Crazy bit about this video is that all of my relatives in the UK are Boyles and from that area. We very well could be related.
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Wrong, so very wrong. I blame Bishop D'Arcy and all the other hypocrites.
Arizona State University President Michael Crow suggested Saturday in an email to faculty and students that he was hesitant to award President Obama an honorary degree because of potential political consequences to the state-supported school.On a related note- Bishop D'Arcy urges people to stay away from anti-ND, anti-Obama rallies. Let's see how much reverence that piece of slime Terry has for the Bishop's decision now. What do you think will win, his quest for attention or the rule of the church?
"Since my appointment we have not awarded honorary degrees to sitting politicians, a practice based on the very practical realities of operating a public university in our political environment," Crow wrote in the message, obtained by POLITICO.
He added: "We are a young and emerging university in a new and politically complex state."
Arizona is home to Obama's 2008 opponent, Sen. John McCain, and also has a Republican governor and GOP-controlled legislature.
By GottaLaff
RedState.com blogger Josh Painter asks whether Levi Johnston, the father of Bristol Palin’s child, is being funded in his campaign of politically-inconvenient-to-Sarah Palin interviews by shadowy forces.
How did David Weigel of the Washington Independent get wind of that story (details to follow)?
I found out about this through a random oddball former Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis, who tweeted about it.
The Left’s media running dogs have most recently seized upon the troubles of two teenagers, playing the story of the split between Bristol Palin and her former finance Levi Johnston to the hilt and then some. An inordinate amount of attention is being given to young Levi, and the buzz from what he had to say before the cameras has dominated the gossip blogs and Leftist nutroots websites for the past week.
All of which led blogger Ron Devito to ask some very important questions:
“Why has no one asked the very basic question of how a job-less teenager drives an expensive truck and travels 4,400 miles with two adults in no better financial condition than himself to one of the most expensive cities in the world? There, he does a talk show circuit in which he engages in a crusade against a sitting Governor and her daughter with whom he was man enough to create a child but not man enough to provide for said child.”
Ask yourself what we have to do here to follow the money. As Ron points out, if we can nail down the source of the money, the motive will be apparent. We may even discover the shadowy figure who first sent down the marching orders to “Get Palin!”
Here's a question for Red Stateroony: Who's "engaging in a crusade" against a teenager now?
But that's not important now. What is important is solving the Mystery of the Century: Which evil shadowy owner of a bank vault filled with gold bullion is ordering his/her troops to march somewhere and "Get Palin!"? Could "Get Jindal!" or "Get Beck!" be far behind?
Wait! How the heck could anyone, rich or not, ever get Democrats to organize efficiently enough to march anywhere together, in a straight line, toward a mutual destination, and carry out orders in the first place?
Come to think of it, who even has the resources to fund anything any more? I have an idea! Let's engage in a new crusade. We can call it "Get Money!"
By GottaLaff
Relevant segment starts at about 3:40.
Here is Paddy's original post. Now good old Betty (who really should adopt a new name) must have realized that she has alienated potential voters:
Brown initially insisted that she didn’t say anything wrong. However, she has now put out a statement apologizing, saying that she “understands the ‘diversity of Texas’ and the ‘enrichment’ that Asian-Americans have brought to the state.”Sorry, Betty, saying Asians have to "make it work for us" doesn't work for us. By the way, do you pronounce your name "ignorant" or "ignoramus"? It might "behoove you" to "adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here," like, say, "jerk".
By GottaLaff
Arizona State University announced on Saturday that it would expand a scholarship program in the president's name.In a press release sent out by ASU spokeswoman Sharon Keeler, the university "apologized" for the "confusion" over the past few days. Its president Michael Crow, meanwhile, framed the "President Barack Obama Scholars" program as a higher honor than the honorary degree, one that would "affect the lives of thousands of students" and be "an honor befitting, not only the president's exceptional achievements, but also his values as an individual." [...]
ASU undoubtedly faced an intense amount of media and political scrutiny for its decision to not offer Obama an honorary degree. [...]The expansion of the scholarship program is an effort to temper these emotions. But for the cynics, the fact that the announcement came only after a day of vocal complaints - and didn't include giving the degree from the president - is not likely to go unnoticed.
You can read the release in its entirety here.
And now, back to our program.
Awww, darnitall! Contestant Number 44 didn't buzz in on time to get an honorary degree. Ohhh, sorry. Who knows, maybe if he'd just had a few more accomplishments under his belt, he'd have won this round! Please accept these parting gifts, and thank you for playing, "CYA"! See you next time!
Good-night, everyone!
