolutely correct: The more states that do this will demonstrate that gays and lesbians aren't scary monsters and the god of the anti-gay bigots isn't going to rain death and destruction upon the country.

They're going to lose this war and I think they know it.

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Corrupter-In-Chief

One of things that has been much on my mind the last few years is just how deeply BushCheney has planted their people (aka "Loyal Bushies") into the bureaucracy. The next president - assuming he or she is a Democrat - is going to have a hell of a time trying to weed out all of the party hacks who have been appointed since 2001. And the behavior of these people certainly crosses the line into illegality:

White House officials conducted 20 private briefings on Republican electoral prospects in the last midterm election for senior officials in at least 15 government agencies covered by federal restrictions on partisan political activity, a White House spokesman and other administration officials said yesterday.

The previously undisclosed briefings were part of what now appears to be a regular effort in which the White House sent senior political officials to brief top appointees in government agencies on which seats Republican candidates might win or lose, and how the election outcomes could affect the success of administration policies, the officials said.

[...]

Such coercion is prohibited under a federal law, known as the Hatch Act, meant to insulate virtually all federal workers from partisan politics. In addition to forbidding workplace pressures meant to influence an election outcome, the law bars the use of federal resources -- including office buildings, phones and computers -- for partisan purposes.

[...]

In the GSA briefing -- conducted like all the others by a deputy to chief White House political adviser Karl Rove -- two slides were presented showing 20 House Democrats targeted for defeat and several dozen vulnerable Republicans.

At its completion, GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan asked how GSA projects could be used to help "our candidates," according to half a dozen witnesses. The briefer, J. Scott Jennings, said that topic should be discussed "off-line," the witnesses said. Doan then replied, "Oh, good, at least as long as we are going to follow up," according to an account given by former GSA chief acquisition officer Emily Murphy to House investigators, according to a copy of the transcript.

The article goes on to give many more examples.

At the risk of repeating myself: Because of the damage done by this mal-administration the next president will have both hands tied behind the back. And it's going to take a decade or a generation to clean up the mess.

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About Those Benchmarks...

Last throes?

Ten weeks into the security plan, even as U.S. lawmakers propose timelines for a U.S. troop withdrawal, there has been little or no progress in achieving three key political benchmarks set by the Bush administration: new laws governing the sharing of Iraq's oil resources and allowing many former members of the banned Baath Party to return to their jobs, and amendments to Iraq's constitution. As divisions widen, a bitter, prolonged legislative struggle is hindering prospects for political reconciliation.

And in six months we'll be reading this same article.

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Now This Is Odd

Iraq:

NBC News has learned that the commander of the massive U.S. Army detention center in Baghdad, Camp Cropper, is under arrest for allegedly aiding the enemy.

The Army tells NBC News that military police first detained Lt. Col. William H. Steele several weeks ago. They are holding Steele in a detention facility in Kuwait. He now faces an Article 32 hearing to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute him.

The Army issued this statement to NBC News, beginning with a litany of the charges Steele faces:

"One specification of a violation of Article 104, Aiding the Enemy; one specification of a violation of Article 134, retaining classified material; two specifications of violations of Article 133, conduct unbecoming an officer, for relationships involving an interpreter and another Iraqi female; five specifications of a violation of Article 92, failure to obey lawful orders for wrongfully storing classified materials, improperly marking classified materials, failing to obey an order from a superior officer, possession of pornography, and dereliction of duty as an approving official for the expenditure of government funds.

These charges are merely an accusation of wrongdoing. Lt. Col. Steele is presumed innocent unless and until he his proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of any alleged offense.

No other U.S. military personnel are believed to be involved in these offenses, nor is he charged with abetting American detainees."

Lt. Col. James Hutton, an Army public affairs officer, says he can't explain how or why Steele was allegedly “aiding the enemy.” An e-mail to Steele's wife was not returned, and Hutton said he doesn't yet have the names of Steele's lawyers.

