Cup o' Moose

Galt'd!

2009-03-20T07:04:00.002-04:00

Apparently it's ok to send Americans to fight and die in a war built on lies, but it's not ok for them to pay higher taxes.

Galt!

Rewarding Bad Behavior

2009-01-29T17:38:00.002-05:00

Invent bullshit legal theories, get published in the WSJ! Money quote:

The first thing any lawyer will do is tell his clients to shut up. The KSMs or Abu Zubaydahs of the future will respond to no verbal questioning or trickery -- which is precisely why the Bush administration felt compelled to use more coercive measures in the first place.

This from the guy who was one of the principal actors in authorizing torture. John Yoo should be locked up in jail for the harm he's caused (maybe waterboarded, which he wouldn't consider torture, for kicks). Instead, conservative institutions give him a louder megaphone from which he can spew his bile. Somebody please prosecute this assclown.

Off to a Good Start

2009-01-29T13:27:00.003-05:00

I know my expectations have been warped over the past eight years, but this is common sense, good law:

President Obama signed his first bill into law on Thursday, approving equal-pay legislation that he said would “send a clear message that making our economy work means making sure it works for everybody.”

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is long overdue. After the Supreme Court refused to hear the Ledbetter v. Goodyear case on standing - no politics involved there - Senate Republicans killed the bill in 2008.

Elections have consequences.

Republicans Jump, Hi-Five Shark

2009-01-26T13:51:00.002-05:00

Sounds like an Onion headline:

Republicans Irate of Expansion of Republican-Approved Program

Off to a Good Start

2009-01-21T08:20:00.001-05:00

One of President Barack Obama's first acts Tuesday was to put the brakes on all pending regulations that the Bush administration tried to push through in its waning days.
The order went out shortly after Obama was inaugurated president, in a memorandum signed by new White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

Mmm, tasty hope.

Wingnut Droppings

2009-01-20T09:54:00.003-05:00

In response to the headline "History Will Remember Bush Well" from the WSJ, my girlfriend writes:

Do you ever wonder how the Wall Street Journal manages to inhabit an alternate universe, and yet cross over and leave its droppings in ours on such a regular basis? Someone should alert NASA that this is actually possible

I do, but can only handle the stupid for a short amount of time before it my mind explodes.

One Last Pony

2009-01-18T21:43:00.001-05:00

Thanks, Bush.

What will we use for Obama? A bicycle?

The Stimulus Plan

2009-01-15T17:08:00.000-05:00

Ambinder has the summary.

Run Hank Paulson Out of Town

2009-01-14T17:53:00.003-05:00

The U.S. government is close to committing billions in additional aid to Bank of America Corp. as the nation's largest bank by assets tries to digest its Jan. 1 acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co., according to people familiar with the situation.

[...]

Any possible arrangement might protect Bank of America from losses on Merrill's bad assets. There would be a cap on the amount of losses the bank would have to absorb with the federal government being on the hook for the remainder, according to one person familiar with the matter.

[...]

The talks with Bank of America were driven by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, people familiar with the matter said, because he was concerned that without help the deal wouldn't close, leaving Merrill adrift. The merger did close Jan. 1 with the understanding the two sides would hammer out a plan, said a person familiar with the talks.

Hank is working for the bankers, not the taxpayers.

Tail Wags Dog

2009-01-13T14:05:00.002-05:00

This has to stop:

“I said, ‘Get me President Bush on the phone,’ ” Mr. Olmert said in a speech in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, according to The Associated Press. “They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn’t care: ‘I need to talk to him now,’ ” Mr. Olmert continued. “He got off the podium and spoke to me.”
Israel opposed the resolution, which called for a halt to the fighting in Gaza, because the government said it did not provide for Israel’s security. It passed 14 to 0, with the United States abstaining.
Mr. Olmert claimed that once he made his case to Mr. Bush, the president called Ms. Rice and told her to abstain. “She was left pretty embarrassed,” Mr. Olmert said, according to The A.P.

U.S. and Israeli interests are not one and the same.

Drinking the Ethanol-aid

2008-12-17T12:01:00.001-05:00

Hmm:

Former Iowa Governor Thomas Vilsack is set to be named by President-elect Barack Obama as his choice for Agriculture secretary

My hopes for substantially improving the farm bill just decreased, but we'll see.

Senate Republicans Kill Auto Bill

2008-12-12T07:37:00.004-05:00

Because it would have given normal people the means to live a normal lifestyle.

The Senate on Thursday night abandoned efforts to fashion a government rescue of the American automobile industry, as Senate Republicans refused to support a bill endorsed by the White House and Congressional Democrats.

The failure to reach agreement on Capitol Hill raised a specter of financial collapse for General Motors and Chrysler, which say they may not be able to survive through this month.

After Senate Republicans balked at supporting a $14 billion auto rescue plan approved by the House on Wednesday, negotiators worked late into Thursday evening to broker a deal, but deadlocked over Republican demands for steep cuts in pay and benefits by the United Automobile Workers union in 2009.

I'm sickened. Republicans' ideological - privatize wealth! socialize risk! - and political - break the unions' backs! - reasons are disgusting.

This is not to say that this was the greatest plan ever - it wasn't - and that we needed to act right now - we don't - but there are principled objections that they could have made to the bill. Instead, they acted upon the most base and wretched motives.

Link.

