Time to get serious

A new report from NASA states that we have about ten years before global warming becomes a self-perpetuating process. Ten years.

I don’t know about you but I find that scary as hell.

I wonder what Tony Snow is going to say about this

So Karl Rove, Richard Armitage, and Scooter Libby conspired to out a now officially covert CIA operative, one working on non-proliferation no less, in an attempt to discredit her husband. That there is some mighty fine governance…

What a principled lot

It is hard to put much stock in polls this far out from an election, but it appears that Christian conservatives are throwing their support to Rudy Giuliani.

Rudy Giuliani, whose positions on abortion and homosexuality mark him as the most socially liberal Republican presidential candidate in more than a generation, is so far winning the contest for the support of social conservatives, according to a new analysis of recent polls.

Widespread perceptions that Giuliani is the most electable Republican in this year's field are driving his support among social conservatives, according to the analysis by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

FWIW, I predicted that these folks would never get behind the fairly liberal Giuliani. I stand corrected. I wrongly figured that the “family values” voters would stick to their guns on the social stuff. Instead, they are abandoning those high-minded principles and are going with the fellow perceived as most electable, even if he might occasionally make Jesus cry.

So, I guess being pro-life and anti-gay is not so damn important to them after all. For all of the rhetoric about the sanctity of life and whatnot, the sanctity of power is the real trump card. If this support holds, these clowns should never again claim the moral high ground.

Putting economics before all else

In what must be one of more interesting juxtapositions in the news today, Reuters is reporting that, due to global warming, Inuit have been falling through the polar ice and drowning. Meanwhile, an AP story details the Bush Administration’s rejection of yet another multinational accord attempting to limit carbon emissions.

Connaughton, who is on a one-week bipartisan trip to Europe with members of the House of Representatives, said the U.S. favors "setting targets in the context of national circumstances."

Translation: This Administration will not allow environmental policy to interfere with economic growth. So all of you folks living on polar ice or low-lying islands are just gonna have to learn to float.

And maybe this is a really bad deal for the US, but wouldn’t it be refreshing to hear a government representative say something other than no on the issue of climate change.

Public Service Announcement

People, for the love of God, put on a life preserver if you are on a boat or a jet ski. It is better to look silly than be dead.

Accountability

Wolfowitz, ever the stand up guy, blames the media for his resignation/removal from the World Bank. These fucking people; you would think admitting a mistake would kill them.

Throwing in the towel

I know I wasn’t the only person disheartened by the Democrats capitulation on the war funding bill. That singular act of cowardice seems to have been the last straw for Cindy Sheehan. She is giving up on the anti-war movement and going home.

Bush to sign the Iraq funding compromise

The only good thing coming out of this bill is a long overdue increase in the minimum wage. That, IMHO, is not worth the price of continuing our Iraqi misadventure but it is at least something...

I enjoy pasta because my house is made of bricks.

Scott Adams wrote that as an example of a logical fallacy he called the Total Logical Disconnect. I bring this up in reference to Commander Guys’s press conference yesterday. In the few minutes I heard, he was his usual bumbling ridiculous self but said nothing that struck me as out of the ordinary stupid. Via DailyKos, I read something I must have missed.

Q: Can you explain why you believe you're still a credible messenger on the war?

THE PRESIDENT: I'm credible because I read the intelligence...

Total. Logical. Disconnect.

What one reads has no bearing one’s trustworthiness (obvious to you and me, not so much him). On a side not, I wonder if he thinks reading the Sports page will make him run faster.

This would be funny were it not for the fact that this is the President of the United States or that he supposedly read the intelligence before 9-11. It didn’t seem to help him much then either.

The silver lining

You have probably heard that Florida is experiencing a severe drought. Rain has been so infrequent that water levels in Lake Okeechobee are at record lows. The receding shoreline has exposed tons of muck, defined in the article as “rotted, dead plant life and sediment” (yum!). This stuff is apparently killing off life in Okeechobee. Seeing an opportunity to help breathe some life back into lake, the state is going to remove the muck.

"The big benefit will be getting that material off the lake bottom so we can get the plant life back and restore the fisheries habitat," said Susan Gray, deputy executive director of watershed management for the South Florida Water Management District, which is also working on the project. "But when you get the vegetation growing back in the lake, you also get an improved ability for the lake to absorb phosphorous."

Pretty cool.

Thanks George

Cribbed in full from the Pilot:

Yankees give $1 million to Hokie Spirit Fund

NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Yankees made a $1 million contribution to the Virginia Tech "Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund" and honored the victims of the April 16 massacre that left 33 dead in Blacksburg, Va., before playing the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night.

Virginia Tech President Charles M. Steger attended the ceremony and threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game. The Yankees also wore Virginia Tech logos on their caps and said they will play an exhibition game near Blacksburg in 2008.

"The events that took place this spring in Virginia have deeply affected us all," Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said in a news release. "But the Virginia Tech community has shown great spirit and resolve during this difficult time, and the New York Yankees are proud to join so many others in supporting the healing process."

The fund was established to cover expenses like grief counseling, memorials and other costs for the victims and their families. The Yankees join other contributors from the sports world that include the NASCAR community, other teams and colleges and citizens.

Nothing to add other than this is a wonderful gesture and thank you from a grateful Hokie.

Glorious event for journalistic writings

A Doubleday imprint will publish a travel manual penned by none other than Sasha Baron Cohen’s Borat Sagdiyev.

The book, to be released in hardcover, will have a dual title: "Borat: Touristic Guidings To Minor Nation of U.S. and A." and "Borat: Touristic Guidings To Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."

If this is anything like the movie, I will be sore from laughing.

