The Bible through Legos

OK, it's getting late in the afternoon, so instead of perusing this entire website for the rest of the day, I guess I'll share with the rest of the class.

It's Bible stories shown through legos.

I draw your attention to the ones from Leviticus. Because we all know Leviticus is where the dirty parts are.

And if after viewing those, you still haven't gotten enough, check out the instructions for marriage and instructions for women.

They get a little graphic, but from what I understand, they are all consenting adult legos, so they are safe for work and viewing them won't land you in the pokey.

via Demagogue

Final Disrespect to Rosa Parks

Now, I don't know anyone in Rosa Park's family or their political leanings, but did they know that her body was going to be used as a political prop for George Bush and his cronies?

That just makes me sick to my stomach. If someone in my family passed away, I wouldn't let Chimpy or his cronies anywhere near the body. The Rude Pundit has a nice post on what's really going on in the Capitol Rotunda - metaphorically, of course.

Rosa was a champion of civil rights. Her activism started a whole movement that has done wonders for equality among African Americans and others. However all her hard work and the work of others like her could be nullified by someone like Sam Alito, who favors race-based discrimination.

ALITO WOULD ALLOW RACE-BASED DISCRIMINATION: Alito dissented
from a decision in favor of a Marriott Hotel manager who said she
had been discriminated against on the basis of race. The majority
explained that Alito would have protected racist employers by
“immuniz[ing] an employer from the reach of Title VII if the
employer’s belief that it had selected the ‘best’ candidate was the
result of conscious racial bias.” [Bray v. Marriott Hotels, 1997]

Of coure that didn't stop Alito from swinging my her coffin for a photo-op.

AmericaBlog ponders whether Rosa would vote for Judge Alito. Somehow, I really doubt it. She would vehemently oppose just about everything he stands for.

Rosa Parks does not deserve to be used as a political pawn in the Gee Oh Pee's grand plan to take away our rights. She deserves our respect and admiration for the great movement that she helped to start.

Culture of Life Supports Killing 3,700 Women Every Year

I posted on this before, but now that the Washington Post is writing about it, I figure I oughta re-iterate how cruel, mean and evil the wingnuts are.

10,000 American women get cervical cancer every year, and of those, 3,700 die every year. Now there is a vaccine that may be available within the next few years that protects against common strains of the human papilloma virus. HPV is the most prevalent cause of cervical cancer. Women die from this. And if they don't die, they can be forced to get hysterectomies and all kinds of mean nasty ugly things, not the mention the emotional turmoil the whole thing causes.

So, if we can prevent all this needless suffering, don't ya think we ought to?

However, the wingnuts think that if the HPV vaccine is mandatory for all pre-pubescent girls, it will promote promiscuous sexual activity. There is however, no evidence of this. But that doesn't stop them.

I'm guessing that most young girls that go get their shots don't really know what they are getting. The parent's might, but does the girl really ask what shots they are and what they are for, and then ponder who much fun it will be to have un-protected sex with HPV-infected boys? Somehow I doubt it. Especially if she's nine or ten years old.

Alan M. Kaye, executive director of the National Cervical Cancer
Coalition, likened the vaccine to wearing a seat belt.

"Just because you wear a seat belt doesn't mean you're seeking out an
accident," Kaye said.

I don't see how any parent who loves his or her daughter and wants them to live a happy, healthy life can possible oppose vaccinating her against this disease.

Unauthorized Strip Searches and The Supreme Court

So I was doing a little research on this Sam Alito fellow, George Bush's newest assault on human decency, the judicial branch of our government and the American people.

At first I thought he'd be just one of those boring social conservatives that hates everyone except rich white people. With Alito being among James Dobson's three favorites, I didn't think I could expect much more. But then I saw this.

ALITO SUPPORTS UNAUTHORIZED STRIP SEARCHES: In Doe v. Groody, Alito argued that police officers had not violated constitutional rights when they strip searched a mother and her ten-year-old daughter while carrying out a search warrant that authorized only the search of a man and his home. [Doe v. Groody, 2004]

Unauthorized strip searches??????

I believe this man takes wingnuttery to a new level.

Chimpy chose to consult with James Dobson rather than Senate Democrats after Senators Harry Reid and Patrick Leahy both warned him not to nominate Alito. This could get really messy.

But the fight over this nomination will certainly detract from all of Bush's other problems, and that's probably exactly what they have in mind.

Gonzo

I swear, I haven't done any hallucinogens tonight, but doesn't my bathroom faucet look like Gonzo from the Muppets?

Things to Ponder this Weekend

I'll leave you with two quotes to ponder this weekend. One by former Senate Majority Leader, Trent Lott and one by the temporarily deposed House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay.

Tom DeLay: "We are witnessing the criminalization of conservative politcs." (ya think so, Tom? Maybe if the conservatives would play by the rules they wouldn't be such criminals)

Trent Lott: "I want the president to look across the country and find the best man, woman, or minority that he can find." (If you come from Mississippi, minorities don't qualify as men or women. nice.)

Will He be Scooting off to the Big House?

Scooter is indicted on five counts and he has resigned.

Libby was indicted on one count of obstruction of justice, two counts
of perjury and two counts of making false statements, court documents show.

Indictment papers suitable for printing and framing can be found at The Smoking Gun.

If found guilty, these charges could add up to up to 30 years in the slammer. I wonder what his prison bitch name will be?

Doctors Unsure on Cause of First Lady's Bloody Stool

via The Onion

I can only assume this is what the Presidential Prayer Team was referring to when they posted this.

Pray for First Lady Laura Bush as she celebrates her birthday next
week on November 4, praying for her health, safety and continued grace
as she faithfully supports the President.

I think we all know what "supporting" the President really entails.

The Return of Friday Bart Blogging

Bart gives the waitress his best puppy-dog eyes in high hopes that she'll bring him another mug of Amberbock.

Libby, Libby, Libby

When it says Libby, Libby, Libby on the indictment, 'dictment, 'dictment, you will feel, feel, feel the excitement 'citement, 'citement!!!

Even though Scooter Libby will likely get an indictment later this afternoon, George Bush and Karl Rove appear to have taken their happy pills early today.

"The President was definitely in a good mood - he came out and did a
quick head fake (basketball player like move - very Allen Iverson head
fake especially for someone with a bum knee) as if he would come talk to
us and then went the other way and started smiling and sort of laughing.
He then pretended not to hear us shouting (Reagan ear cup thing)."

[...]

Rove left his home at 7:45 am ET. When Rove left his house and got in
his car, a reporter yelled: "Are you in good spirits. Are you in a good
mood?"

Rove replied: "A very good mood today. I'm going to have a very good day."

And then he smiled and waved.