Clarence Thomas Wants a Pony for Christmas

2008-12-04T12:36:00.001-05:00

Too bad for him, I don't think it's likely:

in a highly unusual move, U.S Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has asked his colleagues of the court to consider a lawsuit filed, that questions Barack Obama's citizenship.

Nobody likes Clarence.

War?

2008-12-04T09:23:00.001-05:00

Oh yeah, that war.

At least 15 people died and 147 were hurt, including many schoolchildren, by two suicide vehicle bombs in the former rebel bastion of Fallujah on Thursday, an interior ministry official said.
Earlier, a defence ministry official said at least 10 people, including women, were killed in the bombings, which he said targeted Iraqi police posts.

The surge was a success!

Media Drama Queens

2008-12-03T12:40:00.003-05:00

NYT's Alessandra Stanley.

Oh no she didn't!

Obama's Economic Team

2008-11-25T13:02:00.001-05:00

Roubini likes.

Illegal Spying

2008-11-21T08:01:00.000-05:00

Can we revisit FISA now?

Verizon Wireless said on Thursday that some employees had gained unauthorized access and viewed a personal cell phone account held by President-elect Barack Obama that is now inactive.
An Obama aide said his voice-mail messages and e-mails were not breached in the incident.

"We were notified yesterday that employees had accessed the records of an old cell phone no longer in use," the Obama aide said. "No voice or e-mails were listened to or read."

Irony

2008-11-11T13:08:00.000-05:00

Dead.

The End of Cheneyism

2008-11-07T13:29:00.000-05:00

TPM.

Rats Jumping Ship

2008-11-06T10:43:00.003-05:00

Reuters:

Roy Blunt, the Republican whip in the House of Representatives, will announce on Thursday he will not seek another term in leadership after his party's blowout election losses, Republican sources said.

Blunt will be the second senior Republican not seeking another term in leadership after Adam Putnam of Florida said on Tuesday that he would not seek re-election to his third-ranking job of Republican conference chairman.

I think Cantor is gunning for Blunt's job. Let him have it.

The Republican party has a lot of soul searching to do before it can be nationally viable again. Fortunately for us, I don't know what it can do. The party is disintegrating into civil war between the corporate-, theo- and neo-cons, as well as a large part of the base that won't take anything less than all three together (let's call this the National Review wing of the party), a philosophy that was hardly two days ago soundly rejected in the election.

The biggest mistake they can make is to enshrine themselves even further in their cocoon and claim that it's because they weren't Republican or conservative enough that they lost, which is what the National Review wing of the party is claiming. If they continue to cling to this and nominate a similar candidate in 2012 they will consign themselves to the wilderness for a very long time.

At Last

2008-11-05T13:16:00.001-05:00

We won!

Couple senate races still up in there. More to come...

His Shrillness:

Last night wasn’t just a victory for tolerance; it wasn’t just a mandate for progressive change; it was also, I hope, the end of the monster years.

What I mean by that is that for the past 14 years America’s political life has been largely dominated by, well, monsters. Monsters like Tom DeLay, who suggested that the shootings at Columbine happened because schools teach students the theory of evolution. Monsters like Karl Rove, who declared that liberals wanted to offer “therapy and understanding” to terrorists. Monsters like Dick Cheney, who saw 9/11 as an opportunity to start torturing people.
And in our national discourse, we pretended that these monsters were reasonable, respectable people. To point out that the monsters were, in fact, monsters, was “shrill.”

Four years ago it seemed as if the monsters would dominate American politics for a long time to come. But for now, at least, they’ve been banished to the wilderness.

The Republican Communications Triangle

2008-10-28T12:25:00.001-04:00

h/t DKos.

Terrorism

2008-10-15T08:59:00.002-04:00

Domestic Republican party-style:

Today, the Obama campaign office in South Philadelphia was the target of a mailed threat that also contained a white powder. It was found by a volunteer opening the mail and resulted in a full scale hazmat and police response. The office was evacuated and containment and testing instituted to find out what the substance was.
Fortunately, the powder turned out to be sugar and all staff and volunteers are fine. Since the letter was actually sent through the mail, the matter is now a federal investigation, as it rightly should be.

Barack Obama, well-known terrorist-at-large, hates America.

Don't Sit This One Out

2008-10-07T12:55:00.000-04:00

Sullivan:

This is not an election you can sit out. This is an election where we all have to take a stand, including the press. Too much is in peril for a false neutrality.

Remember to vote!

Broder's World

2008-10-06T20:23:00.002-04:00

Broder writes about the VP debate. Fallows calls him out:

Such an assessment can be true only if you have decided to assess debate performance on one factor alone, perky self-assurance, and to assign no weight whatsoever to such items as logic, responsiveness to questions, clarity in explaining views, factual knowledge, sentence by sentence coherence, and so on.

Keep on chugging, good old bipartisanship! WHOO!!!

McCain's Healthcare Policy

2008-10-06T13:08:00.000-04:00

I eatz it.

VP Debate Thoughts

2008-10-03T16:12:00.002-04:00

Tactical victory for Biden, strategic draw.

Oops

2008-09-30T07:52:00.002-04:00

AP:

Republican John McCain has maneuvered himself into a political dead end and has five weeks to find his way out.
Last Wednesday, McCain suspended his presidential campaign to insert himself into a $700 billion effort to rescue America's crumbling financial structure. In so doing, he tied himself far more tightly to the bill than did his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama.
...
Within hours, however, the measure died in the House mainly at the hands of McCain's own Republicans.

