(guest post by Taylor Marsh)
I know this will sound trite, but I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore. It may come from a movie, but it’s apt.
That said, I’m not really going to do anything about this, but it does feel good to get my feelings off my chest. Stress kills, you know.
I just cannot understand why you’re meddling. Frankly, it ticks me off, Mr. Vice President. I mean, after all, when the telephone companies didn’t want to appear to have volunteered for a public hearing on that little matter of them handing over millions of telephone numbers, what did I do? We sent them each a subpoena so it would be easier for them. Then we even agreed to have closed hearings, you know, to protect the corporations’ privacy and reputation. Big business has rights, you know.
I must also tell you I was shocked, shocked, I tell you, to then hear you had called Republican members of the Judiciary Committee actually lobbying to oppose any hearing, even a closed one with the big time execs. Whatsup with that? To take it one step further, evidently you laid down the law with the telcos that they were to provide no information, nada, zip, zilch because they’d actually be supplying classified information to us. I think that’s a threat. Is that a threat? Hmmmm. I just don’t know.
Why didn’t you call me, Dick? Pick up the phone, give a shout out. You’ve still got my cell number, right?
I’m just hurt you used your influence to actually try to determine the Committee’s outcome. This, after we broke bread together at lunch! Well, I never. That’s when I called a Republican members meeting to say I was going to show you, but then Orin showed me the error of my ways. I sure want to reach an accommodation, but you know, you’re just being such a jerk.
I have a job to do, I really do and it’s important. I’m like, in Congress, you know. Stop it. I really mean it this time. Stop it or I’ll actually do something. I will. I really will. You just wait and see.
We press the issue in the context of repeated stances by the Administration on expansion of Article II power, frequently at the expense of Congress’s Article I authority. There are the Presidential signing statements where the President seeks to cherry-pick which parts of the statute he will follow. There has been the refusal of the Department of Justice to provide necessary clearances to permit its Office of Professional Responsibility to determine the propriety of the legal advice given by the Department of Justice on the electronic surveillance program. There is the recent Executive Branch search and seizure of Congressman Jefferson’s office. There are recent and repeated assertions by the Department of Justice that it has the authority to criminally prosecute newspapers and reporters under highly questionable criminal statutes.
All of this is occurring in the context where the Administration is continuing warrantless wiretaps in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and is preventing the Senate Judiciary Committee from carrying out its constitutional responsibility for Congressional oversight on constitutional issues. I am available to try to work this out with the Administration without the necessary of a constitutional confrontation between Congress and the President.
I’m not impressed. Neither is Senator Patrick Leahy.
"Why don’t we just recess for the rest of the year, pass a resolution which a Republican-controlled Congress could easily pass, and just simply say: We’ll have no more hearings and Vice President Cheney will just tell the nation what laws we’ll have; he’ll let us know what laws will be followed and which laws will not be followed," Mr. Leahy said sarcastically. "Now, of course, it would destroy even the last vestiges, the few remaining vestiges of a real check-and-balance democracy, but that’s basically what we’re saying." – Senator Patrick Leahy
Related posts:
Spotlight
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Advanced search
fitz
Kazuza?
Does Leahy read fdl? We have periodically advocated that Congress just go ahead and disband, because they have nothing to do anymore.
CONGRESS: YES YOU. GET A GRIP.
Thank you.
The people of the United States
OT: FROM wIKI ON zARQAWI:
Claims of harm to Zarqawi have changed over time. Early in 2002, there were unverified reports from Afghan Northern Alliance members that Zarqawi had been killed by a missile attack in Afghanistan. Many news sources repeated the claim. Later, Kurdish groups claimed that Zarqawi had not died in the missile strike, but had been severely injured, and went to Baghdad in 2002 to have his leg amputated. On October 7, 2002, the day before Congress voted to give President Bush permission to invade Iraq, Bush gave a speech in Cincinnati, Ohio, that repeated this claim as fact. This was one of several of President Bush’s primary examples of ways Saddam Hussein had aided, funded, and harbored al-Qaeda. Powell repeated this claim in his February 2003 speech to the UN, urging a resolution for war, and it soon became “common knowledge” that Zarqawi had a prosthetic leg.