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Another Subpoena!

Condi this time.

Wheeee!

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Monica!

The pride of Pat Robertson is granted immunity.

However:

It is likely to be weeks before the committee actually gets to interview Goodling. That's because the law requires that the Justice Department be allowed an opportunity to provide its views on immunity -- i.e. whether it might interfere with an existing or possible investigation. If the DoJ objects to giving Goodling immunity, then the committee would be forced to consider whether to defer or delay conferring immunity. And regardless of what the DoJ says, the local federal court has to approve giving Goodling immunity. All this is likely to take several weeks.

Would the DoJ be so obstructionist as to object?

Of course.

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Something Lighter

Sex Farm!

While rock fans have been dreaming of a Spinal Tap reunion for years, an important enough reason for the band to get back together has remained elusive. What possible cause could be big enough bring back the band who have seen it all, played it all and, later, scooped it all into a box so they could take it on their tour bus with them?

The answer has become clear today, however, after it was announced that the legendary UK act led by Nigel Tufnel and David St Hubbins are to reform in order to fight global warming. A new film delving into the band's eco-consciousness is to be screened today, and they will back it up with an appearance at this summer's Live Earth festival.

Greatest. Band. EVAH!

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Just When You Think They Can't Get Any Lower

The Laurabot:

[N]o one is suffers more than their President and I do.

Hey, Laura! Check these:

Pardon me, Laura, if I don't share in you and your husband's pain.

Fucking ghoul.

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Eliminationism

Another example of how classy the rightwing is:

HARRISBURG -- A sign waved at a gun supporters' rally Tuesday outraged lawmakers who interpreted it as suggesting the lynching of a Philadelphia legislator and said they would report the incident to police as a death threat.

Two men stunned onlookers by raising the banner criticizing Democratic Rep. Angel Cruz, sponsor of a bill that would create a registry of gun owners and require people to pay a yearly $10 fee for each gun or face state police confiscation of their weapons. Cruz should be "hung from the tree of liberty for treasonous acts against the Constitution," the sign read.

Angry lawmakers criticized the sign brought by Alan Kiser, of Warren County, as degrading and prejudicial. At an afternoon news conference, members of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus said they would report the incident to state police and Capitol Police because they considered it a death threat against Cruz, a Hispanic who is a member of the caucus.

[...]

Kiser said his sign was meant to suggest that Cruz -- and any lawmaker supporting House Bill 760 -- should be impeached.

Kiser's sign was an innocent protest in the same way this is:

Peace loving people, they are.

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Killing The Country

Or at least its citizens:

That response reflects OSHA’s practices under the Bush administration, which vowed to limit new rules and roll back what it considered cumbersome regulations that imposed unnecessary costs on businesses and consumers. Across Washington, political appointees — often former officials of the industries they now oversee — have eased regulations or weakened enforcement of rules on issues like driving hours for truckers, logging in forests and corporate mergers.

Since George W. Bush became president, OSHA has issued the fewest significant standards in its history, public health experts say. It has imposed only one major safety rule. The only significant health standard it issued was ordered by a federal court.

If you want an example of the perfect BushCo™ drone you'd have a hard time finding a better example than Edwin G. Foulke Jr.:

Mr. Foulke, the OSHA chief, has a history of opposing regulations produced by the agency he now leads. He has described himself as a “true Ronald Reagan Republican” who “firmly believes in limited government.” Before coming to Washington last year, Mr. Foulke, a former Republican Party state chairman in South Carolina and top political fund-raiser, worked in Greenville, S.C., for a law firm that advises companies on how to avoid union organizing. Representing the United States Chamber of Commerce, he had testified before Congress several times to promote voluntary OSHA compliance programs. He also opposed the ergonomics standards.

And as a member in the 1990s of an independent agency that reviews OSHA citations, he led a successful effort to weaken the agency’s enforcement authority.

