Steven Colbert's Take On Wurlitzer Prize Winner Stu Bykofsky

Here is Steven Colbert's Word on September 12, 2007. Tonight's Funny.



I wonder who will win the Wurlitzer Prize Tomorrow.

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Republican Floodgates Open; Race to Endorse Democrat Beshear Begins

UPDATE Below

Bluegrass Report has been predicting for weeks that Republican officials would soon start endorsing Democrat Steve Beshear over incumbent Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher.

Most of us thought the first one would be Lt. Governor Steve Pence, who rejected Fletcher in August 2006, after Fletcher was indicted for violating state hiring laws.

But Pence wimped out last month with a pale refusal to endorse Ernie. Instead, first out of the gate is former state representative Steve Nunn.

"I believe in good government," Nunn said. "I believe we need to elect people who are going to govern and the core group around the governor and the governor himself haven't demonstrated an ability to do that or to deserve another four years."

Nunn, who lost his seat last year, said he has no plans to become a Democrat. "I think Republicans should be for good government and this Republican is for change."

Steve Nunn lost his seat in the state House last year for lack of wingnuttery - in other words, he put his constituents and the good of the Commonwealth ahead of his party and his own personal ambition.

Which is exactly what his father, Louie B. Nunn, did as Kentucky's last Republican Governor almost 40 years ago.

Louie Nunn is excoriated by state employees to this day for firing Democratic state workers and replacing them with Republicans. But Louie Nunn single-handedly saved the Kentucky economy from sinking to Fourth-World levels by creating the state's first sales tax.

The five-percent tax was labeled "Nunn's Nickel," and it cost Louie - only 47 when his term ended - any hope of future political office in Kentucky.

Louie had a political resurrection of sorts in the late '90s, when he once again championed an unpopular cause to help the state he served. Louie lent publicity, credibility, and some humor to the hemp-legalization movement by escorting a truckload of legal Canadian hemp to the front of the Capitol in Frankfort.

Steve is no fan of Ernie - he lost to Fletcher in the republican gubernatorial primary in May 2003 - but he's also his Daddy's boy. Louie died in January 2004, but his legacy of doing the right thing and damn the consequences lives on in his son.

Steve Nunn's endorsement of Steve Beshear may start not only a rush of Kentucky Republicans to the Democrat's side, but also some new thinking among those same Republicans about abandoning Mitch McConnell in 2008.

No one would call Steve Nunn a leader of the Kentucky Republican Party.

But I will call Steve Nunn this: The Last Kentucky Republican With Integrity.

UPDATE, 9:40 a.m.: Ben Carter of BlueGrass Roots points out that Governor Bert Combs established the first Kentucky sales tax of 3 percent. Louie Nunn increased it to five percent. Apologies for the fact-checking failure, and thanks to Ben. If I may point out, the sales tax was perhaps the least of Comb's accomplishments. He desegregated public accommodations in Kentucky, formed the first state Human Rights Commission, improved education, expanded the state highway system and established the merit system for state employees. I, too, would rank Bert Combs close to the top of the list of great Kentucky Governors.

There's more: "Republican Floodgates Open; Race to Endorse Democrat Beshear Begins" >>

Fred Thompson Has Sex Appeal? Huh

I am waiting for a document to come back from my paralegal. During the wait I have been cruising the Internet reading comments. I roamed over to Firedoglake to read a post by Christy Hardin Smith. She has a good one up called Frederick Of Hollywood: Poseur? The post features a video from bravenewfilms called "Fred Thompson -- Greedy. Lobbyist. Sellout." It is cute. You might want to watch it.

While looking at that video I stumbled across a much better video from Rachel Maddow's Campaign Asylum called "Fred Thompson's Sex Appeal." Rachel is one of my favorites. I love her work. Give it a view. I think you will agree she has a really great take on sexy Fred.



Got to get back to lifting those books and toting those documents.

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Free The Juice!

The Washinton Post has coverage of the latest O.J. Simpson bogus persecution:

Investigators questioned O.J. Simpson and named him a suspect Friday in a confrontation at a casino hotel room involving sports memorabilia, but the actor and former football star denied breaking into the room.
Simpson told The Associated Press he went to the room to get memorabilia that belonged to him.
Simpson said he was conducting a "sting operation" to collect his belongings when he was escorted into the room at the Palace Station casino. Police said he was a suspect in a break-in at the hotel.

To paraphrase Pink Floyd, "Hey, leave the Juice alone". It appears quite possible, maybe even likely, from known facts, that Simpson did indeed murder his wife, Nicole, and Ron Goldman. He should have been convicted. But the police did such a deficient, duplicitous and malicious job investigating him, and the LA County Attorney's Office such a beyond pathetic job of prosecuting him, that his acquittal really was, in a perverse way, justice. The simple fact of the matter is that under well established principles of Constitutional and criminal law, the case against Simpson should never have gone to trial. The case should have been dismissed on a Motion to Dismiss for fundamental prejudice to his Constitutional rights via search and seizure, as well as evidence destruction, violations.

The Juice is a broken and dishonored man. The only reason he is in the public eye is because the moronic and salacious public wants him in the public eye and the immoral lazy press complies. Quit paying attention to O.J. Simpson, and for god sake quit paying attention to the deranged raving lunatic Fred Goldman, who may be the only creature in this whole mess as troubling as Simpson. Free the Juice; and free us from hearing about him. Please.

There's more: "Free The Juice!" >>

America to Congressional Democrats -- Are You Going To Do Anything?

I have spent some time reading the responses of Congressional Democrats to the President's speech last night. Senator Clinton's comments are posted below. You can find Senator Barack Obama's response here. Here are Joe Biden's comments. The comments of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Harry Reid and Rep Steny Hoyer can be found here.

I think all of the above comments are best be summarized by the title of the following video. Unless the Democrats in Congress get off their royal asses and do something, they may just as well "sit right down and write themselves a letter." The rest of us have had it.



Maybe that is the best description of this Congress. From now on we should refer to the 110th Congress as the "I Am Going To Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter" Congress.

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Hillary Clinton On President Bush's Speech--Too Little, Too Late

Reposted from Hillary's website is her official statement addressing the President's September 13, 2007, speech. The statement has not been edited. Her point--too little, too late. Duh. The statement is well written and provides a lot of ammunition for small talk with your Republican friends at tonight's dinner party.

"Regrettably, the President did not seize the opportunity tonight to offer the American people a candid assessment of the challenges that we continue to face in Iraq, or offer a change in course to his failing strategy. Instead, he portrayed an unavoidable reduction in U.S. troops to pre-surge levels as a marker of progress. Redeploying over the next year five of the twenty combat brigades currently deployed in Iraq will merely bring our total number of troops back to the same level that existed before the President announced his escalation in January of this year. As was discussed during General Petraeus's testimony this week, troop levels in Iraq must decrease by this amount regardless, in order to avoid extending Army deployments beyond 15 months and straining our military even further than it already is.

What the President told the American people tonight is that one year from now, there will be the same number of troops in Iraq as there were one year ago. That is simply too little too late, and unacceptable to this Congress and the American people who have made clear their strong desire to bring our brave troops home.

The Commander-in-Chief has the authority to issue the order to greatly accelerate the redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq, and to bring so many more of our troops home so much faster. They have done everything we have asked of them and more, but are now stuck in the middle of a civil war. I continue to implore the President to change course, bring our troops home faster, and end this war responsibly as soon as possible."

There's more: "Hillary Clinton On President Bush's Speech--Too Little, Too Late" >>

Campaign Video of the Day -- September 14, 2007

The Campaign Video of the Day is the historic John Edwards video entitled John Edwards - Response to President Bush. I posted that video last night. I don't want to post any video twice. If you haven't seen it you will find it about 3 posts down.

My contract with Blue Girl requires me to embed something. Ultimately my choices are between two posts featuring Peter Pan like characters. The first, entitled Peter Pan And Hillary Clinton: Two Real Americans, is a little bit goofy, but has great music and nice amateur production values. The second is last night's speech given by a far more tragic Peter Pan like figure--George W. Bush. It features a catchy title: President Bush National Address on Iraq War Progress. I guess I will post the GWB speech for the benefit of the folks who haven't seen it. Follow the link to the other video.