Moi – You tried, and that is always appreciated. Egregious, that bastard, was just too quick.
Hmm. I was confused by this story yesterday. On most sites I was seeing that Specter caved in and said the Telcos wouldn’t be forced by waterboarding to tell the truth, I mean wouldn’t be put under subpoena. On some site I lost track of there was the story on Specter’s hissy fit.
So is it cavein-and-hissyfit?
Leahy is correct, now if only the other Democrats would join him in the chorus… “rubber stamp republican congress”
Go and vote http://www.question.msnbc.com
Does death of Zarqawi make a difference basically.
And now I know where they hide their polls.
Right now, “Meaningless” is winning.
egregious,
I don’t know about the Honorable Senator, but I would not be surprised to discover that there was a Hill Staffer or two, or a back-home staffer or two coming round to visit.
It’s such a nice place, and you meet the nicest people here. The women here are strong, men are all good looking, and everyone’s kids are above average. (That’s why everyone wanted to go to the FDL breakfast in Vegas!)
So welcome, Leahy-ites, and any other Hill-folks who might be lurking about! Glad to have you drop by . . .
at this point, only a fourth of the M$NBC respondents think Zarqawi’s death is significant … see? us Americans aint so dumb after all !
and once again fitz
I’m expecting Specter to cave again. That’s his pattern.
Lost in the shuffle last night, and throwing it in again, a potential cartoon for someone who’s a competent artist:
Drawing: Cheney with his shotgun and a copy of the Constitution.
Caption: ‘Faithfully executing the laws’ does not mean taking them out and shooting them full of holes!
And so glad FDL is back up; I was going through withdrawal….
EPU-
The thought of being first got me so excited that I lost precious seconds spell checking.
Oh well, maybe next time.
Just came across an email that must have been misdirected (part of that glitch that brought down FDL, perhaps?):
Dear Arlen:
F*** yourself.
The Honorable Richard “Dick” Cheney
Vice President of the F***ing U.S. of A.
Specter is a master of standing up and then sitting down. Perhaps we should send him to Iraq to teach the concept to the Iraqis.
*ilson – To paraphrase what Sgt. O’Rourke once said to Corporal Agarn: “We’re
You’renot as dumb as people say.”Although with Chimpy as our preznit it is easy to see how someone could come to that conclusion.
One of the greatest television lines ever.
Moi – At least you didn’t fall for reading the article first. I know you will soon achieve greatness.
EPU–my dad was pretty sure we weren’t bastards :) And no I don’t have RSS, just ESP. Among other sensations I feel the nation is in danger.
The rubber stamp thingie is gaining traction. I’ve seen it several times in the newspaper.
EPU’ed
OT:
So, I was standing in line to get my name tag for YKos right behind Ambasador Wilson. We talked a bit, just idle chit-chat. Saw Maureen Dowd sans make-up, slip into one of the lecture rooms. Met ReddHedd and TeddySanfran. Awesome. Joe Wilson standing in line to get his creds! He left to go golfing. This is so kewl!
Hi Everyone,
surly bitch clare here – just glad to be back here with y’all
have I missed any dispatches from Vegas ?
I don’t get it. The telcos bend over backwards with the NSA thing scratching Cheney’s back. Then Cheney runs interference for them. Some might say government and corporations in bed together smacks of fascism but that can’t happen in America so what is going on?
http://news.nationaljournal.co…..608nj1.htm is the new Waas story about Ashcroft’s role in Plamegate wherein Cheney is focussed upon more intently… read it !
cbl–no missed dispatches from Vegas, but we were off the air for T H R E E hours.
