Red State? What Red State?

Poll by Survey USA

NPR Early Tomorrow

eMail from the Ned Lamont campaign:

I just wanted to drop you a quick note that Ned's race for the Senate will be the topic of a story tomorrow (March 29) on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. The piece, by David Welna, is scheduled to air at 6:20 a.m. and again at 8:20 a.m. Please note the time may change.

Aldon

Tell Joementum, "JoMama!!"

Fish In A Barrel

Brotherman the Elder sent this to me this afternoon:

On The Bible and The Constitution

On Wednesday, March 1st, 2006, in Annapolis at a hearing on the proposed Constitutional Amendment to prohibit gay marriage, Jamie Raskin, professor of law at American University, was requested to testify.

At the end of his testimony, Republican Senator Nancy Jacobs said: "Mr. Raskin, my Bible says marriage is only between a man and a woman. What do you have to say about that?"

Raskin replied: "Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."

The room erupted into applause.

Goddamn right!!

James Webb For U.S. Senate

eMail received from the former Republican Navy Sec'y:

Dear Friend,

At a time when our nation is facing serious challenges at home and abroad, George Allen is more focused on his political career than he is on his job representing Virginia in the Senate. I don't know about you, but I cannot think of even one example of true leadership on national issues from Senator Allen in the five crisis-filled years we Americans have experienced since he took his seat.

And yet, according to the New York Times he seems…bored. "It's too slow for me," he told a reporter. Maybe that's why Allen is spending so much time these days thinking about running for president. His heart is not really in the job.

If Allen wants to run for president, more power to him. But Virginia deserves a full-time senator. That's why Jim Webb is running for the Senate. He understands the serious challenges facing Virginia and the nation, and he will go to work every day focused on using his position to improve life for the people of this state.

Support Jim Webb for Senate today. Help us meet our fundraising goals by the March 31st deadline.

http://www.webbforsenate.com/contribute/

Iraq is on the brink of civil war, and Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. The Chinese have embarked on a vast program of military expansionism. Al Qaeda is probing our defenses, looking for a way to deliver another devastating attack. With some of the nation's most sensitive military and intelligence installations located in Virginia, we are on the front lines of the war on terror.

That's exactly why we need Jim Webb in the Senate. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, a much decorated Marine in Vietnam, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy, Jim is also a world-traveled journalist and author who has seen first-hand the issues our governmental leaders must deal with. Jim has spent his career focused on national security. His first book, written when he was only 28, was about national strategy. He was a journalist in Beirut when the U.S. Marines were deployed there in 1983. He covered our troops in Afghanistan for Parade Magazine in 2004. His experience and vision are exactly what we need to help protect the American people at home and our vital interests abroad.

Give Virginia the experience it needs in the Senate. We're less than 60 hours from the end of quarter fundraising deadline. Please rush a contribution to Jim today!

http://www.webbforsenate.com/contribute/

And most importantly, Jim Webb is a leader, from his earliest days as a Marine rifle platoon and company commander in Vietnam. He has never been afraid to speak his mind, including speaking truth to power. He recognizes that leadership involves making tough decisions, and that it requires backbone, vision and courage in the face of harsh criticism.

Unfortunately, George Allen appears to be little more than a rubber stamp for the president. He supported George Bush 96% of the time in the Senate. That may make sense if you are trying to please voters in a Republican presidential primary, but not if you are trying to represent Virginia. It's time to put Virginia first again. We need a thoughtful, independent leader, not one busy thinking about his next job.

Donate to Jim's campaign before Friday's deadline.

http://www.webbforsenate.com/contribute/

With your support, we can give Virginia the strong leadership it deserves: a senator who will be on the job, everyday, working for the people of this state.

Sincerely,

Steve Jarding
Senior Advisor
Webb for Senate

P.S. The momentum on our campaign continues to grow. Today, General Wesley Clark endorsed Jim's campaign for U.S. Senate! Join General Clark and support our campaign today!

Contribute today!

Requiem For A Dink

More has been said elsewhere, and said better, but I wanted to offer just a couple of thoughts on the shortlived career of Ben Domenich at the Washington Post:

1) Had he been hired by the Washington Times, nobody would have heard about it; and 2) is it me or is he, like, a parallel-universe clone of George W. Bush, i.e., a pampered, privileged, snot-nosed, self-absorbed, self-righteous, and right-wing little asshole, who, in this reality-based universe, is little but a legend in his own mind?

Taking him down on the merits, then, was expediant, highly-proper and a such a delightful pleasure, an experience akin to voiding your inflamed gastro-intestinal tract of last-wednesday's stale burrito.

And...

Making it as public as it was... Might that have saved the future lives of hundreds-of-thousands, as similarly would, say, the summary arrest and prosecution of a certain air-national guard officer jack-off who went AWOL some 34 years ago?

Go You One Better, Natalie...

Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from the United States.

Go Dixie Chicks!! (check out the new tune)...

We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident

This goes hand-in-hand with the whiny little shits who grow up to become conservatives:

In other words, if you are an American Christian, you are more likely to support torture than if you are an atheist or agnostic.

Of course the whinies will dismiss Andrew Sullivan's conservative street creds due to his sexuality.

But I'm sold.

Pay Per eMail?

Noises are being made on whether AOL might start blocking email or might make people pay to send email thru AOL. I glumly admit to having paid too little attention to the matter, resigning myself to the depressing conclusion of an inevitably ham-fisted corporate takeover of what may never again be a freely accessible internet. Now I'm hearing Yahoo! is considering the same thing, which shook me from my slumber, for I do do Yahoo!

But not true... ! Or so indicates a forwarded email I received today:

From: "Luke Wolter" ...@yahoo-inc.com
Subject: RE: Yahoo question
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 09:26:08 -0500

This is false. We have no policies in place to block any email accounts from our Groups property, especially Gmail.

Furthermore, I can't imagine a business reason why we would ever do this in the future. At Yahoo! we respect our customers above all else and never forget that they come to us by choice. We share a personal responsibility to maintain our customers' loyalty and trust.

Uh huh! Was "respect" for its customers the reason Yahoo! capitulated to DOJ's demand for its search-engine records (i.e., who's looking up what) without a fight?

And dig the wording here: "I can't imagine a business reason... " Well now, how about profit? If AOL does it, then Hotmail falls in line, how long before Yahoo! and Google agree to agree? This smells of a politician who says he has "no plans to run for higher office" the day before he announces he's running for higher office.

Hold on to your genitals, folks, if you like your 1-horse cable service, yer gonna love corporate-controlled, anti-trust waived, monopolized internet service and its ever-more cheesily commercialized content.

Coming to a monitor near you!

Wrapping The Mind Around

Maddening as the Dem's so-called strategy for retaking Congress from the evil-doers is, I just had a moment of clarity about it -- or perhaps it was madness, and is that dependent upon the particular alternative-reality i find myself inhabiting? I believed, for the moment, the strategy to be correct, that is if one can define it as some kind of political jiu jitsu. This imagined plan is predicated on keeping the Republicans front & center and under the kleig lights, while offering them ever more rope with which they can only become hopelessly entwined and left twisting in the wind. Meanwhile, the Dems play understudy, just offstage and ready to assume the lead role when the time comes.