By GottaLaff
I love the Joshua Blog. Joshua is a cool guy who is responsive to my Tweets on The Twitter Machine. I went over to his place, and I found a very angry Joshua. He has graciously invited me to copy and paste his entire post:
Joshua has a point. I really don't want to get this upset with President Obama, he's really terrific in so many ways... but regarding these topics, I'm starting to simmer. I'm still in wait-and-see mode before I get to the same boiling point as Joshua, but right now, I don't like what I'm seeing while I wait.Now I'm really starting to get pissed off. What the hell is he thinking?! He refused to go after Bush officials for torture, he embraces Bush's executive power grab and protects the domestic spying program and it's telecom conspirators, blackmailed by the Senate GOPers with filibusters his appointees & threatened by the CIA with God only know what, he decides not to release the torture memos as planned and now this bullshit?!
From the NY Times:Obama to Appeal Detainee RulingNOT OK.WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Friday that it would appeal a district court ruling that granted some military prisoners in Afghanistan the right to file lawsuits seeking their release. The decision signaled that the administration was not backing down in its effort to maintain the power to imprison terrorism suspects for extended periods without judicial oversight.
In a court filing, the Justice Department also asked District Judge John D. Bates not to proceed with the habeas-corpus cases of three detainees at Bagram Air Base outside Kabul, Afghanistan. Judge Bates ruled last week that the three — each of whom says he was seized outside of Afghanistan — could challenge their detention in court.
Tina Foster, the executive director of the International Justice Network, which is representing the detainees, condemned the decision in a statement.
“Though he has made many promises regarding the need for our country to rejoin the world community of nations, by filing this appeal, President Obama has taken on the defense of one of the Bush administration’s unlawful policies founded on nothing more than the idea that might makes right,” she said.
read more
By GottaLaff
Get out the blood pressure cuffs, or as I like to call them, sphygmomanometers. After that, maybe we can all get together and organize a nationwide grassroots tea tantrum... only ours will be for a real cause by real citizens who are outraged enough to undertake a real uprising who are retaliating against a real crime:
The CIA began videotaping interrogations of two alleged “high value” terrorist detainees in April 2002, four months before Bush administration attorneys issued a memo clearing the way for CIA interrogators to use “enhanced interrogation techniques,” the Justice Department disclosed in court documents.Much more here.
However, in a letter to a federal court judge Thursday, the Justice Department only agreed to provide details on the harshest interrogations of prisoner Abu Zubaydah that occurred in August 2002 – after the Bush administration's lawyers had provided the legal cover for waterboarding and other brutal tactics.
That letter prompted ACLU lawyers to express concern over why the government offered no promises regarding the preceding months. Amrit Singh, an ACLU staff attorney, said the government’s “motivations in confining its [latest] response to the month of August are highly suspect.”
The ACLU is suing the CIA to release documents related to 92 interrogation videotapes that were destroyed by the CIA in 2005 as public attention began focusing on allegations that the Bush administration had subjected “war on terror” detainees to brutal interrogations that crossed the line into torture.
Lev Dassin, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said the government intends to provide the civil liberties organization “contemporaneous records that described the interrogations at issue … for the month of August 2002 (approximately 65 documents)." [...]
“It seems like the letter provides no explanation for why records for other months should not be included in the government’s work plan,” the ACLU’s Singh said in an interview. “We already know that an FBI agent who witnessed Abu Zubaydah’s interrogation prior to August 2002 said he believed it to be ‘borderline torture.’”
By GottaLaff
In an email to POLITICO, Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton confirmed the governor’s position. “She absolutely agrees that there should be a special election,” Stapleton wrote. “Stepping down to hold the special election would be the right thing to do.”Well, today is a brand new day, and you know what that means: Another day, another Shooty McMouthOff pratfall:
However, yesterday in a press conference, Palin tried to backtrack:Poor Shooty. She really should be accompanied by a stenographer who can read back her own words to her. Or maybe she could just flip on the Tee Vee Machine and watch herself. She probably just doesn't have the time, what with hiring tasteless, controversial, unqualified boors for Attorney General and all. Defending them/watching them defend themselves can be so gosh darned time-consuming. You betcha.“I didn’t call for Begich to step down, either,” Palin said. “I said I absolutely agree that Alaskans deserve a fair, untainted election for the United States senate seat. I’m not splitting hairs on how that happens. I’m saying wonderful, good. I want to see an election that is fair, that isn’t influenced unduly by some announcement that the sitting senator was facing a multi-felony count conviction. That’s what we were told. Now, come to find out, that wasn’t the case.”
However, if Palin supports a new special election, by state law, Begich “would have to step down.” That process would temporarily leave Alaska with just one active senator. Nevertheless, Palin yesterday insisted that she wasn’t “splitting hairs on how a new election should happen.”