However Ann Coulter thinks that a continuing investigation of Karl Rove is the worst case scenario for the White House. And if Ann Coulter says so... well, it must be true.

Thanks a lot Gordon

Evidently, Gordon's litle comment about my mom being a babe is going to her head.

Seeing as how I'm in your Mom's age group, please tell her for me that I think she's a babe!

After her newsy email message about Thanksgiving plans, relatives, and how old people recover from jet lag, she signed it...

luv,
The Babe

I'm going to go hide now.

Condi Rice: Enormous Dork

Rule #1 for Being a True Sports Fan

1. You can't purchase a "blank" authentic jersey from your favorite team with no name on the back, then stick your own name and number on the jersey ... well, unless you want to be an enormous dork.

Maureen Dowd and Freudian Theory

I'm just not sure what Ms. Dowd was thinking when she wrote the headline to this piece, Dick at the Heart of Darkness.

Maybe all this indictment chatter has gotten her feeling a little frisky.

Thanks to Tennesee Guerilla Women for purloining this NY Times Select Op-Ed!

Italy Pics

By popular demand, I put my photos up on Flickr.

They're on two sites, here and here, as those greedy Flickr bastards have a limit on how many images you can upload at a time for free.

There's obelisks, dead popes, a cute little schnoodle doggie and a witty caption under each one.

Unfortunately they don't allow photos of The David at Accademia, but you can go here to see his naughty bits. The site is in Italian, but really, does it matter? Michelangelo certainly had a good handle on the male form, now didn't he?

Harriet Miers Withdraws her Nomination

Were those test questions too hard? Did she think being on the Supreme Court would cut into her George Bush worship time?

My theory was that she would wait to withdraw until Fitzgerald's indictments were handed down, in order to take the media spotlight off the Bush Administration. But perhaps the strategy is that the Preznit will nominate Lucifer for Associate Justice as the indictments come out. That way, the media will focus on Lucifer's judicial philosophy and the precedents and briefs he's written in the Underworld recently rather than how cute Karl Rove will look in an orange jumpsuit and what type of prison lube he prefers.

And I was so looking forward to the confirmation hearings.

But the question remains. Will she continue blogging???

'Twas the Night Before Fitzmas

'Twas the night before Fitzmas, when all through blogtopia
Not a creature was stirring, not even a Kossack;
The target letters were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Fitzgerald soon would be there;

Drinking Liberally is tonight. And after seeing the creative happy dance that Wayne did after the Tom DeLay indictment at last month's Drinking Liberally, I can't wait to see his happy dance tonight! Santa Claus is coming to town, and we just might get that pony we've been wanting!

If Rove and Libby are indeed indicted (adding Cheney to our Merry
Fitz-mas gift list would just be getting greedy), I believe it will
shake up our government in a way we haven't seen since Watergate.

Before I saw this video from Crooks and Liars and had two cups of coffee, I was having a little trouble getting back into the swing of this blogging thing. But now I'm all atwitter! Woo hoo!!!!

Liberal Beer always tastes better with new and exciting indictments!

UPDATE: CNN is now reporting that an announcement is not expected today. I'm so bummed.

Drinking Liberally in October

Tomorrow, Wednesday the 26th is the big night!

We're meeting in the upstairs section of the Tampa Bay Brewing Company at 1812 N. 15th Street in Ybor City at 8pm. Our usual meeting place of New World Brewery, has a DJ Wednesday night. As it's really quite challenging to effectively bag on Republicans with all that background noise, we picked a different venue. It's right around the corner from New World, and there's still lots of free parking on Wednesday nights.

Be there, or be square!

Spankings For Torture

In a very naughty and public display symbolically showing his support for "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment," George Bush winds up to whack his wife right smack dab on the fanny as they exit Marine One after a sordid and steamy weekend at Camp David.

Two-Pronged Strategy

The last time I heard someone recommend a "two-pronged" strategy, I was window shopping at The Todd Superstore. But now it seems like the Republicans are devising a similar plan to repel the tsunami of criticism that's gonna start flowing from the upcoming indictments in the Plame-outing investigation.

According to the Daily News, the Bush "war room" has come up with a
two-pronged strategy to deal with indictments, if they're are issued:
1) claim that Karl Rove "simply got tripped up" on his recollections of
whom he talked to and what he told them about Plame; and 2) cast perjury
and obstruction charges as "irrelevant."

Call it a hunch, but I think they'll have to do better than this. Kay
Bailey Hutchison tried the second of these two ideas over the weekend and
has been the subject of ridicule ever since.

Then again, when the White House is caught leaking classified information
to cover up lies about a war, and then lying again to cover it up, options
are rather limited.

I'm not sure if their two-pronged strategy will be as effective as the one the nice saleslady at The Todd recommended, but at the very least, it will be fun to watch them squirm.

Selling of Indulgences

Finally made it back to town yesterday afternoon, just in time for happy hour! Yay!!

One of the most awe-inspiring things I saw in Italy was St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It's big, it's ornate, there's dead popes laying around all willy nilly and it must have cost a fortune to build. Even my dear mother was driven to wonder aloud "with people outside begging, I just don't see how you can justify all of this."

Where did the Catholic Church get all the money to build this behemoth, you ask? Well, rumor has it that it was through the selling of indulgences. This means that if you wish to cheat on your wife, you simply give the church some cash, and bingo! You can commit one sin free of guilt and divine punishment. Want to steal your neighbor's cow? Give some more money to the Church and you've got yourself a cow without having to confess your sin.

So during the reign of Pope Julius II, the "Warrior Pope" in the 16th century, money was getting a little tight and he really wanted to finish off St. Peter's Basilica. So Julius the Terrible decided to sell some indulgences to raise the money to finish it.

This got me to thinkin'. With all the scandals and corruption that's going on in the Republican party these days, why don't they institute a similar method of fundraising.

Are you feeling a little amorous toward your livestock? Simply contribute $100 to the Neal Horsely Barnyard Animals Indulgence Fund and have your way with Bessie.

Fed up with your wife's cancer and the never-ending hospital visits? Is she not young or pretty enough for your political aspirations? Want her to sign the divorce papers while she's in the hospital? All you gotta do is visit your attorney, then donate $100 to the Newt Gingrich Kick Her While She's Down Trust.

There's really all kinds of opportunities for this kind of fundraising, and I think Ken Mehlman should get on this immediately. Maybe he should even start the Official Ken Mehlman-Jeff Gannon Closet Homo Indulgence Endowment Fund.

And of course, I mean "endowment" in the nicest way.

Okay, One Last Post

I found this over at Sticks of Fire and had to share it with y'all

Seems there's a bit o' speculating on what world class bigot and Hillsborough County Commissioner, Ronda Storms is planning on doing with her political career. Rumors are that she wants to be a judge.

