Call Me Cynical

Glenn Greenwald paints an ugly portrait of the double standards operating in the senate at the hands of Harry Reid (R. Nev.??):

Isn't it just amazing? Reid is using every power he has, including some which run directly contrary to how the Senate has traditionally operated (and how it still operates when it comes to GOP prerogatives), to ensure that one of the most glaring scandals involving Bush lawbreaking -- warrantless surveillance on U.S. citizens -- is never investigated and there is never any accountability for it. And the methods he is using to accomplish that are as corrupt as the results themselves.

An offer he couldn't refuse? I don't know, why else would Senate minority leader be doing something that benefits only behemoth telephone companies? Me, I'd say Reid owes someone something. BIG time.

Update:

According to Jane Hamsher. Reid does the right thing. Small consolation, though. What a disaster and failure of leadership.

Yuck!

Grabbing an endorsement is one thing...


REUTERS/Brian Snyder

But cupping junk is another thing entirely.

Explains a lot though.

The Extra Chromosome Speaks

Grandpa Fred gets the endorsement of the dumbest human being in Congress and Iowa's greatest shame.

Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, one of the most conservative members of Congress, endorsed Fred Thompson this morning

The kiss of death

In the death knell for the McCain campaign, Joe Lieberman (Warcriminal - Connecticut) will place his lips upon Johnny McCain's weathered tuccus.

A move that will show McCain as pathetic to Democrats; and too liberal to conservatives.

But the least politically attuned people on earth, the Wise Men of Washington (patent, Atrios) it will cause the kind of orgasms Broder reserves for "Matlock goes to London".

You know that Marshall "Bullshit Moose" Whitman is sticking to his underwear right now.

Contacting

As Champollion stated below, the chance to put pressure on the Democrats in Congress to support Dodd's filibuster is important. Through Firedoglake people here are the numbers of some of the more prominent people involved:

NAME FAX PHONE

Feingold: 202 224 2725.... 202 224 5323
Dodd: 202 224 1083.... 202 224 2823
Obama: 202 228 4260.... 202 224 2854
Sanders: 202 228 0776.... 202 224 5141
Menendez: 202 228 2197.... 202 224 4744
Biden: 202 224 0139.... 202 224 5042
Brown: 202 228 6321.... 202 224 2315
Harkin: 202 224 9369.... 202 224 3254
Cardin: 202 224 1651.... 202 224 4524
Clinton: 202 228 0282.... 202 224 4451
Akaka: 202 224 2126.... 202 224 6361
Webb: 202 228 6363.... 202 224 4024
Kennedy: 202 224 2417.... 202 224 4543
Boxer: 415 956 6701.... 202 224 3553

If you are from Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina you might want to mention THAT as well as the importance of this support of Dodd in determining your caucus and/or primary vote to the Obama, Clinton and Biden offices.

Be firm, but polite.

Yeah, right...

How the news is filtered here...as opposed to the rest of the world:

Violence in Iraq is at its lowest levels since the first year of the American invasion, finally opening a window for reconciliation among rival sects, the second-ranking U.S. general said Sunday as Iraqi forces formally took control of security across half the country.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the man responsible for the ground campaign in Iraq, said that the first six months of 2007 were probably the most violent period since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The past six months, however, had seen some of the lowest levels of violence since the conflict began, Odierno said, attributing the change to an increase in both American troops and better-trained Iraqi forces.

Meanwhile, in the real world:

The full scale of the chaos left behind by British forces in Basra was revealed yesterday as the city's police chief described a province in the grip of well-armed militias strong enough to overpower security forces and brutal enough to behead women considered not sufficiently Islamic.

As British forces finally handed over security in Basra province, marking the end of 4½ years of control in southern Iraq, Major General Jalil Khalaf, the new police commander, said the occupation had left him with a situation close to mayhem. "They left me militia, they left me gangsters, and they left me all the troubles in the world," he said in an in an interview for Guardian Films and ITV.