Immegre

Now that the Dems have caved on the war (still pissed), focus in Washington is shifting to the other big issue right now: what the hell do we do about all of these Mexicans? I am sort of an agnostic on immigration. I think there ought to be some way for folks to come here and work legally. I also think that the current state of things is pretty destructive to the lives of the undocumented, the communities they inhabit, and the economic consequences of both. The big problem here is that Mexico has a corrupt, oligarchic economic system, geared to sustaining a cadre of super wealthy on the backs of a permanent underclass. If Mexico didn’t suck so bad and people had hope of rising out of poverty, they would stay home, if for no other reason than the food is better. But we cannot fix Mexico overnight and 12 plus million of their citizens are already here – illegally to boot. So what do we do?

The bill floating through Congress is a compromise still in progress. The work rules are stupid and confusing. The number of visas was cut in half, allowing only 200,000 per year. The unions are unhappy with even that number. The nativist Tancredo Republicans complain that it does not strengthen border security enough and think anything short of deportation is akin to amnesty (I swear, sometimes it sounds like that crowd wants to boil the nation’s cooks and fruit pickers in oil). Immigrant groups are upset with the fines on the undocumented and the new visa point system’s shift to a merit/skill based architecture from one more slanted towards family reunification. The only thing bringing most of the Left onboard is the Z visa, which provides illegal aliens a legal work status. In fact, the only folks really pleased with this bill are the Chamber of Commerce Republicans; no more annoying fines for employing illegals and a ready supply of cheap labor.

So what to make of this dog’s breakfast? I am not sure one way or the other and this bill has a long way to go before it reaches a full vote. One thing I do know is that this issue is a big, fat wedge for the Republicans. The Corporatists are all for it. The social conservatives are outraged because the bill does not construct a giant fortification from California to the Gulf, including a moat full of sharks with laser beams strapped to the heads. The tension building between the two pillars of the party is beginning to boil over. Bob Novak, not a source I usually draw from, opens his piece on the Republican conundrum thusly:

Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia were booed at their respective state party conventions Sunday for supporting a compromise immigration bill. Their specific sin was collaborating with the liberal lion of the Senate, Edward M. Kennedy. But behind the catcalls was Republican rage over undocumented foreigners, a sentiment GOP lawmakers must appease if they want to avoid dire consequences.

The natives are restless. They want their pound of flesh and think this compromise is a sell out. If booing two Senators is not enough to illustrate that point, I give you House Minority Leader John Boehner, speaking at a reception Wednesday:

"I promised the President today that I wouldn't say anything bad about ... this piece of shit bill," he said, according to two attendees.

No matter how this plays out, there will be a very large group of conservative voters gravely displeased with their party. Cue Nelson Muntz.

Joe is pissed

Jesus Christ, is there no one with balls enough to send the President a bill that limits his ability to fuck up the war any further? I swear to God, this is a shameful episode in the history of opposition politics. Right now, I don’t want to be a Democrat. The American public wants this war to end. They want the soldiers back home rather than blown to bits in some shithole Baghdad neighborhood. The Democrats in Congress should have sent the Commander Guy a bill with some teeth. Those assholes had the numbers in Congress and on the street and still rolled over for Bush. How very fucking brave of them. From the Post:

The spending package, expected to total $120 billion when the final version is released today, would require Bush to surrender virtually none of his war authority [emphasis mine]. Democrats were working to secure two other priorities that the president had previously resisted: an increase in the minimum wage and funding for domestic programs, including veterans' benefits, Hurricane Katrina relief and agricultural aid.

Instead of sticking with troop-withdrawal dates, Democrats accepted a GOP plan to establish 18 political and legislative benchmarks for the Iraqi government, with periodic reports from Bush on its progress, starting in late July. If the Iraqis fall short, they could forfeit U.S. reconstruction aid.

Benchmarks? Ugh. And what is even more frustrating, when those benchmarks are not met, we punish the Iraqi people. We are saying to them your government is a train wreck so you don’t get a water treatment plant. This will only further enrage the populace while we conveniently provide US soldiers as targets for retribution. So not only did the Democrats wuss out yet again, they are going to send Bush a funding measure that is just plain dumb. Harry Reid offers this bullshit defense:

Reid called the benchmark language "extremely weak," but he noted that Bush had initially demanded a bill with no strings attached on Iraq. "For heaven's sake, look where we've come," Reid said. "It's a lot more than the president ever expected he'd have to agree to."

Look where we’ve come? Just shut the hell up with that noise. The Dems came from standing on principle and opposing war without end. Now they are kneeling before a politically neutered President like a common supplicant. Way to fucking go guys. Bravura performance…

Joe says...

Yahoo's Feature section asks the following question:

Is Good Charlotte the next Green Day?

The answer is no. Thank you for playing.

Greening from the ground up

Aggressive local and state level environmental policy is one of the more interesting phenomena in government recently. California (Arnold in particular) has been at the forefront of this issue while Utah, Connecticut, and 500 US mayors have gotten into the act as well. Now New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed converting the entire NYC Yellow cab fleet to hybrid vehicles (thanks to my lovely and brilliant wife for the heads up). From the AP:

NEW YORK - The city's yellow taxi fleet will go entirely hybrid within five years, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Tuesday.

"There's an awful lot of taxicabs on the streets of New York City," Bloomberg said. "These cars just sit there in traffic sometimes, belching fumes.

"This does a lot less. It's a lot better for all of us," he said of the hybrid plan.

[Snip]

The standard yellow cab vehicle, the Ford Crown Victoria, gets 14 miles per gallon. In contrast, the Ford Escape taxis get 36 miles per gallon.

[Snip]

Fernando Mateo, president of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, an advocacy trade group, applauded the city's effort to go green.

"In the short term, they're going to have to spend more money, but in the long run they will save money," he said. "We support getting more hybrids on the road."