Good god, save us all.

As St. Pete Times columnist Earnest Hooper speculates, this is what could be in store for us.

Storms: A bane upon you. May the worms of your avarice consume your
intestines.

Defendant: But your honor, I was just going 47 in a 35.

Storms: You know, you're the most incompetent driver in the history of the
universe.

See Ya Next Week

As I couldn't find a worthy guest blogger, and didn't try very hard, Bart is in charge for the next week or so. I'll be in Italy, far away from home, so please be nice to him. He likes belly rubs, squeaky hamburger toys, hockey and cold beer.

The Man Never Beat Hunter S. Thompson

After I posted yesterday's ode to obituaries, I started thinking about another obit my friend, Rob Mortellaro wrote for Hunter S. Thompson. I tried in vain, but could not find it. Evidently, the internets ate it. They do get hungry sometimes you know. I just wish they wouldn't prey on obituaries for great men.

So, I know it's not particulary timely, but this needs to be out there. So without further ado, here it is....

The Man Never Beat Hunter S. Thompson
by Robert Mortellaro

Hunter S. Thompson is dead and we’re all the poorer for it, not because he was ever going to write anything to match his best work, which peaked with the publication of Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72, but because when the brightest light in a big room goes dark it’s that much harder for all the other bulbs to hold the shadows at bay. And right now in Amerika, 2005 it should be clear to anyone who isn’t brainwashed, evil, or just plain stupid that this country, and caught up with it the rest of the world, is turning into one giant, hellish, careening snowball that’s building speed towards a looming Dark Age, a combination of McCarthyism, the Great Depression, the Holocaust and the last Ice Age, that even now we may be unable to stop.

continue reading...Part journalist, part rock star and part Old Testament prophet, Thompson kicked against every prick he ever came across, whether it was Richard Nixon or Jean Claude Killy. He could recognize a phony or a huckster on sight and, through his writing, helped us to see through the web of propaganda and marketing that always prop up the hollow men who vie for our allegiance and lust after our money. He was the first writer with a true mass following to embody the Beat ethos, which looked with a jaundiced, skeptical eye at consensus reality. While the media machine was busy supporting the false simulacrum that turned liars and whores into leaders and heroes, Thompson used exaggeration, first-person narrative and journeys into Burroughs-esque surrealism—what became known as “gonzo” journalism--to get to a deeper, more profound truth than straight journalism was equipped, or motivated, to reveal. It’s not that individual writers didn’t recognize most politicians as corrupt, Thompson himself says that most of his “peers” despised the men they wrote about, it’s that they couldn’t dare say what they believed and still have a job. And has much changed?

If you ever talk to a writer who denigrates Thompson as a mere personality or raconteur, you can bet that he’s one of the worker-bees whose job is to prop up the web of deception that make up our Truman Show reality. Hunter Thompson’s approach will always be a threat both to those principals who deserve to be skewered, and to all the lackeys whose jobs depend on continuing and promulgating the Big Lie. Those who don’t “get” Thompson (or perhaps who get him too well) are for the most part cardboard-souled, flat, one-dimensional weasels with a pursed-lipped prose style who are put off by the fact that his writing, even when it approaches self-parody, is infinitely more interesting and insightful than their meticulous, balanced, hive-produced product.

I started reading Hunter over twenty years ago as a freshman in junior college. I was talking to my anthropology professor one day as we passed a joint between us during lunch, and he asked me if I’d ever read Hunter S. Thompson. I told him all I ever read was science fiction, Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, guys like that.

“Hunter is … way better than … science fiction,” he managed to gasp in between sharp intakes of air that drove the smoke deep into his lungs. He gave me his copy of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas the next day, which I still have, and which I read in a day. Both Thompson’s style and ideas hit me hard. There was a certain visceral resonance that occurred. The same thing happened shortly after when I first read Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Nature and wound up outlining seventy-five percent of the essay and scribbling voluminous illegible notes in the margins, rendering it largely unreadable. Hunter was a Big Soul, an iconoclast who said “Yes!” to existence. I was hooked. Hunter, along with Lester Bangs, were writers who made me want to write. They were cosmic clowns who abandoned themselves to chaos, a risky way to live, but who (almost) always landed on their feet.

Of course, Lester Bangs died in 1981, due largely to drugs … a huge waste. And Hunter was busted in the early ‘90s for possession of weapons and drugs, although he beat that rap due to excellent, pro bono legal representation provided by the ACLU, shooting off a large-caliber handgun as he drove away from the courthouse in his red convertible, surrounded on all sides by scantily clad women who knew him from the days he worked in the sex industry and who had come to Aspen to give him, at the least, moral support. The Man never beat Hunter Thompson.

You can always submerge yourself too deeply in your influences, of course, and I’m as guilty of that as most. In college I used to hang around a guy I’ll call KB, a good poet who won a few of the local slams and who turned me onto another linchpin counter-culture writer, the late Charles Bukowski. That was our trinity: Thompson, Bangs, Bukowski. We would careen around campus and local bars drinking like our heroes and, when sober, doing our best to write like them. On some days we’d even adopt their vocal patterns and mannerisms, spouting snippets of their prose to each other and to people around us. If that sounds sycophantic, you’re right. But consider this observation about Patti Smith from the punk chronicle, Please Kill Me: “Patty wanted to look like Keith Richards, smoke like Jeanne Moreau, walk like Bob Dylan, and write like Arthur Rimbaud. She had this incredible pantheon of icons that she was patterning herself on. She really had a romantic vision of herself.” And so did my friend and I. We must have felt that by copying them, we could somehow become them, a flawed logic on its face.

KB went on become a raging alcoholic, doing things like begging me to mace the inside of my windshield so he could lick it and find out how it feels to be pepper-sprayed (Hunter, of course, always carried mace in the event that words were not enough to manage the weirdoes and hangers-on he found himself surrounded by). After one swipe, he started to thrash around on the passenger side, moaning for water as tears ran down his cheeks and snot poured out of his nose.

“Goddamn it, K____ , what the fuck is wrong with you,” I screamed, jerking the wheel hard and pointing the nose of my white, ’76 Cutlass coupe into the parking lot of a convenience store, hoping to borrow a bucket or some other large container from the clerk.

“My friend has had an accident,” I explained cryptically, “I need water!”

When I got outside, the passenger door of my car was open and K____ was sprawled on his back hanging halfway out of the car, his face bright red and his head tilted back so that it almost touched the curb. I pulled back the bucket and let him have it, pissed-off that this fine evening of drinking, driving and listening to the new Iggy Pop album was in danger of coming to an end.

“Ahhh, God….more … more …it’s burning!” he pleaded, forcing me to bully the clerk into refilling the bucket five or six more times. Finally, K____ sat upright, drenched from the waist up (along with the entire passenger side of my car), and looked at me through two tiny, moist slits.