Initially, McCain went silent, choosing instead to send his chief economic adviser out with a statement that blamed Obama, claiming that the first-term Illinois senator had put his political ambitions ahead of the good of the country.

Read the whole article, it's pithy and damning.

Whiner

2008-09-29T16:42:00.001-04:00

Sidney:

After making it through their first debate with their civility intact, the major presidential candidates today stepped up their rhetoric in attacks over how to deal with economic issues.

At a rally here, Republican John McCain accused rival Sen. Barack Obama of failing to show any leadership during the congressional negotiations over a $700-billion bailout package, which was defeated in the Houses today. Campaigning in Colorado, Obama argued that the country can't afford to gamble on McCain, according to excerpts supplied by the campaign.

Never mind that the package was set to pass last week until Senator Sissypants showed up and gave House Republicans a reason to defeat this on solely political grounds (i.e., make Democrats look bad). They made this mess, they stopped us from fixing it and somehow it's our fault? Shove it.

Rule O' Law

2008-09-26T17:16:00.000-04:00

About time:

Seven of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's top aides are defying subpoenas for their testimony into possible abuse of power by the governor. Palin's Chief of Staff Mike Nizich and six other aides have failed to appear at a legislative hearing Friday into whether Palin abused her power when she fired her public safety commissioner this summer

Nobody could have predicted...

From the Paper That Brought You John Edwards' Love Child

2008-09-24T20:14:00.002-04:00

Palinpalooza!

No less than three members of the man’s family including one by sworn affidavit have claimed that Sarah Palin engaged in an extramarital affair with husband Todd’s former business partner, Brad Hanson.

Let's see how this one plays out.

Bailouts R Us

2008-09-24T09:09:00.000-04:00

Because they're our friends!

More Dodd!

No Way, No How

2008-09-23T08:23:00.002-04:00

Can Sarah Palin be VP:

In an interview with Fox News Channel, Palin said: "It was an unfair attack on the verbiage that Sen. McCain chose to use because the fundamentals, as he was having to explain afterwards, he means our work force, he means the ingenuity of the American people. And of course, that is strong and that is the foundation of our economy."

Our ideals our strong, therefore we must be a nation of whiners. Thanks, Sarah!

Business as Usual

2008-09-22T11:15:00.002-04:00

McCain campaign:

Senator John McCain’s campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say.

We can trust him to fight for us against the special interests because he said so.

Behind the Times

2008-09-18T14:50:00.003-04:00

Sarah Palin:

Sarah Palin likes to tell voters around the country about how she “put the government checkbook online” in Alaska. On Thursday, Palin suggested she would take that same proposal to Washington.
“We’re going to do a few new things also,” she said at a rally in Cedar Rapids. “For instance, as Alaska’s governor, I put the government’s checkbook online so that people can see where their money’s going. We’ll bring that kind of transparency, that responsibility, and accountability back. We’re going to bring that back to D.C.”

There’s just one problem with proposing to put the federal checkbook online – somebody’s already done it. His name is Barack Obama.

Snap!

Why I Can't Be Vice President

2008-09-18T14:50:00.002-04:00

I blink.

Biden Thinks Paying Taxes Is Patriotic

2008-09-18T14:50:00.001-04:00

Amen

Standing Up to Dermatologists

2008-09-17T13:42:00.000-04:00

Palin:

While partisan bloggers and the sun scare industry will use this as an opportunity to undermine Gov. Palin and demonize the indoor tanning industry, the fact is that Governor Palin’s decision to get UV light from a tanning bed positively impacts her health.

“Moderate amounts of indoor tanning allow Governor Palin to experience the many health benefits that come with exposure to UV light,” said Dan Humiston, President of the Indoor Tanning Association. “Especially in dreary northern locations like Alaska, indoor tanning can help guard against wintertime depression and ward off diseases associated with vitamin D deficiency.”

“Kudos to Governor Palin for standing up to dermatologists and other members of the sun scare industry who are trying to frighten Americans away from UV light.”

She's a strong hockey mom.

Financial Crisis, Simplified

2008-09-16T13:27:00.001-04:00

Atrios, PhD:

Through this crisis, there's this underlying narrative that something can be done, that there's just a wee liquidity problem. But underlying all of this is the fact that banks made a bunch of stupid loans which aren't being repaid. A bunch of people made highly leveraged investments in securities backed by those loans. A bunch of other people sold insurance on those securities and related debt.

Lots of money is being lost and there isn't any way to fix that.

Someone give this man a podium.

LOL

2008-09-15T07:55:00.002-04:00

Rove:

Take it from an expert. Karl Rove, known as the architect of President George W. Bush’s electoral victories, believes White House candidates John McCain and Barack Obama have gone too far in their attacks on each other.
Rove, speaking on the television program Fox News Sunday, said an ad by the Democratic presidential nominee and Illinois senator criticizing McCain for not being e-mail savvy was unfair.

“His war injuries keep him from being able to use a keyboard. He can’t type. You know, it’s like saying he can’t do jumping jacks,” Rove said of the Arizona senator and former U.S. prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Sing it, Karl!

Adding, there's a difference of orders of magnitude between the two campaigns and Rove is trying to fudge that difference. Nice try.

Paul Krugman Writes a Column

2008-09-12T13:27:00.001-04:00

Read it.