Early in his tenure at OSHA, Mr. Foulke delivered a speech called “Adults Do the Darndest Things,” which attributed many injuries to worker carelessness. Large posters of workers’ making dangerous errors, like erecting a tall ladder close to an overhead wire, were displayed around him.

“Kids don’t always know what their parents do all day at work, but they instinctively understand the importance of them working safely,” he told the audience, which included children who had won a safety-poster contest. “In contrast, adults could stand to learn a thing or two. Looking at the posters, I was reminded of a couple examples of safety and health bloopers that are both humorous and horrible.”

Trotting the children out. Classy.

If ogres like Foulke had their way we'd see a repeal of Fair Labor Standards Act which, along with other things, regulates child labor. They'd love to see a return of this:

Lewis Hine, Doffers at the Bibb Mill No. 1, Macon, Georgia, 1909

Yes, these people - and I use that word loosely - are that bad.

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Slap!

Harry Reid:

Mr. Reid said he was not going to engage in a tit-for-tat with the vice president. “I’m not going to get into a name-calling match with somebody who has a 9 percent approval rating,” Mr. Reid said.

Nicely said, Sen. Reid.

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Ineffective

From David Ignatius's column in today's WaPo:

I spoke with a half-dozen prominent GOP operatives this past week, most of them high-level officials in the Reagan and Bush I and Bush II administrations, and I heard the same devastating critique: This White House is isolated and ineffective; the country has stopped listening to President Bush, just as it once tuned out the hapless Jimmy Carter; the president's misplaced sense of personal loyalty is hurting his party and the nation.

"This is the most incompetent White House I've seen since I came to Washington," said one GOP senator. "The White House legislative liaison team is incompetent, pitiful, embarrassing. My colleagues can't even tell you who the White House Senate liaison is. There is rank incompetence throughout the government. It's the weakest Cabinet I've seen." And remember, this is a Republican talking.

What infuriates me is all of these unnamed Congresscritters who criticize BushCheney likely support the administration when they're not granted anonymity. I believe this is known as "putting party before country." If they believe that George and his minions are causing such damage then bloody well say so. Openly.

The current White House chief of staff, Josh Bolten, needs to mount a similar salvage mission, argue several prominent Republicans. They question whether he's politically adept enough. But most of all, they question whether Bolten or anyone else can break through Bush's tight, tough shell and tell him the truth. What's starting to crack isn't the obdurate Bush, but the country.

While this can be read as a call for better PR the final point is correct. It's only the republic that's dying.

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Big Day

Golly, oversight:

Over the course of only 15 minutes today, three congressional committees will consider subpoenas for half a dozen officials from the White House and the departments of Justice and State. On the list is former presidential chief of staff Andrew H. Card Jr., Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Justice Department liaison to the White House Monica M. Goodling, a key figure in the controversial firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

Republican leaders call it a "partisan witch hunt." But Democratic lawmakers, and even some Republicans, say it is an overdue return to their constitutional role of executive-branch oversight.

"Partisan witch hunt" means, "Oh crap, we're going to jail."

"More oversight is always good, and the most credible oversight is nonpartisan. It's fine that the new Democratic majority is trying to conduct executive-branch oversight," said Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, which is known for its investigative prowess. "But it'll be interesting to see whether they get results and make the executive branch work better for the American people or whether they just generate a series of embarrassing headlines for the White House."

Sen. Grassley, getting results will necessarily lead to embarrassing headlines for the White House. When you have an administration that operates like a criminal organization the two go hand in hand.

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We're Gonna Need A Bigger Prison

Corrupt Republicans - The gift that keeps on giving:

Continuing to backpedal after the FBI raided one of his family busineses last week, Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ) said in a statement today that he'll be resigning "all my committee assignments." Renzi already resigned from his seat on the sensitive House Intelligence Committee last week. He also holds seats on the Committee on Financial Services and Committee on Natural Resources.