“Jesus Christ,” he muttered, “I’m thirsty as fuck … let’s go get a couple of pitchers at the Copper Top.”

And what was I saying about getting too close too your influences?

My friend eventually moved back to South Florida. The last I heard he was working at a chain bookstore.

Booze and insanity: 1.

Talent: 0.

As for me, I set my own karma back at least a lifetime or two and am in the process of trying to play catch-up. If I work at it, maybe I can get one of those lifetimes back. For every Hunter Thompson there are a million train wrecks, which, of course, is not his fault.

In a recent poll, it was revealed that about half of all high-school seniors believe that the government should have prior approval over stories published in newspapers, and that around 20% think that people should not be allowed to say things that are unpopular. Maybe the simplest explanation for his suicide is that Hunter saw something in the future, something that he wanted no part of.

In his essay, “Kids Say the Darndest and Most Stalinist Things,” Bill Maher, commenting on the poll, quipped, “I thought kids were supposed to rage against the machine, not for it …” Well, Hunter S. Thompson raged against the fascist, dehumanizing tendencies in our culture for over thirty-five years, and for that we owe him a deep debt of gratitude. Because even after his writing declined, blunted by fame and over-exposure, perhaps, as many post-mortems have pointed out, or because, after Nixon went down, there was no opponent worthy enough to inspire in him the Dylan-esque heights of outrage and poetry that fueled his very best writing, we were better off with Hunter in the fray, pointing his cigarette holder at the men behind the curtain. Like Dylan did in the ‘60s, he knew the answer was once again blowing in the wind, except that this time around it’s blowing in the opposite direction, and is whispering things very few of us are willing to hear. When a prophet finds himself preaching to the converted, maybe it’s time to find a new congregation. From the introduction of Kingdom Of Fear, published in 2003:

Coming of age in a fascist police state will not be a barrel of fun for anybody, much less for people like me, who are not inclined to suffer Nazis gladly and feel only contempt for the cowardly flag-suckers who would gladly give up their outdated freedom to live for the mess of pottage they have been conned into believing will be freedom from fear …

My life has been the polar opposite of safe, but I am proud of it and so is my son, and that is good enough for me. I would do it all over again without changing the beat, although I have never recommended it to others. That would be cruel and irresponsible and wrong, I think, and I am none of those things.

Whoops, that’s it, folks. We are out of time. Sorry. Mahalo.

Mahalo to you, Hunter, Mahalo to you.

In Lieu of Flowers, Please Send Acerbic Letters to Republicans

I've always been a big fan of politically charged obituaries.

My good friend, Robert Mortellaro wrote a really good one for Bob Denver a few months ago.

And the one Hunter S. Thompson wrote for Richard Nixon is simply priceless.

So when I saw this on AmericaBlog, I had to share.

Rush Limbaugh's Fantasy World

It appears that Rush Limbaugh, is a wee bit miffed that he wasn't included in the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency's list of "ubersexual" men.

Included in the list were Donald Trump, Ewan McGregor, Bill Clinton, Jon Stewart, Bono and Pierce Brosnan. All of these some combination of rich, good-looking and talented. Where as Rush is none of the above. Well, he might be rich, that is unless he spent all his earnings on that little oxycontin addiction.

Just using the term "ubersexual" and "Rush Limbaugh" in the same sentence is enough to send girls and women of all ages yelling and screaming in a frenzy to the brain-floss and sanitizer section of the grocery store. What was he thinking? Ew.

Now if J. Walter Thompson made a list of obese drug-addict windbags, I'm sure Rush would be right up there near the top of the list. So hang in there, Rush. You'll get yours.

Tampa Bay Blogs

As you can see, I've created a nifty new section on the left sidebar specially for Tampa Bay blogs. TampaBLAB has done a fabulous job of creating a "one-stop shop for blogs in the greater Tampa Bay area," and has introduced me to a few groovy lefty blogs and a few other non-political blogs in the area.

A few I'd like to highlight:

Can of Worms - A 23-year old from Brandon who goes a little ballistic on the one loony right wing blog in the area, but his heart is in the right place.

Blogsite Theater - David Jenkins from the Jobsite Theater posts mostly Jobsite-related stuff. And if you haven't seen Frankie and Johnny yet, go see it. It got great reviews and you get to see nekkid people.

Adjusted Reality - Good old fashioned dissent

BoltsMag - Everything you ever wanted to know about the Tampa Bay Lightning

My Addled Brain - The proprietor of TampaBLAB and closet lefty

Also, a non-Tampa related link - Go check out Tattered Coat today. Commenter, Rod is guest blogging.

CORRECTION: Astute commenter, tommy points out that the tampa bay blog roll is on the right not the left if you are outside the computer. Whatever.

Giving Children the Creeps Since The Year 2000

Is it just me, or can you guys not get enough of seeing Chimpy and Mrs. Chimpy pose with small black children for photo-ops?

They kids always looks frightened or confused or irritated. And in the lower one, it appears that the little girl on the right is trying to comfort the little girl on the left.

Spelling's Hard Work

Our Preznit studies his 'M' words.

The Fidgeter in Chief

I'm just not sure what all that fidgeting, blinking, trouser hitching, lip licking, weight shifting and foot jiggling means.

D]uring Bush's 14-minute pre-sunrise interview [with Matt Lauer]
[t]he president was a blur of blinks, taps, jiggles, pivots and shifts.
Bush has always been an active man, but standing with Lauer and the
serene, steady first lady, he had the body language of a man wishing
urgently to be elsewhere.

[...]

The fidgeting clearly corresponded to the questioning. When Lauer asked
if Bush, after a slow response to Katrina, was "trying to get a second
chance to make a good first impression," Bush blinked 24 times in his
answer. When asked why Gulf Coast residents would have to pay back
funds but Iraqis would not, Bush blinked 23 times and hitched his
trousers up by the belt.

When the questioning turned to Miers, Bush blinked 37 times in a
single answer -- along with a lick of the lips, three weight shifts and
some serious foot jiggling.

[...]

Lauer's query about whether conservatives "are feeling let down by you"
appeared to provoke furious jiggling of the right leg.

Is he nervous? Is he lying? Is he flirting with Matt Lauer? Does he have Restless Leg Syndrome like my good friend and swimwear consultant Ricky?

Or does he just need to go potty and Condi isn't around to give him a bathroom pass?

Fox's Roger Ailes and his Corn Holing

There's theories o'plenty out there on the Fitzgerald investigation. Like this, this, and this.

But oddly enough, not one I've ever read has anything to do with journalist David Corn.