By GottaLaff
Via the Daily Beast:
When it came time to rally support for California’s Proposition 8, Pastor Rick Warren’s message was loud and clear: “Now let me say this really clearly: We support Proposition 8," the evangelical leader said via video message to his 22,000-member church the week before the anti-gay marriage measure went into effect in November. But now Warren may have changed his mind about gay marriage. In an interview with Larry King, Warren said he "never once even gave an endorsement” of the proposition, and that he was just “a pastor talking to his people” who, all of a sudden, was turned into the “poster boy for anti-gay marriage." “I wrote to all my gay friends—the leaders that I knew—and actually apologized to them,” Warren said. Leaders of the evangelical community and members of Warren’s church are bewildered at his turnaround on the issue. “He is being politically correct instead of biblically courageous,” one pastor said."I'm oblivious" to the Iowa same-sex marriage ruling? Oblivious? Really? He's completely unaware of a major, controversial media story about, of all things, Iowa's anti-Prop 8itude? One that goes right to the heart of his own public statements (see videos)? Wow, that takes some talent. I wonder if he sleeps through earthquakes.
By GottaLaff
Key Security Council nations reached agreement Saturday on a statement that would condemn North Korea's rocket launch and toughen sanctions against the reclusive communist nation, council diplomats said.
The five permanent veto-wielding members -- the U.S., China, Russia, Britain and France -- and Japan met after Tokyo backed down from a demand that the Security Council adopt a new resolution, the strongest response from the U.N.'s most powerful body.
A presidential statement is considered a weaker reaction by the council. The draft statement condemns North Korea's April 5 rocket launch and makes clear that it was a violation of a Security Council resolution adopted after the North conducted a nuclear test in 2006 which bans any missile tests by the country, the diplomats said.
The statement calls for freezing the assets of companies or organizations involved in transactions related to the import or export of missiles, nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, the diplomats said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations took place behind closed doors
China and Russia, the North Koreans' strongest allies, refused to go along with a new resolution, which the United States was also seeking. But while Japan kept insisting on a resolution, the U.S. indicated it would also accept a strong presidential statement from the council, the diplomats said. [...]
North Korea has warned that any move to censure it at the U.N. could prompt its withdrawal from the nuclear disarmament talks, which involve China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the U.S.
A presidential statement must be approved by consensus, meaning that all 15 council members must approve it before it is read at a formal council meeting by its president. It becomes part of the council's official record, unlike a press statement. The U.S. and others argue that presidential statements, like resolutions, are legally binding. [...]
Under the draft, the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against North Korea would be given two weeks to agree on the companies, material and technologies to be banned, the diplomats said. If the committee failed to come up with a list, the Security Council itself would then come up with its own list, the diplomats said.
By GottaLaff
All that so-called Rushpublic folksiness (think: Sarah Palin's Rushpublic convention speech) and grassrootsiness amount to nothing but a front for the usual corporate puppeteers pulling the usual strings of the usual Stepford puppets who carry out their usual destructive, psycho tasks.Despite these attempts to make the “movement” appear organic, the principle organizers of the local events are actually the lobbyist-run think tanks Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works. The two groups are heavily staffed and well funded, and are providing all the logistical and public relations work necessary for planning coast-to-coast protests:
– Freedom Works staffers coordinate conference calls among protesters, contacting conservative activists to give them “sign ideas, sample press releases, and a map of events around the country.”
– Freedom Works staffers apparently moved to “take over” the planning of local events in Florida.
– Freedom Works provides how-to guides for delivering a “clear message” to the public and media.
– Freedom Works has several domain addresses — some of them made to look like they were set up by amateurs — to promote the protests.
– Americans for Prosperity is writing press releases and planning the events in New Jersey, Arizona, New Hampshire, Missouri, Kansas, and several other states.
This type of corporate ‘astroturfing‘ is nothing new to either organization. While working to promote Social Security privatization, Freedom Works was caught planting one of its operatives as a “single mom” to ask questions to President Bush in a town hall on the subject. Last year, the Wall Street Journal exposed Freedom Works for similarly building “amateur-looking” websites to promote the lobbying interests of Dick Armey, the former Republican Majority Leader who now leads Freedom Works and is a lobbyist for the firm DLA Piper.
Americans for Prosperity is run by Tim Phillips, who was Ralph Reed’s former partner in the lobbying firm Century Strategies. The group is funded by Koch family foundations — a family whose wealth is derived from the oil industry. Indeed Americans for Prosperity has coordinated pro-drilling ‘grassroots‘ events around the country.
This afternoon, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, leader of the corporate-funded American Solutions for Winning the Futures (ASWF), blasted an e-mail to his supporters with a reminder to attend the protests, along with a "Toolkit" of talking points. Gingrich's ASWF is funded by polluters and helped orchestrate the "Drill Here, Drill Now" campaign last summer. ASWF has been an official "partner" in the tea party effort since at least March.