Can't we invoke the RICO Act and just indict the whole damned party?

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Well Now

Remember that story about the White House investigating itself? Well, Scott J. Bloch of the Office of Special Counsel, who's leading the investigation, has a small problem:

But government watchdogs have accused Bloch himself of similar behavior. In April 2005, they and others complained the White House appointee had allowed his office to "sit on" a complaint that then-White House National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice used government funds to travel in support of President Bush's re-election bid.

By contrast, they said, Bloch ordered an immediate on-site investigation of a complaint that Bush's challenger for the White House, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., improperly campaigned in a government workplace, which had been filed around the same time.

Yes, Rove has oh so much to fear from this corrupt bastard.

David Corn:

It is a dizzying situation. The investigator investigating officials who oversee the agency that is investigating the investigator. Forget firewalls. This looks more like a basement flooded with backed-up sewage--with the water rising.

CREW has more.

[Via Paul Kiel.]

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Comb Licker Death Watch

Still doing the White House's bidding:

One of Paul Wolfowitz’s two handpicked deputies, Juan José Daboub, tried to water down references to climate change in one of the World Bank’s main environmental strategy papers, the bank’s chief scientist has told the Financial Times.

Mr Daboub, a conservative former finance minister from El Salvador, was brought into the bank by Mr Wolfo­witz. He is already under fire for allegedly trying to take out references to family planning in the bank’s Madagascar country assistance strategy and reduce its prominence in its new health sector strategy.

Once a neocon always a neocon.

The board of the World Bank has just about had enough.

Gone by Friday?

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Barzilla

Whenever I wonder why George turned out the way he did I think of his mother:

Asked if voters should be wary of Romney being a Mormon, the former president's wife, Barbara, said "not at all," noting there are "wild people" in many religions.

"I mean it was in 1897 that bigamy was outlawed in that church," she said. "You know we have a lot of Christian wild people too, and a lot of Jewish wild people and a lot of Muslim wild people. The Mormon religion takes care of its own, they don't have people on welfare.

[Via Steve Benen.]

A Bar blast from the past:

"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths," Barbara Bush said on ABC's "Good Morning America" on March 18, 2003. "Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

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Through The Looking Glass

George:

Last November the American people said they were frustrated and wanted change in our strategy in Iraq. I listened. Today General David Petraeus is carrying out a strategy that is dramatically different from our previous course. But the American people did not vote for failure, and that is precisely what the Democratic leadership’s bill would guarantee.

As Greg Sargent says, "the only thing you can do when confronted by such transparently deceptive rhetoric is sit back and marvel at the sheer audacity and desperation of it."

At this point the vast majority of people hear what comes out of his mouth and are simply unable to process the insanity of his utterances.

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Doing The Right Thing

It took years but the Department of Veterans Affairs finally does the right thing:

To settle a lawsuit, the Department of Veterans Affairs has agreed to add the Wiccan pentacle to a list of approved religious symbols that it will engrave on veterans’ headstones.

[...]

Until now, the Veterans Affairs department had approved 38 symbols to indicate the faith of deceased service members on memorials. It normally takes a few months for a petition by a faith group to win the department’s approval, but the effort on behalf of the Wiccan symbol took about 10 years and a lawsuit, said Richard B. Katskee, assistant legal director for Americans United.

No doubt the usual suspects will be mightily upset by this decision. One of them:

“I don’t think witchcraft is a religion,” Mr. Bush said at the time, according to a transcript. “I would hope the military officials would take a second look at the decision they made.”

I very much doubt George's opinion has changed in the last eight years. And who the fuck is George W. Bush to decide what's a valid religion and what isn't?

Hecate comments.