This is what leadership is all about. Local officials, recognizing that the current administration will not address the problem at a Federal level, have struck out on their own. This case is particularly fascinating for a few of reasons. First, it makes a lot of sense. The taxis can save tons of gas, simply by running the electric motor at stoplights and in traffic, which in NYC is almost all of the time. Secondly, Bloomberg’s plan appears to have the support of the taxi drivers too. He, as my boss would say, got by-in from the key stakeholders (how was that for some bullshit business jargon). That kind of broad support can help ensure a programs success and, indeed, build some momentum for more ambitious goals. Lastly, hybrid taxis are a small part of the City’s overall target of a 30% carbon emissions reduction by 2030. The time has past for small, incremental changes to be effective. By leading the way, Bloomberg may just show other cities how to achieve similar results.

Bravo Mayor Mike, well done.

The Food Stamp Challenge

I am always somewhat skeptical of these attempts to glimpse “how the other half lives” simply for the fact that these experiments lack the gnawing, constant fear accompanying true food insecurity. So while attempting to live on a $21 weekly food budget is somewhat noble, these folks know they have the option to cheat and sneak a burger or whatever. That is a luxury those dependent on food stamps do not have. Rep. Jim McGovern put it quite succinctly:

"I've been a little low on energy, but I feel guilty about complaining about anything," said McGovern, who took the challenge with his wife; each lost about five pounds. "For us, this is an exercise that ends Tuesday. For millions of people, this is their life." [emphasis mine]

My complaining aside, it is refreshing to see our representatives make a good faith effort to understand an issue from a personal perspective. Nothing can drive an issue home like first-hand experience.

More importantly, however, I am delighted to see a renewed focus on domestic issues not related to immigration (and boy, I will get to that as soon I can) or tax cuts. It is high time our lawmakers re-evaluate policies within our borders, especially things like poverty, transportation, and energy, areas that have been all but neglected and/or fucked up in the past six years.

Cloak and Dagger

British prosecutors are seeking the extradition of ex-KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi in conjunction with the Polonium poisoning another former spy Alexander Litvinenko. According to Russian law, Russia cannot extradite a citizen. If a foreign country wishes to bring a case against a Russian national, the case must be prosecuted in Russia. Not what one would call a level playing field to begin with but I doubt that matters much. I am sure this is the last thing the Kremlin wants to dig into and will be amazed if Logovoi ever sees the inside of a courtroom, much less a real trial. As they say in North Jersey, this guy is connected.

Newsweek lands an uppercut

From the Conventional Wisdom:

In GOP debate, terror panderers ripped Ron Paul for nuanced 9/11 explanation. Just after lauding Falwell, who said it was 'what we deserved.

Take that Rudy!

The Honorable, Enraged Gentleman from Virginia

That is the title of GQ’s excellent profile of Jim Webb (hat tip to DailyKos). Here is an excerpt:

Then Katrina hit, and his mind was made up. “Watching the stuff that came out of Katrina,” he says, “the unfair condemnation of people who had no power, that was it for me.” Webb e-mailed his old friend Bob Kerrey, the Vietnam veteran and former senator who, Webb says, had once tried to recruit him for a Senate run. “I’m finally frustrated enough that I think I’m gonna run,” Webb wrote, and Kerrey told him to come see him immediately in New York. “Kerrey said, ‘You and Barack Obama are the only two people I’ve talked to about running for the Senate who started with a set of principles and theories and values and then moved on to why you want to run,’ ” Webb told me, “ ‘rather than wanting to run and then looking for issues.’ ” So Webb went to Steve Jarding, the top Democratic consultant in Virginia, and asked what the chances would be against George Allen, a popular, well-financed incumbent Republican. “About 15 percent,” Jarding said. Webb liked his odds.

Tough, no-nonsense, principled, and completely unafraid of an uphill battle; you gotta love this guy. From a political perspective, Webb’s potential is limited only by his temper, which by most accounts is quick and hot, and whether he can tolerate to bullshit, go-along-to-get-along aspect of “making sausage”. That notwithstanding, I think he could be legend, one of those rare politicians, like Kennedy or Reagan, that transforms their Party and its politics for a generation.

Math made easy

This plus this plus this equals this.

Simple.

Winning the Web

The Post’s Jose Antonio Vargas has a terrific article today analyzing the growing gulf between the Left and Right in terms of effective use of the Internet. Quite simply, progressives are kicking much conservative ass on the Web and that is not likely to change very soon. Our side raises money and gets people elected. Theirs parrots whatever foolishness happened to flow from the puffy, drug-addled maw of Rush Limbaugh.

The top three Democrats, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama and Edwards, amassed more than $14 million over the Internet in the first three months of 2007; in contrast, the top three Republicans, Giuliani, McCain and Romney, collected less than half of that, $6 million. Furthermore, ABC PAC, the conservative fundraising site, has raised $385 so far for Republican presidential hopefuls; Act Blue, its liberal counterpart, has collected about $3 million for Edwards alone.

That, dear friends, is pure dominance but it gets better. The folks on the Right that care about the Web and are trying bridge the gap seem pretty clueless to me. K. Daniel Glover, an editor for the conservative National Review, sees potential growth on the Internets because Fred Thompson, not even a candidate yet, has made contacts with some folks in the “right roots” and Minority Leader Boehner has joined Twitter. Really, read the article. I am not kidding. That is Mr. Glover’s progress. These people do not get it.

(Sidebar - Twitter is, to date, the most pointless application on the Web. If I do not ask, please assume that I do not care what you had for breakfast or that you are driving to work.)

Anyway, Vargas’s most insightful work helps to explain why the Left has made so much progress on the Web while the Right made so little.

But an underlying cause may be the nature of the Republican Party and its traditional discipline -- the antithesis of the often chaotic, bottom-up, user-generated atmosphere of the Internet.

Exactly. The Internet is disorganized, content comes from a million different authors, and only small segments share the same goal; just like the Left. It is a perfect match really. The Right is comprised of two main pillars; Christian Conservatives and small government Corporatist types. The Left is a patchwork of minorities, unionists, social liberals, feminists, environmentalists, and people who are scared of the nuts on the other side. The Left understands disorder. Chaos is our neighborhood, so naturally, we have home field advantage.