More Important Things to Do

2008-09-11T09:17:00.002-04:00

Earmarks:

The total national debt, as I write this, is $9,679,000,000,000.00 (nine and a half trillion).

The Budget for 2008 is close to $3,000,000,000,000.00 (three trillion).

Our budget deficit for this year is going to range in between $400-500,000,000,000.00 (four hundred to five hundred billion, give or take a few billion).

The total value of wasteful earmarks in 2008 (according to CAGW) will be approximately $18,000,000,000.00 (eighteen billion).

In other words, when McCain talks about earmarks, he is talking about 3% of our annual budget deficit, .6% of our annual budget, and a number too small to even report when discussing our national debt. Or, put another way, he is talking about two months in Iraq, something he wants to keep going indefinitely.

John McCain is a liar and cannot solve our problems.

Liars

2008-09-10T07:46:00.002-04:00

Republicans.

From a Jim Demint (Sen, R-SC) op-ed in today's WSJ:

Mrs. Palin also killed the infamous Bridge to Nowhere in her own state. Yes, she once supported the project: But after witnessing the problems created by earmarks for her state and for the nation's budget, she did what others like me have done: She changed her position and saved taxpayers millions. Even the Alaska Democratic Party credits her with killing the bridge.

That is a lie, one so completely wrong it's pathetic. But so is John McCain.

Talking Points Everyone Should Be Aware of

2008-09-09T20:24:00.003-04:00

On pork:

At a rally today, Sen. McCain again asserted that Sen. Obama has requested nearly a billion in earmarks. In fact, the Illinois senator requested $311 million last year, according to the Associated Press, and none this year. In comparison, Gov. Palin has requested $750 million in her two years as governor -- which the AP says is the largest per-capita request in the nation.

This "reformer" talk is pure bullshit. If the press bothered to do its homework instead of just repeating his bullshit McCain would be stopped dead in his tracks, but such is our press. Same Republican party, same bullshit, different candidate.

I was only going to post that, but this is just as awful:

The priorities of Sarah Palin:
An expensive sports complex made much more expensive because you're too incompetent to ensure the city had the land rights -- not burdensome.
Paying for rape kits for rape victims -- burdensome.

(via LGM)

Once again the media is missing the ball. The issue isn't experience - it's sound judgment and understanding. If Palin can't properly administer a town of 4,000 and she doesn't understand how our government and economy work, then she does not deserve the office for which she campaigns.

John McCain represents neither reform nor change. He represents the same Bush policies that have dragged this country into the mud.

Tax Cuts Pay for Themselves

2008-09-09T10:40:00.002-04:00

Except when they don't:

The budget deficit will jump by $246 billion to $407 billion, according to an updated estimate by the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday.
Last year, the budget deficit was $161 billion. The government's budget year ends Sept. 30.
The agency attributes the jump to "a substantial increase in spending and a halt in the growth of tax revenues."

McCain must not be allowed to win this election. He doesn't give a damn about the economy. Looking forward to Thursday's debate.

Nothing to the Left of Bill O'Reilly Allowed on TV

2008-09-08T08:01:00.003-04:00

Explain FOX News to me?

MSNBC is removing Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as the anchors of live political events, bowing to growing criticism that they are too opinionated to be seen as neutral in the heat of the presidential campaign.

Let's see what this does to their ratings...

McMaverick

2008-09-05T13:20:00.001-04:00

Not quite:

According to Nicole Wallace of the McCain campaign, the American people don't care whether Sarah Palin can answer specific questions about foreign and domestic policy. According to Wallace -- in an appearance I did with her this morning on Joe Scarborough's show -- the American people will learn all they need to know (and all they deserve to know) from Palin's scripted speeches and choreographed appearances on the campaign trail and in campaign ads.

Apparently they have nothing to hide.

Pork's Baby Daddf

2008-09-03T12:43:00.000-04:00

Palin:

John McCain touts his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, as a force in his battle against earmarks and entrenched power brokers.

But under her leadership, Alaska has asked the federal government for almost $300 per person in requests for pet projects this year. That's more than any other state received, per person, from Congress and runs counter to the image the GOP ticket is pushing.

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

2008-09-02T12:51:00.000-04:00

Sarah Palin:

Sarah Palin: Separatist, former mayor of a village, and a wannabe book-burner

Please, oh please, let her stay on the ticket.

I Know This Doesn't Need Saying, But

2008-08-29T15:42:00.001-04:00

Megan McArdle is still an idiot.

Sarah Palin

2008-08-29T10:58:00.002-04:00

McCain has a VP.

Avoiding a Lieberman Disaster

2008-08-28T14:28:00.002-04:00

Says Bob Novak!

Reports of strong support within John McCain's presidential campaign for Independent Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman as the Republican candidate for vice president are not a fairy tale. Influential McCain backers, plus McCain himself, would pick the pro-choice liberal from Connecticut if they thought they could get away with it.
But they can't get away with it -- and this has been made clear to McCain by none other than Joe Lieberman himself.

Joe is stupid and ugly and nobody likes him.

I Can Has Red Meet?

2008-08-28T14:27:00.000-04:00

Biden.

Billmon Lives!

2008-08-26T08:35:00.000-04:00

Been a while.

War?

2008-08-26T07:33:00.000-04:00

Oh yeah, that war:

A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew himself up in a crowd of Iraqi police recruits on Tuesday, killing 28 people and wounding 45, police said.