For the longest time, I thought it madness, and will doubtlessly again. The method is too familiar and sickeningly typical of this invertibrate species known as Democrat, the very same species that has no natural defenses and is now running in dwindling numbers.

Meanwhile, the Republicans cannot possibly keep screwing up.

And yet they do.

And gahd bless 'em for it.

Even so, I'd rather see an organized and progressive mob assaulting the White House gates with fire, catapults, and a battering ram, and for no other reason than to have cause to pound my chest with a primordial yowl.

Meanhile, I'll take an understated pleasure in the efforts of the lone ranger unmasked: Russ Feingold and his censure motion. It's a time-bomb... and well-timed it is. Watch now as the people pass by in slow-motion, as the fuse slowly burns. I expect a neat little explosion and pray it brings the walls of mendacity down around their heads.

And then I woke up...

... And They Is Us

From Salon:

As Knight Ridder reported Sunday, Iraqi police say that U.S. soldiers last week executed 11 people, including a 75-year-old woman and a 6-month-old infant, after raiding a house where an al-Qaida suspect was captured. Knight Ridder says that such accusations are "commonplace" in Iraq, and that most "are judged later to be unfounded or exaggerated." This one is different, Knight Ridder says, "because it originated with Iraqi police, and because Iraqi police were willing to attach their names to it." The report, a copy of which Knight Ridder has obtained, says: "The American forces gathered the family members in one room and executed 11 persons, including five children, four women and two men. Then they bombed the house, burned three vehicles and killed their animals." The military said today that it is investigating the allegations.

Headline Of The Day (and the day's still young)...

By way of The Raw Story:

"Study Confirms: Whiny Kids Grow Up To Be Conservatives"

This is news?

5 Years Is All It Took

It's come to this says PM Carpenter:

Yes, Iran, of all nations, is now talking to the U.S. like an exasperated but conscientious Dutch uncle. Said one of that nation’s diplomats on Thursday, “I think Iraq is a good testing ground for America to take a harder look at the way it acts. If there’s a determination in America to take that hard look, then we’re prepared to help.”

How embarrassing.

Indeed.

From *Rocky Horror* To *Bull Durham*

I've alway kinda dug Susan Sarandon:

"I find Hillary to be a great disappointment," the lefty actress tells More magazine. "She's lost her progressive following because of her caution and centrist approach. It bothered me when she voted for the war. There were brave people who didn't. She's not worse than other politicians, but I hoped she would be better. What America is looking for is authentic people who want to go into public service because they strongly believe in something, not people who are [just] trying to get elected."

Take It To The Bank

Speculation on the Rocket at career's end:

Roger Clemens was a loser in what might have been the final start of his outstanding career, and Mexico eliminated Team USA from the World Baseball Classic.

What?? A Texan getting beat by the Messicans??

He'll be back. If he wasn't coming back before, he sure as Hell is now.

Madness Indeed

Don't know which is nuttier: Dubya's re-assertion of pre-emptive warfare or my winning the pool with Kansas and/or Boston College.

Let that be a lesson to you... er, two lessons: 1) never bet on college basketball while drunk; and 2) never elect a drunk for president.

I mean, Jeeeezus!!

McGinest Signs w/the Browns

Totally bumming. Gonna root for Cleveland(?) as my surrogate team.

Gary Hart: America Could Lose Its Army

If one can remember, this is the guy whom the Reaganites were most afraid of in the then projected '84 general election -- not Walter Bleepin' Mondale. Refreshing nonetheless to get a dose of reality-based analyses on the goings on in the world, if only periodically, and wondering wistfully what might have been.

Meanwhile, back at the Baghdad ranch:

The character of warfare and violence is being transformed. The warfare of the future is not World War II, or even Korea or Vietnam. It is Mogadishu and Fallujah -- low-intensity conflict among tribes, clans, and gangs. We are not prepared for that kind of warfare.

The United States is in danger of finding combat forces trapped in a civil war that they cannot prevent, control, or win.

America's army is in danger, and that danger is possibly just around the corner.

Imagine Dubya the Boy King exhibiting any semblance of coherence with respect to Iraq.

And come to think about it: Donna Rice turned out to be a Christian fundamentalist, didn't she? . . . Those bastards!

Wasn't Specter The Bad Guys in The Old Bond Films?

Josh Marshall's tag on the following had me thinking:

It was coming to this. Responding to Sen. Feingold, Sen. Specter is now arguing on the floor of the senate that FISA is unconstitutional. Ergo, President Bush couldn't have been violating the law becuase it's not valid law.

Quite a way for Specter to end his career.

Lest we forget, Arlen Specter was on the Warren Commission, which, some would have you believe, white-washed the investigation of JFK's assassination. Assuming for the sake of argument that this is true, it would seem, then, Sen. Specter has come full circle.

The Bigger Picture

You hear stories of how coastal animals will book to higher land, well before a man can realize a tsunami's about to crash on his head; same thing with earthquakes, the animals start to freak even though the tremors are as yet humanly imperceptable.

Well the Brits are pulling out 800 soldiers from Iraq:

The reduction constitutes a 10 per cent decrease in numbers and marks a reduction from the high point of 10,000 British troops in Iraq in October 2003.

What the story doesn't address, if even speculatively, are the ramifications, by way of Iran's response to an attack on their nuclear facilities by the U.S. and/or Israel. The Brits, stationed primarily in the southern part of Iraq and along the Persian border, are most vulnerable in this scenario and would easily sustain the greatest number of coalition casualties, and is why the British government has been quietly, although steadfastly, resisting U.S. machinations toward expanding its hostilities in the Middle East.

Could this, then, be a harbinger of things to come?

Maher D Har Har...

Bill Maher again:

New Rule: Stop saying "Brokeback Mountain" lost Best Picture because of a homosexual backlash. The only homosexual backlash in Hollywood involves an actual homosexual literally hitting you on the back with a lash. Besides, if "Brokeback Mountain" taught us anything, it's that there's nothing wrong with coming in number-two.

Oh, are we still on?

First Thing We Do Is Feed These "Christians" To The Detroit Lions

I.e., if'n we ever get back in power. Good to know, Nahhmy, Heavnews, et al., Sandy baby is now in the "radical" camp. Think maybe she, like, totally regrets her vote in Bush v. Gore?

Yesterday's news; here's today's mind blower:

Merck's vaccine had been shown to be completely effective against most strains that cause cervical cancer, with few side effects. But the Christian right seemed to view the vaccine as a license for promiscuity.

Yer Throat Culture of Life, on yer tax dollar, hard at work.

Thought 4 A Day

... And Chuck Gutenson has it:

We realize that Americans are humans and, as such, are subject to the same corruptions as any other human. As long as we fail to see the "myth of redemptive violence" and the errors of American exceptionalism, we are likely doomed to repeat the errors of Iraq, though, of course, in different forms. Let us pray for a genuine repentance, and, given my own commitments, particularly for those who claim to be followers of Jesus and, yet, have been beguiled by neoconservatism.

Study Break

Me & Chontos renewing the licenses online. More hours than expected.

Ooo! Pizza delivery is here.

Back atcha!

The Etymology Again?

Guy used to say to me: "Can't talk now, I'm up to my ass in alligators!"

Now I'm, like, "Ohhhhohhhh!"

What HE Said

Not a big fan of Leno's, but...