By GottaLaff
hey all! Actually we still have our show on KTLK, it's called "The Week According to Frangela." We are on Saturdays from 2 - 4pm pacific - except this saturday we are not on because of some sporting event :( We used to be on Sundays also, but they replaced our show with an infomercial -so now we're only on once a week, unless of course somebody throws a ball some place! We really want our own Mon-Fri show so please check out frangela.com and help frangela out! You rock, and this blog rocks!!!!!I messaged them back, promising to promote them whenever I could. Hence, this post. Go Frangela! Keep up the good work!
By GottaLaff
Buchanan:Alex Witt, thank you for finally admitting out loud that cable news pushes inanity and irrelevance on the air waves, as opposed to genuine, illuminating, objective, and vital news that America needs in order to maintain an informed public and a real democracy."If it weren't relevant, we wouldn't be talking about it."Alex:[laughs] "Oh, I beg to differ."
Jeebus, he's just getting worse.
Beck’s ‘Thomas Paine’ delivered some of the wing-nuttiest rantings ever to be broadcast on Fox — and that’s saying something. Among the gems:
- The time for talk is over.
- Your complacency will only aid and abet our national suicide.
- The stimulus package was as bad as 9/11 and Pearl Harbor.
- Democrats are as bad as al Qaeda.
- To show you agree with the preceeding, at twelve noon on April 15, honk your horn three times.
- After the teabag parties, there will be a million man “we the people” march on Washington.
- It’s time to hoist this battle flag once again.
- His name is Thomas Paine, and he’s ready to take back America.
Okay, is it just me, or is the idea of "unpermitted discharge" coupled with the tea baggers just too damn much? I'm sure they're convinced that IDEM is chock full o'ACORN.
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — State officials are questioning plans by tax activists to dump a crate of tea bags into the Wabash River in protest of excessive government spending.
A spokeswoman for the state's environmental agency said that throwing tea into the Wabash, or any river, could hurt aquatic life by depleting the water of oxygen.
"It would technically be considered an unpermitted discharge," said Amber Finkelstein, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
She said putting tea in the river would also be a fineable offense, and that IDEM would not be able to permit the protest because the river does not meet minimum water quality standards.
Anytime Jim Moore or Wayne Slater talk, it's worth listening to.
Let's hope his ghost writers write better than he speaks.
"In a move almost certain to fuel fresh speculation about his national ambitions," Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) said that he "has agreed to write a book for a conservative publishing house about his life and policy ideas," the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.
"The book is tentatively scheduled for release in 2010... In recent years, book authorship has become a virtual requirement for presidential aspirants."
Good morning folks!! Chilly right now, but we're supposed to get all the way up to 53 degrees today. A. Damn. Heatwave.
Idaho Professor Picked for Indian Affairs
Thai protesters force Asian summit cancellation
Ethical questions over harvesting dead son's sperm
Is the Turin Shroud genuine after all? From beyond the grave, a startling new claim
Now, cricket match on Mt Everest
How the shape of your brain shows what kind of personality you have
By GottaLaff
March 26, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin today announced the appointment of Wayne Anthony Ross as Attorney General.[...]"Who's that?" you may be asking, "And why should I care?" Via Mudflats, we get the answer:
Ross, currently in private practice, will fill the vacancy created last month by the resignation of Attorney General Talis Colberg. [...]
“Wayne Anthony Ross will be a great defender of Alaska and the people he serves," Governor Palin said. "With his vast legal knowledge, experience and integrity, he will make an exceptional Attorney General."
To anyone out there who has accused me of being too hard on Sarah Palin, read this post again. If there's still the slightest question in anyone's mind about why she deserves the critical, snarky treatment she gets, then maybe those few should either reevaluate their own value system or go elsewhere.Tomorrow House Judiciary Committee will meet and take citizen testimony on the nomination of Wayne Anthony Ross to be our next Attorney General.
Leah Burton is on with CC, sharing her testimony regarding Wayne Anthony Ross. She is a former citizen lobbyist who worked on behalf of families and children concerning child support, child custody, domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault.
She discusses a meeting of the group DADS, being run by Wayne Anthony Ross, and what she heard.
Numerous comments were made that were appalling, not the least of which were remarks by Mr. Ross which included the following: “If a guy can’t rape his wife…who’s he gonna rape?” and “There wouldn’t be an issue with domestic violence if women would learn to keep their mouths shut.”
Other members made their own contributions such as, “We have the right to discipline our wives and children without the interference of government in our lives!”
These comments were greeted with laughter and affirmative responses by the group. Given the fact that they had referred to me in recent months as a “femi-nazi”, the comments I was witness to at this meeting, while abhorrent, were unfortunately not surprising.
This announcement by Governor Palin is a slap in the face to all single parents who have no choice but to rely upon the State Department of Law to support court orders for child support, as well as those persons who need the Department to enforce criminal laws against sexual assault and domestic violence. Mr. Ross is the antithesis of the type of person that should be the Attorney General. This has been clearly demonstrated by his own words and actions in public.