Timeline me.

War?

2008-08-22T15:02:00.002-04:00

Oh yeah... oh yeah... that war.

U.S.-led coalition forces killed 76 Afghan civilians in western Afghanistan on Friday, most of them children, the Interior Ministry said.

We're still there? I never would have guessed.

Harper's Index tells me that there were 300 total minutes of network TV coverage devoted to the war in Iraq in 1H08, down from 1,229 in 1H07. I can only imagine how abysmally low Afghanistan ranks, but don't forget, we're fighting there too.

McCain's Cribz

2008-08-21T14:02:00.001-04:00

Josh is angry:

I will not stand by and watch the Obama camp try to claim McCain owns seven homes when he owns at least ten.

Get on it rabid left! Seven houses is not damning enough! It's only middle class!

Lieberman to Speak at Republican Convention

2008-08-20T10:17:00.003-04:00

Pickler got it right yesterday:

A Republican official tells The Associated Press that Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman will be speaking at the Republican National Convention.

The GOP official said Wednesday that Lieberman would deliver a speech as Republicans gathered in St. Paul to nominate John McCain for president. The official requested anonymity because a formal announcement had yet to been made.

I was going to award him Zell Miller status but since he's no longer a Dem he doesn't qualify. He's just sad and all alone.

Was McCain Tortured?

2008-08-19T18:08:00.003-04:00

This is brutal, but them's the rules according to Bush and McCain:

In all the discussion of John McCain's recently recovered memory of a religious epiphany in Vietnam, one thing has been missing. The torture that was deployed against McCain emerges in all the various accounts. It involved sleep deprivation, the withholding of medical treatment, stress positions, long-time standing, and beating. Sound familiar?

According to the Bush administration's definition of torture, McCain was therefore not tortured.
...
Now the kicker: in the Military Commissions Act, McCain acquiesced to the use of these techniques against terror suspects by the CIA. And so the tortured became the enabler of torture. Someone somewhere cried out in pain for the same reasons McCain once did. And McCain let it continue.

I linked to Sully!

Joe Lieberman, 2000 Vice Presidential

2008-08-19T12:50:00.000-04:00

His top contenders are said to include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Less traditional choices mentioned include former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, an abortion-rights supporter, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential prick in 2000 who now is an independent.

Yes.

McCain Doesn't Like to Talk About Being a P.O.W.

2008-08-18T17:28:00.002-04:00

And 500 other falsehoods propagated by his enablers in the media:

"The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous," Ms. Wallace said.

Sounds like a non-denial denial to me.

AR Democratic Party Chair Murdered

2008-08-13T17:17:00.002-04:00

Bill Gwatney, the chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party, died after being shot in his office in Little Rock on Wednesday, police officials said. The suspect was later shot by the police and died of his wounds.

Condolences to his friends and family. This is horrible.

MoDo

2008-08-13T13:24:00.000-04:00

Got to go.

Prosecuting Criminals

2008-08-12T11:34:00.002-04:00

By criminals:

Attorney General Michael Mukasey on Tuesday said former Justice Department officials will not face prosecution for letting improper political considerations drive hirings of prosecutors, immigration judges and other career government lawyers.
Mukasey used his sharpest words yet to criticize the senior leaders who took part in or failed to stop illegal hiring practices during the tenure of his predecessor, Alberto Gonzales.

But, he told delegates to the American Bar Association annual meeting, "not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime. In this instance, the two joint reports found only violations of the civil service laws."

Nothing like a good old-fashioned independent AG.

Oink Oink

2008-08-11T07:54:00.002-04:00

The Homeland Security Department swept aside evaluations of government experts and named Mississippi - home to powerful U.S. lawmakers with sway over the agency - as a top location for a new $451 million, national laboratory to study some of the world's most virulent biological threats, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press.
Mississippi's lawmakers include the Democratic chairman of the department's oversight committee in the House and the senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which is expected to approve money to build the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility at one of five sites being considered. The two lawmakers said they were unaware of the Homeland Security evaluation system that scored the Mississippi site so low.

All about the benjamins. Always has been.

Obama Vindicated on Tire Pressure

2008-08-06T07:57:00.001-04:00

Silly kerfluffle:

Our friends at Politifact have also looked into Sen. Barack Obama's claim about tire inflation and found it to be true -- not merely that car tune-ups and proper tire inflation will save millions of barrels of oil per year, but that it will save more energy than new off shore drilling would yield.

No one knows for sure, of course, which may be one of the reasons why our experts disagreed with Obama's claim that this conservation method would save more energy than new off shore drilling would yield.

But the salient point is that such measures are serious. Why the Republicans are mocking them at a time of energy crisis seems bizarre.

We're also reminded of this news from 1990:

"The Washington Times, September 14, 1990...The Bush administration yesterday launched an advertising blitz telling Americans they could fight oil shortages and high gas prices by conserving, while advising Congress there is no sign of price gouging by the oil industry and that gas prices are 'not unreasonable.' The slogan for the yearlong campaign, 'Do Your Part, Drive Smart,' tells consumers they can save more than 7 million gallons of gasoline a day if they keep their tires properly inflated, drive slower and join car pools.

Good luck trying to get anything fact based to stick with the Republicans. Especially principled John McCain.