Lot o howlin going on out there. I was headed for the blanket and the cookies personally.
We are trying to figure out how to wake up Congress from their 100 year sleep and make them slay the dragon.
oilfieldguy: does Maureen Dowd without makeup look like Helen Thomas with makeup?
You spell checked Kazuza?
No, Dowd is a reasonably attractive lady without make-up.It actually impressed me that she is more of a workhorse than showhorse for YKos. She is more petite than I imagined, well built and shorter than me. I am fluently short. Short on looks, money, talent…
except for her obsession against Hillary Clinton, I usually like MoDo …
CHS is a lovely lady. Personification of class and intelligence. I did the NSA thing with her conversation with Ambassador Wilson. They are both truly impressive.
MoDo’s seventh grade snark is her tradecraft and she is an equal opportunity offender. I am glad she is not a partisan hack. Sorry to get OT Ms. Marsh.
Cheney needs to change his first name because a dick serves a useful function. See, back on topic and I can do seventh grade snark too!
Egregious – That’s not what your dad told me :) Now that is good 7th grade snark.
Taylor, “I’m made as hell.”
Thanks! corrected! –your friendly neighborhood Moderator
Taylor, “I’m made as hell.”
Isn’t that a line from Goodfellas?
Thanks, I caught that, but couldn’t seem to make it stick in the upload. ALWAYS appreciate a heads up, though!
Writers here have fairies that live at the bottom of their garden that can be summoned to fix teeny typos…
Taylor, your post is the precise topic this morning I was thinking needed to be done. Before I left for work I was using technorati in an attempt to find all the “threats” Specter has issued wrt executive power trumping Congress. It would be nice to see a comprehensive list of of his statements followed by his caving in and subsequent statements. Just a thought…
ofg, you be a treasure. I’m so happy for you to be there, both for your sake and for ours.
*ilson thanks for the heads-up on the Waas article.
–
EPU – And can someone explain to me how a $1 drop in oil prices is a TUMBLE?
We’re not the only ones who make typos. THIMBLE is the word they were looking for. ;)
BTW – who wrote that MSNBC question? I a) can’t believe they even put up a query rather than engaging in the Nekkid Dance Under the Rowan Tree celebration and b)had THREE options. Wow.
FWIW, (a thimble?) I used to play the kazoo.
Y’know, i had a dog like Specter once. Bark like hell for a minute, then lay around and lick his balls all day.
Arlen has balls?
Maybe in cold storage in Cheney’s desk, but definitely not on his person.
What is up today with all the lovely snark? It’s making my day.
OT: Found this call for netroots action by John Kerry at Huffpo and hurried over to share:
“Want to really irk Ann Coulter and at the same time help take these womens’ brave fight a little closer to victory?
Get on the phone to any television program that has Ann Coulter on, and demand they press her not on her callous attacks, but on which recommendations of the 9/11 Commission she thinks should be forgotten. Which ports does she think should be left unsecured. Make the 9/11 widows’ issues follow this fool everywhere she goes.”
*G*
BustedK – I had a dog like Specter once, pissed on your leg, then licked your face.
I just got back from the House International Relations committee hearings on Iraq Reconstruction. Tom Lantos is a pretty smart man, and Gary Ackerman is pretty cool too. Bill Delahunt looks like a good-ol-boy but isn’t afraid to stand up to chmn. Hyde when he starts piling up the BS. Barbara Lee is, of course, a shero.
On the Republican side, Ron Paul, from Texas at least seemed honest, and was interested in holding someone accountable for the disaster that has been the Iraq reconstruction project. Now I’ll get started:
Dana Rohrabacher is a stinking, lame, bloodthirsty, xenophobic, angry, empty shell of a man who would rather happily wave a picture of Zarqawi and call it progress than actually expect our government to achieve something worthwhile for the hundreds of billions of dollars that have been spent in Iraq. I don’t care if his district is 99% Republican (I have no idea if it is). This is exactly the kind of guy that Dems should run somebody strong against and put some muscle into it. There is no excuse for allowing a back-biting, simpering, flag-waving, thimble-swigging creep to gain any power in our country without fighting him every step of the way.