So why Fox News talking head, Roger Ailes tried to finger David Corn (huh-huh, that sounds naughty) from The Nation as a target in the investigation is beyond me. Has Corn even been involved in any way? I just did a brief Google search and didn't come up with anything. Am I missing something?

Or is Roger Ailes trying to shamelessly divert attention from Judy Miller, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and Dick Cheney by throwing out a bold-faced fabrication? It's ludicrous! But you've got to hand it to him for being such a good little sheep and following his Republican masters off the cliff. Ailes undying loyalty and dedication to the Bush Administration is matched only by the likes of Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity.

But let's just say David Corn was a target of the investigation. And he and Scooter Libby left the country together to avoid an embarrassing indictment. Would we see headlines like this?

David Corn Holed up in Bunker with Scooter Alluding Feds

Headlines like that would be entertaining and might get more people to watch Fox News. Perhaps that is Roger Ailes real motivation....

Pay No Attention To The Smoking Pile of Poo

MSNBC has a nice article about how Chimpy is trying to avert the media's attention away from all of his and the Republican party's miserable failures. Iraq, Harriet Miers, Tom DeLay, The CIA Outing Investigation, and let's not forget the SEC investigation of Bill Frist.

So pay no attention to the smoking pile of shit over there, and watch me swing this hammer!



Astute Blondesense commenter badgerpup, states:

I've done enough fix-it-yourself in my time to know this much;
He's not holding the hammer right, those gloves wouldn't allow a good
grip on the hammer handle...and would you just LOOK at the angle the
nail is at?!

And the hard hat as a finishing touch...Why don't they just label it
"PHOTO OP" and be done with it?

And speaking of poo, just what exactly did Chimpy mean when he penned these words to Harriet Miers?

"I appreciate your friendship and candor. Never hold back your sage advice. P.S. No more public scatology"

That's One Fat, Happy and Filthy Rich Vice President

My goodness our Vice-President is getting fat off those Halliburton contracts.

He's got over 433,000 stock options! A year ago, they were worth $241,498 and now they are valued at $8,165,489.07. That's a 3281% return in one year. I hope all the families that lost loved ones in Iraq and the wounded servicemen and women are proud that they sacrificed so much so Dick can roll with reckless abandon in his slimy green clover.

That's certainly a lot of holdings coming from someone who, two years ago said "Since I left Halliburton to become George Bush's vice president, I've severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interests. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had now for over three years."

Not only is he a thief, but he's a liar too. Only not a very good one, as one glance at Cheney's financial holdings shows he's lying through his teeth.

According to Attywood, Cheney and Bush aren't as tight at they used to be. You'd think if Cheney was making that kind of scratch he'd be more than willing to keep on fixing Georgie's mistakes.

But Cheney needs to remember that he can't take it with him when his ticker gives out. Wouldn't it be ironic if his lesbian daughter inherited the bulk of his billions and donated it all to progressive causes.

Love Letters From Harriet

Over 2,000 pages of official correspondence and personal notes from Supreme Court nominee, Harriet Miers, have been made public and boy howdy are there some doozies in there.

My favorite being "You are the best governor ever - deserving of great respect," written in July 1997.

And then there's "Hopefully Jenna and Barbara recognize that their parents are 'cool' - as do the rest of us."

I can't wait to read her briefs and opinions. "Ya know, i think abortion is just icky and gross and so uncool. And if Justice Thomas doesn't stay on his side of the bench, I'm telling Justice Roberts."

It certainly sheds more light on her blog. Silly me, I thought it was satire. Who knew?

How Many Orgasms Does it Take to Get to the Bottom of a Prostitution Ring?

The hard-working and dedicated officers of Snohomish County in Washington have certainly been earning their keep.

They busted a Classic Body Tonic Spa, who's specialty is the $20 Handy-Dandy.

What's most interesting, is that one officer came back for "services" three times, and brought a second officer on his second visit. According to the affidavit, the first visit was the initial investigation. The second visit, on which the officer brought a buddy with him, (you know, they were just makin' sure) was to see if more than one of the massueses offered the $20 handy-dandy. And then for the third visit, just one officer came back, intent on seeing if the hostess was a party to all this handy-dandy-ness.

I find it quite fascinating that it took four orgasms for the officers to finally decide to issue arrest warrants. But that's what we pay our police officers for, by golly.

The affidavit is four pages long, but it's the closest thing to porn I've seen on a left-wing blog since Bill O'Reilly's falafel extravaganza. And you can read it at work.

Scalia Not Bitter

"I'm not even sure I wanted it, to tell you the truth," Scalia told
reporters at a media briefing before a gala dinner at the Waldorf Astoria
Hotel in Manhattan.

Bush, who had in the past mentioned Scalia as one role model for an ideal
chief justice, passed on Scalia and nominated John Roberts after
Rehnquist's death.

Scalia said the time he would have had to devote to administering the court as chief justice would have taken away from his thinking and writing.

Scalia was later heard mumbling "don't worry about me, I'll be fine, I'm not bitter or anything and I really just want to think and write anyway."

Afterwards, Scalia sulked on off to New York where he will serve as the Grand Marshall of New York's Columbus Day Parade. Taking a break from his usual tasks of "discovering" links to religion in the Constitution, he will be celebrating the "discovery" of the new world, slavery, imperialism and other atrocities committed by Europeans during the 15th and 16th centuries.

Jim Davis - FL Governor '06

All y'all Florida democrats can go ahead and get those "Jim Davis '06" bumper stickers and signs for the front yard. And if you're planning on contributing to the cause, you can just write one check.

Both Scott Maddox and Robert Wexler have bowed out of the race and have endorsed Jim Davis.

Congressman Robert Wexler says: "It’s clear to me that Jim Davis is the best candidate to defeat the Republicans. It seems evident to me that in many ways the mantle has been passed. It was passed from Lawton Chiles to Bob Graham, and now it’s being passed to Jim Davis."

Gosh, that just gives me goosebumps.

It sure is gonna be nice to see the UHaul parked in front of the governor's mansion while Jeb! moves out in 2006. I wonder if he'll lose his security deposit because of the mess his greedy developer friends made of the place.

Let the Vetting Begin

Now watch closely, Billy, while I stick this probe up Scruffy's arse

"Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers will get a thorough vetting by the Senate Judiciary Committee, the panel's chairman said yesterday..."

Specter to Press Miers in Hearings

So, this whole vetting process includes being "pressed" by Senator Arlen Specter?

Curious.

See, Jesus Does Hate Women

Wow, that didn't take long! Just yesterday, the results from a study about the 100% effectiveness of a vaccine for cervical cancer came out. I wondered how long it would take James Dobson and his ilk to come out against saving up to 300,000 lives per year.

Ane today, just like clockwork, we have a statement from Bridget Maher of the Family Research Council (founded by James Dobson).