The President's speech was posted to YouTube by TPM. It is a runner up. The winning "Edwards Response" was posted to YouTube by the Edwards campaign.

If you have a campaign video deserving broader play, please email the link to proctoring.congress@gmail.com subject: Campaign Video of the Day. I promise to find it among all the emails sent to Blue Girl by big name bloggers flogging stories.

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I suppose I have to blog about that speech...

...or risk getting a "Bad Blogger! No Biscuit!" citation.

But really...what is to say? It was the Diet Coke of Presidential Speeches. There was no substance and the flavor wasn't quite right, but nonetheless, it was pretty much what was expected; rancid aftertaste and all.

But like Diet Coke is calorie free, the Resident's speech was fact free:

• "Iraq's national leaders are getting some things done," such as "sharing oil revenues with the provinces" [The oil law fell by the wayside, was doused in gasoline and set alight a full day before the bullshit banquet was served up this evening.]

• Bush made the proclamation that Baqubah, capital of Diyala province, (once, (impossibly) simultaneously considered both restive and the al Qaeda - Iraq mothership) is now pacified. "[t]oday, Baqubah is cleared." stated the President. [The pResident makes this claim, yet on 27 August the head of the Foreign Service Office in Diyala said the security situation was far from stable and impeded access to both sustenance and energy needs.]
  

• Further separating himself from reality, he thanked "the 36 nations who have troops on the ground in Iraq." [He was only off by a dozen or so. Give a dry drunk moron credit for not fucking this up worse...]
  

• He referenced a panel report assembled by Marine Gen. James Jones, and presented to congress last week, but he misrepresented it, saying that "the Iraqi army is becoming more capable..." [The report actually says that the Iraqi Army "cannot yet meaningfully contribute to denying terrorists safe haven." It also described the 25,000 member national police force as being infiltrated to the core by sectarian militias, and at best of specious loyalty. The Jones report recommended that it be disbanded.]

• He pointed to the relatively restive Baghdad of today, as compared to the Baghdad of a year ago, and pointed to lessened violence in the capital as evidence that his Surge™ strategy is showing success. [When the ethnic cleansing is complete, the supply of people fleeing and being murdered naturally dries up.]

At least in Japan miserable failures like the fool currently occupying the oval office have the decency to go sideways. But not this Dionysian fuckwit. He will go to his grave, at far too distant a date, and after enjoying too much health for too many years, convinced that we lost Iraq because I personally didn't clap loud enough.

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"Return on Success"?

Tell these people and their families, who returned all right, but with your feigned success charged at their expense.

There's more: ""Return on Success"?" >>

John Edwards Throws Down the Gauntlet

Tomorrow this might be the campaign video of the day. Tonight this video is news. If you didn't watch the John Edwards response to George W. Bush's speech tonight, here it is. Edwards pushes the Democrats in Congress and pushes them hard. He has probably just been dropped from a lot of Christmas card lists.



This video is historic. It is apparently unique in the history of American politics. The guys on MSNBC were wondering why. Just like Joe Biden or Mike Huckabee, if he had just ask he could have had the time for free on any of the networks.

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In response to my much esteemed colleague

I am somewhat overwhelmed to be in the company of such nationally recognized bloggers when I hail from just the unenviable state of Florida, especially the likes of our blog here.

That said, can I just say about Gadfly's post and its comments that it never seemed the Republicans were whiney when they were in the majority and our feeble, really feeble, Democratic minority stopped them. We were evil and the Republicans were just whatever.

Now, we are whiney whether we take a stand or fold. Even in victory, we lose because of the positioning of the media.

This is ALWAYS the fault of the follower. PR and marketing teaches a simple truth: FIRST to the market wins. Your message doesn't have to be true. It doesn't have to reflect reality. This is the lesson Republicans have learned.

Be first. Then, follow up. Follow up loudly. Follow up again. Follow up after the last whimpers. Follow up with the message and stay on it.

It is a lesson Democrats have not learned. Our willingness to speak freely and not follow the crowd have proven to be our folly. We don't speak in lock-step. We don't follow like lemmings to the sea. It is our very essence that defeats our ability to win the message.

For the Repubs, it is most like the Palace Guard in the Wizard of Oz - one great mission for all and only absolute defeat forces the abilty to concede, which is just a matter of language now.

We start out different with many voices. We are different; therefore, it is difficult to speak with one voice. As with any marketing, too many choices creates an inability to chose.

That is the establishment Democrat. Frozen.

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Kevin Drum not batting well on Iraq this week

After yesterday telling "second tier" Democratic presidential candidates to withdraw, Drum now says that without a cloture-proof 60, let alone a veto-proof 67 in the Senate, Democrats are hamstrung on Iraq action.

Once again, like, you're wrong, wrong, wrong on Iraq, Kevin.

The magic number in the Senate is 41; that prevents cloture and blocks any funding bill that doesn't defund Iraq.

You’re wrong, Kevin, and Harry Reid is wrong when he says the same thing. I believe more and more that Ted Rall is right about Congressional Democrats on Iraq.

If it takes government gridlock or a funding meltdown by invoking cloture against ANY budget bill that continues to fund Iraq, that’s what it takes.

Do it, dammit.

And I was steamed.

Update: Yes, and I remembered that budget bills are approved through a cloture-free reconciliation process after I originally posted and before I read the first two comments.

BUT, you can still run cloture on any other bill that even smacks of getting close to Iraq; or even of bills that have ZERO connection to Iraq. There are end run ways of still making 41 the magic number, and I don't care if it causes a Congressional clusterfuck or not.

Remember, Reid himself used "reverse cloture" for the overnight speak-a-thon on Iraq earlier this year.

So, even though Kevin's procedurally right, it's only in the narrowest of senses.

Don't let Reid say otherwise.

I read Kevin’s post right after hearing Reid make the same claim on All Things Considered, followed by Mitch (I’m the lying senator McConnell, not the lying intelligence director McConnell) McConnell.

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Not the post I set out to write

Drawing on buckets of sarcasm, I started to write a post about how Bush could save his legacy. The thought was he could tell his base that he was withdrawing the troops from Iraq so he could pay for cleaning up illegal immigration. That would, in effect, create a full win-win for him with Republicans and some Democrats.

Then, as I usually do, I started doing the research. Folks, this is seriously not funny.

For the money we spend to wage one day of war ($9 billion /30 days = $33.3 million), we could almost fund the entire annual budget of Homeland Security.

Department of Homeland Security's annual budget is about $35 billion.

For all of the Very Serious People we have in Washington, DC and in the media, here's a question: When you tell us you're serious about Homeland Security, how long will we laugh before we go mad from your insanity?

And, for less than the cost of one month of war, we could bring 100% of our troops home.

I know. It's been said before - the insanity of spending this money, the things we could do with the money we are flushing away: the improvement of our healthcare system, the rebuilding of the gulf states, and on and on.

In fact, let's forget spending it at all. Let's appeal to the missing. Where are the fiscal conservatives that used to populate the Republican Party? Where is their outrage? Better even, where is ours?

Those of us who opposed the war always, and rightly so, focus on the loss of human life. It is priceless, not only because it cannot be replaced but also for all the opportunities for the future lost with it.

We already know the right could care less about this cost because it's not tangible, or real, to them. Identifying with human suffering requires the ability to paint the individual, not the broad brush of neatly pigeonholed groups. They lack that.

But, are they so snowed with tax cuts and invisible (deficit) spending that they can't see the incalculable costs in the dollar and cents they love so much more than the little people? Why can't the money changers see the immeasurable fiscal hell hole that this war has created in our country?

It is a sad reality. I know it seems very callous to focus on the money instead of the human life. But that is who these people are. That is what they know. We haven't a chance of getting them to listen, much less change their minds, until we craft a position that acknowledges this, over and over again.