Another Republican who distinguished herself by celebrating the Iraqi Culture of Death today was Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida. Yes, indeed, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen, we sure are making some sweet progress over there. We killed that Zarqawi dude deader’n a doornail. Deader’n a doornail, I said. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?
Chairman Hyde claimed that the committee has been adequately fulfilling its’ oversight responsibilities over the last three years. The Democrats almost laughed him out of the room.
Back to Taylor’s topic: We’ll see how far Specter gets with this latest gambit. I’m thinking that the Big Dick may just get a mind to drop an F-Bomb on him and call it a day.
peace,
jim
Jay put some more of our Roots project reports up at CtG Project .
Here’s the link. Guess I was in too much of a hurry…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..22505.html
rb #34 – That’s a great idea for a post, for sure. I’ll have to do some research when I get back from YearlyKos, then Take Back America, to see what I can come up with. Thanks for the suggestion.
jim preston: wasn’t Henry Hyde just itching to impeach Fidel Castro ?
Arlen Specter has become Senator Foghorn. He spits and sputters. He harrumphs and postures. He gets cranky now and then but mostly he’s just a harmless blowhard. That’s why Cheney had no problem going around him. After all, what was Arlen going to do about it? Send him a letter. A letter from Arlen is about as meaningful as a speech from Bush. The only way a letter from Arlen would have an effect on Cheney is if he got a paper cut opening it and died of septicemia.
The fact that Leahy has pretty much kept Haynes off the bench endears him to me.
The fact that he can just zing when he chooses – makes you wish for more of him.
>>>>>>>>>>>
The Waas article is something. It makes the Levin/WSJ efforts fizzle, although the WSJ no doubt gets more looks.
I’ll dredge up some Ashcroft/Abramoff stuff from before, that is getting a little more recent action too, to have it all together here.
So we have Ashcroft, with his spokesperson Comstock, initially overseeing the investigation and being advised very early on that there are problems – esp. initially Libby problems. Comstock leaves (and wow, she’s heading up Libby’s defense fund now) and Corallo comes on board as Ashcroft’s spokesperson (I NEVER caught this at all).
Through Corallo, Ashcroft’s continuing interest in the case is affirmed:
Ashcroft maintained an intense interest in the probe because he considered it imperative to determine who leaked Plame’s identity. “The attorney general wants this to be investigated thoroughly and promptly, and to that end, he wants to be informed of the progress of the investigators,” Corallo said.
So after his stint at Justice, as spokesperson for AG who is just as concerned as can be about the leak investigation, where does Corallo end up?? Corallo now serves as a spokesman for Rove on the CIA leak case.
ROFL – you couldn’t make this stuff up! No one else is out there connecting the dots though – just Waas.
And one more OT thing about the Iraq Reconstruction hearings: Everybody likes to talk about the “US Taxpayer Dollars” that are being spent in Iraq.
Let me make this perfectly clear:
Jim, Great breakdown! thanks.
RE: Ron Paul
Google him. He has got to be the best Republican ever. Weird, I know. He’s so well spoken with a great heart, we need him on our side. In fact, I think he already is except for a few wrinkles that could be straightened out with a simple intervention. ;)
egregious
thanks for the response upthread – sooo glad to be back among the living
now I know in keeping the proper perspective, my bad day is nothing compared to what, let’s say a mom in Iraq is facing – but this site and community being unavailable for three hours is just the icing on a really horrible cake of a day
in the past, I put together a site just so we’d have a place to go in the event of a technical or traffic induced shutdown – but it’s powered by Blogger (down intermittenly, and slower than Arlen) so, so much for my plan to leave url breadcrumbs all over left blogostan for y’all – the Master; TBogg would remind us “Blogger’s shitty, but it’s free shitty” – yeah, well grandpa says ya get what you pay for –
omg, I am so lerrvvving some Senator Leahy
Hey Taylor, thanks for the post and double thanks for helping the community out
Mary, where most journalists have their heads firmly ensconced they are very unlikely to see dots, let alone connect them.