Bush Aides Can Be Subpoenaed

2008-07-31T12:15:00.001-04:00

Suck on this:

President George W. Bush's top advisers aren't immune from congressional subpoenas, a federal judge ruled Thursday in an unprecedented dispute between the two political branches.
The House Judiciary Committee wants to question the president's chief of staff, Josh Bolten, and former legal counsel Harriet Miers, about the firing of nine U.S. attorneys. But President Bush says they are immune from such subpoenas. They say Congress can't force them to testify or turn over documents.

U.S. District Judge John Bates disagreed. He said there's no legal basis for that argument. He said that Ms. Miers must appear before Congress and, if she wants to refuse to testify, she must do so in person.

Now if Congress will subpoena them...

All the Tubes' Fault

2008-07-29T13:26:00.001-04:00

Stevens indicted.

All About the Benjamins

2008-07-29T08:08:00.001-04:00

Conservativism:

Influential former Pentagon official Richard Perle has been exploring going into the oil business in Iraq and Kazakhstan, according to people with knowledge of the matter and documents outlining possible deals.

Mr. Perle, one of a group of security experts who began pushing the case for toppling Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein about a decade ago, has been discussing a possible deal with officials of northern Iraq's Kurdistan regional government, including its Washington envoy, according to these people and the documents.

It would involve a tract called K18, near the Kurdish city of Erbil, according to documents describing the plan. A consortium founded by Turkish company AK Group International is seeking rights to drill there, the documents say. Potential backers include two Turkish companies as well as Kazakhstan, according to individuals involved.

The pursuit of one's happiness.

McWhine

2008-07-24T13:23:00.000-04:00

I'm a little worried his base may even get sick of him.

Credibility Gap

2008-07-23T12:32:00.000-04:00

CBS and John McCain.

McCain's Media

2008-07-17T08:19:00.000-04:00

Indeed.

War?

2008-07-15T09:12:00.003-04:00

Oh yeah, that war.

Two suicide bombers posing as army recruits struck an Iraqi base just east of Baquba on Tuesday morning, killing at least 35 Iraqi recruits and wounding 63, according to the Iraqi police and medical officials in Diyala Province.

John McCain and Joe Lieberman say we have to stay, and McCain is a POW and Lieberman a good man, so they must be right!

WAAAAAHHH!!!!!

2008-07-14T20:02:00.002-04:00

Because he can, because he is the worst president ever:

President Bush will veto the recently cleared Medicare bill Tuesday, a senior administration official said Monday on a conference call arranged by the White House.

The administration is unhappy with the Republican senators who voted for the bill July 9, but appears to hold out little hope of being able to sustain the veto, or flip back GOP senators who deserted the president on the controversial measure.
[...]
The House passed the bill, 355-59, on June 24. The Senate passed it by voice vote July 9 after voting 69-30 to overcome a procedural hurdle. Both chambers have more than enough votes to override the president, assuming no members change their votes. In the case of a veto override, the House would vote first.

First SCHIP, now this. The man is fetid.

L'Etat C'est Moi

2008-07-14T10:37:00.000-04:00

Bushie:

In another push to deal with soaring gas prices, President Bush on Monday will lift an executive ban on offshore drilling that his stood since his father was president. But the move, by itself, will do nothing unless Congress acts as well.
The president plans to officially lift the ban and explain his actions in a Rose Garden statement, White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

There are two prohibitions on offshore drilling, one imposed by Congress and another by executive order signed by former President Bush in 1990. The current president, trying to ease market tensions and boost supply, called last month for Congress to lift its prohibition before he did so himself.

Abstinence for Dummies

2008-07-11T08:22:00.001-04:00

It doesn't work:

The number of U.S. teenagers who gave birth increased for the first time in 15 years, raising what a health official called ``a red flag.''
The rate at which teen girls became mothers rose 2.8 percent in 2006 from a year earlier, according to a report on children compiled by 22 U.S. agencies. The increase ended a decline that began when the teen birthrate peaked at 38 births per 1,000 girls ages 15 to 17 in 1991, the report's authors said.

Keep on truckin, Bushie.

Obama's FISA Vote

2008-07-10T13:02:00.003-04:00

Obama voted for the awful FISA bill, which is some egg on his face, and although some on the left are up in arms, let's think about his vote in a political context. Obama will most likely become president with a sitting Democratic Congress with the same Speaker and majority leader. Whether you love or hate the FISA bill - I hate it - it was Steny Hoyer's - ugly, mentally-impaired, kitten-killing - baby. If Obama publicly came out against the bill this late in the game he would only antagonize Hoyer, with whom he has to work come 2009. I see the same logic behind his support of Blue Dog John Barrow in GA-12 against a progressive, black candidate. If Congressional incumbents feel threatened they will circle the wagons and thwart Obama's plans.

Obama needs to get along with the 111th Congress in order to get legislation passed. Although I disagree with his FISA vote, I abide by it.

69 Senators Unfit for Their Jobs

2008-07-09T15:35:00.002-04:00

The Senate has approved a bill overhauling the rules on secret government eavesdropping and granting immunity to telecom companies that helped listen in on Americans after Sept. 11.
The Senate passed the bill Wednesday, 69-28. It turned back three amendments that would have watered down, delayed or stripped away the immunity provision demanded by President Bush.

Silence.

McCain Mancrush Watch

2008-07-09T12:58:00.001-04:00

The AP.

Nothing funnier than dead people!