Basra...let's go to the Map:
Basra is the southern most province in Iraq, it pretty much abuts the entirety of Kuwait (i.e. how the hell we get out of Iraq over land) and has most of the oil in Iraq and exclusive access to the sea.

In other words, Iraq is a lot more than Baghdad, and if the wrong group controls Basra, we're pretty much fucked...even more.

His word isn't worth shit

Just hours after being shamed into agreeing for emissions curbs in Bali, the Bush Administration starts lying about what they agreed to and begins disowning it.

Thank goodness the GOP loves Bush more than Jesus.

The Dodd Filibuster

Glenn Greenwald recognizes one way to show support for the Dodd filibuster:

Given the imminent Iowa vote, Dodd's presidential campaign may not last that much longer. But it is worthwhile to enable him over the next several weeks to continue to bring attention to these issues, about which he is quite obviously genuinely passionate (and is thus willing to alienate many of his own Senate colleagues by doing this). If you're so inclined, you can also express your support for Dodd's actions -- one of the few inspirational acts of this year by any national political figure -- by donating to his campaign as well.

I don't have any hope that either Clinton or Obama will do what they should and at least take a short break to support the filibuster, let alone Biden who has barely any greater potential in the caucus than does Dodd. Wouldn't it be nice if they all took a break as a demonstration of solidarity? Alas, instead we find out what these candidates are made of. So far only Dodd has shown what it really means to lead and stand on principle.

As for me, I can do better than give money. Dodd wouldn't be my first choice under ordinary circumstances when I go to my caucus site on January 3, 2008 but I have a real opportunity to reward good behavior and intend to do so.

I love animals

And yes, I consider "the dog" or "the cat" family. But y'know they're still dogs and/or cats...you have to let them be who they are.

And this is simply the saddest thing ever:

Among dog owners, 53.5 percent considered their pets to be members of the family, the survey found. For cats, the number was 49.2 percent.

And the term “family member” should not be used lightly. Ari Henry Barnes, who works in a New York law firm, is so devoted to his cat, Romeo, that he wipes the animal’s behind every time he does “a stinky boom boom.”

There is no indication this is medically necessary (old or sick cat) at all and it's okay to call it a "crap", in fact it is FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR less offensive.

The pet doesn't mind.

The "National Security State"

Isn't this the kind of bullshit stuff we decried the Soviet Union for?

The N.S.A.’s reliance on telecommunications companies is broader and deeper than ever before, according to government and industry officials, yet that alliance is strained by legal worries and the fear of public exposure.

When you fear the public finding out about your allegedly programs being discovered, it's a pretty clear sign you've crossed the line.

And it isn't done to just "fight the war on terror":

To detect narcotics trafficking, for example, the government has been collecting the phone records of thousands of Americans and others inside the United States who call people in Latin America, according to several government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the program remains classified.

As usual Glenn Greenwald sums it up best:

The vast bulk of those on whom the Government spies have never been accused, let alone convicted, of having done anything wrong. One can dismiss those observations as hyperbole if one likes -- people want to believe that their own government is basically benevolent and "tyranny" is something that happens somewhere else -- but publicly available facts simply compel the conclusion that, by definition, we live in a lawless surveillance state, and most of our political officials are indifferent to, if not supportive of, that development.

That's precisely why our political class is about to bestow amnesty on telecoms which broke multiple laws in how they enabled the government to spy on us, even though what the telecoms did -- on purpose and for years -- is unquestionably illegal. Our political leaders in both parties plainly want this limitless surveillance to continue, and they don't think that telecoms do anything wrong even when they work with the government in spying on Americans in ways that are against the law.

And they're saying that explicitly. The legislation jointly created and about to be enacted by Jay Rockefeller, Dick Cheney, Congressional Republicans and Harry Reid -- with a vital assist from the Jane-Harman-led "Blue Dogs" in the House -- is all designed to conceal and protect this state of affairs and to enable it to grow.