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The American People Are Stoopid

So sayeth Jonah Goldberg:

So, we are supposed to believe that two-thirds of Americans have studied the details of the U.S. attorney firings and come to an informed conclusion that they were politically motivated — even when Senate Democrats agree that there is no actual evidence that Gonzales did anything improper. Are these the same people who couldn't pick Pelosi out of a lineup? Or the 85% who couldn't name the Senate majority leader? Are we to imagine that the 31% of the electorate who still — after seven years of headlines and demonization — can't identify the vice president of the United States nonetheless have a studied opinion on the firing of New Mexico U.S. Atty. David Iglesias?

[...]

More to the point, Americans — God bless 'em — are often quite ignorant about the stuff politicians and pundits think matters most. They may know piles about their own professions, hobbies and personal interests, but when it comes to basic civics, they just get their clocks cleaned on Fox's "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?"

Well, Doughy Pantload is certainly right when it comes to FOX "News" viewers. But the larger argument Goldberg is advancing is that the American public is too ignorant to make an informed decision. And if he's right - polls are meaningless because people are ignorant - then wouldn't it follow that the ultimate poll - an election - be meaningless as well?

Goldberg refuses to believe that he's on the wrong side of the argument and the wrong side of history so therefore everyone else must be wrong. What Goldberg is saying is that he and his ilk are the only ones qualified to decide what's best for the country.

History is filled with others who held this view. And it was often Americans who fought and died to rid the world of such villains. On that, Jonah Goldberg is the ignorant one.

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Damning Dick

Given DeFib Dick's recent attack on former Sen. George McGovern it's only right that McGovern respond:

Cheney said that today's Democrats have adopted my platform from the 1972 presidential race and that, in doing so, they will raise taxes. But my platform offered a balanced budget. I proposed nothing new without a carefully defined way of paying for it. By contrast, Cheney and his team have run the national debt to an all-time high.

He also said that the McGovern way is to surrender in Iraq and leave the U.S. exposed to new dangers. The truth is that I oppose the Iraq war, just as I opposed the Vietnam War, because these two conflicts have weakened the U.S. and diminished our standing in the world and our national security.

In the war of my youth, World War II, I volunteered for military service at the age of 19 and flew 35 combat missions, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross as the pilot of a B-24 bomber. By contrast, in the war of his youth, the Vietnam War, Cheney got five deferments and has never seen a day of combat — a record matched by President Bush.

[...]

There is one more point about 1972 for Cheney's consideration. After winning 11 state primaries in a field of 16 contenders, I won the Democratic presidential nomination. I then lost the general election to President Nixon. Indeed, the entrenched incumbent president, with a campaign budget 10 times the size of mine, the power of the White House behind him and a highly negative and unethical campaign, defeated me overwhelmingly. But lest Cheney has forgotten, a few months after the election, investigations by the Senate and an impeachment proceeding in the House forced Nixon to become the only president in American history to resign the presidency in disgrace.

Who was the real loser of '72?

[...]

We, of course, already know that when Cheney endorses a war, he exempts himself from participation. On second thought, maybe it's wise to keep Cheney off the battlefield — he might end up shooting his comrades rather than the enemy.

Cheney - who got his start in that Nixon administration - was probably born a sociopath and probably nothing can be done at this point to stop him. Consider this a massive failure of our political system. However, there is a remedy although it probably won't go far:

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a vocal critic of the Bush administration's war in Iraq, plans to introduce articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday.

[...]

Under the House impeachment process, Kucinich's articles would be reviewed by the House Judiciary Committee, which would decide whether to conduct an impeachment inquiry. The committee would seek authority from the entire House before beginning an inquiry.

Even with this Cheney (actually, one of his drones) can't help but lie:

Cheney spokeswoman Megan McGinn responded to Kucinich's announcement by saying that the vice president has served the nation honorably for almost 40 years.

The name "Dick Cheney" should never appear in the same sentence with the word "honerably." His record proves that.

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Target: Rove

The good news:

Most of the time, an obscure federal investigative unit known as the Office of Special Counsel confines itself to monitoring the activities of relatively low-level government employees, stepping in with reprimands and other routine administrative actions for such offenses as discriminating against military personnel or engaging in prohibited political activities.