Nice info from the hearings Jim, thank you.
I got a Kerry pac email that said the cost to the Rep-s for the Bilbray race ended up being about $100.00 per vote cast for Bilbray. I don’t know the accuracy, but that makes your eyes cross a bit.
Audrey Yoeckel: a slight teeny problem about Ron Paul: racism! For example: he was the only one to vote against the Congressional Medal of Honor to Rosa Parks. Too expensive he said but the Medals are actually a money-maker for numismatists, etc…
Hey, cbl, always a pleasure. I’m getting ready to head over to YearlyKos soon. Any messages for anyone if I see them?
CNN’s Nir Rosen in Iraq just basically cut Kyra Phillips legs off. Says is was the U.S. that made Zarkawi appear bigger than he actually was. Particularly in the beginning of the insurgency by attributing each and every violent incident to him to make it seem like it all was FOREIGN TERRORISTS rather than a home grown insurgency.
Mary, by this Admin’s standards, we might even call Ashroft’s recusal prompt. Heh.
P.S. Text of Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” available via 70, last thread.
Froomkin on Specter;
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..00879.html
cbl–what is your site for when fdl is shut down? Great idea. We need some backup plans.
Froomkin: Specter of a Backbone
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..51_pf.html
Great minds, busted . . .
OT, but Altercation has a Danny Goldberg deconstruction of “liberal hawk” George Packer’s latest book —
Score, Danny Goldberg 1 — George Packer, steaming pile of less than zero.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13083674/#060608
Danny Goldberg also reviews Peter Beinart’s book at TPM Cafe
http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/30473
Danny’s own book — “Dispatches From the Culture Wars: How The Left Lost Teen Spirit” — might be a good candidate for the FDL book club.
http://www.akashicbooks.com/howtheleft.htm
http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ…..p;n=283155
Last Sunday, I had an idea about using MySpace to reach young non voters that share our values. Today, the idea of targeting the Lamont race was a light bulb being switched on — with limited resources, if we could have any sort of impact, it would make the powers that be take notice. Jon Tester’s victory was due to a very strong turnout by young Montana voters — with Holy Joe Torquemada running against Progressive Ned Lamont, do you think we might have some traction there?
Hey Taylor, send all the FireDoggers and the Kossacks all our love and affection; wish we could ALL be there, but some of us have to be here to monitor the reaction of the public at large anyhow, yes?
Wanted to pass on that there is still something weird going on with the site. If I go to homepage URL http://www.firedoglake.com, I get your last post on al Zarqawi and can’t see the new post at the top. I’ll refresh my history, but this happened when I first booted up and launched FDL.
Speaking of oil, crude oil on the Nymex dipped below $70 a barrel. A short term reason for this is the cooling of the rhetoric over Iran tamping down speculative fever. Longer term fears are that growth in the US economy is slowing as interest rates rise and inflation threatens. This will decrease demand for oil here but it is important to note that the underlying demand for oil worldwide is on the increase. So expect price decreases to be modest unless the world economy slips into recession or the Middle East blows up again.
four link comment lost in the spam filter –
comment #61? ck?
http://www.firedoglake.com/index.php
The above is the FDL link to use until the techies get the troubles ironed out. Spread the word!
I’ll tell everyone hey for you all. I always have such a BLAST guest posting here. I feel like one of the gang.
egregious,
I’ll get back to ya on the site – as soon as &%^%^#$@ Blogger let’s me edit it
Taylor,
you ARE one of the gang !