The answer is yes

In a brief moment of mild self-awareness, George Bush acknowledged that he might be, in some smallish part, liable for Tony Blair stepping down as Prime Minister.

Appearing at a joint press conference at the White House, Mr. Bush was asked if he was responsible for the end of Mr. Blair's premiership.

He said: "I could be"…

Really? You think? When Bill Clinton was in office, Tony Blair was riding high as the young, hipster Captain of the ship Cool Britannia. In the six years since Clinton left office, Blair has transformed into Bush’s Poodle, largely for supporting the President’s train wreck of an Iraq policy. Saying Bush bore some responsibility for Blair’s change of fortune is like saying water is wet.

The rail yard

Growing up on the west side of Norfolk, the Norfolk Southern rail yard was a short bike ride away. One of the spur lines ran parallel to a soccer field I played on, down through the 21st Street corridor, perpetually blocking crossings and funneling traffic into a handful of underpasses (if it was raining hard, God help you). Another line ran past my Dad’s business, bringing coal in from West Virginia. It seemed that you were never too far from a blaring train horn or the ding-ding of the crossing bell. When I was old enough to drive, my friends and I would race the yard road that ran from the yard entrance out to the edge of the Lafayette River and back to the outlet on Powhatan Avenue at the 38th Street Car Shop.

At that yard entrance, there was a big sign that marked the number of days since the last accident. It was rare for that tally to drop. For some reason though, I thought it a bit morbid, posting the accident record at the front gate. The yard, however, wanted safety to be on everyone’s mind so that number would increment the next day. Safety is the top priority for the company. For that reason, Norfolk Southern has won the rail industry’s highest award for employee safety for the 18th consecutive year. I find that remarkable. It is hard to be the best at anything but to be the best for nearly two decades is nothing short of astonishing. That kind of commitment to the worker’s best interest is heartening to see.

Wolfowitz is out

CNN’s headline says “Wolfowitz to resign as World Bank chief” but in reality, he was fired and allowed a graceful exit. So the lesson here boys and girls is keep your pen out of company ink.

It is also worth noting that he is like the 543rd prominent Republican official to be arrested or step down for some sort of corruption charge. Culture of corruption indeed…

Tease

Al Gore, in a Time interview out today, discussing a potential run for the Presidency:

"I haven't ruled it out. But I don't think it's likely to happen."

Come Al, get in the game!

Cool idea

Bill Clinton has cobbled together $5 Billion worth of financing to back a building rehab program that promises to lower carbon output and increase energy efficiency (remember what it was like to have a President that could accomplish good things – ah the good old days). This is such a cool idea and has the support of sixteen cities and five of the biggest banks on the planet. Anyway, I found this passage surprising:

Buildings often represent a city's worst culprits in contributing to overall emissions. In New York, for example, the consumption of electricity, natural gas, fuel oil and steam needed to operate buildings generates 79 percent of the city's total carbon count.

79%!?!?!?!? I had no idea that buildings could be responsible for so much pollution and waste. You learn something new every day.

A Poet’s Life

Tim Armstrong, frontman for Rancid, is releasing a solo album called A Poet’s Life on May 22nd. I have listened to three tracks so far and they are AWESOME. The bit I have heard so far has a first wave ska feel full of up strumming and horns, but updated by Tim’s gravelly vocals, a fairly generous use of sampling, and some complicated mixing.

Here is a sample called Wake Up.

Fighting dogs is evil

The Pilot is reporting that police have an informant who places Michael Vick at more than one dogfight. I had hoped that he was not involved in this business. Michael, I thought, was a pretty OK guy. Marcus was the screw-up. Well apparently, they are both asshole thugs. Fighting dogs is brutish and sick. The appropriate punishment for those wretched enough to participate in this act of violence is locking them in a pen with their beasts.

Wow, this is disappointing.

GOP debate #2

General consensus from the wingers at the National Review is that Rudy! won last night. He most successfully played the tough guy card and in this election cycle, machismo appears to be the most valuable commodity for Republican contenders. I fail to see how being the candidate most eager to torture people qualifies one to be President but that was the tenor of the debate last night; Constitution be damned. Hell, Mitt Romney, to much applause mind you, went so far as to say that not only would he support interrogation via torture, he wanted to double the size of Gitmo so that we could deprive more prisoners of legal representation. I am not kidding. He actually said that. Crooks and Liars has the video. Giuliani, BTW, came across positively bloodthirsty on torture and the war on terror. McCain had the sanest response to the torture question, “torture is bad”, and yet, he was the only one to say it. That should scare the shit out of anyone who views the rule of law as important and does not harbor some bizarre “Jack Bauer Saves the World by pistol whipping a terrorist” fantasy scenario.

Now, I know that debate was in South Carolina, where voters tend to be more conservative than most, but if the audience response to some of the answers is indicative of Republican attitudes around the nation, the winner of the Primary will be the candidate most willing to shitcan the Bill of Rights. Yikes…

Despicable

There are a few world-class gutter maneuvers in the asshole playbook. Hitting on the widow at her husband’s wake is one. Publicly humiliating the handicapped for their disability also comes to mind. Intimidating the infirmed while in the hospital is another classic (my favorite performance of this was when Newt Gingrich asked his wife, whom he was cheating on, for a divorce while she was hospitalized for cancer treatment – what a sweetheart he is).

According to testimony given by Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey, AG Gonzales, White House Counsel at the time, tried the hospital tactic on a bed-ridden Attorney General John Ashcroft.

