Can I Get A God Damn, America!?

I have been to a lot of different religious services in my life and have heard lots of crazy shit come out of the mouths of religious men and have not spoken out to condemn them. To prevent that from ever casting a cloud of suspicion over any future campaigns for elected office, I would like to set the record straight that I believe most of the stuff that comes out of the mouths of preachers is nutty bullshit. I don't think anybody is going to hell or that they will be buried up to their chins in shit for eternity.

Speaking of being buried in shit, isn't it time we all asked that Chris Wallace stop sullying the name of his father with his non-stop drivel? I am challenging Chris Wallace to be interviewed by this blog and am officially declaring my own "Wallace Watch!" Every second that passes without a response will be interpreted as cowardice by Chris and not as him disregarding a 2 bit blogger because he has something else to do. As a matter of fact, I'm putting all of Fox News on notice. It's an all out "Fox Watch" bitches!

The Writers Strike Must End

Clash Of The Choirs? Is that really what's on TV tonight? For 2 hours? Are you fucking kidding me? Who let Michael Bolton on TV? And Patti Labelle? Way to be on top of the hot talent NBC. Blake Shelton sounds like a made up soap opera name written by a 9 year old.

I don't know who has to blow who over in Hollywoodland to end this thing but people better starting putting on the lip gloss pretty soon or I am gonna shoot somebody. They're bringing back American Gladiators on prime time TV for fuck's sake! I am going to turn on my TV soon hoping to catch a new episode of 30 Rock and there is going to be a man in a unitard named Laser beating a guy with a pillow on a broom handle. Fuck me.

A Meeting to Discuss When We Can Arrange a Meeting

Dana, just say, "It was a photo op so that maybe if something actually comes out of this he can get his picture in a history book that does not have a caption with phrase 'total dick' in it."

Her comments basically affirm what many have been saying about this meeting all along. Condi was not be able to get these folks together for any substantive talks. The fact that Iraq (a pretty big piece in the Mid-East puzzle) couldn't show up because they are "pretty busy" kind of proves my point that the whole meeting was a waste of time.

Empty Lott

Trent Lott announced his intent to resign at the end of the year. He claims that he is not leaving for any reason aside from he wants to spend more time with his family. That's nice. He also said in his press conference that he hoped there would be more opportunities in his future and that there are opportunities he hopes he'll be able to consider. He also claims that the new law regarding employment by lobbyists had no bearing on his decision.

*ah-ah-ahbullshit!*

Excuse me.

I predict that by this time in '09 Trent will have himslef a cushy job with Petroleum company or lobby. I'll bet you 5 bucks.

Overkillary

I like my Sunday morning politics shows. Hillary was on ALL of them. She said the same things on ALL of them. I can't stand her brand of rambling refusal to answer questions directly and ham fisted manipulation of debates to stick only to her talking points. It's irritating and when she laughs off questions it comes off as condescending. She cannot win a general election folks. Let's get it together and get behind an Obama/Biden ticket. Doesn't it bother anyone that all the conservative pundits are treating her as if she already won the nomination? They want to run against her. It's their only hope.

Exactly What I Was Thinking

Note: I took down the embed from the Washington Post cuz it was making my blog all "clicky". You can dind it on their website if you want.

Senator Obama makes me proud with his remarks. His inference that having these hearings on and around 9/11 was intended to drum up more support for the war is dead on. Why don't more people see through this charade.

I am enjoying these debates more than I should but I just love watching Republicans try to make claims of progress look legitimate when it is total bullshit.

More On Infrastructure And Shit

Ahem. Rant coming.

G-Bushy and the Republicants (I sometimes spell this with a U) have decided that it is more important to fund the war and not raise taxes than it is to repair the nation's roads and bridges as well as other infrastructure projects. This is a Libertarian like argument and it really pisses me off. They expect that federal projects can build roads and then leave them to the states to maintain. It's such ridiculous bullshit since the division of wealth from state to state is vastly varying. Taxes provide funding for infrastructure projects that create jobs. Estimates say that for every billion that goes into an infrastructure project, 40,000 jobs are created. Why would anyone argue against it? Because we are a nation of children who want everything but want someone else to pay for it. I am not a rich man and I would rather pay more in taxes than have another person die because a levy breaks or another bridge falls.

Why Isn't This Fella In Jail Yet?

Just fucking charge him already. What the fuck are we waiting for? Oh, wait. I forgot that no one will actually be able to prosecute anyone since the entire justice department is in the president's pocket. Fucking fuck.

Privileged Executives

Fielding announced in letters sent to Leahy and Conyers today that he (on behalf of the president) has instructed the lawyers of former aides Harriet Myers and Sara Taylor not to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. In the letter he reiterated the president's lame argument, “assertion of executive privilege here is intended to protect a fundamental interest of the presidency: the necessity that a president receive candid advice from his advisers and that those advisers be able to communicate freely and openly with the president, and each other and with others inside and outside the executive branch.” How can their testimony possibly inhibit their ability to "communicate freely and openly" when they are no longer his aides? The "inside and outside of the executive branch" part is a joke too since the administration has never allowed anyone to communicate freely outside the doors of the White House.

Conyers later commented on the refusal of the White House to present a decent explanation by stating, “Contrary to what the White House may believe, it is the Congress and the courts that will decide whether an invocation of executive privilege is valid, not the White House unilaterally.” That's good stuff, John.

The Cheney Of Command

*

The VP and his lawyers have recently decided (I thought that was G-Bushy's job) that he is not part of the Executive Branch of governement and therefor does not have to abide by the same executive secrecy rules that the President does. This is a pretty huge flip-flop as he has been protected in the past claiming executive privelege. The Energy Task Force is one great example. Many folks believe he basically let his oil industry cronies write policy.