John McCain Does Not Support the Troops

2008-07-09T09:23:00.002-04:00

And gets hissy when called on it.

Club of Fools

2008-07-09T07:43:00.002-04:00

I'm sure they will be regular guests on TV.

Two hard-charging political operatives are teaming up to create a bipartisan consulting organization to advise corporations in crisis -- as they work to burnish their own reputations as well.
Former Clinton strategist Mark Penn, chairman and CEO of public-relations firm Burson-Marsteller, is hiring former Bush adviser Karen Hughes as a vice chairman, the principals say. The political combatants, known for their partisan efforts, decided to combine forces to offer a one-stop crisis-communication and public-affairs shop to corporations caught in front-page headlines or faced with a changing Washington.
It's a comeback effort of sorts for both players. Mr. Penn, 54, who served as chief strategist and pollster for Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential bid, has been blamed in recent months for her failed candidacy. Ms. Hughes, 51, who came to Washington with President George W. Bush as his communications director, left her State Department position several months ago after making little progress on her mission to improve the U.S. image around the world.

I'd say that last paragraph nicely sums up this operation.

Cheney Hearts Evil

2008-07-08T16:53:00.002-04:00

How else do you explain this?

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's office was behind a push to censor congressional testimony that global warming poses a danger to the public, a former Environmental Protection Agency official told Congress.
The director of the Centers for Disease Control testified to a U.S. Senate panel last year about the public health effects of climate change in testimony that was heavily edited by the White House's Office of Management and Budget. Until now, Mr. Cheney's office hadn't been publicly linked to the efforts to keep information about climate change out of the public eye.

"The Council on Environmental Quality and the Office of the Vice President were seeking deletions to the CDC testimony," Jason Burnett, formerly an EPA associate deputy administrator, wrote in a letter dated July 6 to U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.).

Apparently Cheney can only survive in an atmosphere filled with poisonous gases.

Elections have consequences. Vote the crooks out.

Why Hello Mr. Pot!

2008-07-08T07:49:00.003-04:00

JP Morgan Chase’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, said U.S. regulators should investigate whether people betting on Bear Stearns‘ stock falling deliberately brought down the investment bank.
“Where there is smoke, there’s fire,” Mr. Dimon said in an interview with Charlie Rose on PBS, televised on Monday. “I think the Securities and Exchange Commission should investigate it, okay? I think if someone knowingly starts a rumor or passes on a rumor, they should go to jail.”

Then the same should go for those who make absurdly optimistic predictions about their companies' performances. If people can be punished for causing a stock to unduly drop, they should also take heat for causing one to unduly rise.

Then again, when stocks rise everyone makes money, so who cares?!

Link.

Stupid Buddy Poll Questions

2008-07-07T12:49:00.003-04:00

As long as we're being subject to the stupid "Which candidate would you rather have a drink/bbq with?" questions, can we please add "Which candidate would you rather fill up a tank of gas with?"

Q You must be the most excellent expert on oil business.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. (Laughter.) Look where our price is. (Laughter.)
Q Well, actually, I'm suffering high gas prices.
THE PRESIDENT: You are?

My vote still goes for the press giving McCain a free ride.

McCain's Base

2008-07-07T12:42:00.002-04:00

At least we already know how this cycle is going to play:

Bob Schieffer, on Face the Nation, responding to John Kerry stating that McCain has completely changed his position on a large number of issues:

“Are you attacking John McCain’s integrity?”

I'm going to place a roll of John McCain's integrity in my bathroom where it belongs.

McCain Is Playing Loose with Campaign Finance

2008-07-03T08:29:00.003-04:00

But it's ok, because he was a POW:

Allies of Sen. John McCain have found new loopholes in the campaign-finance law he helped write -- and they're using them to reel in huge contributions to help him compete with Sen. Barack Obama.

In one method, a Republican Party fund aimed at electing governors has started marketing itself as a home for contributions of unlimited size to help Sen. McCain. His 2002 campaign law limits donations to presidential races to try to curtail the influence of wealth.

The Republican Governors Association isn't subject to those limits, and has long gathered up large donations from individuals and companies. Now it is telling donors it can use their contributions to benefit Sen. McCain in some key battleground states.

I wonder if the media will go into conniptions and scold McCain for weeks like they did when Obama legally refused public financing.

...

:: ROFL ::

Worst Legislation Ever

2008-07-03T08:09:00.002-04:00

Telecom Act of 1996, which spawned Clear Channel:

Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh signed an eight-year contract extension worth as much as $400 million with Clear Channel Communications Inc, The New York Times said on its website on Wednesday citing an interview with Limbaugh.

You reap what you sow.

Winning the Stupid

2008-07-02T07:59:00.002-04:00

I'm glad we're winning, but come on:

People would rather barbecue burgers with Barack Obama than with John McCain.
While many are still deciding who should be president, by 52 percent to 45 percent they would prefer having Obama than McCain to their summer cookout, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll released Wednesday.
Men are about evenly divided between the two while women prefer Obama by 11 percentage points. Whites prefer McCain, minorities Obama. And Obama is a more popular guest with younger voters while McCain does best with the oldest.
Having Obama to a barbecue would be like a relaxed family gathering, while inviting McCain "would be more like a retirement party than something fun," said Wesley Welbourne, 38, a systems engineer from Washington, D.C.

It's because our media continues to focus to stupid things like this that we can't have relevant discussions about policy and where our country is headed.