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The Administration Introduces Its New Fall Product Line

With Madison Avenue precision the Administration has started rolling out it's new fall product -- the coming war with Iran. Robin Wright reports in The Washington Post today that:

The Bush administration has begun mobilizing support for a third U.N. resolution that would impose tougher sanctions against Iran, as the top U.S. military and diplomatic officials in Baghdad said yesterday that one of the biggest and still unfolding surprises in Iraq has been the depth of Iran's intervention.

Iran is increasingly the backdrop in discussions about the future of Iraq, evident in congressional testimony this week by Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker and in warnings from senior administration officials. In his speech to the nation tonight, President Bush is also expected to cite Iran's role in the region as justification for continued U.S. efforts to stabilize Iraq.

The Administration is "fearful" that increased sanctions might not work because of German opposition. The Bush Administration knows exactly what needs to be done. As Fox News reports:

A recent decision by German officials to withhold support for any new sanctions against Iran has pushed a broad spectrum of officials in Washington to develop potential scenarios for a military attack on the Islamic regime. . . .

Of course, since everything is political, the new war has to be timed to have the maximum impact on the American elections. The Jerusalem Post reports

that the date of preference for an attack against Iran is in eight to 10 months - after the US presidential candidates for both the Democrats and the Republicans have been chosen, but before the major presidential campaign kicks off.

Don't be surprised if you can't tell any difference between the Administration's roll out of its new war and GM's introduction of a new line of automobiles. Both are simply campaigns designed to sell products already on the assembly line.

There are certain advantages to a preemptive war including the creation and roll out of a full sales campaign. Mounting a well thought out sales campaign is rarely possible when the United States is responding to an attack. That must be something our CEO President learned at Harvard Business School.

There's more: "The Administration Introduces Its New Fall Product Line" >>

Anbar Aflame

Just days ago, the White House made much hay out of an alliance with the shadiest sheik of them all, Abu Risha, who could not even conceal his contempt for the vacuous moron for the cameras.

Today, Abu Risha is dead, killed by a powerful IED that destroyed his armored SUV as he left his compound. Four body guards were also killed by the blast. No group has yet laid claim to the attack.

Before the keening and wailing starts, Abu Risha was a thug and a highway bandit, and a list of people who would have wanted him dead would not be a short one. He was unpopular even among other Sunnis, having a reputation for corruption and pettiness that was near unrivaled (making him an ideal ally for aWol, when one thinks about it that way...) He was building a militia that was loyal not to the government, but to him. Reliance on people like him is why the so-called "Anbar Awakening" is pure unadulterated bullshit.

In President George W. Bush's trip last week to Iraq, he visited Anbar rather than Baghdad and forcefully directed attention at the security gains the growing alliance between American and tribal forces had brought. Sheik Abdul Sattar was among the tribal leaders who met with him Sept. 3 at Al Asad Air Base in Anbar, the AP reported. He was the latest and most significant of sheiks leading that effort to be killed, and his death comes as Bush prepares to discuss his Iraq strategy in a nationwide address this evening.

Recently the council had begun to reach out to other tribes to bring them into working with the American and Iraqi government, and had met recently with southern Shia tribes.

His death could be a significant setback for American efforts to work more closely with local tribes against Al Qaeda.

The authorities imposed a state of emergency in Anbar Province following his assassination, police officials said. At least one other person escorting him was also killed in the explosion.

"This action makes a crack and makes it a mess for all those who wanted to be aligned with him," Salim al-Jubori, a spokesman for the largest Sunni Arab block in the Iraqi Parliament, said. "I believe there are other leaders who will take this on, but this is not easy."

Word of the attack comes just hours before the Resident addresses the nation tonight, in a last-ditch effort to gain support for his failed Iraqi adventure, that has thus far cost nearly a trillion dollars and is closing in on 3800 American lives.

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Ron Paul, How To "Promote" A Video On YouTube. Ron Paul, Did I Mention Ron Paul

This morning, as I was running my usual traps, I continued coming across a video by BigFatTonyCal. Over and over again, wherever I looked, there was the video. I couldn't get away from it. Finally I gave up and took a look.

BigFatTonyCal is a Ron Paul supporter, but the video, entitled Ron Paul Scheuer America has been Raped, doesn't mention Ron Paul once. It is a Fox News interview with Michael Scheuer who has written a new book about why America is facing terrorism from the Arab world.

Although the book seems appealing, what is interesting is how BigFatTonyCal promotes the video. Notice he has put "Ron Paul" right in the video's title. He goes on in his printed summary.

If you plan to support any of the following candidates. You will be responsible for the next attack on America.And that is the truth.Information is a powerfull tool. Be informed and know who you support.Inform anyone that thinks they want to support thease candidates what is in store for America.Stop supporting a corrupted Israeli policy and start acting like responsible Americans and take care of your own country first.Our childeren will thank us.

google "CFR MEMBERS" for a list, Candidates include:

Hillary Clinton
Barack Obama
Joseph Biden
John Edwards
Christopher Dodd
Bill Richardson

Rudy Giuliani
Mitt Romney
John McCain
Jim Gilmore
Fred Thompson
Newt Gingrich

If you plan to Vote for Ron Paul sign the petition. Lets show America the support Ron Paul has.

http://www.petitiononline.com/RP08/pe...

America has been raped and lied to. If you support any CFR candidate you are voting for more corruption in America. Vote Ron Paul 2008 (more) (less)

Whenever you type in any of the forgoing names into the YouTube search engine, as I do every morning, the Scheuer video will pop up. Shameless promotion from somebody who is pushing a book. Oh, did I mention Ron Paul? I didn't, well how about that Ron Paul.

Here is Tony's video. It is kind of interesting. The misspelled words and incomplete sentences in the quote are Tony's.

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Campaign Video of the Day -- September 13, 2007

Today's amateur campaign video Dennis Kucinich for President "This is Our Cry" is a slide show set to a Gospel Anthem. It fits Kucinich's campaign perfectly. It was produced by a 17 year old whose real name is Lindsay. Lindsay goes by TBagLover89.



If you discover a campaign video needing a wider audience, please email a nomination to proctoring.congress@gmail.com subject: Campaign Video of the Day. You will be happy you did.

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Scratch the oil law, it ain't gonna happen

The timing on this simply could not be worse.

This might have kept aWol awake, tossing and turning until 9:30 - possibly even 9:45.

The legislative process covering the Exxon-Mobile Enrichment Act Iraqi oil sharing law has finally, officially, collapsed. The oil law represented the last straw that the Bush administration had hope of grasping onto as Iraq slips away; and aWol’s position as Most. Pathetic. Excuse. For. A. Human. Being. Ever. is secured for time immemorial.

At the very moment in time that it is crucial to exhibit evidence of reconciliation, the flagship legislation fails. The collapse comes in the wake of conflict between Hussain al-Shahristani, the Iraqi oil minister, and officials of the provincial government in the Kurdish north, where some of the nation’s largest fields are located.

I’m sure that the Kurds deciding to begin signing contracts with international oil companies before the law was passed had nothing to do with that conflict…

I’m sure that the decision by the Kurdish authorities last week to enter into an oil exploration contract with Hunt Oil Company of Dallas (the same Hunt family that owns the Kansas City Chiefs) had no bearing at all on the breakdown of the legislation. Of course not…

The language of the law was hammered out in February, but it has been unable to move forward through parliament ever since. This final collapse comes just as the American occupying power is desperately looking for any thing that can be latched onto as representing progress to parade before congress as the battle for funding the war for next year ramps up.

But instead of resolution, what we have at hand is dissolution.

The Sunni Arabs who removed their support for the deal did so, in part, because of a contract the Kurdish government signed earlier with a company based in the United Arab Emirates, Dana Gas, to develop gas reserves.

The Kurds say their regional law is consistent with the Iraqi Constitution, which grants substantial powers to the provinces to govern their own affairs. But Mr. Shahristani believes that a sort of Kurdish declaration of independence can be read into the move. “This to us indicates very serious lack of cooperation that makes many people wonder if they are really going to be working within the framework of the federal law,” Mr. Shahristani said in a recent interview, before the Hunt deal was announced.