In closing, I am not alone in my assessment that anyone who condones, and contributes to that type of hateful and harmful discourse clearly does not have the judgment necessary to represent the people of the State of Alaska as their Attorney General.
You can read her entire written testimony HERE.
By GottaLaff
I wonder if they'll wear name tags, like they do at class reunions? "Hi! My name is Condi!":
The New York Times reports that roughly 20 Bush administration all-stars — including Condoleezza Rice, Karen Hughes, and Dan Bartlett — are getting together next week for their first Bush administration reunion.Hmmm. Someone's name is missing. Think... think. Who's refusing to go to the party? Could it be... "Hi! I'm (a) Dick!":
Not coming to next week’s session is former Vice President Dick Cheney, who in the final days of the administration argued with Mr. Bush about his failure to pardon Mr. Cheney’s former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr...
Aww, wittle baby Nation of Dick's feewings got hurt? He didn't get his way? That's okay, he won't be missed.
Cheney also broke with the President on a same-sex marriage ban, firing Donald Rumsfeld, overturning Washington DC’s gun ban, and removing North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terror.Someone jam a pacifier (or a sock) in Nation of Dick's big fat crankypants mouth:
By GottaLaff
The National Archive announced today that more than 254,000 pages of presidential records will be available for the public to look at beginning next Monday at the Reagan library in Simi Valley, CA and the GWHB library in Houston, Texas. The archive notes that these records "were still pending with the George W. Bush Administration as of January 20, 2009," took only two months to clear the review process established by President Obama's executive order 13849. Among the records include 13,000 pages of declassified memos on foreign policy topics as well as many presidential briefings.So what won't/will we discover?
By GottaLaff
If you've never heard Frangela (Frances Callier and Angela V. Shelton, both of The Second City) on the Radio Machine, give them a try. They're raucous fun, and make smart political talk radio into a party. And kudos to the author of the BuzzFlash post for hitting a home run.Yes, BuzzFlash gets irreverent and raunchy at times. That may be why we love progressive talk show host Stephanie Miller. We also fully enjoy listening to Stephanie's replacement hosts, the comic, political duo known as Frangela.
We just received an e-mail back from Frangela that included a comment we had sent them. [...]
BuzzFlash wrote to Frangela:
Shouldn't Wall Street execs take mandatory drug tests since they are on welfare? States consider drug tests for welfare recipients. But aren't Wall Street bankers and insurance guys also welfare recipients? Shouldn't they have to pee in a cup or something else humiliating?
Frangela e-mailed back:
You are amazing!
thank you so much for listening and making the best point so far on this subject!
Seriously, just brilliant!!!!!
We couldn't agree more :)
you rock,
angela & frances
By GottaLaff
This cannot be tolerated. David Schultz, 26, works as a reporter for WAMU-FM, a local NPR station. He was stopped dead in his tracks, physically prevented from reporting a story about the shoddy treatment of a terminally ill patient, a veteran.
This is a story that is bound to get bigger, backfiring all over the VA. Somebody owes us, and Schultz, an explanation about what they're trying to hide, and why:
Schultz was working on a story about a veteran alleging bad treatment at the hands of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Tommie Canady, a 56-year-old veteran with a terminal pancreatic disease, says he gets horrible care.
Gloria Hairston, a VA communications specialist, along with two other employees and four armed security guards, stopped Schultz and wouldn’t let him leave until he handed over his equipment. After a confrontation, when Hairston warned Schultz it would get "ugly," he says, the young reporter gave her the memory card from his tape recorder.
Schultz told WTOP-AM radio:
["T]he story is not about me versus the hospital. It's about why is the hospital taking these measures to prevent Mr. Canady from speaking. What are they trying to hide?"
My world is upside down. This is the second time in so many weeks that I've linked to Little Green Footballs exposing some Talk Radio Republican's insanity and calling it what it is. Total crazy talk. Even the comments at LGF are sane. Via Oliver.
A little slightly NSFW relief for those of you that are still procrastinating on doing your taxes. Via Parody and Sons.
My guess would be that the cash cow alumni didn't like this.
Michael M. Crow, president of Arizona State University, tells POLITICO that the school is reconsidering its widely mocked plans not to give President Barack Obama an honorary degree when he speaks at commencement on May 13 and will “honor him in every way possible.”
“There was no intended slight,” Crow said by telephone from his office in Tempe. “We had not yet talked about what honors we might give him as our commencement speaker, and we still have a month to work all that out. We don’t want anyone to think we do not recognize what he has achieved and what he means in America.”
A formal decision has not been made, but it was clear from Crow's comments that the university is headed in that direction. ASU risked becoming a national punch line if it did not quickly retreat from its policy against conferring honorary degrees on a sitting politician.
Every once and awhile the White House puts these up and they're kinda fun.