May 15 (Bloomberg) -- Alberto Gonzales pressured then- Attorney General John Ashcroft while he was hospitalized in 2004 to recertify a classified program whose legality was questioned by the Justice Department, the agency's former No. 2 official told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey testified that he and other Justice Department officials planned to resign after the visit to Ashcroft's hospital bed by Gonzales, then White House counsel, and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card. Comey was acting attorney general because of Ashcroft's illness. He wouldn't specify the program at issue, though panel members said it apparently was secret wiretapping of suspected terrorists.

"I was concerned that this was an effort to do an end-run around the acting attorney general and to get a very sick man to approve something'' that the Justice Department had concluded "was unable to be certified as to its legality,'' Comey told the Senate panel in Washington. Comey said Vice President Dick Cheney also had told him he disagreed with the department's stance.

Read the article. These are indecent people who know no bounds.

UPDATE: and good on John Ashcroft (not my favorite person BTW) for standing his ground and doing what was right, sort of.

Falwell Redux

Timothy Noah has a roundup of Jerry Falwell’s Greatest Hits. After reading the piece, I realized I was far too charitable to the Reverend yesterday. He was a bigot, a bastard and a conman. I will not miss him.

The battle of Wolfowitz

The White House has chosen to defend Paul Wolfowitz even though the World Bank found that he had broken Bank rules.

"We've made clear that we support Paul Wolfowitz," White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters.

"Furthermore, he has said -- and we agree -- that certainly a lot of mistakes were made in the personnel process. But it's not a firing offense," he added.

Right, it is not a firing offense because the mistakes made by the Administration, by comparison, would call for much stronger medicine, say waterboarding or impeachment. A little nepotism is trivial. It is not as if he was blown by the intern, shot a hunting buddy in the face, or conspired to start a civil war. Maybe that last one was off the mark but you get their point, right? Compared to Iraq, Katrina, or any of the four million corruption scandals brewing out there, this is nothing.

Look, this is yet another in the long series of attempts by BushCo to avoid any sort of accountability for their mistakes. Wolfowitz is their boy and, as such, is above the law. Holding them responsible for their actions means that the terrorists have won or something…
Once again, these are awful people doing terrible things.

The AP is reporting that Jerry Falwell is dead

From CNN:

LYNCHBURG, Virginia (AP) -- The Rev. Jerry Falwell has died, a Liberty University executive said Tuesday. He was 73.

Earlier, the executive said Falwell was hospitalized in "gravely serious" condition after being found unconscious in his office.

Ron Godwin, the executive vice president of Falwell's Liberty University, said Falwell was found unresponsive around 10:45 a.m. and taken to Lynchburg General Hospital. Godwin said he was not sure what caused the collapse, but "he has a history of heart challenges."

Karma and good taste require that I restrain my remarks for now but it must be said that the brand of “Christianity” espoused by Falwell and his ilk breeds nuts like Eric Robert Rudolph, who regrettably, is back in the news as well. The man may have done a lot of good in his life but he also nurtured a good bit of hate.

This may seem harsh but I hope Napoli loses

Sophia Loren promised (threatened) to do a striptease if her beloved Napoli soccer club wins enough games this season to moved up to the Serie A league.

"I hope that Napoli win these last few games. You watch if we go up I will do a striptease," she told Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview Tuesday. "The fans have a total passion, the city deserves promotion."

Napoli are third in Serie B, Italy's second division, and have five games left to force their way into the top two or face a promotion playoff.

God help Naploi’s fans if they win. If Loren wants to get naked, she should have done it forty years ago when it would have been appealling. Doing it now, well, I doubt anyone wants to see that. She is 72. At her age, this is sad, not to mention a little gross.

Quick word about Tech’s graduation ceremony

With the difficult tasks of memorializing the victims of the tragedy and honoring the graduates, Tech struck just the right balance. I don’t know if a ceremony can be both somber and celebratory but this one managed it. President Steiger was excellent and received two standing ovations. Gen. Abizaid’s remarks were terrific. My only complaint was the ceremony was overly long. Given the circumstances, that is but a minor flaw, hardly worth mentioning really.

What a Dick

From Salon via DailyKos:

Asked by Fox's Brent Baier to say whether he thinks anyone who opposes the war in Iraq -- that would be 65 percent of the American public -- "wants terrorists to win," Cheney says: "I think they have to be responsible for the consequences of the policy recommendations they make. If, in fact, they advocate complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, then they are, to some extent, accountable for what would happen when that policy [is] followed, what happens inside Iraq, what kind of encouragement that might give to al-Qaida."

The vice president says that breaking Americans' will is the key to al-Qaida's strategy. "So if you're going to be a public official advocating withdrawal from Iraq, you, in fact, are also saying that what you're recommending is validating the al-Qaida strategy," he says. "There are consequences to all of these decisions and all of these actions, and a responsible public official has to accept the responsibility for the consequences of what they recommend."

That Dick Cheney is pure concentrated evil is not really newsworthy, but I believe it is important to once again point out that the Administration equates opposing their war strategy to being objectively pro-terrorist. And accountability, well that is for the other guys.

Welcome to Bushworld. Smell the freedom.

And McNulty makes three

From the AP:

WASHINGTON - Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty said Monday he will resign, becoming the highest-ranking Bush administration casualty in the furor over the firing of U.S. attorneys.

Attorney General Gonzales had lost his chief of staff and his White House liaison over this scandal so far. Now the number two man in the Department is on the way out. Gonzales is taking a worse beating than your average Birthday piñata, and yet he still seems determined to finish the term. I don’t know if he is simply hunting dog loyal to Bush or too stubborn to read the writing on the wall. Either way, the AG keeps going, like a boxer rising from the canvas by sheer force of his will. In that regard, I can almost respect him.

Interesting

New Yorkers favor Mayor Michael Bloomberg over former Mayor Rudy Giuliani for President 46% to 29% and think Bloomberg is the better mayor 56% to 29%.

This is interesting in that Bloomberg appears to be thinking about an Indy run for President. There has been talk of just that for a year and a half at least. If either Hagel or Bloomberg run, it would almost guarantee a Democratic victory by splitting the Right vote.