Kurdish officials dispute that contention, saying that they are doing their best to work within the Constitution while waiting for the Iraqi Parliament, which always seems to move at a glacial pace, to consider the legislation.

“We reject what some parties say — that it is a step towards separation — because we have drafted the Kurdistan oil law depending on Article 111 of the Iraqi Constitution, which says oil and natural resources are properties of Iraqi people,” said Jamal Abdullah, a spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional Government. “Both Iraqi and Kurdish oil laws depend on that article,” Mr.

The Prime Ministers office, however, sees a simpler – and darker – reason for the Sunnis withholding their support. In Maliki-world, his opponents would rather betray the nation than give him a political victory. “I think there is a political reason behind that delay in order not to see the Iraqi government achieve the real agreement,” said a political adviser to Mr. Maliki.

Yes, I’m sure that’s it. In fact, I’m absolutely certain that that is absolutely all there is to it. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the de facto secession of Kurdistan, and the loss of the largest oil reserves in the country formerly known as Iraq.

But think about it this way – if Americans are willing to go halfway around the world and fight a war for access to those oilfields - does anyone in their right mind think that those who feel wronged, and who happen to be in the neighborhood, are going to let it go without a fight?

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Good news for controlling auto CO2 emissions

Federal Judge William K. Sessions has ruled that California and 14 other, mainly New England, states have the right to regulate automotive carbon dioxide emissions. Couple that with the Supreme Court ruling this summer than the Environmental Protection Agency has CO2 pollution regulation powers, and I just don’t see automakers having a chance of winning this case on appeal — with one exception noted below.

The suit was in Vermont, which adopted a copy of California’s pioneering CO2 control law. California, by law, has the right to go beyond federal standards on pollution levels, with the granting of an EPA waiver. Other states have the right to adopt California laws when California goes beyond federal standards, but cannot go beyond federal standards on their own.

Here’s the proposed California law:

Under the California law, the emissions reductions for cars in the 2016 model year could be as much as 30 percent or more below current levels.

California regulators have required that by 2012 emissions from cars and light trucks be reduced by 25 percent from 2005 levels. For larger trucks and sport utility vehicles, 18 percent cuts were required.

Sessions specifically cited the SCOTUS ruling; he also rejected the idea that California, and the other states following it, are just trying to regulate gas mileage, which is purely a federal issue.

The one possible reason Sessions could be overturned? University of Vermont law professor Patrick Parenteau noted that California hasn’t gotten its EPA waiver yet (a ruling is planned before the end of this year) and thus Sessions could be overturned on grounds of jumping the gun.

I say that’s tortuous reasoning, as the automakers jumped the gun by bringing the suit in the first place.

Otherwise, Sessions sounds like he made himself well-informed on the technological feasibility of the California requirements; he reject auto industry arguments this could cost as many as 65,000 jobs.

Poppycock; people are going to buy new cars, period.

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Executive power, not abortion, behind Bush Supreme Court choices

Charlie Savage makes an excellent argument to this end.

He points out that John Roberts, for example, has defended both Cheney’s “unitary executive” idea and executive-branch secrecy. He has similar info on Alito, and even a little on would-have-been Justice Miers.

Anyway, give it a read; it’s good.

And, this definitely does NOT bode well for the illegal wiretapping lawsuits, when they get to SCOTUS.

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Ted Rall calls out so-called “antiwar Democrats”

And, in doing so, not just one or two, but Congressional Democrats en masse, he again demonstrates again why he’s probably my favorite progressive columnist. He first notes:

In June Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting's Extra! Magazine wrote: “If the Democrat-controlled Congress wanted to force the Bush administration to accept a bill with a withdrawal timeline, it didn't have to pass the bill over Bush's veto--it just had to make clear that no Iraq War spending bill without a timeline would be forthcoming.”

Democratic leaders know that. And here's how I know they know: days after taking control of Congress, on January 30, they invited five constitutional law experts to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee to ask them how they could end the war. Four out of five of the experts swore that the Democrats could stop the Iraq War just...like...that.

After accusing the mainstream media of perpetuating the myth that Democrats really do want to end the war, but can’t get a bill past Bush, Rall then observes:

You'd think the Democrats would want to end the Iraq War before their likely retaking of the White House, but that's because you're a human being, not a politician. Politicians are happy to dispatch hundreds of young American men and women to certain death (along with thousands of Iraqis), if the bloodshed squeezes out an extra half percentage point at the polls. Reid and Pelosi prefer to run against a disastrous ongoing Republican war than point to a fragile Democratic-brokered peace.

I really don’t think any more commentary is needed.

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GOP Platform

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The Media Battle of the Titans

While we were all worrying about General Petraeus your adolescent was focused on what to him is a far more important story. Adam Green has the story. Tonight's funny.



This was uploaded on 9/11/07.

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Why do conservative columnists dominate the newspaper op-ed pages in most the country?

Kevn Drum notes that they do, in a “dog bites man” blog post about an in-depth survey of newspaper commentary over at Media Matters.

I offer my observations from someone with a slice of life inside the industry, at least right now.

I’ve worked at one small daily, and a variety of non-dailies, for about 13 years. Aside from the “name” columnists at “name” syndicates, you have a variety of smaller syndicates putting out B-side/AAA minor league columnists.

These, even more than at the Major League level, tend to tilt small town/Chamber of Commerce/down on the farm right; a fair subset of them tilt religious right, also.

In other words, if you think the situation is skewed at your typical seven-day daily, you ain’t seen nothing.

Then, amongst freebie columnists, you have some conservative think tanks, plus state chapters of conservative organizations, floating their columns everywhere.

For instance, I, at a weekly paper of about 4,500-5,000 circulation, get columns every week from folks like the Conservative Values Coalition and Texas chapters of several national coalitions. I’d estimate I get six-seven a week like this.

Then, there are organizations that are officially apolitical, such as the Texas Medical Association, but that may take conservative positions on issues near and dear to their hearts, such as national healthcare, in this case.

Also, Senators and many Representatives send “their” columns out every week; of course, they’re all staff-written, not by the MCs themselves. But, my off-the-cuff guess is that conservative Congressmen reinforced conservative newspapers here in a sort of closed feedback loop.

The solutions? Well, given that liberals are generally more idealistic, and thus interested in editorial positions, speaking up on an op-ed page wherever possible is a start. Liberal public policy groups, etc. churning out more op-eds would also help. And professional groups that have a more liberal take on issues, like state trial lawyers’ groups on tort reform, have done some writing in the past, but need to be joined by others.

Take labor issues; if someone from the AFL-CIO would crank out some well-crafted op-eds on a variety of labor matters, and pitch them with a smaller-town angle, it would be water in the desert.

Given that smaller-town newspaper readership is not declining as much as at seven-day dailies, this is a fertile field.

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Amen to Lynn Woolsey: Let’s have some Dems get anti-war primary challenges

That’s what California Democratic Congresswoman Woolsey says herself:

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) is encouraging anti-war activists to find challengers to centrist Democrats, with the aim of moving the party to the left and ramping up opposition to the war in Iraq, to the chagrin of top Democratic aides.

“You folks should go after the Democrats,” Woolsey said in response to a suggestion from an activist during a conference call last month organized by the Network of Spiritual Progressives.

“I’d hate to lose the majority, but I’m telling you, if we don’t stand up to our responsibility, maybe that’s the lesson to be learned.”

Democratic leaders have yet to punish Woolsey for her stance, but their aides were irked by and dismissive of Woolsey’s remarks.

“The political reality is that the real targets of the outside groups should be Republicans who have so far refused to join the overwhelming majority of Democrats in voting for a change of course in Iraq,” a top aide said.

Ahh, the current Democratic Congressional leadership: shoot the message as well as the messenger.

Oh, let’s take Ms. Woolsey’s call one step further.

Let’s have more liberal bloggers beating the drum for Green Party or socialist candidates for the general election, too. I intend to do so.

Oh, on a sidebar note, I’d like to say Kevin Drum really fucked up on this post saying that Kucinch and other second-tier Democrats, most of whom are more ardently anti-war than the “big dogs,” need to pack up, quit the primary campaign, and go home.