By GottaLaff
The next time anyone tells you how beneficial the Iraq War has been, or how we're safer today because of Bush's policies, show them this little gem:
Today in an email to Fox News, David Wurmser, former top aide to Vice President Cheney, cautioned the Obama administration on its hopes that Russia is willing to get tougher on Iran regarding its nuclear program. But [...] Wurmser basically says that it was the U.S. invasion of Iraq that led to less cooperation on Iran’s nuclear program from Russia and other European countries:There is so much we still don't know. I'm almost afraid to imagine what else will come to light. It seems like every day, we get another boogey man story that leaps out at us and screams, "Surprise!!", scaring the living daylights out of us.But the American-led invasion of Iraq complicated the Bush administration’s efforts to persuade other countries to take aggressive action to contain Iran’s nuclear threat. […]
“Every time in this period I landed in a European capital at [U.N. Ambassador] John Bolton’s request to discuss Iran, the first thing I got was: ‘What is your end game here; are you going to use the information to pull another Iraq? Tell us where you are going with this before we tell you how much we will admit Iran is going down the path to a bomb in the U.N.’ When I failed to give them a guarantee that we will not strike Iran, they stalled on moving ahead with acknowledging or using the evidence in public which in private they accepted.”
Bolton also indicated that the Iraq war stifled progress with Iran. “Before the Iraq war, I thought we were breaking through to [the Russians],” Bolton said today. “Since 2003, they have been very resistant to the idea that Iran was a proliferation threat.”
By GottaLaff
Whoopsie daisy:
Freudian slip?
Yes, we all realize it was not his intention to refer to Al Franken as an elected representative. But it's interesting that he let that one get by, knowing that he was being televised, and that every syllable would be scrutinized.It may have been just a bad choice of wording, but Minnesota GOP Chairman Ron Carey confered the title of "elected representative" on Al Franken Thursday.
At 1:10 into the video Carey says "These Minnesotans deserve to have elected representatives who will stand up and fight for them when their rights are being trampled upon. That's why I'm calling on Al Franken to publicly join (former) Senator Norm Coleman in demanding that each and every ballot that was legally cast on election night be opened and counted so we can finally learn who truly won this election." [...]
It's pretty obvious from the rest of the news conference that Carey is arguing that Franken has not yet won the election for US Senate in Minnesota. Yet it is interesting to note that even in the GOP news conferences, language that portrays Franken as a US Senator is starting to creep in. Carey also talks about Franken's "potential constituents".
By GottaLaff
Senator Ba-ba-ba-Bobby?TVNewser has obtained a partial early transcript from this weekend's, "The Chris Matthews Show." Panelist John Heilemann of New York Magazine relayed an interesting "rumor" about Lousiana Gov. Bobby Jindal:
I was down in New Orleans, and I heard a great rumor that Bobby Jindal, who we were just talking about as a potential presidential candidate for the Republican party, is thinking about giving up the governorship and running for Senate against David Vitter, or for Vitter's seat if Vitter doesn't run. He's got a terrible budget situation down there. He's thrown himself into a Republican primary up in Baton Rouge that he's going to apparently get creamed in. And I think what's interesting is that that tells you that he's got the message that 2012 isn't his year.
By GottaLaff
Who do you think should play Keith?Word is that Sorkin is mulling over the idea of a new TV drama that takes a behind-the-scenes look at a cable news program (think: Keith Olbermann's show on MSNBC)The idea the lead character could be based on Olbermann is not entirely surprising, or new — in a 1999 interview, Sorkin told Olbermann he was the "origin" for one of the leads in his prior series, "Sports Night." "I sat in this hotel room for thirteen months writing The American President," said Sorkin. "To keep me company, I would have SportsCenter on."
By GottaLaff
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is moving to revamp Justice Department procedures in the wake of the prosecutorial debacle in the Ted Stevens case. But Holder said today that he is not reviewing the Justice Department's prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Donald Siegelman on corruption charges, nor other corruption cases involving Alaskan officials.
The House Judiciary Committee has been probing allegations that the Siegelman case was politically motivated by the Bush administration. Siegelman, a Democrat, was convicted in 2006.
"I don't have any reviews under way at this point, but I always want to ensure that the Justice Department acts in a way that is consistent with the long tradition of this great department," Holder said.
Let's hope that "at this point" means there is still a chance.
Holder [...] is preparing to announce some changes in the department's procedures for such prosecutions, however.
Call Attorney General Eric Holder Now
CALL ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER AND ENCOURAGE HIM TO REVIEW GOVERNOR DON SIEGELMAN’S CASE: (202) 514-2001
(ALTERNATE # Office of the Attorney General - 202-353-1555)
By GottaLaff
Via Taegan:
Looking ahead to the 2010 midterm elections, Charlie Cook notes that Democrats are in a good news/bad news situation.