On Bush's Presidential Library: "$300 Million - That's Almost $150 Million Per Book"...

Sidebar, Yerronner

For you defense atty's out there (and u know who u r), who may've not known:

"Any piece of equipment that is used to test something in the criminal justice system, the defense attorney has the ability to know how the thing works and subject its fundamental capabilities to review," said Flem Whited III, a Daytona Beach attorney who is a nationally recognized expert on DUI defense.

Having to do with breathalyzers and "implied consent" laws, wherever they be. And - Oh yes! - if you've been photographed, by mounted cameras, running a red light, and the camera manufacturer doesn't present hisself in court the day you contest... ? It applies.

Anarchy 101...

Mark Your Calendars

It occured to me yesterday that 3 months hence, the date will be 6/6/06...

I predict Dubya will commence his bombing campaign on Iran that day.

Another Day

So the doctor says lay off the caffeine, and I'm, like, "yeah, sure!"

But then the new admin starts bringing in this gourmet fresh-ground, and has this nasty habit of brewing pots big enough to kill three elephants. The shit smells gooooood. And I'm sitting at my desk catching wafts of it from down the hall. Very distracting, that.

It ain't right!

So I bring in some decaf fresh-ground shit to cut it. But the admin doesn't use it, no good for me when I'm in 10-6 instead of 8-4, and she's always in at 9.

And this morning I find a gold aluminum-wrapped truffle - yah, gourmet chocolate - sitting in front of my keyboard. What can I say, the chicks dig me! Yeh, I'm adorable when my heart palpitates.

At least I hope it was a chick.

Oh to be young again.

World Baseball Classic

Okay, I'm gettin' kinda stoked about the WBC:

Team USA is loaded in the infield -- with Derrek Lee at first base, Young at second, Derek Jeter at shortstop and Rodriguez at third -- and extremely deep in the bullpen. On any given night, Brad Lidge, Huston Street, Joe Nathan or Chad Cordero could be called on to close.

Because of injuries and defections, Team USA doesn't have much depth in the starting rotation. Jake Peavy will start the opener against Mexico on Tuesday, and Martinez will load up on left-handers against Canada's predominantly lefty-hitting lineup in Game 2 on Wednesday. Willis will start and be followed by Al Leiter, with Colorado's Brian Fuentes also expected to pitch out of the bullpen.

Roger Clemens will work two innings in an exhibition against the San Francisco Giants on Sunday in Scottsdale, then start Friday against South Africa in what looks like a world-caliber mismatch.

Nutshell for you MORs: the Dominican team has, well, a fucking awesome line-up; and I mean one that may dwarf the 30s American League All-Star teams -- you know, Ruth? Gehrig? Jimmie Foxx? Hank Greenberg? Or maybe I'm just a heretic. Meanwhile, Venezuela has the the pitching w/superstud Johan Santana as the marquis feature.

Caught a little of the China/Korea match-up last night. Uhm, don't think so! Although China makes the Red & Gold combo work. That and they have Bruce Hurst as pitching coach; he who would have been the '86 Series MVP were it not for Bob Stanley and a certain Bucknerian brain fart. Meanwhile, looks like Japan exposed Taiwan -- uhh, 'scuse me: Chinese Taipei -- as overgrown little leaguers. Then again, we already knew their little leaguers were overgrown.

Clearly the Asian battle is all Japan & Korea, leaving China & Taipei wondering if they'll ever be ready for rookie ball.

Projected WBC Champs: Venezuela or the Dominican Republic.

USA? Not!

The World Baseball Classic could be big in the coming decades.

Joementum 24/7

Wow! Howie Klein doesn't let up on the creep from Connecticut.

So What's The Point?

Here's what bugs me most about Dubya's disregard for the FISA law:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.

Meanwhile Bush issues these presidential findings, effectively dismissing any law passed by Congress, especially the one pertaining to the goings-on at Gitmo:

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler said in a hearing yesterday that she found allegations of aggressive U.S. military tactics used to break the detainee hunger strike "extremely disturbing" and possibly against U.S. and international law. But Justice Department lawyers argued that even if the tactics were considered in violation of McCain's language, detainees at Guantanamo would have no recourse to challenge them in court.

You gotta love it -- or not -- that when it'll come down to brass tacks, the Bushies at Justice will almost certainly dismiss whatever a federal judge has to say against their right to party. And were the right-wing religious thugs in robes on 1st St NE, DC, to suddenly reexamine their fetish for executive privilege and say, "Oh hey, that ain't Constitutionally kosher!" you gotta believe Dubya would thumb his nose at them too.

And there it is! The oath of office, and the utter pointlessness of it.

By the way, what exactly does constitute a "domestic enemy"?

Whoooo coulditbeeeee... ??

I remember when I was in the National Guard back in the early 80s, I would engage in a hypothetical (because there was a lot of time on our hands those weekends -- the good ol' days) and contended that if the president declared martial law, we -- the U.S. soldier, reservist, guardsman, cub scout, what-have-u -- would instantly be freed from our contract and our oath to defend the Constitution... because when martial law is declared, the Constitution is suspended! Of course, on the flip side, we'd be obliged, arguably, to take up arms against the president (or governor) who declared martial law.

The enlisted personnel loved that shit. Not so much the company commander: "What're you, lookin' for a loophole!? Shaddap!!"

Something liberating in thinking as an anarchist...

Uhm, not to be confused with the anti-christ...

Anyway, Bush, as did Nixon, believes it's not against the law for the president to break the law. Now I don't care if he did go to Harvard and Yale on a legacy, that, and he, are just plain fucking wrong.

Another Well Said

... and well received; Normon Solomon, author of War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death, addressing Bush's now fabled gall, this time in laying a wreath on Mahatma Gandhi's grave:

In an important sense, it's plausible to envision Bush as a lover of peace and even an apostle of nonviolence -- but, in context, those sterling invocations of virtues are plated with sadism in the service of empire. The president of the United States is urging "peace" as a synonym for getting his way in Iraq. From Washington, the most exalted vision of peace is a scenario where the occupied no longer resist the American occupiers or their allies.

The world has seen many such leaders, eager to unleash as much violence as necessary to get what they want, and glad to praise nonviolence whenever convenient. But no photo-op can change the current reality that the world's most powerful government is also, by far, the most violent and the most dangerous.

Good Question, That

I'd reached my conclusions before the man announced his candidacy for Governor, but I like the way Garrison Keillor phrases it:

Do we need to impeach him to bring some focus to this man's life?

Uhh, yeah... ?

Bed Time For This Bonzo

The HAMster is serving up some weird & wild stuff again.

From Beyond The Grave

Frank Zappa apparently was a modern-day Nostredamus. Must see TV from 1986, courtesy of Crooks & Liars:

Zappa: The biggest threat to America today is not communism; it's moving America towards a fascist theocracy and everything that has happened during the Reagan administration. Is steering us right down that pipe.

Zappa: When you have a government that prefers a certain moral code derived from a certain religion and that moral code turns into legislation to suit one certain religious point of view and if that code happens to be very, very right wing almost toward Attila the Hun.

Lofton: Well then you are an anarchist. Every form of civil government is based on some kind of morality, Frank.

Zappa: Morality in terms of behavior-not in terms of theology.