Cross-posted at Socratic Gadfly and Out of Iraq Bloggers Caucus.

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Campaign Video of the Day -- September 12, 2007 part Deux

Man did I miss one this morning. Here is Chris Dodd's latest video. He is throwing the gauntlet down at Hillary and Barack's feet. Good old Ms Trianglulator is going to have a tough time not taking a clear position in response to this video.



If you encounter a video that cries out for wider play, please send an email to proctoring.congress@gmail.com subject: Campaign Video of the Day.

UPDATE: 1:48 PM -- Here is what the Dodd Campaign is saying about the Reid-Levin Compromise.

On September 6th, the New York Times reported that Democrats are considering whether to offer a "compromise" amendment on Iraq to the upcoming Defense Department Authorization bill.

This "compromise," the Levin-Reed amendment, would reportedly establish a non-binding "goal" -- as opposed to a firm deadline -- for withdrawing our combat troops from Iraq.

The net result would be another blank check for President Bush.

Senator Dodd said it best, "I cannot and will not support any measure that does not have a firm and enforceable deadline to complete the redeployment of combat troops from Iraq. Rather than picking up votes, by removing the deadline to get our troops out of Iraq you have lost this Democrat's vote."

We can stop this before it sees the light of day.

Please contact your Senators and ask them to publicly reject any Iraq legislation that does not include enforceable deadlines for withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq.

Pretty agressive for a guy as far inside as Chris Dodd.

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Two Powerful Young Anti-Iraq War Voices Stilled In Accident Near Baghdad

TPM's Greg Sargent is reporting that two of the active duty soldiers who penned the New York Times' OP-Ed entitled "The War as We Saw It" have been killed in Iraq.

Twenty-eight year old Sgt. Omar Mora was close to the end of his second tour when he was killed along with 6 other soldiers in a roll over accident near Baghdad last week.

"He was coming home in November. He was coming home in November.”

his mother Olga Capetillo told a reporter for KHOU.com. His 5 year old daughter will never see her father again.

According to the AP Staff Sergeant Yance Gray, age 26, another of the Op-Ed's, co-authors, died in the same accident. Stg. Gray was the son of Richard and Karen Gray of Ismay, Montana. He is survived by his wife and infant daughter, who live in North Carolina.

The next time you see him ask the President how many more young fathers and mothers have to die in his Iraq folly.

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Campaign Video of the Day -- September 12, 2007

Finding a fresh video hasn't been easy today. It seems the collapse of the September General Petraeous' goodbellyfeel tour has dominated the national conversation. We learned that the boys and girls in the House love entertaining pigs with lipstick. The Senate not so much.

Today's video is a little older than normal. Entitled Dennis Kucinich -- Text for Peace it was posted by LiveVegan.




If you encounter a video that just has to have wider play, nominate it as Campaign Video of the Day. Send an email to proctoring.congress@gmail.com subject: Campaign Video of the Day.

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Parsing the Petraeus Promenade™

For two days they appeared before open congressional committee meetings, answering questions from the legislative branch. Five of the members they faced are running for the presidency, and one of the inquisitors today will likely be the commander in chief they will answer to come January 2009. Another Senator was the opponent Petraeus sided against in 2004. That Senator did not bring up the infamous op-ed, but Senator Boxer did.

On balance, Tuesday was certainly not Monday. The man-crushes were, for the most part, kept in check - unlike Monday, when I feared that some of the overt, gushing, adoration would get the General in trouble under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

There were significant moments in the testimony Tuesday. Petraeus went on the congressional record that there was no connection between the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and Saddam Hussein. When pressed, he could not say that America’s involvement in Iraq makes Americans safer.

But there was one question that Petraeus either could not – or would not – answer. It was the one he asked in 2003 as the invasion ramped up. “How does this end?”

"Are we going to continue to invest American blood and treasure at the same rate we are doing now, for what? The president said let's buy time. Buy time? For what?" said Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., a Vietnam veteran who also will retire next year.

Most experts argue that stabilizing Iraq requires two things above all: political reconciliation among Shiite Muslims, Sunnis and Kurds, and Iraqi security forces that can stand on their own.

Petraeus and Crocker could promise neither.

As the day wore on, the unspoken consensus emerged that, yeah, George Bush really is a phenomenal fuckwit. And boy, did he ever screw the pooch when he charged headlong into this mess, and it should never have been done, and can’t be undone…All he can do is punt it to the next president and then start trying to cast blame. The men who were sitting in front of congress the last two days are, unenviably, charged with salvaging something from it.

By the end of the day, the testimony made it clear that there will still be a hundred thousand American G.I.’s in Iraq when Bush abdicates to Paraguay on 19 January 2009. And the war in Iraq had been moved front and center in the 2008 election campaign.

Starting today, it's a whole new campaign...

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The “Petraeus report”: my professional take

Note: the following is adapted from my most recent newspaper column, written about Gen. Petraeus’ report on the “surge.”

First, it isn’t a report on conditions in Iraq nearly as much as it is PR flak. Independent studies have shown that violence in Iraq in general is up — well up if you adjust for the summertime slack-off in 120-degree heat.

The Government Accounting Office has said this. But, not just the GAO.
Our own, Bush-sized embassy in Baghdad has said this. So has the Congressional Research Service. And, so has an independent private-world think tank

From the Congressional Research Service study, as reported by the New York Daily News:

“My assessment is that because of the number and breadth of parties boycotting the (Iraqi) cabinet, the Iraqi government is in essential collapse,” said Kenneth Katzman, the author of the report. “That argues against any real prospects for political reconciliation.”

Without that political infrastructure, Katzman said any military progress would be short-lived.

That is, if there actually is any military progress, which Katzman doubts.

“I would even question the military progress,” he said.

Because of the political instability, and the lack of military success, Katzman said he agreed with many senior State Department officials in Iraq that a political solution to the war is now “hopeless.”

And, Stephen Biddle, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of Petraeus’ advisory panel, said (expressing his personal view) that the strategy in Iraq would require the presence of roughly 100,000 American troops for 20 years — and event then would be a “long-shot gamble.”

Twenty years? Talking about Vietnam comparisons, that’s twice as long!

But, President Bush is apparently determined to have a successful report, whether it’s reality-based or PR-based. And Gen. Petraeus, from what I’ve read, has been willing to salute whatever his commander-in-chief ran up the flagpole from the time Petraeus was named ground commander in Iraq.

Especially as Petraeus isn’t even putting anything in writing himself for Congress, we should more accurately call it the Bush report anyway.

And, contrary to a popular straw man, red herring, or whatever, no, the terrorists are not going to follow us home if we leave Iraq. Nor is al-Qaeda going to then topple Syria and Saudi Arabia.

Many people have compared this war to Vietnam. One of the closest comparisons is these two statements closely track the “domino theory” about South Vietnam, how if it fell to the North, Laos, then Cambodia, then Thailand, then all of southeast Asia would go Communist. Eventually, the theory went, we could be fighting them in America, a statement no doubt used to justify CIA domestic spying and a host of other evils.

Well, Vietnam was as much, if not more, a nationalist war than a Communist plot. And, nobody “followed us here.” So, too, is Iraq a nationalist revolt more than a religious one. Plus, given the almost mythical al Qaeda in Iraq accounts for less than 10 percent of violence there — probably less than 5 percent — nobody there is in a position to “follow us here.” Besides, with the degree of factionalism there, that country is likely to enter something like the Thirty Years War when we leave.

So, let’s leave, already. The notion that we can actually change anything — change for the long term, certainly — in Iraq would be laughable if not already tragic. As for the claim the “surge” has rediced Iraqi civilian casualties, the independent studies paint a different story. And, since the Pentagon won’t even declassify how it determines causes of different casualties, its methodology has to be considered suspect because it lacks transparency. (To put it bluntly, from where I sit, the Pentagon is cooking the books, and for political reasons. Does anybody remember the inflated body counts of Vietnam, and for similar reasons?)