Democrats need to be "better" than Republicans, it ill not do for them to be "not as bad as" Republicans.

MATLOCK!!!

If you could describe the chemical make up of prunes in a half dozen paragraphs it would be today's Broder column.

He literally Polygripped this one out.

I'm not Robin Givhan

For which I give thanks each day (not as much as I'm glad not to be Cliff May or Jonah Goldberg but still...).

However, if you allow me to stray into fashion for one brief moment:

The [Minnesota] Vikings are considering a wardrobe change for Monday: their alternative purple pants. They have worn them twice, with white jerseys, since their reincarnation last season. League rules also allow them to wear the pants with purple jerseys.

For the love of all that is holy, NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

They'll look like a giant Popsicle...or worse. This trend toward a one-color uniform scheme is the worst thing that has happened to football since astroturf and those new face masks that Peyton Manning wears.

It is the way this blog deals with the "big" issues that keeps you coming back isn't it?

The last gleam of the Tiara

"Look at the pair on that one!"

Josh Bolton gets a close up on a nice pair of hands.


(Pictures from here, including a picture of Les Kinsolving about 2 to 12 sheets to the wind)

Prosecution of Iowa Democrat Goes Down In Flames

In a prosecution that looked all the world like another example of a purely political prosecution, the Bush DOJ got slammed by a jury out only two hours--including lunch--and exonerating a high profile local Democratic politician. From today's Des Moines Register:

A federal jury in Des Moines took less than two hours Thursday, including time for lunch, to reject charges that state Sen. Matt McCoy used his political power to pry $2,000 from two former associates in a business deal gone wrong.

McCoy's relatives sobbed with relief when jurors announced their verdict in court. The smiling senator, who faced up to 20 years in federal prison, repeatedly hugged his lawyers.
"I'm ready to enjoy Christmas," McCoy said later. "I've got a lot of Legos to buy between now and Christmas Eve."

Bill McCoy, the senator's father, choked up as he pronounced it "the most wonderful day of my life."

Thursday's not guilty verdict apparently ends federal authorities' pursuit of McCoy over the past two years. The charge he faced was attempted extortion, rather than extortion, because the money McCoy eventually received was provided by the FBI, not the former business partners.

Courtroom testimony during the nine-day trial showed the case began in late 2005 when Thomas Vasquez, a security company salesman and former friend of the senator's, complained to a Des Moines police detective about having to pay McCoy $100 for each sale of ADT QuietCare, a system to monitor frail, elderly people.

Vasquez, who pocketed about $2,600 as a paid government informant against McCoy, recorded a conversation with McCoy within days of his first contact with the FBI, court testimony showed. Eventually, more than 11 hours of recordings were compiled, as McCoy and Vasquez met in various coffeehouses, usually with FBI agents nearby.

One meeting included Reid Schultz, Vasquez's boss and another alleged extortion victim.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Brickley told jurors Thursday morning: "The government is not asking you to take Tom Vasquez home with you for Christmas. We're just asking that you consider his testimony."

Brickley also stressed to jurors that it was McCoy's own words, not just Vasquez's, that damned the senator. The taped conversations include McCoy inaccurately bragging about his role in winning state Medicaid approval for QuietCare purchasers and issuing profane threats to drive Schultz out of the security business if Schultz ignored their deal.

"Public officials don't get to use the power of their office for their own private game," Brickley told jurors. "He took advantage of their ignorance, and he misrepresented the type of powers he was going to take to the state Medicaid office."

Much of the defense-driven testimony during McCoy's trial focused on topics such as Vasquez's drug use, his unpaid loans, his repeated lies about his role in Schultz's company, and his poor treatment of women.

The discrediting campaign culminated earlier this week when two of Vasquez's former Alcoholics Anonymous sponsors referred to him in court as "a pathological liar" and someone lacking "the capacity to be honest."

Defense attorney F. Montgomery Brown chastised federal authorities in his closing arguments for failing to check out a questionable informant.