Apparently Rickie Lee Jones, isn't a fan of Joementum neither. [Link courtesy of Firedoglake].

For Fear of Becoming Too Fixated

I didn't think it possible, but I've learned a little bit more about Joe Lieberman (thanks, Firedoglake), and I'm liking him less and less:

People often ask me what happened and what was the big deal. Lieberman knew exactly what he was doing-- far better than the batty wives' group that preceded him-- when he insisted on ratings on CDs and it had nothing to do with helping parents supervise their children. Few people understand-- the way Lieberman did -- that in the late 80s something like 70% of all recorded music was sold in stores in malls and that malls have very stringent lease arrangements about their tenants not selling "pornography." Over the course of this controversy two of the Senate's most uptight and close-minded prigs, Sam Brownback and Lieberman, pushed for the kinds of stickers that would make it impossible for the kind of music they objected to -- like anything talking about masturbation or homosexuality, for example -- to be stocked by 70% of American retailers. The effect inside the music business was chilling-- and instantaneous. Suddenly a whole new internal bureaucracy had to be created to police every record and suddenly artists were being pressured -- sometimes overtly and sometimes less overtly -- to cave in to demands by two really reactionary fundamentalists whose values are far from mainstream. In one fell swoop Lieberman destroyed an alliance between young voters and the Democratic Party that had started with John Kennedy's election as he ham-fistedly savaged their culture for his own political ambitions.

Rid us of him, Connecticut! Por favor!

LaMontBlog

For your up2theminute fix...

DC for Democracy

Just RSVPed the Meet-up for this Wednesday evening at 7:30 at the Chili Bowl in DC. That's Howard Dean at the left, whom I met at the last meet-up I attended on Capitol Hill last fall, and took the pic with my crummy cell-phone cam.

The crowd treated him like a rock star. Think Joe Biden ever got that kinda treatment? Never mind, it was rhetorical.

As for this'n: "Progressive Democrat Ned Lamont is giving Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman a primary election challenge. Progressives in the state (and from around the country) have Lamont standing up to the status quo. Special guest, Aldon Hynes, senior campaign advisor to Mr. Lamont, will be there to talk about why progressives are challenging Senator Lieberman and answer your questions about his campaign and the tactics of challenging an incumbent Democrat."

Jeez... ! How 'bout the Big Enchilada Lamont hisself??

Yale Doesn't [Heart] Joementum

Does a body good to see this:

It can't get much worse than that, can it? Oh, it can. Perhaps Lieberman's most galling characteristic is his willingness to appear in conservative media and to publicly and unreservedly bash Democratic policies and other Democrats. As a Democrat with a bullhorn, Lieberman can and does do more harm to the Democratic message machine than any Republican. It is no surprise then that his approval rating is 15 points higher among Republicans than among Democrats or that he has fundraising parties hosted by Republican lobbyists. He carries water for the GOP and reinforces GOP frames. Consider the case of Rep. John Murtha, a retired colonel. After many talks with commanders on the ground and other Pentagon experts, Murtha -- an elder statesman of the House Democratic Caucus and a respected voice on security issues -- called for a measured withdrawal of troops from Iraq. In response, Sen. Lieberman cried, "In matters of war, we undermine presidential credibility at our nation's peril." Murtha retorted, "What credibility?" It's bad enough for someone like Karl Rove to routinely impugn the motives of Democrats; it is quite another for our own Democratic senator to do so.

Joementum = Momentum building to get rid of that twitch Lieberman. Hat tip to Kos for the link.

Monday Midday

Surreptitiously saying "Hello" to any of you who happen upon this. I say surreptitiously as I'm supposed to be rapt while online w/one of these tedious corporate gotomeeting.com & conference-call deals. Nothing I don't already know, or it doesn't apply to my paygrade, so I daydream: noting once again the president of the United States is little more than an idiot with a bicycle (and without); and news from spring training looks pretty good for Red Sox fans.

Nyahh!

Fenway at Night

courtesy of the Boston Globe

Cozy Perch, That

Bill Maher's back on, thank Christ. Here's a snippet:

New Rule: If churches don't have to pay taxes, they also can't call the fire department when they catch fire. Sorry, Reverend, that's one of those services that goes along with paying in. I'll use the fire department I pay for; you can pray for rain.

Oh, I'm going to get letters on that one.

The beauty is, of course, nobody high up in the food-chain as Maher -- nobody (Carlin doesn't have a weekly show) -- is brave enough to take swipes at the church, or does it as well as he.

I want my HBO!

Hey! PicsREasy!

A shot of Brooklyn I took from atop the World Trade Center, circa 1999.

from the Friday Nite After-work Blog-learning Center

Ted Koppel Gets A Clue

I was saying this 4 years ago (well, actually for the last 30; just more relevant than ever four years ago):

"Perhaps the day will come when the United States is no longer addicted to imported oil; but that day is still many years off. For now, the reason for America's rapt attention to the security of the Persian Gulf is what it has always been. It's about the oil."

Would that Mr. Squirrel-Hair had pushed this notion right after Tora Bora.

"Jurassic Beaver" Find Stuns Experts

Ever fixate on a headline?

I'm just sayin'...

----------
Less improper context here.

OK, A Little Sanity 4 U 2day

This goes right to the heart of the issue:

State Sen. Robert Hagan sent out e-mails to fellow lawmakers late Wednesday night, stating that he intends to "introduce legislation in the near future that would ban households with one or more Republican voters from adopting children or acting as foster parents."

Now ain't that the point!? But then again, your humble commentator's parents are both Republican: Mom a New England matriarch, Dad a good ol' boy; Mom hates George Bush, Dad loves 'im; but Dad's pro-choice (go figure!), Mom was raised traditional Catholic; Mom watches Jeopardy and Seinfeld reruns, Dad inflicts Fox News 24/7 on any innocent passer-by. I'm sooooo conflicted.

Of course, niether of whom will be adopting anytime soon. So we're good here.

Moving right along...

Inmates, Asylum, etc...

One of the benefits of getting along in years is the manifest realization that while our understanding of "truth and justice" has nothing to do with "the American way," we, the aging ones, will not be around to see civilization's final swirl about the porcelin bowl.

To wit, check out this particular inanity:

Yahoo! is banning the use of allah in email names - even if the letters are included within another name.

This was uncovered by Reg reader Ed Callahan whose mother Linda Callahan was trying to sign up for a Verizon email address. She could not get it to accept her surname.

Yahoo!, of course, is repeatedly going the cheap, cowardly corporate (alliteration purely coincidental) route in conducting its cost benefit analyses; the best most recent examples being its caving to Bush administration demands for its search-engine records, and to demands by China to censor websites deemed contrary to government sensibilities. Of course Microsoft and Google are equally complicit, save for Google's resistance, at least, to White House demands for its search engine data (if for reasons addressing its profit margin and not some heroic principle, but, hey, any ol' libertarian port in a storm), and one can only conclude that continued email usage is a sure ticket to identity theft if not government surveillance hell. But then, why not have it all??

Note to family & friends: will soon be changing my email address away from my Yayhoo!! And a month later, somewhere else again.

What Is Lieberman's Game?

Interesting slant on Lieberman carrying Bush's water:

One of the uglier attacks on Joe Lieberman is that he has "divided loyalties" because he's Jewish. Apparently, that means he puts Israel's interests above America's.