"Abstinence is the best way to prevent HPV," says Bridget Maher of
the Family Research Council, a leading Christian lobby group that has
made much of the fact that, because it can spread by skin contact,
condoms are not as effective against HPV as they are against other
viruses such as HIV.

"Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful,
because they may see it as a license to engage in premarital sex,"
Maher claims, though it is arguable how many young women have even
heard of the virus.

Well, lets see here..... let's open up our little statistics books and look up just how many people have some form of HPV. And this does not include those that are not infected, but have simply heard tell of it.

About 20 million Americans have some form of HPV.

[...]

Cervical cancer is the second-most common cancer in women and their No. 2 cause of cancer deaths, resulting in about 3,000 deaths in the United States and nearly 300,000 around the world each year. At least half of sexually active men and women become infected with genital HPV at some point.

Surely Jesus doesn't want needless suffering and deaths, does he???

Can you imagine the horrible epidemic of cervical cancer in the evangelical community when all the other little girls get vaccinated but the, ah-hem - good little "abstinent" evangelical girls don't get the vaccine?

Quality Interrogations

Remember the measure that the Senate passed yesterday placing some constraints on the interrogation methods we use for detainees? Well there were 9 Senators who voted against it, and the fine folks at the Washington Post asked them what in the hell they were thinking and then compiled a nice list for us.

My favorite comes from James M. Inhofe (R-OK).

"From my first statement in the Senate Armed Services Committee in
May of last year, I have made it clear that we are spending far too much
of our time and effort on the prisoner abuse issue and not enough time on
the quality of our interrogations. . . . The military justice system was
well into its investigations before the public was even aware of the issue.
It is my feeling that the more we air this issue publicly, the more we are emboldening the terrorists. The more we talk about our methods of
interrogation we must remember that the enemy is listening."

I'm not going to pick apart this statement, as there is just so much wrong with it. I'll simply leave you with a few nice photos (btw, stop taking photos if you don't want the enemy to know of our interrogation methods. duh.) that show the "quality of our interrogations."

Fitzgerald Taking His Sweet Time

I am so bummed. I was getting all in a tizzy about Fitzgerald handing out indictments like candy on Halloween, and now I hear Rove is going to testify next week for the fourth time, and Fitzgerald wants to take his sweet time finishing up the investigation. Maybe he'll even chat with Judith Miller again.

I'm going to Italy for about ten days starting on October 14th, and if the investigation ends while I'm gone, I'm gonna be pissed. Real pissed. Worse than 1993 when the Jayhawks were in the Final Four and I was in Bali. Now, that was brutal.

I was hoping to soak up all the cultural goodies that Italy has to offer rather than be drawn like a pecker to a pussy patch to sit in front of a computer screen reading up on the latest. There's just so many groovy things to see there, but seeing the word "indicted" above Karl Rove's picture just might be a site more spectacular than the Sistine Chapel.

Does anybody want to guest blog during that time? Or can you guys handle ten days without recess?

Harriet Miers' Supreme Fish Tale

I swear Senator Brownback, I hate abortions and gays this much!

Indictment! by Milton Bradley

There's a fun little Indictment Game going on over at Blogenlust.

His money is on 21 indictments announced Friday, October 7th, at 1pm EST.

And Crooked Timber has the Republican Laverne and Shirley Bingo game. (Give ‘em any rule, they’ll break it…)

I'm thinkin' a game kinda like Clue would be fun!

Karl Rove in the Oval Office with the telephone or John Bolton at the prison with a NY Times journalist.

Or maybe Twister. Spin the dial, then place your conspiracy charge on the Scooter Libby-colored circles. Spin the dial again. Place your lying under oath charge on the Judith Miller-colored circle.

So many possibilities. So little time.

A Pep Talk For Progressives?

Chimpy's speech today, that was supposed to rally the troops in support of his illegal war in Iraq, had the opposite effect on me.

"There's always a temptation in the middle of a long struggle to seek the quiet life, to escape the duties and problems of the world and to hope the enemy grows weary of fanaticism and tired of murder," he said.

Exactly! We need to stay strong in the face of three more years of Bush's madness and killing in the Mid East and at home. We need to fight the good fight in 2006 and hopefully in 2008, we can have a president that isn't a drunken compulsive liar with a Napoleon complex.

"We are facing a radical ideology with immeasurable objectives to enslave whole nations and intimidate the world," Bush said.

No shit, Sherlock. Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Franklin Graham. All of those loonies are threatening to send the whole world back to the dark ages.

Now I don't want to be accused of forgetting that terrorists are the real enemy. But it is becoming more apparent every day that both al-Qaeda and George Bush both have pretty rotten agendas. I just think the odds are greater that Bush's rancid domestic agenda has a higher probability of affecting me personally and people I care about.

See Boobies and Support a Good Cause

Get it while you can! The Fourth Annual Blogger Boobie-thon(SFW) ends on Saturday.

The fine folks at the Boobie-thon are raising money to support breast cancer research in a very creative way. They're goal is $10,000 and it ends soon, so bop on over and show you care.

You can submit covered or non-covered shots of your boobies to help support the cause, or you can view boobie-pics for a small donation.

Perfect charity for the compassionate exhibitionist or voyeur inside us all!

via Sticks of Fire

UPDATE: In other happy womens' news, a study on a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer was found to be 100% effective, at least in the short term. Can't wait to see what James Dobson and the gang say about this one. Cervical cancer is generally caused by the sexually transmitted disease, HPV and some are suggesting giving the vaccine to girls in elementary school and junior high, before they become sexually active.

Stay tuned for the great debate on whether Jesus loves little girls enough to want to protect them from cervical cancer later in life.

Another Sign That Ronda Storms Hates Children

Blogwood has a nice post today regarding the school children v. rich developers kerfluffle that our County Commission here in Hillsborough County is currently debating.

Yesterday, the Hillsborough BOCC, led by female impersonator
Ronda Storms (seen here in a fruitless search for an Adam’s apple),
decided to deal with the county school construction funding crisis by
"studying" the problem to ensure that a larger regressive sales tax is
enacted to ease an increase in school impact fees that would have to be
paid by developers – money that would no doubt come right out of the
commissioners’ pockets in the form of lower campaign contributions in
the coming months.

Oddly enough, a study has already been done, and it was determined that impact fees should increase substantially.

(Kathy)Castor said impact fees could be increased immediately, as
recommended by a 2004 study. Hillsborough’s $196 impact fee for school
sites, the lowest in the state, hasn’t been increased in 20 years. The
study said a $3,800 fee was necessary to catch up with growth.