Furthermore, this is one more indication that Rudy!’s support is not terribly strong and that support will be tested.

Heading to Blacksburg

Lo and I are going to see the fabulous Holly graduate Veterinary School (Big Ups Holly!). The fact that Tech’s graduation is a front-page story on Yahoo, well nobody wanted that. I am excited to see everybody, thrilled for Holly, but the whole thing is tinged with a bit of sadness and at the same time, a bit of pride. I am just in awe of the way those kids have come together and handled what must have been a terribly traumatic situation with dignity, grace and class. Not much else to say but God bless them and go Hokies…

The Happy Birthday Post

My brother, and BTW the bestest brother a guy could have, turned 30 today. So here's to you bro', I hope you make it a good one.

Throwing down the gauntlet, scared to death edition

Fearing for GOP’s future in the coming election, a group of Republican lawmakers met with the President this week and told him he has only a few months to show progress on Iraq or face abandonment of his policy by Congress.

I suppose someone had to pierce the bad news force field that protects the Commander Guy from reality but the cynic in me sees a bunch of craven weasels more concerned with their political lives than the actual lives of the soldiers they helped to put in harm’s way. It sees the same people that claimed timetables would embolden our enemies in Iraq, setting a timetable for their own selfish benefit. Lastly, it sees pure desperation on the part of the war’s supporters. Read the article, you can almost taste the dread gripping Virginia’s own Tom Davis. Instead of doing the right thing and pressing Bush to get out now, these schmucks are going to sacrifice a few hundred more soldiers to cover their own asses.

God, these people suck.

The Treasury Department is investigating Michael Moore

The Dept. of Treasury is scrutinizing a trip to Cuba that Moore arranged for some ill 9/11 rescue workers. The trip, part of his upcoming documentary on the US healthcare industry entitled “Sicko”, may have violated the government’s travel restrictions to Cuba.

Let me just say that the investigation might be legitimate but boy, it sure does not look like it and given the Administration’s track record, probably isn’t. This crowd believes in retribution and after Fahrenheit 9/11, well let’s says I doubt they had forgotten about Michael Moore. He has to be on someone's list.

I swear to God, one of these days George Bush is going to morph into Richard Nixon. Cheney, by the way, is already Agnew, Haig, and Kissenger rolled into one.

Dilemmas

Jim Lindberg, lead singer for Pennywise, answers the question of how to be a responsible 41 year old punk rock father.

“This is the graying of punk rock where a lot of people who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s are now at an age where they are having kids and getting mortgages. It is a new experience for us," Lindberg told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"The strangest part for a lot of my peer group is that we grew up championing the rights of expression but then you see some slasher movie and won't let the kids watch it."

I love that. He is absolutely right. It is funny how quickly one's kids trump one’s heartfelt ideals.

Giuliani is going to be fun to watch

CNN is reporting that Rudy! and his wife made donations to an organization loathed by the Republican base; one which haunts the nightmares of many a wingnut. That’s right people, he gave money to Planned Parenthood.

If he wins the nomination, you can be all but guaranteed that the hardcore conservatives will not vote for him. They can overlook a divorce or two but not supporting Planned Parenthood. Imagine a Democratic candidate asking World Wildlife Federation members for their votes after admitting that he wears baby seal fur. This is going to go over about as well.

I had no idea Newsweek was on the Al-Qaeda payroll

Ann Coulter at her evil, skanky, slanderous best (worst?):

WASHINGTON — A recent Newsweek poll showing Democrat Barack Obama leading top Republican presidential hopefuls could have been made up and might help al-Qaida, conservative commentator Ann Coulter said in her latest verbal broadside.

Coulter, a best-selling author known for outrageous and often controversial statements, was asked Sunday on Fox News' "At Large" what she thought about the survey results.

"I think this is Newsweek doing more push polling for al-Qaida," she said, referring to campaign-season telephone calls to voters masquerading as neutral surveys but designed to build opposition to targeted candidates.

Asked by host Geraldo Rivera whether she thought Newsweek would make up the results, Coulter said, "Yes, I do," adding, "In polls where people are actually allowed to vote, Republicans do a lot better."

This woman is certifiable. Tell me again how she is credible enough to put on the teevee.

Early but promising

If you are a Republican running for President, these numbers should scare the hell out of you.

The poll of 1,000 adults, taken ahead of Thursday's debate between the eight Republican candidates for their party's 2008 nomination, showed Clinton beating Republican favorite Giuliani 49-46 percent; Obama beating Giuliani 50-43 percent; and Edwards beating the former New York City mayor 50-44 percent.

Senator Clinton, wife of former US president Bill Clinton, l led Republican Senator McCain 50-44 percent, while Senator Obama beat McCain 52-39 percent and Edwards topped him 52-42 percent.

Similar matchups against the Republican former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney showed even greater spreads favoring the Democrats.

So our top three beats their top three in any combination – sweet. November 2008 may be eternity away but things are setting up nicely for the home team

Clueless

It takes a special kind on stupid to quote Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate General and one of the founders of the KKK, on the floor of the US House. To categorize it as wildly inappropriate is a bit of an understatement. To my mind, it is akin to quoting Hitler at a JCC meeting. That, however, did not stop Texas Republican (of course) Rep. Ted Poe.

On Monday, Rep. Ted Poe took to the House floor to discuss foreign policy matters. To make a point, the Texas Republican invoked the words of Civil War Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest: “Git thar fustest with the mostest.”

As the Carpetbagger points out, Americans routinely identify Forrest as one of the worst people in our history. And people wonder why the GOP has a hard time garnering support in the African American community…

Thanks guys

Fifteen Democrats rolled over for Big Pharma yesterday, killing an effort to allow importation of cheaper, foreign prescription medicines. Particularly surprising and disappointing were the “yes” votes from Kennedy and Kerry. A real profile in courage there fellas…

Bush loses Lott

First, Boehner bailed and now Lott. We are witnessing, at long last, the disintegration of the pro-war caucus and perhaps the return of sanity to Congress. God willing, we could be out of Iraq by Christmas.