But today we have definitive proof that Lieberman's divided loyalties aren't to Israel, but to George W. Bush.

I am loathe to admit I too have wondered, and still do, whether Lieberman isn't really an agent for Likud. What is certain is he's no Democrat. It's one thing to consistently vote for an agenda that is defining today's Republican party as morally bankrupt and corrupt, but also proactively undermining resistance to the systematic elimination of The New Deal and the Civil Rights Act (not to mention the Great Society, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, voter rights, etc., etc.), ultimately subverting the principle of "equal justice under law."

What, then, can one make of this self-styled moralist, this devout observor of his orthodox faith, getting into bed with the likes of a president, whose facistic tendenecies and abject wrong-headedness will almost certainly render him to history as a war criminal? It beggars one's sense of decency.

Zell Miller, for an example, came as no surprise. That dude was fried squirrel on toast from the get-go. But Lieberman? When did he jump the track? What switch went off in his ugly head, and triggered all-Bush-all-the-time? And don't feed me "9-11, 9-11!!" because New Yorkers themselves are back to despising Bush and all he represents, and quite properly so.

But Lieberman? What's his game? What's in it for 'im?

And why's he still a Democrat?

I just don't get it.

Ned Lamont For U.S. Senate

Joe's Gotta Go!

An email I just discovered:

Dear Friend,

Congratulations. Since we launched www.NedLamont.com more than 1,000 people from Connecticut have signed up to volunteer, giving us the beginnings of the ground army we need to launch our campaign. During the next few weeks a team of volunteers will be individually contacting each volunteer from Connecticut who signed up and get you involved in specific campaign activities.

Because of your enthusiasm I have established a candidate committee and am in the process putting together a great campaign team.

I will formally announce my candidacy in March -- but first we need to do some more work. Joe Lieberman has already raised over $5 million and not surprisingly Republican lobbyists in Washington DC, including George H.W. Bush's former Chief of Staff, are stepping up to raise money for the Senator that was voted the most popular Democrat amongst lobbyists and Republicans in the National Journal’s annual poll.

In addition to what I will contribute, it will cost $500,000 to launch this campaign and we need to begin right now. You can make a secure contribution directly to my campaign on my Act Blue page.

http://www.nedlamont.com/actblue.html

Republican lobbyists are falling all over themselves to support Joe Lieberman. It's not just his votes for awful legislation such as the transportation bill with over 6,000 pork ridden earmarks, his unquestioning support for the 'stay the course strategy' in Iraq, or his support of last year's sham of an energy bill with billions in tax giveways to the oil producers and few incentives for conservation. During the past six years Senator Lieberman has been more likely to support the President on the big issues and too quick to criticize the Democratic alternatives.

Joe will claim he is an independent voice for Connecticut but in reality his cozy support for the Bush polices undermines our progressive values and undermines the Democrats who are promoting these values. A blue state should have a blue Senator. Early financial support is essential if we are to build the campaign organization and show that this campaign is one to reckon with. Get our campaign started off right.

http://www.nedlamont.com/actblue.html

Winning this campaign will be a tremendous challenge. We are going to need a grassroots organization that combines the best of the old fashioned door to door politics with today's netroots.

We can only do this if we continue to grow. Please ask your friends, families, and neighbors to join us in challenging George Bush's favorite Democrat by signing up today.

http://www.NedLamont.com

Thank you,

Ned Lamont

Paid for by Ned Lamont for Senate,
John Hartwell, Treasurer
email: info@nedlamont.com
phone: (203) 622-7091
web: http://nedlamont.com

The Fix Is In

Only way... Only Way!!!... Republicans don't lose Congress this year is via Republican/Corporate-controlled touch-screen voting machines, complete with privatized vote-counting. Ahnold in California has appointed a Sec'y of State that has now recertified Diebold -- Diebold ferchrissakes!! -- and the fix is in:

So what does this all mean? It suggests that California, with its treasure trove of congressional seats and 2008 electoral votes, is the next battleground. Yes, Gov. Schwarzenegger is wildly unpopular now. But, as the GOP proved in the 2004 Presidential race, unpopularity need not be a barrier to re-election - especially when Diebold machines are counting the votes.

If Democrats don't make a sufficient enough stink about this, then they're in on it too.

What next, a Bush Threepeat in '08?

You laugh?

R.I.P. Curt Gowdy

I'm gettin' old. Curt Gowdy was the network sports announcer in the late 60s/early 70s, when I first started watching the game:

Gowdy made his broadcasting debut in 1944 and went on to call the first Super Bowl in 1967 as well as 13 World Series and 16 All-Star games. He also called the famous “Heidi” game in 1968.

In 1951 Gowdy became the main play-by-play voice on the Red Sox broadcast team. He left the Red Sox in 1966 for a 10-year stint as “Game of the Week” announcer for NBC. He also was the longtime host of the “American Sportsman” series.

“He’s certainly the greatest play-by-play person up to this point that NBC sports has ever had,” NBC Universal Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said from the Turin Olympics. “He literally carried the sports division at NBC for so many years on his back. ... He was a remarkable talent and he was an even more remarkable human being.”

Childhood memories you forget about until, well, somebody dies.

And a little piece of you does too.

Sunday Night

Discipline begins with keeping the television [off]. A long day at the office, and I came home to the realization that my apartment was becoming a sty. Watching TV, meanwhile, is a sure way to undermine productive tidying.

And so the picture tube is dark and I'm currently washing loads of laundry, after having vacuumed the apartment. Now sitting at the keyboard going through the 35th edition of Overstreet's Comic Book Price Guide. Have keyed in all that I possess on a spreadsheet: Marvel, DC, and the indies. I did this once before, back in '90, while temp-gigging at Aetna in Middletown, CT (a great way to look busy, by the way). I had determined at the time the comics I bought since '78 thru '90 had cover prices totalling $900 and change, but had since appraised to $3,227.95, give or take mint conditions. That was 1990.

I remember a conversation with my mother, who worried for me, and my collection, apparently, was no less a source for concern. "Ma!" I protested, "Look! See? They're a great hedge against inflation."

She paused, clearly impressed by the numbers. Then the look, just as quickly, disappared: "Yes, but you read them!"

So, 16 years later, I haven't touched the sombitches, and presumably, the increase in value is only more considerable, given the numbers I'm thumbing through at the moment.

Afterwhich, I'll catalogue my baseball cards. Would that I had my comics from back in the 60s -- when cover prices were 10 cents a pop, and weren't called graphic novels then. I do, however, have some cards that date back to the 50s. No 1905 Honus Wagner, mind you, but there's a '57 Ted Williams and a '58 Willie Mays (w/the NY Giants), a Whitey Ford here or a Nolan Ryan rookie card there... should be interesting.

Think I could pay off that student loan then?

By the way, the Pinot Noir is superb. As is the Chopin & Brubeck.

Recommended: Kill yer television!

Mental Health Break

One can get fried trying to sustain these things, blogs. Is why the more successful ones -- Kos, Firedog, MyDD, etc. -- come at you in teams. Poor me, is only I here. And madness comes when you have something to say while you're driving, and have since forgotten once you've sat your butt before the keyboard. But oh well! Hope your weekend was a good one.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Josh Marshall is never more eloquent:

But as we go from the mastication of the shooting event itself to the meta story about Dick Cheney's dark and dangerous shadow presidency, let's not let one salient fact disappear down the memory hole.