The bad news:

First, the inquiry comes from inside the administration, not from Democrats in Congress. Second, unlike the splintered inquiries being pressed on Capitol Hill, it is expected to be a unified investigation covering many facets of the political operation in which Rove played a leading part.

For some reason I'm not holding my breath that this is going to lead anywhere.

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Remember Iraq?

Another six months of this:

A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-rigged truck into a U.S. military outpost near Baqubah on Monday, killing nine soldiers and wounding 20 in one of the deadliest single ground attacks on U.S. forces since the start of the war in Iraq, military officials said early Tuesday.

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Halberstam

David Halberstam, journalist and author of one of the earliest and most indispensable critiques of the Vietnam War, was killed in a car crash today.

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Happy Birthday!

d reminds us that it's the birthday of the one president* who rivals George for the title of Worst. President. Ever. - James Buchanan.

*Some might argue Warren G. Harding belongs down there but, IMHO, he was a piker compared to these two.

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Bizzaro World

George, today:

THE PRESIDENT: The Attorney General went up and gave a very candid assessment, and answered every question he could possibly answer, honestly answer, in a way that increased my confidence in his ability to do the job.

You know, I don't think he's lying or delusional.

I was remiss this past Friday by not linking to this excellent Dahlia Lithwick column. I can't begin to do it justice so please go read it and I'll see you after the jump.

Yeltsin

Whatever else one might say about him, for one brief moment Boris Yeltsin was the right person.

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Note To David Broder

Retire already.

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Interesting

Is Paul "Comb Licker" Wolfowitz's "lady friend" a spy? At the very least, it makes you wonder just how much BushCheney care about national security.

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Business Is Booming

For at least one small group:

The Democratic takeover of Congress has not only been good business for Democratic lobbyists, but it has also turned into a bipartisan boon: In the four months since the midterm elections, the number of new lobbyist registrations has nearly doubled to 2,232 from 1,222 in the comparable period a year earlier.

"We're having a huge surge in business right now," said David M. Carmen, president of the Carmen Group, a mid-size lobbying shop that has added both Democratic and Republican lobbyists since the elections. "We are up almost 30 percent compared to last year."

No doubt our democracy is in good hands.

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Second Verse, Same As The Last

And on it goes:

The Food and Drug Administration has known for years about contamination problems at a Georgia peanut butter plant and on California spinach farms that led to disease outbreaks that killed three people, sickened hundreds, and forced one of the biggest product recalls in U.S. history, documents and interviews show.

Overwhelmed by huge growth in the number of food processors and imports, however, the agency took only limited steps to address the problems and relied on producers to police themselves, according to agency documents.

Maybe this has become worse under the BushCheney regime but it's not a new story. At some point - under Reagan? - the idea of regulatory agencies actually regulating became "quaint," as Abu Gonzales might say.

In the peanut butter case, an agency report shows that FDA inspectors checked into complaints about salmonella contamination in a ConAgra Foods factory in Georgia in 2005. But when company managers refused to provide documents the inspectors requested, the inspectors left and did not follow up.

The next time I'm audited by the IRS I'm simply going to refuse to provide documentation. I'm sure the tax auditors will then leave me alone. Who knew it was that easy?

A salmonella outbreak that began last August and was traced to the plant's Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter brands sickened more than 400 people in 44 states. The likely cause, ConAgra said, was moisture from a roof leak and a malfunctioning sprinkler system that activated dormant salmonella. The plant has since been closed.

[...]

During the inspection, the report says, ConAgra admitted it had destroyed some product in October 2004 but would not say why.

"They asked for some of our documentation and we made the request to them that they put it in writing due to concerns about proprietary information," ConAgra spokeswoman Stephanie Childs said last week. "We did not receive a written request, . . . they filed the report and that was that."

See how easy it is?

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