Beyond all of the above, there’s too great a danger that too much of the general populace will take the Bush-ghostwritten Petraeus report at face value. That, in turn, could lead to knee-weakening of too many Democratic Members of Congress.

Cross-posted at Socratic Gadfly and Out of Iraq Bloggers Caucus.

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Best 9/11 Tribute Ever

Warning: Rude Pundit, so XXX-rated.

9/11 Is Tired of Your Tears

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Joe Lieberman Demands More War Now!!!

Joe Lieberman doesn't think the United States has enough problems in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now he wants the US to start a war with Iran. Listen to Joe whining for more war. The man sounds a blood thirsty Likudite who wants to "ban" all the Arabs from Samaria and Judea. Somebody ought to tell him that he isn't a member of the Knesset. I think he is confused.



Thanks to TPM for the video.

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Some thoughts on that "Betray Us" ad

I first heard his name morphed by an active duty soldier, about an hour after he took the billet and the fourth star that came with it. But that is not the point. I think the ad was stupid, and I said so. But that isn't the point, either.

I am hearing Norm Coleman make hay from it, just as that wingnut congresswoman from Florida did yesterday. I am hearing all manner of indignant outrage from the loonies of the right.

That set me to wondering about something...

How offended were these same people when Senator Kerry was swift-boated? War hero and triple-amputee Max Cleland was smeared by the smarmy Saxby Chambliss by equating him with Osama bin Laden. How offended were these foam-flecked wingnuts then? Today, they accept the rodent Chambliss as their equal.

Hell - how did they react to those of us who disagreed with them before the war? They called us unpatriotic, they called us traitors, they called us unamerican and told us to get out of the country even though people who saw it the way we did had served in greater numbers. (The right to free speech that so many on our side have served to uphold doesn't guarantee that everything said will be smart, or even true. It is up to the listener to make those judgments.)

But I digress...Anyone - and I do mean anyone - bleating about being offended now, by that ad, had better be able to point to a full-throated denunciation of scurrilous attacks that went the other way then.

If they were silent then, or even supported those attacks, they need to shut the hell up now.

Sauce for the goose being sauce for the gander, and all that.

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General Petraeus' Not-So-Funny Math

A full-page ad that appeared in Monday's New York Times, placed by MoveOn.org, offers a concise look at how Gen. David Petraeus distorted the facts about conditions in Iraq since the "surge" began.

Here's the link. This also gives more detailed evidence to support the ad.

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2,185 Days

There is, however, one BIG difference between the two men. Osama knows exactly where Il Douche'™ is. Il Douche'™ doesn't have the vaguest idea where Osama is. Nor, does he care. Do you care? 2,185 days, and counting.

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Mad Jack McCain: Countdown to Irrelevance

Go sell crazy somewhere else, Jack. We're full up here.

This anniversary week of 9/11, John "Mad Jack" McCain is vying for as much media face time as possible, to shore up his ever-waning prospects of capturing the White House in 2008. Speaking to reporters in California over the weekend, he said:

"As president of the United States, I will get him, and we will enact justice against Osama bin Laden."

He repeated this boast in an interview segment on this morning's The Early Show on CBS. This claim reveals at least three delusions that Mad Jack is currently belaboring under: that he'll gain his party's nomination for President, that he'll actually defeat his Democratic opponent for President, and that he'll be able to divorce himself sufficiently from the clusterfuck that is the War in Iraq that he can extend the intelligence & policing forces necessary to bring him to justice.

Since he goes on to claim that Iraq is his "primary focus," why should we believe that he'll be any more successful in his boasts than his frat-boy predecessor?

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Campaign Video of the Day -- September 11, 2007

Lately I have become crankier and crankier when I look at our elected officials. Nobody in power seems really interested in stopping the war. Oh, some of the candidates who have been out talking to the people are beginning to get it, but after yesterday it is pretty clear that the Beltway party is firmly in favor of eternal war. All the Beltway Party's presidential candidates, both Republican and Democrat, favor staying in Iraq for the indefinite future. The Beltway "leadership" is content to follow the President as he leads America into oblivion.

Today's Campaign Video of the Day fits my mood. Stop the Rain. Vote Peace isn't a video for one of the candidates. Instead it is a suggestion we consider supporting one of the three real peace candidates. It is the kind of viral video you can expect during the YouTube election. Peace now. Pass it on.



Produced by starlingfive and posted five days ago.

One question to ponder today, why is Osama Bin Laden still walking around a free man? If you encounter a member of the Beltway party, and you have the guts, ask that question. You won't get a straight answer.

If you see a campaign video you believe needs a wider audience, feel free to nominate it as Campaign Video of the Day. Send an email to proctoring.congress@gmail.com subject Campaign Video of the Day.

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Democrats: Don't Just Sit There Like Burros

I watched most of it on C-Span, and ran a gamut of frustration, embarrassment, disgust, and so on. Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker laid a huge heap of cherry-picked horse manure on two House committees Monday. It must have taken a long time to collect so much, so carefully. And, for the most part, the Democrats from Ike Skelton on down just sat there like burros.

There were polite questions suggesting the original mendacity of the Iraq war (to her credit, there was a nice moment from Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla.); notice of discrepancies between Petraeus' statistical depiction of Iraqi sectarian violence and other reports; and a few observations that, like, we've heard all this before, in 2004, 2005, 2006 ...

But the Democrats sitting in on this were, in general, contemptibly passive. Everybody was just too damned polite.

I was especially embarrassed by a questioner from my home state, Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas. It's no secret that Solomon has never been the sharpest pencil in the House box. He got elected sheriff of Nueces County, and then somehow persuaded enough voters that this qualified him to represent the Corpus Christi area in the U.S. House. And he's been there for 24 years. It was painful to watch him try to level any incisive questions at Petraeus.

There were a few flashes of what should have been. The New York Times reported:

One of the few lawmakers to challenge General Petraeus was Representative Robert Wexler, a Democrat from Florida, who accused the commander of “cherry-picking statistics” and “massaging information.” He compared the testimony to that given in a 1967 speech to Congress by Gen. William C. Westmoreland, when he said American forces were making progress and would prevail.

But it was, in general, a limp humiliation.

Buffoon Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman had, as one of his 2006 campaign slogans, the "de-wussification" of the state. I don't think Kinky had his target picked right. The Democratic Party needs his program, immediately.

Democrats, please -- stop sitting there like burros.

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Obama, Oprah

I have been watching today's dog and pony show with interest. The big losers--elected Democrats--they look like whipped puppies. President Bush will be able to extend the war until the end of his term. In the meantime Osama will be applauding George from his safe house.

Me I am going to start looking for a new party. I think it is time. Don't you?

Tonight's funny is from Steve Tatham. Not a bad Internet political comedian. Beats listening to the elected Democrats scurry back in their mouse holes.

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Court-Martial Petraeus

I originally posted this last Friday as a comment on Salon to Glenn Greenwald's column.

I'm going to keep repeating this until Betrayus is court-martialed for Dereliction of Duty and violating his Service Oath.

After reading Kevin Drum at Political Animal on Petraeus' brilliantly aiming his hearts-and-minds campaigns not at the Iraqis but at the American public, while Iraq burns all around him, I'm starting to believe that David Petraeus will very soon stand with Robert McNamara (another genius IQ unable to see past the end of a gun) and William Westmoreland as an unindicted war criminal.

Every word Petraeus speaks, every order he gives, every sentence he writes, every interview he grants in support of Smirky's and Darth's Endless War is a betrayal of his Service Oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, and his responsibility as a commander to his troops.

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Airport Stall Law

It should be noted that Sen. Larry Craig has filed his motion to set aside the plea agreement in Hennepin County. Here is Craig's Motion

It looks like a very strong motion to me. I would give at least 50:50 odds, if not a fair amount better, that Craig gets this plea withdrawn. That should make for an interesting pickle for the GOP leadership, especially Mitch McConnell in the Senate, who has his own gathering storm on the homosexual hypocrisy front.