Even if Dick Cheney is blameless in this matter in any deep moral sense, let's not forget that his immediate reaction was to send out his surrogates to publicly blame what happened on the victim.

Actually, that may afford him too much credit since it wasn't actually his 'immediate' reaction. It was his considered reaction after the 24 hour cooling off period he gave himself between the shooting and when he chose to make it public.

By my count, he continued to have his public surrogates blame Whittington for fully three days. He only relented and took responsibility himself when the public and no doubt
private political clamor became too much to sustain.

That's Dick Cheney.

Fersherr... !!

Hoops

Caught the UMass/George Washington game last night at the Smith Center in D.C. Highly entertaining, given UMass is floundering around .500 while GW is now 21-1 and is at least a 3-seed come March Madness.

The final: GW 69-66. The Minutemen had several chances to take it from the Colonials, but poor ball-control and negligent refereeing (incorrect ruling after confusion over whose possession on a late 2nd-half jump ball and a terrible call involving the senior ref overruling a correct call by a subordinate, all w/three seconds left) made it insurmountable. Overall, it is noted that GW clearly has the bigger, stronger, and faster team, although the Minutemen appeared to be the feistier, underscoring the adage of it being "the size of the fight in the dog." Turned out, however, to be the greater number of horses prevailing.

Supplementally, I know not who in the NCAA is talented enough to make it to the NBA, I nonetheless couldn't help but be mightily impressed w/the play of one James Life, UMass' playmaking 2-guard/small forward.

Also enjoyed the style 0f the UMass head-coach Travis Ford, who can be seen from the nose-bleed seats, or, more specifically, the veins bulging out the side of his head could be seen, that in accompaniment with his protruding eyeballs, indicating what is hoped not to be a thyroid condition.

Best not get him pissed.

Thought For The Day

Why, oh why, couldn't've been Antonin Scalia?

This Is What I Don't Know

Old man Whittington has taken a turn for the worse...

Dick Cheney is effectively neutralized...

This is the beginning of the end for Dubya and his >cough< legacy...

Upon Which, Let It Not Go Unremarked

Dick Cheney shoots a man:

Harry Whittington, 78, was "alert and doing fine" after Cheney sprayed Whittington with shotgun pellets on Saturday at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong.

Whittington apparently wouldn't go fuck himself, this while the Vice President was having his flashback.

The alternative sidebar: Dick Cheney... before he dicks you!

The Weatherman Gets It Right

10 inches is my estimate. No no, not the usual self-evaluation and corresponding gratification. No, not this time. More like the once-every-4-years snow-dump, par for the course in New England, as I recollect and rarely miss, but much rarer in these parts.

The car is buried and the street remains unplowed, so I walk for my breakfast, something I ought to do every day I reckon, would that I the time, particularly so when my usual 30-minutes of treadmill is converted into 75 minutes of traversing snowy terrain.

Now back from Tysons Mall; just cleaned the bathroom, Eartha Kitt, with Allison Krauss to follow, on the CD Player, the remainder of the merlot in my glass, and I'm cool.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Spreading Frrrrrtilizer...

And this tidbit from the interview, linked-to in the previous post, essentially sums up in a nutshell Dubya's excretia:

That was only the beginning of the Busheviks’ subversion of democracy. They’ve been at it whole hog ever since, from the spread of Diebold and ES&S machines throughout the nation, to the gratuitous gerrymandering of Texas, and the recall of Gray Davis (a venture masterminded by the White House). Repeatedly they’ve tried to quash democracy not just in the United States but all over the world, as in Haiti, Venezuela, Uzbekistan, Iraq.

It cannot be oversaid, as it has been said here before: Whenever Dubya says, "We're spreading freedom," I'm thinking he's spreading manure.

No Honor Among Thieves

It's been said on this page, on more than a couple of occasions, that the Busheviks stole the elections of 2000 and 2004. And with it came madness.

Mark Crispin Miller is the pre-eminent go-to theorist of this conspiracy, except his theory is well documented in his book Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They'll Steal the Next One Too (Unless We Stop Them). Miller is also the guy whom John Kerry approached saying he agreed with Miller about the '04 election being stolen, denied later by Kerry's people, though the plausible deniability for Kerry pales.

An utterly fascinating interview in Buzzflash captured my attention today. Nice opening question:

Let’s talk about a major problem that the press refuses to discuss: the privatization of the voting process. That’s really what the spread of computerized voting machines is all about. Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia—the three largest manufacturers of such machines—are private vendors. They keep their programming codes secret as “proprietary information,” and, worse, all three are extremely close to the Republican Party. There is no way to determine whether these machines are accurate. Using them is tantamount to having secret vote counts.

Diebold in particular has been in the news. Some months before Election Day, 2004, Wally O’Dell, Diebold’s CEO, sent a Bush/Cheney fundraising letter out to other rich Ohio Republicans, promising to do everything he could to “deliver Ohio’s electoral vote to the President.” In December, he suddenly resigned. What’s going on?

Read the rest here.

James Webb For Senate

I got to interview George Allen on my TV show back in '92 (and remind me to finally get on the stick and create that website I've been sitting on lo these many years), when he first ran for governor of Virginia. Simply put, he's a dope. Son of a coaching legend, former QB for the UVA Cavaliers, and while his first 18 years came growing up in southern California (when his old man coached the Rams), he was, by the time of our interview, a cowboy boot-wearin', southern-drawlin', and, when the cameras weren't hot, tobacco spittin' good ol' boy, who later liked to hang the Stars & Bars in his executive office in Richmond. There's yer clue right there.

In short, he's a three-dollar bill -- the phony kind, not the queer kind (unless, uhm, you heard something?).

And so here's to a former Reaganaut, now Dem in the race for Allen's seat: James Webb:

Webb, who was secretary of the Navy under Republican President Ronald Reagan, resigned in protest of cutbacks in the Navy fleet. He has been a strong critic of the war in Iraq, saying that the Bush administration has never developed an exit strategy.

Webb is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and served in the Marines in the Vietnam War. He is the author of the nonfiction book "Born Fighting, How the Scots-Irish Shaped America," as well as six novels.

Allen, as some of you might know is now the front-runner for the GOP nomination in the '08 Presidentials, i.e., if you can believe the screwballs. Just what America needs: another goddamned right-wing dope.

An upset by Webb, then, would be extra-sweet. Stay tuned.

The Rocketman Returneth?

The Herald says don't count on it:

The Texas Rangers, Yankees and Sox all have shown interest in Clemens, but his allegiance is clearly with the Astros. Clemens has a 10-year personal-services contract with the club and owner Drayton McLane that kicks in when he officially retires, and he said that he looks forward to working with minor leaguers.

But the Globe is a little more upbeat:

If they determine Boston is the best place to return, Hendricks and Clemens know it would be a great story. Boston is where Clemens amassed 192 of his 341 wins. He won three of his seven Cy Youngs here, and his only MVP. Why not end his career in Boston?

Make it so, #21!

Da' Bowl

2nd quarter, Seattle up 3-zip. Gotta root for the Steelers. Been to Pittsburgh, ain't to Seattle.