"The good news for them is that the Republican Party still has horrific ratings -- 31 percent favorable, 58 percent unfavorable in the CBS/Times poll, compared with 56 percent favorable, 34 percent unfavorable for Democrats. And nothing the GOP is saying or doing is helping its cause."
"The bad news for Democrats is that midterm elections are rarely a referendum on the party out of power."
By GottaLaff
I'll try to update, but here's the Tweet:
Alaska Senate Democrats reject Gov. Sarah Palin's nomination of Joe Nelson for vacant seat.More soon.
The state Senate Democrats just said they've voted to reject Gov. Sarah Palin's latest pick for the open Juneau state senate seat, Joe Nelson.
The nine Senate Democrats met behind closed doors to reject Nelson, just as they did last week with Palin's previous appointee to the seat, Tim Grussendorf. [...]
The Democrats have now asked Palin to pick another appointee by April 20.
By GottaLaff
The insanitea continues:
Then again, because of all the tea bag jokes, the wingnutteas and their little parteas are getting plenty of attention. Crazy like a Fox?
Oh, I forgot. Nobody with an ounce of intelligence takes them seriously. Never mind.
H/t
By GottaLaff
With Republican Norm Coleman poised to shift his endless appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court, Senate Guru profiles the state Supreme Court Justices who will rule on Coleman's latest appeal, analyzing the Justices for partisan leanings. Senate Guru finds that, based purely on partisan backgrounds, Norm Coleman should have nothing to complain about.Now, the post:
Thank you, Senate Guru. Go here for the rest. I edited the post down.That naturally got me thinking, who else sits on the Minnesota Supreme Court? The Court has seven members. [...] In addition to the two recusing themselves, there are Justice Alan C. Page, Justice Paul H. Anderson, Justice Helen M. Meyer, Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea, Justice Christopher J. Dietzen. What do we know about the possible partisan leanings of these five Justices?
Justice Christopher J. Dietzen has the clearest partisan background of any of the Justices, and he appears to lean Republican (emphasis added by me):
He was appointed to the court by Governor Tim Pawlenty after the resignation of Justice Sam Hanson. Before joining the Supreme Court, Dietzen served as a judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals from 2004-2008. He was likewise appointed to that judgship by Governor Pawlenty, and then elected to it in 2006. ...Dietzen also served as an attorney for Pawlenty during his gubernatorial campaign in 2002.
So, Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty's campaign lawyer is one of the five judges that will decide Republican Norm Coleman's appeal. Nothing wrong with that.
Although Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea didn't work (so far as I know) as a campaign lawyer for a Republican statewide candidate for office in Minnesota, she was also appointed to the state Supreme Court by Republican Gov. Pawlenty. Also, Gildea's husband, Andy, is "a top staffer in the Minnesota House Republican Caucus." So, that's two out of five appointed by Republican Pawlenty.
Justice Paul H. Anderson was appointed to the Court in 1994 by Republican former Gov. Arne Carlson. This Minnesota Public Radio story describes Anderson as "active in Republican politics."
Justice Helen M. Meyer was a Jesse Ventura appointee.
Justice Alan C. Page was never appointed; he was first elected to an open seat on the state Supreme Court in 1992. However, in the mid-80's, he was appointed to multiple roles in the state Attorney General's office under Democratic then-Attorney General Hubert "Skip" Humphrey III. Further, Page's name was raised early in the 2006 cycle as a possible Democratic candidate for Senate, coincidentally.
So that's how the judges who will rule on Republican Norm Coleman's appeal break down. Three are Republican appointees (at least two of whom have been active in Republican politics, and the third of whom has a spouse who is a top staffer for state Republicans). One is an independent appointee, for whom I am unable to find indications of partisan leanings. And just one of the five appears to be Democratically-inclined.
Does this mean that I expect the three Republicans to rule in Coleman's favor? Absolutely not. [...]
That said, if/when Norm Coleman loses his appeal before the state Supreme Court, Republicans won't be able to suggest that Coleman didn't get a fair hearing on partisan grounds. And, when Republican blowhards suggest that Senator-elect Al Franken is "stealing" their Senate seat away from them, this will stand as yet another reason that they are full of it.
By GottaLaff
But the latest flare-up—a very public rejection of a request to speak at the anti-Obama, anti-tax "Tea Party" in Chicago on April 17—might not be his fault. "He never asked to speak," says a party official. "There was never an expectation nor formal request for our participation."
But here's how it's playing: The event's organizers, the Don't Go Movement in Chicago, say they received a request earlier this week from Steele to participate. Organizer Eric Odom, on the Don't Go site, [...] shut the door to any play by Steele. "[...] Unfortunately, it appears that he has only just decided to reach out after realizing how big the movement has gotten and how much media is now involved," he wrote in an E-mail to the RNC. "With regards to stage time, we respectfully must inform Chairman Steel [sic] that RNC officials are welcome to participate in the rally itself, but we prefer to limit stage time to those who are not elected officials, both in Government as well as political parties. This is an opportunity for Americans to speak, and elected officials to listen, not the other way around."