My collegue, the Socratic Gadfly. has written "it’s anti-gay GOPers like Craig, including anti-gay, but actually gay or bisexual, GOPers who lock themselves in their own sexual closets, who have made this a crime anyway." That sounds all flashy and everything, but that is just flat out wrong. Whether this is a crime or not is controlled completely by the authority of the Minnesota statutes which, quite frankly, speak for themselves.

I am not a fan of Sen. Larry Craig (R-Airport Stall), nor am I a fan of what he is accused of doing, nor even the belligerent conduct he has engaged in by the unequivocal facts to date. What I am an unmitigated fan of, however, is the orderly and proper rule of law pursuant to Constitutionally permitted legal and judicial process. With a plea form defective on it's face on the Constitutionally protected issue of right to counsel, with no proper record (audio or written), and with no proper factual basis for the plea accepted in this case; if one truly cares about the rule of law, it is hard to argue that this plea should stand. I predict it will not.

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Your Monday financial news roundup

Top thrift company may have more losses on books

WaMu has the latest bad housing industry news:

Washington Mutual Inc., the largest U.S. thrift, said that conditions in the housing market are creating a `near-perfect storm' and may force the company to set aside more money to cover bad loans.

Chief Executive Officer Kerry Killinger told the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. financial services conference today the bank may have to increase its loan-loss provision by $500 million. Previously the bank forecast provisions of $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion for the full year.

Killinger also indicated he expects problems to last a while.

Readers Digest-ville has sexy housing fallout

A Pleasantville, N.Y., mortgage broker couple, after watching their $750,000 asking price on a house fall below $600K, allegedly turned it into a brothel.

Mortgage-related job losses may almost double

Firings, etc. may break 100,000:

As many as 20 percent of the nation's real estate loan officers and mortgage brokers will be fired, according to Josh Rosner, managing director at the New York investment research firm Graham Fisher & Co. That's in addition to the 10 percent reduction from December to July that thinned their ranks to 450,000 as investors stopped buying mortgages and lenders curtailed financing to avoid rising subprime defaults.

Remember, that’s only direct job losses, not any “ripple” losses from how this affects the broader economy. Semi-directly, that could include mortgage appraisers, title-company clerks and settlement attorneys. Indirectly, we’re talking about people without jobs not buying things.

More support offered for a two-year slump

Financial ratings company Moody’s expects the current housing slump to last until 2009. (Nowhere in the story does Moody’s except its share of the blame in all this for its blank check puff rating of collateralized debt obligations in the last few years.

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Cornyn Watch: The Senator And Brain Damage

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is looking toward a re-election campaign next year, and his office is wasting no time generating schlock for unsuspecting e-mail users across the state. In his latest e-mail, the senator told us what he did on his summer vacation, and a lot of it was military-minded:

"As usual, what I heard was far different from what the national news media reports as conventional wisdom in Washington, D.C. While visiting with troops and their families at Fort Bliss, Fort Hood and at the Soldier Appreciation Day in Round Rock, I was repeatedly reassured that morale among our volunteer military is high."

(Here's a link about the spike in the suicide rate among troops deployed in Iraq)

"Our service men and women have a far better grasp on their mission, and our prospects for success, than do some of my Congressional colleagues. The troops say they’re more committed than ever to their mission."

(Well, maybe more than ever are being committed. CNN.com reported on March 13 that "Nearly a third of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who received care from Veterans Affairs between 2001 and 2005 were diagnosed with mental health or psychosocial ills, a new study concludes. The study was published in the March 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine and carried out by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and the San Francisco VA Medical Center."

Back to the senator: "Many Texans also told me they want to be sure we have a winning strategy in Iraq, and they are encouraged by the progress we’re making. ... to abandon the mission before Iraq is secure would allow that country to again (???) become a breeding ground for terrorism. Our focus must remain on the long-term security interest of the United States, and ensuring our enemy doesn’t follow us back home. ..."

Nothing strikes more fear in my heart than the prospect of Sunni insurgents attacking South Padre Island during next year's spring break. Think of those frat boys parking their Jeep Grand Cherokees right on top of IEDs.

But, concerns about homeland security aside, it might be enlightening for the senator to visit a facility at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., where many veterans undergo treatment for brain damage suffered in combat. It's being described as an epidemic.

The Associated Press reports today:

Thousands of troops have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, or TBI. These blast-caused head injuries are so different from the ones doctors are used to seeing from falls and car crashes that treating them is as much faith as it is science.

"I've been in the field for 20-plus years dealing with TBI. I have a very experienced staff. And they're saying to me, 'We're seeing things we've never seen before,'" said Sandy Schneider, director of Vanderbilt University's brain injury rehabilitation program.

Doctors also are realizing that symptoms overlap with post-traumatic stress disorder, and that both must be treated. Odd as it may seem, brain injury can protect against PTSD by blurring awareness of what happened.

But as memory improves, emotional problems can emerge: One of the first "graduates" of Vanderbilt's program committed suicide three weeks later.

"Of all the ones here, he would not have been the one we would have thought," Schneider said. "They called him the Michelangelo of Fort Campbell" — a guy who planned to go to art school.

The senator's platitudes do not constitute support for, but rather a pathetic insult to, these courageous soldiers. They come back from Iraq dealing with short-term memory loss and emotional scars sustained in a war started on fabrications, and continued on delusions for going on five years.

It's a different kind of brain damage. And, if John Cornyn is an example, it's an epidemic among members of Congress.

Crossposted at Manifesto Joe

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Cry me yet another river, Larry Craig

Yet another GOPer shows that the river of personal responsibility, like that of capitalism, flows only one way. Now Craig is blaming the media for his pleading guilty to solicitation of gay sex. His lawyer, Billy Martin, is saying Craig did not “knowingly and intelligently enter a guilty plea.”

Sure, sure. Some first-time homeowner buys a house, or someone with bad credit gets a predatory-terms credit card, and “capitalists” are willing to stick it to them over “personal responsibility.”

But a U.S. Senator, who first tries to buy his way out of an arrest by flashing his Senate ID, gets arrested, gets read the charge against him by a judge, including terms of the agreement, and signs it? Well, now, that’s not “knowingly and intelligently.”

Bullshit.

Then, you have Martin claiming this isn’t a crime.

Wrong.

Now, whether it should be a crime is a matter entirely different. But, it’s anti-gay GOPers like Craig, including anti-gay, but actually gay or bisexual, GOPers who lock themselves in their own sexual closets, who have made this a crime anyway.

Going by what Martin appeared to have meant, Craig’s “wide stance” against gay rights again leaves him nobody to blame but himself.

Hey, Larry, get down off the cross, we need the wood. And stop crying for yourself; we’re under a flash flood watch as it is.

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When PR Flacks Get Nervous

Never let it be said there is nothing new in the universe. Wikileaks is a website you probably haven't heard about. According to its stated purpose

Wikileaks is developing an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis. Our primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to those in the west who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their own governments and corporations. We aim for maximum political impact. Our interface is identical to Wikipedia and usable by all types of people. We have received over 1.2 million documents so far from dissident communities and anonymous sources.

Jim Horton of Robert Marston & Associates writing in Online Public Relations Thoughts says

I wasn't aware of this site but it is more for PR practitioners to worry about. It is a wiki for people to spill secrets about governments, companies and individuals. Its statement of purpose is chilling. . . . The site has been successful already in revealing the misbehavior of an African leader. If it endures, it is a matter of time before whistle-blowers use it elsewhere. I suppose one can look at it as a full-employment reason for crisis PR practitioners.

Yep Jim, you PR guys are going to have a lot more work to do keeping people ignorant of your clients' skulduggery.

Another insanely useful website for the citizen journalist to add to his information toolbox.

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Campaign Video of the Day -- September 10, 2007

Here is Bill Richardson's latest 30 second spot. Richardson "Offers" both experience and change.



This video was posted to YouTube on September 7, 2007.

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Lunchbox 9-7-07, It's Bombshell Time

The Chiefs lost today (I guess that's not going to be all that unusual this year) and I needed a pick me up what with all the 1984 references lately (thanks for the comment consider wisely always), so here is today's funny. Adam Green is great. He has a less than serious take on Fred Thompson's entry into the Presidential race. We will be hearing a lot from Adam in the coming years.