Me & Chontos did a drive 3 or 4 years ago to the Steel city, many thanks to TTown, who provided game tics to the Pirates and the Texas Rangers at PNC Park, or, as Chontos & I like to chortle, "Pink Park!!"

But seriously, gorgeous stadium, very user-friendly. Rate it a notch above Camden Yahds, though my heart will always belong to Fenway.

Pittsburgh's a kinda gray, dreary looking town, but the convergence of three rivers -- the Ohio, the Allegheny, and, uhm... jeez, I'd have to Google it -- gives it at least a little charm. And we had a good time, ending up in a Chinese restaurant on karaouke night after the game. Oh, and lest I forget: Before the game, we checked out the Andy Warhol Museum (complete with its 15 minutes of fame) and the dreariest bar in the universe, resembling a rural VFW stoop, dispensing the dreariest brau in the universe: "Iron City Beer"... urp!

Fun time. Love the ballpark. Like the city. Makes me miss Boston all the more.
----------
Update: Roethlesberger in for the score. Steelers up 7-3.

Lovely!

Sarcasm, that. Wolcott turns me onto AntiWar.com and a look by William Lind at what Americans have yet to focus on, fat and sleepy culture that we are:

Osama bin Laden's latest message. Most observers, including the White House, seem to have missed its significance. In it, bin Laden offered us a truce (an offer we should have accepted, if only to attempt to seize the moral high ground). The Koran requires Muslims to offer such a truce before they attack. The fact that bin Laden himself made the offer, after a long silence, suggests al-Qaeda attaches high importance to it.

Why? My guess is because they plan a major new attack in the U.S. soon. I would be surprised if the plan were for something smaller than 9/11, because that could send the message that al-Qaeda's capabilities had diminished. Could this be "the big one," the suitcase nuke that most counterterrorism experts expect somewhere, sometime? That would certainly justify, perhaps require, a truce offer from Osama himself. Of course, al-Qaeda's plan may fail, and it may be for an action less powerful than setting off a nuke on American soil. But the fact that Osama made a truce offer should have set off alarm bells in Washington. So far, from what I can see, it hasn't.

Time to buy the gun?

Dogs In The Manger

I've been convinced for a couple of years now that Republicans are so well-organized as to even have their bots run as Democrats, getting themselves elected, thus providing them with unfettered access to Democratic offices, conferences and strategy sessions, and then report back to the Red Meanies. Joe Lieberman, a.k.a., Mr. Mashed-Potato Face, of course, is just the alpha dog in the manger, i.e., now that Zell Miller is retired to challenging strangers on the street to duels.

But Henry Cueller, D-TX, 28th District (w/the "D" to be accepted advisedly), in case you hadn't heard, is a real piece of hard cheese:

In Washington, Democrats say they will monitor Cuellar's votes before deciding how warmly to embrace a man who calls himself pro-gun, pro-free trade, anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage. Several House Democrats, hearing rumors that Cuellar might switch parties, took the unusual step of asking him to confirm his party loyalty.

With Democrats like these, who needs enemies? Is why I'm now joining the tidal wave of endorsements for his opponent Ciro Rodriguez.

Kos & Firedoglake (<-- dig the pic!) both blog on this foul bit of business, where it evidently has forged significant inroads, much akin to paying members of the media to parrot the GOP line (oddly enough, something they'd be doing without the payola).
----------
Update 2/3/06: More On Ciro Rodriguez, courtesy of Daily Kos.

Lepidoptera

You always knew Bill O'Reilly was a bug, right? Well nobody disects this bug better than Olbermann:

But most of what Mr. O'Reilly was saying was his typical obtuse shorthand of bullying and another word starting with "bull." . . . The bottom line is, as the oldest cliche goes, he can dish it out but, clearly, he cannot take it.

See the video, courtesy of C&L.

End Of Times

All in a day: Dubya speechifies, Greenspan retires, Coretta Scott King dies.

Maybe we could reshuffle the deck here... ?

Firedoglake

Really love the work Jane is doing. That she can piss off Deborah Howell and scare supposedly liberal Senators into doing the right thing, all in a week... well, she's just gotta have my baby.

Unless:

Okay, so it's obvious there is cloture today. It sucks. But it happens in the big leagues that sometimes you lose an inning. That doesn't mean you stop playing, it just means you take a deep breath and go back to the dugout for some fresh plays.

Agh! Where to begin.

My dear Jane, your attempt here at a sports analogy, apparently using baseball as your primary reference, is, uhm, distracting. See, even in basketball or football, "plays" are almost never -- ok, never -- described as "fresh," like they're fish or fruit cocktail. As for "plays" in baseball, a manager might signal the third base coach to signal the batter to put on the squeeze play, or he may, from the dugout, waive an outfielder over toward the line or the infield in, depending upon the situation, but a team doesn't retire to the dugout to huddle up for plays that are as "fresh" as Honus Wagner. Well maybe in T-ball.

And I don't think I've ever contemplated "innings lost" before. Innings aren't counted toward the final outcome. We can lose a "game" definitely, or even a "round" (as I believe you meant to say there), but then that's the sweet science of it.

Your energy and analytical talent, as it addresses your passion, politics, is clearly evident from the reading of your blog, and which is why this dissonant note wrankled. No biggie, but it just, like, totally weirded out the junkie in me. Such is the beauty of sport, I suppose.

Of course, I would bet you'd be able to find similarly lame analogies, which I may've imparted on this site; or perhaps a grammatical or syntactical error, or a spelling mishap or thirteen.

All I can say to that is... touche!

Alito Filibuster Defeated

Interesting that every Dem believed to have an interest in running for the '08 Presidency voted "Nay," including DLC mopes Bayh, Biden, and Hillary. Maybe they've woken up to the fact that the base is not to be trifled with.

Conversely, Joementum continues to exhibit his facist sympathies, giving new meaning, perhaps, to that shop-worn political wail "Better Dead Than Red" -- as in Roe v. Wade be Daid! (Which, by the way, is no small favor to the Democrats. When the fanatics, state by state, start to impose their insane restrictions on suburbia -- and you know they will! -- it could be, as Tom Davis suggests, a political reversal of fortune for both parties. Praise Jesus!)

But isn't it curious that given the cloture vote's wide margin, that both Lieberman and Linc Chafee, the Republican from the most Democratic state in the Union, both voted to end debate when their "Nay"s could have provided them legitimate cover for their reelections respectively. My curiosity is of what might've happend had they did so, like whether a domino effect might have ensued: "Heyyy, now I gotta vote Nay, you bastard!"

And now both of them will vote against Alito tomorrow, an anticlimactic exercise in stupidity, and more so if they actually think that'll cover their wrinkly butts on election night. Like we're, what, imbeciles?

If there is a God... !!

So say goodbye to Roe v. Wade, which, by intellectual standards, was an abomination in judicial reasoning, not to mention the Exhibit-A example of the Court legislating from the bench, even if it had the best of intentions: giving a woman another option in a particularly lonely moment. But now that Roe's demise is certain -- and I do mean certain! -- it will be the progressive populi who must get up off their respective keisters and fight the fuck back!