WASHINGTON - Senate Republican Whip Trent Lott says President Bush’s new strategy in Iraq has until about fall before GOP members will need to see results.

Lott's comment Monday put a fine point on what Senate Republican stalwarts have been discussing quietly for weeks. It also echoed remarks made this weekend by House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, indicating the GOP's limited patience on the war.

"I do think this fall we have to see some significant changes on the ground, in Baghdad and other surrounding areas," Lott, R-Miss., told reporters.

Lott declined to say what he thinks should happen if Congress does not see improvement in the security situation by then. But he said lawmakers have time before they must decide.

It seems that the GOP leadership is determined not to allow the war to drag them down any further before the next election cycle. This is in direct confrontation with the Administration, which is equally determined to run out the clock on Bush’s term and drop the whole affair in the next President’s lap; cynical, incompetent bastards that they are.

The real issue is that the American people have already decided they want us out. The GOP was trounced in November because they refused to hear that message. If they cannot get out from under Iraq before 2008, their loses will be devastating. The Republicans know that and are freaking out about it.

Boehner and Lott just hit the panic button. Bush's Congressional support for the war is about to collapse.

UPDATE: Just to be clear here, I am not predicting that we are going to pull out of Iraq anytime soon. I do not think that the Democrats in Congress have the balls to cut off funding for the war and that is the only way this thing ends. If Congress does remove funding, the Dems are going to need a ton of Republican votes to give them some political cover. I don’t see that happening.

What I think will happen is some of the pro-war caucus will begin to oppose the Bush strategy. Indeed, that is what Boehner and Lott did. Moving them to oppose the war is going to take some time.

The best government money can buy

I wonder why the Sierra Club never gets busted for bribery…

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- The founder of a multinational oil services company and one of his top executives have admitted to illegally paying more than $400,000 to Alaska lawmakers in a widening political corruption scandal.

Bill J. Allen, chief executive of Anchorage-based VECO Corp., and Rick Smith, a vice president, pleaded guilty Monday to bribing state legislators with cash and the promise of jobs and favors for their backing on bills supported by the company.

Allen, 70, and Smith, 62, appeared separately in U.S. District Court to plead guilty to extortion, bribery and conspiracy to impede the Internal Revenue Service.

The pleas came days after the indictment of one current and two former Republican members of the Alaska House of Representatives on federal bribery and extortion charges related to last year's negotiations for a new oil and gas tax and a proposed natural gas pipeline that would have benefited VECO.

House Democrats on Monday asked Gov. Sarah Palin and House Speaker John Harris, R-Valdez, to consider a fall special session to review how the petroleum profits tax was approved.
The three indicted lawmakers -- Rep. Vic Kohring of Wasilla and former Reps. Pete Kott of Eagle River and Bruce Weyhrauch of Juneau -- have pleaded not guilty to accepting payoffs from VECO.

The FBI has said the arrests Friday stemmed from an investigation that led federal agents last summer to raid the offices of at least six lawmakers, including Kohring, Kott and Weyhrauch. Among those raided was the office of then-Senate President Ben Stevens, the son of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.

This is what you call an “out”

The House Minority Leader, John Boehner (R-OH) just gave the Democrats a gift like no other. He gave them a way to end the Iraq War without committing political suicide. In an interview yesterday, he said the following:

"Over the course of the next three to four months, we'll have some idea how well the plan's working. Early signs are indicating there is clearly some success on a number of fronts," he said.

But, he added, "By the time we get to September or October, members are going to want to know how well this is working, and if it isn't, what's Plan B."

In a nutshell, the Dems can send Bush an Iraq funding bill, free of conditions, that will pay through, say, October 1. The President will have to sign it. Come October, according to Boehner, we will know if the surge is working. If it is, great, Bush can ask for more money. If the surge fails, it is going to be next to impossible for the Republicans in Congress to make an argument to spend more blood and money on this misguided adventure.

Oh and Plan B? We are on like Plan T or something. Who is he kidding?

Thompson apologizes for anti-gay comment

He claims he misunderstood the question and from his retraction, I believe him.

Asked if it would be acceptable for a private employer who finds homosexuality immoral to fire a gay worker, presidential candidate Tommy Thompson said "yes" in a debate, but the former Wisconsin governor is backpedaling rapidly from that statement.

"I made a mistake, I misinterpreted the question," Thompson told CNN this morning. "I didn't hear the question properly and I apologize. That is not my position. There should be no discrimination in the workplace."

This will probably cost him the Primary but good for him for being unequivocal in his answer.

Joe is confused

When Nancy Pelosi and a delegation of Congressmen met with the Syrians last month, the Administration singled out Pelosi as having done a Very Bad Thing. The wingnuts said her actions were akin to treason. Yet there was nary a peep regarding any of the males on the same trip. Flash forward to this week when Condi Rice met with the Syrian Foreign Minister at the big “What the hell do we do about Iraq?” conference in Egypt. Rice’s meeting was hailed as thawing of relations and the beginnings of a dialogue between the quarreling states.

So, the “Talking to the Syrians” score card is as follows:
Men talking to the Syrians – no problemo.
Black women talking to the Syrians – you go girl!
White chicks talking to the Syrians – The horror; the horror!

This policy strikes me as more than odd. Does the Administration have something against white women? It would sure seem so. Maybe there is some other explanation that I am too dull to glean from the evidence...

The Debate

It was pretty boring. No one melted down though Thompson came just short with his “let’s fire the Homos” comment. No one really set the stage on fire either. Here is my short take on each of the candidates.