The RNC, playing CYA like nobody's business:
Those fun-loving little scamps."He's in a daylong meeting anyway, so we weren't ever going to be speaking," said an official. "It was just a 'Hey, we're going to be in town' call."
Well, after we E-mailed Don't Go, organizers there must have realized the news value of their claim. They put out a news release titled: "RNC Chairman Denied. Steele Not Wanted to Speak at Chicago Tea Party." The RNC's reaction: "They're just having a little fun."
By GottaLaff
The latest, very unfortunate, insane trend in Wacko Wingnut Tee Vee:
Chris Lavoie, producer of the Stephanie Miller Show, Tweeted this video. I heard Steph and Staff discussing it on air this morning, but at the time, they couldn't find the sound. Chris has now found the clip:
Bernie Goldberg on Media Matters: "Screw them. Screw them. ... They're throwing spitballs at battleships. Bring it."Um, isn't this kind of hate speech threatening and, you know, dangerous? As in incitement? As in get them off the air immediately? Yeah. I thought so.
While a whole 26 people showed up to protest his appearance.
SOUTH BEND — University of Notre Dame junior Tim O'Brien didn't vote for Barack Obama and doesn't necessarily agree with his politics, but he's fine with the president coming to campus to speak at commencement.
"As president, he has the right to come here and speak. I think it's an honor," O'Brien said Thursday, after signing a campus petition to show his support for the president's planned visit.
(snip)
A steady stream of Notre Dame students and employees lined up at lunchtime at South Dining Hall to sign the petition saying they favor Obama's planned May 17 visit to campus.
The petition was launched this week by the Black Cultural Arts Council, with support from about 14 other student groups on campus. The signatures will be presented to the Rev. John I. Jenkins, Notre Dame's president, who has come under fire for inviting Obama. Critics say Obama's stances are in direct opposition to pro-life Catholic teaching on abortion and stem-cell research.
"We want Father Jenkins to know he has support here at Notre Dame," said Briana Miller, a Notre Dame senior and 2005 graduate of Washington High School in South Bend. Miller is co-president of the Black Cultural Arts Council.
(snip)
By 1 p.m. Thursday, the group had gathered close to 700 signatures.
Please, you need to get this person help. I don't know what Fox News has for a health plan -- being conservative, I can only presume you have none -- but I'm sure Murdoch has a few bucks lying around. We all know about "showmanship", but there is "showmanship", and then there is "batshit crazy with a side of fries". There are "alternate points of view", and then there is "explosive decompression of the mind".
Seems the majority of GOP politics these days clashes with reality. Via Taegan.
Politico notes the governors "threatening to decline federal stimulus money last month read like a list of Republicans considering running for president in 2012:" Governors Mark Sanford, Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin.
"But what began with a bang is ending with something closer to a whimper. All three of those governors have been forced to scale back their expectations, to varying degree, as the push of conservative philosophy gave way to the pull of political reality."
"All three found that praise from the conservative movement in Washington meant nothing to furious state legislators of both parties. And in the end, along with other conservative Republican governors, the three submitted letters in recent days asking to be eligible for federal funds."
Now, I'm not one to decry technology as destroying culture, but this is just too damn close. Check out @tswpassionplay on Twitter if you dare.
NEW YORK — Experience the Passion of Christ — in 140-character bursts.
In a marriage of Christian tradition and digital technology, Wall Street’s Trinity Church is using the micro-blogging service Twitter to perform the story of Jesus Christ.
The main characters will tweet the Passion play for three hours beginning at noon on Good Friday. The feed also can be delivered to mobile devices or e-mail addresses.
Good Friday greetings to those of you that indulge in that sort of thing. Here in the Michiana Flyover Country, we celebrate with all sorts of churchy things, and the buying of the kishka.
Saddam Hussein, in His Own Words- FBI Releases Handwritten Letters, Documents on Executed Dictator's Detention
Help at hand for chocaholics: The inhaler that relieves cocoa cravings... for zero calories
Alaskan prostitution kingpin ordered to pay $3.6M to ex-employees
Mom's personality affects child's eating
NYT: More Squatters Are Calling Foreclosures Home When the woman who calls herself Queen Omega moved into a three-bedroom house here last December, she introduced herself to the neighbors, signed contracts for electricity and water and ordered an Internet connection.
5 U.S. Soldiers Killed In Iraq AttackWashington Post: Food Safety Efforts Have Stalled in Recent Years, CDC Says Efforts to reduce the number of food-borne illnesses in the United States have stalled in the past three years, and some illnesses are on the upswing, giving new urgency to efforts to reform the nation's food safety system, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported yesterday.
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