This video was uploaded to YouTube on September 7, 2007 by roomeight

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A Special Message From Comrade O'brien Concerning A New Addition To The Goodthinkers

Comrade Thompson! Doubleplusgoodthinker and duckspeaker! He bellyfeels IngSoc.

Thank you TheMinitrueReport for the goodspeak.

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Next Round Against the Religious Wrongs

If you worry that even with the republican party imploding left, right and center, the rovians will once again use their "Family Values" bag of tricks to pull out a victory in 2008, keep an eye on the Kentucky Governor's race now in its last 60 days.

Gay marriage, the ten commandments, prayer in schools - the republicans are preparing to launch all the Golden Oldies against the Democrats in October.

But this time, finally, there are definite signs that Kentucky Democrats have learned not only how to fight back effectively, but actually attack the repugs on their own "Family values" ground.

Republican incumbent Ernie Fletcher, with a record of incompetence that rivals Smirky's - except for the dead people - has been reduced to running on the "we're christians and they're not" line.

It started in June, when Fletcher reversed his previous stand on expanding gambling on Kentucky. Through the May primary, Fletcher had said he would not oppose a referendum on expanding gambling, though he wasn't personally in favor of it.

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Steve Beshear has been running since February on a promise to bring expanded gambling to Kentucky. Some polls have shown that a majority of Kentuckians support expanded gambling, and more than 80 percent favor a referendum on the issue.

After Beshear won the May Democratic primary, the first post-primary polls showed Beshear beating Fletcher by as much as 40 points (Beshear has since dropped to an 18-point lead.)

Ernie flipped and came out four-square against expanded gambling, and against even allowing a referendum.

Let's upack that flip: First, if Ernie had a record of accomplishments to run on, he could afford to maintain his previous neutrality. But his record being one of unmitigated incompetence, illegality and immorality, he desperately needs an issue.

Second, Ernie gains precisely zero new votes with this changed position. Voters who oppose expanded gambling on moral grounds are already republicans who wouldn't vote for a Democrat under threat of waterboarding. Democratic voters, like me, who oppose expanded gambling on the reality-based grounds that casinos are a really stupid way to grow an economy, are desperate to get rid of Ernie and are prepared to hold our noses and vote for Beshear regardless.

Third, and this is the fun part, Ernie's flip may actually lose him some votes from his base. Among the republican opponents of expanded gambling are a significant number who strongly favor a referendum. Some may actually be deluded that they can defeat that measure, but others may want to get their opposition to expanded gambling on the record, or just make their voices heard.

So Ernie has really stepped in it. He claims to oppose expanded gambling on moral grounds, but also opposes giving those who agree with him to chance to vote it down.

A month of expensive TV commercials by Ernie on the horrors of expanded gambling has gotten him nowhere in the polls, and that's why Kentucky Democrats are preparing for an avalanche of "Democrats (heart) Satan" commercials, probably starting in October.

But Beshear and the other Democrats on the state ticket have already seized the high moral ground in a way that the party's 2008 candidates nationwide would do well to study and emulate. Some examples:

On Gambling: Democrats taunted Fletcher during his speech at the Fancy Farm picnic that his faith-based opposition to gambling exempts Kentucky's iconic horse racing industry and the extremely popular church- and community organization-based bingo industry. In fact, bingo took place just a few yards from where Fletcher was condemning gambling. If Ernie thinks gambling is so horrible, Democrats asked, why doesn't he propose shutting down the race tracks and the bingo halls?

On the Ten Commandments: Back in the early '80s, when Beshear was Attorney General, he issued an opinion that yes, the U.S. Supreme Count decision banning publicly-funded religious displays does, indeed, apply in Kentucky. Fletcher claims this proves Beshear, the son of a Baptist lay minister, is Satan's Agent.

Beshear says this: My father used to say that it doesn't matter where you hang the Ten Commandments on the wall; it matters how you keep the Ten Commandments in your heart and how you follow them in your life. Ernie Fletcher has admitted to breaking the laws of the Commonwealth. My father would not consider that to be living the Ten Commandments.

On Prayer in Schools: While he was Attorney General, Beshear issued another opinion that yes, the U.S. Supreme Court decision banning spoken prayer in public schools does, indeed, apply in Kentucky. Fletcher claims this proves Beshear, the son of a Baptist lay minister, is Satan's Agent.

I have not yet heard Beshear speak directly to this issue, but it's an absolute gimme for liberals. Not that the religious wrongs give a damn about the New Testament, but just for the record, here is Jesus on public prayer (Matthew 6)

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites [are]: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

On General Morality: Until recently, repugs have been so effective in painting Democrats as evil, atheistic minions of Satan, that last year a substitute teacher in my home town who admitted to a fourth-grade class that she was a Democrat, was asked by one child, innocently and seriously: "Why don't you believe in God?"

Kentucky's unions aren't taking that crap lying down. They formed a 527 to stop Bruce Lunsford from winning the Democratic gubernatorial primary in May and now they're airing radio spots to attack the republicans' "Christian values." From Bluegrass Report:

The deliberately folksy spot takes aim at Governor Fletcher (R) and attorney general nominee Stan Lee (R) on "Christian values." The ad criticizes both for "implying they are God's chosen candidates" and then reminds voters that Christian values also includes things like soaring health care costs, affordable education, and good jobs -- issues that neither candidate seems much interested in talking about.

Unions being smarter than your average bear, they are running these ads not in the secular-humanist, Democratic-majority enclaves of Lexington and Louisville, but in the Fundamentalist capitals of south-central, eastern and western Kentucky.

On Gay Marriage: This one killed Dan Mongiardo's nearly successful challenge to Senator Jim Bunning in 2004, and could threaten Jack Conway's race for Attorney General. Not because either Mongiardo or Conway are in favor of gay marriage, or even civil unions, but because both men (Conway is married; Mongiardo engaged) are the subject of repug whispering campaigns that they are gay.

Nice try, but the worm appears to be turning on gay issues even in Kentucky. People are just tired of the fear- and hate-mongering, and starting to admit they just don't care whether someone is gay.

No poll numbers for you, but a pretty good anecdote: Met a 70-year-old woman this weekend who talked about her still-healthy and still-sharp 91-year-old aunt. The one issue on which the aunt really hates republicans is gay marriage. Sayeth the aunt: "I don't care who sticks what where!"

There are two keys to success in these Democratic attacks on the repugs anti-christian values:

1) Authenticity. As in NOT hypocrisy. The Kentucky Democrats making religious points are genuine Christians and have been all their lives. In their professional and personal lives, they live New Testament, Jesus-directed values. When they speak on the subject of religious values, they sound authentic because they are.

2) Democratic/Progressive/Liberal Values. Kentucky's unions are making the critical point that traditional Democratic values ARE genuine Christian values, and that republican values are not. This is critical. Democrats who apologize for traditional Democratic values as not being Christian enough lose (see Harold Ford.) Democrats who stand up proudly for their Democratic values win (see John Yarmuth.)

I have raged for three years now against Democrats attempting to win over "Family Values" voters by pandering to the religious wrongs. It never, never, EVER works. Members of the religious wrong would rather vote for Larry Craig or Mark Foley than any Democrat, no matter how "religious."

Moderate republicans and independents, however, are open to a Democratic candidate with the courage of her convictions, even if those convictions are secular humanist. Such courage might actually get all those non-voting Democrats off the sofa on Election Day.

Standing proud for Democratic values worked last November for John Yarmuth in Louisville. We'll see in 59 days if attacking repugs on their own "Family Values" ground works for Beshear-Mongiardo, Conway and the other Democrats statewide.

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Campaign Video of the Day --- September 9, 2007

Here is Hillary Clinton's change advertisement. It's entitled "Ready for Change." It answers Barack Obama's "Change" ad released about the same time.



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MSNBC says ITMFA

Still open at the time of this posting, MSNBC is offering a poll (unscientific, of course) to gauge interest in impeachment of the Worst President Evah!!!™. Current support for impeachment? 89%! Clickety-click-click, my brethren.

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