Giuliani: Reagan! 9/11! Optimism! Reagan! Terror! As for Roe vs. Wade, well, I can take it or leave it. Did I mention 9/11? Reagan!

McCain: Iraq! Never give and never surrender! Reagan! Hey! You kids get off my lawn!

Romney: I will say anything to get your vote so please, pay attention to my hair and not my record. Reagan! Reagan! Reagan!

Hunter: I see brown people! We must build a wall!

Tancredo: I see brown people and I want to catapult them over that wall!

Huckabee: Abortion is the WORST THING EVAH! Every sperm is sacred! But I am not a crazy as I seem at first blush.

Gilmore: 9/11! I am the real conservative in this race! Reagan!

Paul: We must destroy the IRS! (tap, tap, tap) Is this thing on? (tap, tap, tap) What are you people, an audience or an oil painting? (tap, tap) Hello? Hello?

Thompson: We should make it legal to fire homosexuals for their icky gayness! Oh, and I was once a governor.

Brownback: Abortion equals Islamofascism! More Jesus can solve all of our problems. I Heart Theocracy!

OK – I admit that this is somewhat cursory, but this is what I got out of it. Did I miss anything?

The Anchor

With the first Republican debate tonight, the big question for the contenders is what to say about The Commander Guy. It is a good question. As Adam Nagourney put it:

It is hardly a coincidence that none of the Republican presidential candidates have appeared in any high-profile public settings with Mr. Bush in recent months.

Bush is a huge drag on both the Party and the prospect of any Republican succeeding him. At 32% approval, standing with the President is risky. By and large, General election voters cannot stand Bush but breaking with him too much may anger the dead-ender activists that vote in the Primaries. Quite the conundrum, no? As Nelson Muntz says, “ha, ha”…

Bush on Iraq

From a speech today:

Either we'll succeed, or we won't succeed [Ed. Note – Well, duh]. And the definition of success as I described is sectarian violence down. Success is not, no violence. There are parts of our own country that have got a certain level of violence to it. But success is a level of violence where the people feel comfortable about living their daily lives. And that's what we're trying to achieve.

Am I too understand that our new goal is the drive violence down to a more "comfortable" inner-city Detroit level? He cannot be serious.

UPDATE: I did not get to this until just now because I can never read Bush’s speeches in one sitting. As Lo said in comments, you have to reread passages repeatedly to figure out what marble mouth is trying to say. Anyway, Bush has dropped The Decider moniker for a manlier nom de guerre; one so scorn-worthy, the Onion could hardly have done better.

We put in more troops to get to a position where we can be in some other place. The question is, who ought to make that decision? The Congress or the commanders? And as you know, my position is clear -- I'm the commander guy [emphasis mine].

That is so brilliant; the glorious preposterousness of it is quite simply overwhelming. I can almost see him delivering that line, hands on hips, as though he were General Macarthur landing on the shores of the Philippines. The Commander Guy – absolute fucking genius...

Yeltsin

Matt Taibbi has a great obituary (if one can call it that) in the latest issue of Rolling Stone. Let’s just say that Taibbi has little love for the former President.

Like most people who lived in Russia during the 1990s -- and Russia was my home throughout Yeltsin's entire reign as Russian president -- I have a wide variety of fond memories of the Motherland's drunken, bloblike train wreck of a revolutionary leader. My favorite came in 1995, at a press conference in Moscow, when a couple of American reporters perfectly captured the essence of Yeltsin by heckling him as he stumbled into the room. As he burst through the side entrance with that taillight-red face of his, hands wobbling in front of him in tactile search of the podium, the two hacks in the back called out: "Nor-r-r-r-r-r-m!" Such a perfect moment, I almost died laughing. Boris Nikolayevich, of course, was too wasted to hear the commotion at the back of the room.

Ouch…

AU troops (finally) patrolling Mogadishu

The fighting between the Ethiopian regulars and Islamic radicals has cooled enough for the African Union forces to start patrols while tentative negotiations begin. This is a very good first step to building a lasting peace in Somalia and staving off what could be a nasty humanitarian crisis.

But as things go in this neighborhood, I am not getting overly optimistic. Governments in the region have an uncommon talent for blowing opportunities or as a diplomat put it in the article:

"Every time the government has a chance to do something sensible they do the exact opposite. "

Such is life in the Horn of Africa…

Bad versus good with pinch of Rudy!

I am not the greatest writer in the world – this I know. I write for fun. It is not my job and I don’t get paid for it. Many other people, however, make their living writing. So when I saw this inane, contradictory headline/sub-header combo on MSNBC.com, I wanted to scream:

Bush will work with Democrats on Iraq
Veto on current Iraq spending bill now expected on Wednesday

How in the world does that make sense? If we substitute the word “fight” for “work”, then we have something that is both accurate and coherent, no? I don’t know if the writer or the editor is responsible for this bit of compositional buffoonery, but come on people, you have to at least try. And the rest of the piece reads like dictation from the desk of Karl Rove – just awful.

Michael Wolff, on the other hand, knows how to write. His Vanity Fair piece on Rudy! is terrific (Sidebar – Vanity Fair is home to some of the best writing out there today).

Crazy for Rudy
Many New York political pros believe Rudy Giuliani—former mayor, hero of 9/11, and now presidential candidate—is, quite literally, nuts. The author asks whether Giuliani's lunatic behavior could be the ultimate campaign asset.

Now that is how to lead a story. As I said, this is a really good article and funny to boot. It has also made me rethink my stance on Giuliani. If I had to pick a Republican to be our next President (perish the thought), he was my first choice. I thought he was the sanest Republican in the field. Now, I am not so sure.

This is not good news

A new study out claims that the Arctic polar ice cap is melting at a rate 30 years ahead of predictions and could be completely gone by 2020.

I do not understand how anyone can continue to deny that global warming is a problem and one that must be addressed.

Four years ago today

Worst. President. Ever.

Happy May Day y'all