And in case you have any remaining shred of compassion for Ms. Storms or think she's operating anywhere within the confines of logic or reality, read this:

Ronda continued her recent attacks against the school board, somehow
trying to lay blame for being underfunded at the feet of an agency for
which she and her board control funding.

"Hillsborough County Commissioner Ronda Storms scolded School Board
officials Wednesday for failing to ease a classroom congestion problem
that they now call a crisis."

It's like a circus in there, and Ronda is the evil clown that makes all the kids cry.

Hide the Salami

Howard Dean on MSNBC's Hardball:

Well, certainly the president can claim executive privilege. But in the this case, I think with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, you can't play, you know, hide the salami, or whatever it's called. He's got to go out there and say something about this woman who's going to a 20 or 30-year appointment, a 20 or 30-year appointment to influence America. We deserve to know something about her.

Now, I love Howard Dean to death. I think he's great at fundraising and being on message, but "hide the salami?" Does he know what that means? Did he just accuse Bush of playing hide the salami with Harriet Miers?

Does he realize the visual images he just put into the heads of all the nice unsuspecting Hardball watchers out there? Does he realize they just might need therapy or at least economy size bottles of brain sanitizer? Geez. Just looking at the photos of those two love birds is more than enough to creep anyone out.

Just stick with "Republican Culture of Corruption," Howard. That seems to be working and is ringing truer and truer every day.

Santa Claus is Coming To Town

Is it just me, or does it kind of seem like Christmas Eve here in the left blogosphere?

Will we get that pony we wanted, or will we just end up with socks and a sweater that grandma knitted?

Will Karl Rove be indicted? What about Dick Cheney and Scooter? Bolton? Judy? 22 indictments and George Bush is one of them??? Please, please let it be something good!

I don't know about you guys, but I wore my lucky jammies, left cookies and milk out by the fireplace and didn't sleep a wink last night.

Senate Passes Anti-Torture Measure Despite Veto Threat From White House Goons

Much to the chagrin of the pro-torture White House and nine pro-torture Senators, the Senate voted yesterday 90-9 to set new limits on interrogating detainees.

The amendment by McCain, one of Bush's most significant backers at
the outset of the Iraq war, would establish uniform standards for the
interrogation of people detained by U.S. military personnel, prohibiting
"cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment while they are in U.S. custody.

McCain's allies included Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a former
military lawyer, and Armed Services Committee Chairman John W.
Warner (R-Va.). They said new detainee standards are needed to clear
up confusion among U.S. troops that may have led to the mistreatment
alleged at the Navy's Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba and to the abuse
scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Now, provided Georgy doesn't get all "ooooh, I'm the president and I can veto anything I want," and the House cooperates, this will become a law. Yes, I'm afraid the days of shocking testicles and naked man pyramids might just be over.

Bad Bart!

Bart was caught red-handed nibbling on the toilet paper roll during the season opener of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and was generally naughty thoughout he entire game.

Don't they realize what a full year without hockey does to a dog?

Lookin' For Love in All the Wrong Places

Did Fox News correspondent James Rosen try to fix up Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice with "Fox & Friends" anchor Lauren Green?

Read this telling dialogue for a hint.

ROSEN: "All right. I close with a gift for you. You met this person
once, I believe, but you really, I think, ought to know each other
because this woman is, I think you'll have an interest in knowing her. She
is one of our Fox News anchors in New York. Her name is Lauren Green.
She is brilliant, she's beautiful, she's African-American, she's single
and she's a concert pianist in her spare time.

RICE: My goodness.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. But don't you think her boyfriend, George might get a bit jealous? Do I smell a scandal in the State Department?

via Blondesense

Bill Frist Likes it Rough

I always sorta took Bill Frist to be the gimp. You know, the catcher rather than the pitcher. The bottom rather than the top. The pickee instead of the picker.

Aside from the little cat issue he had back in med school, it seems he wants to be the one being picked on and even likes it. He likes doing whatever his Bush Administration overloads tell him to do. He was a good little slob in towing the party line during the Terri Schiavo fiasco and always does their bidding.

So, I wasn't a bit surprised when I saw he's stalling a bill in the Senate because it has some amendments curtailing torture of detainees.

One of the Senate's old bulls is locking horns with Majority Leader
Bill Frist over a stalled defense bill, spotlighting how fractious debate
over the wartime measure has become.

The challenge by Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner,
R-Va., a 27-year Senate veteran, is unusual because Warner is known for
quietly seeking consensus rather than waging public battles. It's also
rare for a defense bill written during a war to run into problems in
Congress.

[...]

The stalemate began in July when Frist, R-Tenn., who shepherds
President Bush's agenda through the Senate by deciding what bills get a
vote, abruptly stopped debate on the bill. That avoided a high-profile
fight over amendments, supported by Warner and sponsored by Sen. John
McCain, R-Ariz., restricting the Pentagon's handling of detainees in the
war on terror.

The White House had threatened to veto the entire measure over the issue
and sent Vice President Dick Cheney to Capitol Hill to press the
administration's opposition.

Seeing as how Frist loves his position as the Senate's very own White House Bitch, I think he doesn't want to eliminate the joy he gets from taking it in the behind, away from others. Yes, freedom, or torture, or whatever they call it these days, is on the march.

Gov. Bush Talks to His Fairy Godmother

After unleashing Chang, and speaking to his Fairy Godmother, Jeb! has done one spectacular flip-flop on his position on drilling for oil off Florida's west coast.

When he was trying to get elected he was against it. But now that he doesn't have to worry about that anymore, he's supporting it.

Environmentalists, Democrats and Republican U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez
of Florida staunchly oppose the bill, which would allow oil and gas
drilling 125 miles from Florida waters. They continue to insist that a
strong political front in Florida can stop all new drilling in the
eastern Gulf.

"Sure they do," Bush said, deriding their position. "But that's great.
I've talked to the fairy godmother about it."

I wonder if his Fairy Godmother knows much about cleaning up oil spills, or revitalizing a tourism-based economy or a fishing industry that has collapsed due to oil spills?

James Dobson's Dirty Little Secret

Doesn't seem a little fishy when Karl Rove is telling evangelical wingnuts who the nominee for Supreme Court Justice is, and reassuring them about it even before it's announced?

Karl Rove, the president's top political adviser, started calling
influential social conservatives to reassure them about the pick even
before it was announced. He called James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on
the Family, over the weekend.

Some of the efforts evidently bore fruit. By day's end, Mr. Dobson, one
of the most influential evangelical conservatives, welcomed the nomination.
"Some of what I know I am not at liberty to talk about," he said in an
interview, explaining his decision to speak out in support of Ms. Miers.
He declined to discuss his conversations with the White House.

Or to paraphrase James Dobson, "that's for me to know and you to find out."

So what exactly is it that James Dobson knows, that the Senate and us lowly tax-payers don't know, and evidently aren't going to know?