My more immediate fears envision the impending further destruction of our environment, the government institutionalization of Christianity (or the kind envisioned by some serious assholes), and the continued lowering of standards as they pertain to, say, consumer awareness and protection; employee wages, safety and health coverage; or particularly, whether an individual has any recourse in the court when he or she is utterly screwed over by some corporate stooge.

For starters...

And speaking of worker safety, can you imagine what that old fossil Robert Byrd could possibly have been thinking? Here is a man whose state is still reeling from two recent mine disasters, which, I would argue, were made inevitable by Republicans' obsessive deregulation of industry. And what does Byrd do?? He announces his support for a man who is the ultimate corporate rubber stamp. And he did it precipitously, days in advance, almost guaranteeing the filibuster would never take off. Oh! And then there's Scalito's love for executive power: You know how Byrd loves to waive his tiny copy of the Constitution on the Senate floor whenever he expounds upon its rich Corinthean leather? I think it'd be mighty entertaining, the next time, were he to set it afire.

Ach! This is depressing. As depressing as when the "fab five" came down with their decisions in Bush v. Gore. You think maybe Sandy-Baby'd like her vote back on that one?

Four -- count 'em -- FOUR rubber stamps now for the most fanatical element in this country: Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, and now Alito. Take a drink whenever they don't vote unanimously on a decision, you'll stay cold sober.

Christ! This means Anthony Kennedy is now the swing. And he has a rusty hinge.

Brrrr...

Alphabetical by Senator Name
Akaka (D-HI), Yea
Alexander (R-TN), Yea
Allard (R-CO), Yea
Allen (R-VA), Yea
Baucus (D-MT), Yea
Bayh (D-IN), Nay
Bennett (R-UT), Yea
Biden (D-DE), Nay
Bingaman (D-NM), Yea
Bond (R-MO), Yea
Boxer (D-CA), Nay
Brownback (R-KS), Yea
Bunning (R-KY), Yea
Burns (R-MT), Yea
Burr (R-NC), Yea
Byrd (D-WV), Yea
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Carper (D-DE), Yea
Chafee (R-RI), Yea
Chambliss (R-GA), Yea
Clinton (D-NY), Nay
Coburn (R-OK), Yea
Cochran (R-MS), Yea
Coleman (R-MN), Yea
Collins (R-ME), Yea
Conrad (D-ND), Yea
Cornyn (R-TX), Yea
Craig (R-ID), Yea
Crapo (R-ID), Yea
Dayton (D-MN), Nay
DeMint (R-SC), Yea
DeWine (R-OH), Yea
Dodd (D-CT), Nay
Dole (R-NC), Yea
Domenici (R-NM), Yea
Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
Durbin (D-IL), Nay
Ensign (R-NV), Not Voting
Enzi (R-WY), Yea
Feingold (D-WI), Nay
Feinstein (D-CA), Nay
Frist (R-TN), Yea
Graham (R-SC), Yea
Grassley (R-IA), Yea
Gregg (R-NH), Yea
Hagel (R-NE), Not Voting
Harkin (D-IA), Not Voting
Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Inhofe (R-OK), Yea
Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Isakson (R-GA), Yea
Jeffords (I-VT), Nay
Johnson (D-SD), Yea
Kennedy (D-MA), Nay
Kerry (D-MA), Nay
Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Kyl (R-AZ), Yea
Landrieu (D-LA), Yea
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay
Leahy (D-VT), Nay
Levin (D-MI), Nay
Lieberman (D-CT), Yea
Lincoln (D-AR), Yea
Lott (R-MS), Yea
Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Martinez (R-FL), Yea
McCain (R-AZ), Yea
McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Menendez (D-NJ), Nay
Mikulski (D-MD), Nay
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Murray (D-WA), Nay
Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Obama (D-IL), Nay
Pryor (D-AR), Yea
Reed (D-RI), Nay
Reid (D-NV), Nay
Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Salazar (D-CO), Yea
Santorum (R-PA), Yea
Sarbanes (D-MD), Nay
Schumer (D-NY), Nay
Sessions (R-AL), Yea
Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Smith (R-OR), Yea
Snowe (R-ME), Yea
Specter (R-PA), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Stevens (R-AK), Yea
Sununu (R-NH), Yea
Talent (R-MO), Yea
Thomas (R-WY), Yea
Thune (R-SD), Yea
Vitter (R-LA), Yea
Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Warner (R-VA), Yea
Wyden (D-OR), Nay

Questions That Get You Kicked Out of the Pressroom - #8

You've been photographed at least 3 different times, and my suspician is more, flipping the bird at whomever. My question is this: Do you think that's what Jesus would do?

Sunday Drift

Winding it down. I'd like another day off as one seems insufficient. Feeling self-centric at the moment as the business of the world at hand depresses the living shit outta me. Dems bending over and grabbing their ankles is no way to run an opposition party...

No, no... ! Run away run away... !

So anyway, you know how when you rent a movie you pick one you thought you wanted to see but when you get home you get caught up in the reruns of Law'n Order and before you know it, it's beddy bye? Do that for a coupla nights straight and your rental is due back. Well thank the gah'ds Blockbuster liberalized their return policy (Hear that, Republicans? They went liberal!!), and so my rental of March of the Penguins sat on my table for three weeks; half-way thru I was allowed to rent others, like Crash (excellent!), Saving Face (charming), and Serenity (fuckin' awesome!). The cash-out fellah noted I still had Penguins, which he suggested I could opt to purchase for $9.95 or return at a $1.50 late charge, which I didn't have to pay then -- like, hey cool!

It didn't go unnoted by me he didn't mention Network, which I had rented at the same time as March of the Penguins. Maybe because it was in their older movie section, i.e., not 2-day or 1-week return mandated, or maybe it was a computer, or brain, glitch. Whatever the case, maybe I could just assume there's no penalty for a verrrry late return, heh! Yeaaahh, that's it!

So I finally watched March of the Penguins last night. Simply put, it was astounding, which, of course is one of the word-blurbs right on the cover. No hype that "astounding," as it was indeed astounding!! Incredibly spartan existences these birds live, and yet they hold a profound sense of duty and family. It touches the soul.

Haven't seen it? Do.

That is all.

Say It Ain't So, Joementum

The man's name is Ned Lamont:

Ned is considering running because, like most Connecticut Democrats, he is tired of being represented by a senator who is not willing to stand up to the President on the war — and on the rest of his extreme right wing agenda which is so harmful to our country.

Tell Ned to run!

Ralph Nader: All Is Forgiven

Is good to be UNreasonable:

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

Given the road now travelled by Al Gore, the man Nader most torments, or did, the prognosis for the Democratic party is upbeat, i.e., looking well past the ugly capitulation by Senate Democrats involving Scalito (Please! Gi'me a car crash, somebody!)...

Uhm, that's upbeat assuming Al runs for the presidency again.

Yew Shorr Got Purdy Lips, Boy!

Must see!!

dd d d d d d d d...

Metaphysician, Heal Thyself

Aaron Brown, late of CNN, makes an interesting point:

Journalists have fallen short in presenting important news in ways that allow viewers to see how it matters in their lives. But viewers must take up the battle as well, he said. "It's not enough to say you want serious news. You have to watch it. It isn't enough to say you want serious debate. You have to engage in it."

I confess I don't watch NewsHour as much as I'd ought, although I am religious about watching Olbermann while convinced the show's plug'll be pulled before the November elections, a la Phil Donahue.