"The government was warned," Brown said. "Why they hitched their coal cart to the Vasquez Express ... I don't know."

Outside the courtroom, Brown and attorney Jerry Crawford later stopped just short of previous assertions that the case against McCoy, a Democrat, was politically motivated. U.S. Attorney Matthew Whitaker, a Republican appointed by President Bush, previously has denied any such allegation.

Whitaker declined to comment Thursday other than to note his "complete confidence in the jury system."

More later.

And furthermore,

The unintentional level of comedy is high today at NRO:

Glib Ignorant Demagoguery [Jonah Goldberg]

Another thing about the Democratic debate yesterday. John Edwards said that Bush has "in every conceivable way expanded the executive power."

Really? Every conceivable way? Every conceivable one? Lincoln, Wilson, FDR — to name just three — expanded the power of the executive in ways that Bush has not.

Yeah, they won their wars.

"Conservative Thinker"

Why is the GOP setting itself up for a slaughter? [It's a race to the bottom between Bush and the GOP against Democratic Congressional Leaders, but the GOP has such a large, large lead]

Look no further than the musings of the "man" whose pants are filled with dough:

The Debates [Jonah Goldberg]

A couple random notes. I watched a big chunk of the GOP debate on Tivo yesterday. I agree with the general consensus that it was lame with an extra dose of stupid. Though I kind of dug Alan Keyes' crazy guy on the bus routine. I also thought — from what I saw — that Fred Thompson, not Mitt Romney, was the winner. I loved his "I agree with Alan Keyes' position on Global Warming" line.

Yeah, that's why Grandpa Fred's campaign has taken off like a rocket...a rocket-shaped suppository.

It's trenchant analysis like this (and the ever timely 'Star Trek' joke) that keeps Jonah waist-deep in it.

Logical as ever

After shopping for casual wear, writing couplets that rhyme with "Mitt", and admiring the tattoo she made with a soldering iron that says "Kathryn Jean Romney", K-Lo doesn't have much time left for contemplating the result of her logic.

For example, yesterday, Nancy Pelosi stated that it is obvious "Republicans Love the War".

This leads to this bon mot:

Some Brave Republican [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

Could respond to Pelosi by stating that Democrats "like" abortion. It might highlight how absurd a "leader" Nancy is.

12/13 03:52 PM

I guess this would work, if a Democrat had knocked K-Lo up...but we all know the Democrats barely have the bravery to curb Bush from even bigger fuckups, none of them have the courage to take on "America's Slump Buster".

I'm sure there's nothing fishy going on

Is it more fitting that Bush's Inspector General on Iraq Reconstruction is being investigated for "Corruption" because he is a Bush Appointee?

Or because of this:

In May, the White House confirmed that Bowen's office, whose revelations of waste and corruption in Iraq have repeatedly embarrassed the Bush administration, was being investigated by the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency after complaints from former employees. The executive branch organization was created to investigate allegations of misconduct by inspectors general at federal agencies.

At the time, the White House rejected suggestions the integrity inquiry was an act of retribution against Bowen, with then-press secretary Tony Snow saying the council was "an independent investigative organization" that did not directly follow the White House's direction.

That investigation, triggered by a lengthy anonymous complaint filed by former staff members, focused on a number of fraud and abuse allegations, as well as descriptions of possible workplace violations, including sexual harassment. It included charges that Bowen's office overstated the amount of savings that it generated in order to justify a budget request and that money was wasted on the book project.

Attack a person on the basis of their strengths how Rovian.

I'll tell you how this should be reported.

Either way Bush loses.

But in the end it's really Nancy Pelosi's fault -- and it just proves that the whole invasion of Eye-Rack was the bestest thing ever!

Meanwhile, I'm sure every possible groper will consider these charges against Bowen proven...in the same way many of them have accused a woman of making up rape allegations against Halliburton/KBR.

I for one...

Cannot believe that C.C. Sabathia was not on the "Steroid" users list.


Photo from here.