1. Is Miers a spy? I guess she looks a bit like Ethel Rosenberg. Maybe Ethel never really died, and now she wants to be a judge.

2. Did Dobson "hear he heart" at the same time George Bush did? Did he like what he heard?

3. Did Karl tell Dobson that he swears he remembers Harriet Miers saying that Dobsons is the second most brilliant person she knows.

4. Previous to his conversation with Karl, Dobson was concerned about her level of heterosexuality, as she has never been married. Then Karl assured him that she had all kinds of boyfriends back in the Texas Lottery Commission hey day, and was really a nasty little slut?

These are just some suggestions. If anyone else has any thoughts, feel free to add them in the comments.

The Terrible Number Two Term

No! You can't make me nominate someone qualified for the Supreme Court! I'm the President and I'll do what I want. Dad!!! Make them stop picking on me!

Delusions of Hookerdome

U.S. Representative Ginny Brown-Waite, whose district is just north of Tampa, once told a man on an airplane that she was a hooker.

Speaking at the Women Impacting Public Policy conference last week,
the second-term lawmaker elicited a roar of laughter from the crowd by
recalling an exchange she had with a man on an airplane shortly after
she entered politics.

After he asked her what she did for a living, she replied, ever so
matter of factly, "I'm a hooker."

"Excuse me?" came his reply.

"That's right, I said I'm a hooker," she explained. "I have to go up to
total strangers, ask them for money and get them to expect me to be there
when they need me. What does that sound like to you?"

Looking over her website, it appears that she is in fact, a hooker. She's totally whoring herself out to the Bush Administration. She got a prominently placed link to FEMA's website and a silly photo-op of Republicans who appeared to have fingered Barney the purple dinosaur prior to the State of the Union address earlier this year.

Also apparent on her website is a nice purty social security card linking to a two line ditty on her distaste for the Bush sanctioned Social Security kool-aid.

If the kool-aid on the Hill gets too rancid and she's in need of another gig, I hear they are hiring at the Suki's Spa in Palm Harbor, FL.

Oh Mommy! Oh Daddy! I Do Believe in Santa Claus!*

And so it has come to pass... Tom DeLay is indicted on two new and exciting charges. Money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Shame, shame on him. Bad, bad Representative. No soup for you.

A Texas grand jury indicted Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) yesterday for
alleged involvement in money-laundering related to the 2002 Texas
election, raising new and more serious allegations than the conspiracy
charge lodged against the former House majority leader last week.

Looks like Tommy might have made a big oopsie.

Conspiracy to commit money laundering can bring up to 20 years in the pokey and money laundering can bring up to life in the pokey. And from what I understand, there is a reason they call it "the pokey."

According to something I read somewhere, it's less likely that Chimpy will pardon him with all these new charges and the un-related investigation into the White House's role in the outing of a CIA operative.

And just so you don't go thinking it's the same witch-hunting grand jury, it's a different one. Not only that, but it only took them only one day to decide to indict. Must be pretty damning evidence, ya think?

Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice, said that
"for a new grand jury to indict DeLay on a day's notice suggests the
evidence of his participation is convincing."

Still think he's gonna get off scott free on this one, Fixer? Are we still too happy?

*Headline shamelessly stolen and slightly modified from The Poor Man, who by the way, has a killer post up at The Raw Story.

UPDATE: And in local news, a fella was arrested here in Tampa for spanking a horse. Neeehhhhh!

A Pit bull in Size Six Shoes

ABC News reports that Our Preznit once introduced Harriet Miers, the brand spankiest newest nominee for Supreme Court as "a pitbull in size six shoes."

This obviously leads to many relevant questions.

1. How does Georgy know her shoes size? Coming from the man who can't remember how many trained Iraqi troops there are, this really makes me wonder. Why the focus on shoes? Does Georgy have a foot fetish he's not telling us about?

2. Even though Rick Santorum isn't on the Senate Judiciary Committee, given his affinity for doggies, will he try to weasel his way into the vetting process?

3. Is Condi thrilled about the nomination or jealous? Afterall, Miers is a woman who just might share her zest for shoes, but what if Georgy like Miers better? A girl can never have too many shoes and us girls need to stick together. However, the intensity of Miers' zeal for Chimpy might threaten Condi's spot as Chimpy's best girl.

Stay tuned as these and other relevant questions are answered during the review process.

Brilliant!

All you really need to know about Harriet Miers, the newest nominee for Supreme Court Justice, is that she thinks George Bush is brilliant.

In the White House that hero worshipped the president, Miers was
distinguished by the intensity of her zeal: She once told me that the
president was the most brilliant man she had ever met. She served
Bush well, but she is not the person to lead the court in new
directions - or to stand up under the criticism that a conservative
justice must expect.

Holy crap! What is it about Chimpy that she sees as brilliant? I'm baffled.

Is it his stellar performance in lying us into a war and costing us almost 2000 lives and 200 billion dollars?

Is it his exquisite handling of the economy and running up unprecedented deficits?

Is it his clever handling of terrorism, and the nurturing of an environment that makes us less safe than we were before 9/11?

Or is it his adept handling of hurricane Katrina where he stayed on vacation, played the gee-tar and ate cake for five days after the storm hit?

It's really hard to just pick one act of brilliance as the most luminous. There are so, so very many to chose from. But maybe, if Ms. Miers has some time, she can make a list and pick one. That is if she's not too busy studying constitutional law. From what I hear, it's good to have some background in constitutional law and the those precedent thingies when you are a Supreme Court Justice, so she better get on it. Miers has no experience with either being a judge or working with constitutional law.

Strap yourselves in and hold on to the handrails.

The Cronyism Continues While the Level of Incompetence Increases

Most of you who come here often know that I don't write much on the weekends. But when something like this comes to my attention, that so glaringly and embarrassingly exposes the incompetence of the Bush administration, I have to point it out.

Karen Hughes, the Under Secretary of, um, I don't know, Propaganda in the Mideast, I think her formal title is, confuses the Constitution with the Pledge of Allegiance. And not only that, but the part that was added in the 1950's to differentiate us pious Americans from the filthy atheist communists.

"...I had one person at one lunch raise the issue of the President
mentioning God in his speeches. And I asked whether he was aware that
previous American presidents have also cited God, and that our
Constitution cites 'one nation under God'. He said 'well, never mind' and
went on to something else. So he sort of was trying to equate that with the terrorists (inaudible). So I explained that I didn't really think that
was something you could equate. And he sort of dropped it and moved on.

With people like this representing us abroad, it's becoming more and more challenging every day to remember why it is we are proud to be Americans.

Thanks to Ricky and Atrios and everyone else who noted this Friday afternoon even after happy hour commenced.