Dangerous Territory

2008-07-01T09:41:00.001-04:00

Does he have to go there? Really?

Reaching out to evangelical voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans to expand President Bush's program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and -- in a move sure to cause controversy -- support some ability to hire and fire based on faith.
Sen. Obama was unveiling his approach to getting religious charities more involved in government anti-poverty programs during a tour and remarks Tuesday in Zanesville, Ohio, at Eastside Community Ministry, which provides food, clothes, youth ministry and other services.

I'm skeptical to say the least.

All About the Oil

2008-06-30T09:36:00.001-04:00

A free and independent Iraq:

A group of American advisers led by a small State Department team played an integral part in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil companies to develop some of the largest fields in Iraq, American officials say.
The disclosure, coming on the eve of the contracts’ announcement, is the first confirmation of direct involvement by the Bush administration in deals to open Iraq’s oil to commercial development and is likely to stoke criticism.

Iraqis are going to love this.

FISA Leadership

2008-06-26T13:01:00.002-04:00

The Dodd:

Contact your Senators and talk to them about the need to strip retroactive immunity out of the FISA bill.

War?

2008-06-26T13:00:00.000-04:00

Oh yeah, that war.

A suicide bomber struck Thursday inside a municipal building west of Baghdad, killing at least 20 people at a meeting of tribal sheiks opposed to al-Qaida, police said. The U.S. confirmed American casualties but gave no further details.
Another 18 people were killed and about 60 wounded in a car bombing near a government headquarters in the northern city of Mosul, officials said. Thursday's attacks were part of a spike in violence in Iraq after weeks of relative calm.

John McCain's favorite.

Always Winning All the Time!

2008-06-25T08:58:00.003-04:00

No news is good news!

THE Iraq war’s defenders like to bash the press for pushing the bad news and ignoring the good. Maybe they’ll be happy to hear that the bad news doesn’t rate anymore. When a bomb killed at least 51 Iraqis at a Baghdad market on Tuesday, ending an extended run of relative calm, only one of the three network newscasts (NBC’s) even bothered to mention it.
The only problem is that no news from Iraq isn’t good news — it’s no news. The night of the Baghdad bombing the CBS war correspondent Lara Logan appeared as Jon Stewart’s guest on “The Daily Show” to lament the vanishing television coverage and the even steeper falloff in viewer interest. “Tell me the last time you saw the body of a dead American soldier,” she said. After pointing out that more soldiers died in Afghanistan than Iraq last month, she asked, “Who’s paying attention to that?”

If it doesn't get ratings, why do consumers need to know? Boring!

Our Punditry Is This Dumb

2008-06-24T12:59:00.001-04:00

Bowers:

The long and short of it is that established media punditry has liked McCain more than Obama in the last couple of weeks, but the country disagrees. As such, what we are seeing is the fundamental problem with much election analysis: is the punditry trying to describe what is happening, or are they trying to create the reality themselves? Whenever polls numbers and pundits opinions of the campaign move in opposite directions, the answer is clearly the latter.

Unsurprisingly, Broder is railing about public finance. Heh.

Bad Omens

2008-06-23T10:22:00.001-04:00

Republicans' choice to replace Vito Fossella (NY-13) has died:

Frank Powers, a retired Wall Street executive and MTA board member who had been recently chosen to run for Representative Vito Fossella's congressional seat this fall, died yesterday. The 67-year-old apparently died in his sleep, found by his wife Diane, in his Todt Hill home.

Condolences to his friends and family.

House Passes FISA Bill

2008-06-20T12:56:00.002-04:00

Steny Hoyer is pathetic:

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Friday that could shield phone companies that participated in President George W. Bush's warrantless surveillance program begun after the September 11 attacks from billions of dollars in privacy lawsuits.
Drafted by Democratic and Republican negotiators, the White House-backed measure would also overhaul of U.S. spy powers. The Senate is expected to give the bill final approval next week, clearing the way for Bush to sign it into law.

Way to cave. Way to cave.

All About Me

2008-06-19T16:49:00.001-04:00

Bush:

Noting that several hundred federal emergency workers are fanning across Iowa, he added: "That ought to help the people in the smaller communities know that somebody is there to listen to them."

I hear he can also cure leprosy by looking at people. Narcissist.

Obama to Opt Out of Public Financing

2008-06-19T09:03:00.002-04:00

I get an email alert:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama announced that he would become the first presidential candidate to forgo public financing of his general election campaign since the system was established three decades ago. Obama’s Republican opponent, John McCain, has been much less successful at raising money and the move sets up the likelihood of a big mismatch in money heading into the fall campaign. Here is the text of Obama’s announcement.

Good call. Time to crush McCain.

War Crimes

2008-06-19T08:37:00.001-04:00

Bush Co:

The first extensive medical examinations of former detainees in U.S. military jails offer corroboration for prisoners' claims of physical and psychological abuse at the hands of their American captors, a Boston-based human rights group said in a report released yesterday.

...

In a statement accompanying the report, retired Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, who led the Army's first official investigation on Abu Ghraib, said the new evidence suggested a "systematic regime of torture" inside U.S.-run detention camps.

The only remaining question is whether they'll be tried for it.

Quick! Back to the Bubble!

2008-06-19T08:35:00.001-04:00

Bush gets interviewed by a foreign correspondent, loses no sleep.