Rahm Emanuel has made the argument that if the office of the VP is part of the legislative branch then its funding should be controlled by the purstrings of congress. If his argument holds true he intends to defund the VP's office. I think it is very clever however unlikely.

A more realistic advantage of the the Veep's office being part of the Legislative branch would mean that he could thoretically be brought up on Senatorial ethics charges. It's basically a fucked/fucked situation for Cheney but I believe it is the intention of his office to keep this whole mess in the courts until the curtain closes on this administration.

*Taken from a children's website on the basic structure of our system of government.

WTTW, Your Window To Some Bullshit Suze Orman Crap

I love PBS. I love the cooking shows on weekends. I love Frontline and Nova on Tuesday nights. I love The McLaughlin Group, The News Hour, Chicago Tonight and a whole mess of other programming. I donate when these shows are on because that is why I watch. So why the fuck do they put on all these stupid fucking self improvement programs and terrible concerts by some of the lamest performers ever during the pledge drive? Do they think that by driving away their core viewership and attracting people who like crap that they can make more money?

Suze Orman scares me. I mean, look at her. I think she wants to eat my brains. And who the fuck is going to take financial advice from a woman who would buy a shirt like that?

Newt-ered Logic

A newt is a slimy little creature that secretes toxins from its skin. Newt Gingrich is a slimy little creature who secretes bullshit from his mouth. On Meet the Press today he repeatedly tried to make direct comparisons between the Iraq War and the American Revolution. If you'd like to watch this total load of shit check it out here.

Alberto Gonzales Thinks He Is A Ninja

The Attorney General is at it again. The most recent line of shit? McNulty did it. That's right, the guy who resigned yesterday for reasons that have nothing to do with the firings of 8 US Attorneys and the resulting political fallout, is the one to blame for the poor handling of the firings. Also, the announcement of McNulty being at fault coming the day after he announced his resignation is pure coincidence.

The only possible explanation for Alberto to think the American people would believe this latest insult to our collective intelligence is simple. He thinks he's a ninja. He believes he can just throw down a smoke bomb and disappear before he gets skewered by Arlen Spectre and Chuck Leahy.

Watch out for those throwing stars on CSPAN during the next Judiciary Committee meeting on the subject.

Brothers Separated at Birth

That's what I think every time I see Rove and Sampson. I first thought maybe Karl was his dad but who the hell would bang that?

Son? Daddy?

Not sure what the deal is. Maybe the Rs are hoping they will think that Kyle is Karl and leave Rove to pursue his true passion as an MC? Could be.

In any case, it seems the White House is gonna let Alberto do a little dance and see what happens. I still think he will walk away looking guilty but any prosecutor appointed to go after him will have "sand thrown in his eyes" ala Pat Fitzgerald.

Aide-ing and Abetting

Yesterday, Bush made an "offer" to allow congress to interview top White House aides (Rove and Miers primarily) in regards to the firing of 8 U.S. attorneys. Problem is, he doesn't want them to be under oath. He wants it to be behind closed doors and he doesn't want to allow any transcripts of the proceedings. So basically he is saying, "I'll allow you to interview these folks but only if it is completely meaningless and a waste of everybody's time." This may be the biggest crock of shit yet.

This is a white house that is fighting for it's life because if congress can prove that the administration used a loophole in the Patriot Act to install politically favored appointees without congressional approval in order to taint criminal investigations of republicans (especially in the case of Lam) it is akin to Watergate. The fact that they initially lied about the motivation for the firings and language in emails that suggests that the so called "temporary appointees" installed under the Patriot Act were not really going to be temporary indicates a lot of sneaky activity but nothing that can yet be deemed illegal. Trying to keep Rove and Miers out of the hot seat I think is a last ditch effort to keep evidence that there was indeed illegal activity under wraps.

Here's the problem, Conyers, is gonna issue subpoenas real soon and the pres is going to exercise executive privilege to protect the administration's (not the country's) interests. If congress does decide to push the issue (and I think they will) the case goes to the Justice Department where (wait for it) Alberto Gonzales gets to decide whether or not to prosecute the case! Are you fucking kidding me? So don't expect the AG to resign any time soon. With this little arrangement in place the White House can continue to do what it wants so long as Justice is in their corner. Fuck!

Do you think Rove and the boys knew this from the get go? Hells yeah they did! Double fuck!

In related news, at least the senate voted overwhelmingly to close the loophole that allowed all this shit to happen in the first place.

Whole Lotta Sheikhin' Goin' On

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed apparently confessed to almost every crime commited in the past 20 years according to reports I read today. It's all a little fishy. Here's why I don't think he really did all these things:

• His nickname was "The Brain. " On the show Pinky and the Brain, The Brain could never accomplish shit.
  
• He looks like Ron Jeremy's derelict older brother.
  
• In order to have done all these things, you'd think he would have been a little better at evading capture. When they caught him, he looked like he had just been taken from his trailer after watching "Arab COPS" in his underwear while eating 2 day old fried chicken. Lil greasy.
  

I think this guy knows he is going down and figures he can only further his cause by admitting to a lot of shit he didn't really do. He can protect other guilty parties and also make himself appear to be the greatest hero that ever lived amongst other extremists. Either that, or we just tortured the shit out of him until he started admitting to everything we put in front of him to make ourselves look like we have everything under control. In any case, I am waiting for this thing to play out before I start celebrating. Also, can we please not pursue the death penalty and make ourselves look less like blood thirsty shitbags for once?