I agree…(that you’re one of the gang…) Very thoughtful posts and great discussions…
Have fun at YK! (I’m jealous)
*ilson46201 at 12:10 pm –
yup, that was it — didn’t show up until I hit the F5 refresh key.
Thanks cbl, martha, that means a lot to me. And I will indeed have fun. Hope to bring home pictures and stories later today. Until then…
Of course Nir Rosen knows exactly what he is talking about. The demonization of individuals is a political and rhetorical technique for distilling public support for a war and simplifying the goals of the conflict. It has almost no bearing on the actual conflict. We have been hearing for a couple of years about “Zarqawi, Zarqawi, Zarqawi!”. Does George Bush want us to believe that this one super-bad-guy was befuddling the 130,000 member “greatest fighting force in the history of the world”? Let’s face it, the “Zarqawi is the key figure” mantra is a fiction that was created by the Bush administration after they figured out that they weren’t going to get Bin Laden and that the Saddam Hussein trial wasn’t going to be anything like the PR bonanza they had hoped. The Republican House members cheerfully waving the Zarqawi headline on the Hill this morning looked like nothing short of complete idiots. Ding, dong! The witch is dead! Yeah, sure, kid, now go and see if your brother showed up at the morgue this morning.
peace,
jim
Hugh – I thought it was the botox, but I concede your point. If you give them soapy water they can make bubbles though. Non sequitor, but I don’t want to be in the “never said anything nice about them” category.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
While Ashcroft is on a front burner from the Waas article, here’s some unrelated (probably) but also intersting info in connection with the Abramoff investigation (which also comes close to knocking at Rove’s door).
Abramoff was representing the Northern Marianas islands and they had some sweet deals (for employers) set up to supply cheap immigrant labor & evade US labor laws, but still qualify for “made in the USA labelling”. There had been some rumblings about tightening up immigration controls with more US involvement and Abramoff was lobbying for the Islands against that. So Abramoff and client were concerned when they heard, post 9/11, that an investigation was being conducted on their immigration situation from a national security standpoint.
On Oct 1, 2001, Abramoff sends and email to his clients giving them a heads up on this info, which Abramoff has learned from Ashcroft’s Chief of Staff (the COS, David Ayres, happened to be enjoying an evening the Abramoff sky box). As a matter of fact, his email tells them that the conversation indicated that a classified document was floating around.
The email also talks about the “bad guys” that are “still in” the DOJ want to take over the CNMI immigration because a loophole in the federal immigration network, and that, as such, was a threat on terrorism
What bad guys. After 9/11 they are worried about a big immigration hole. Shame on them. Anyway, not to worry, bc the good guys (Abramoff et al) are going to fix it all up. Abramoff had an associate, Kevin Ring, who had worked as counsel to a Judiciary subcommittee that Ashcroft chaired when he served in the U.S. Senate.
So Abramoff’s email goes on to show why his clients should be happy to pay him the big bucks. Not only has Ashcroft’s COS given Abramoff an insider heads up on info about a classified security doc, but Abramoff is planning on meeting with the AG, and Abramoff’s associate (presumably Ring) is going to be playing basketball with the AG. They are both going to talk to Ashcroft about and are sure the “AG will be fine” although “underlings are a worrisome” and they thing they can get the “higher ups” to “squash” the whole thing.
The two guys (Robert Meissner, then a regional security specialist for the Justice Department, and Frederick Black, then acting United States attorney for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands) prepare their report (dated May 6, 2002). Then Meissner is reassigned and, in essence, demoted.
Black initiates some other investigations in his neck of the woods (Guam and NMI) that implicate Abramoff, in particular with respect to some strange doings with the court in Guam. Black keeps Justice notified of what is going on with his investigations, including some subpeonas he is getting ready to issue. As soon as he does – boom. He’s no longer acting USAtty for Guam & NMI.
He’s not just demoted, he is ORDERED to not engage in any more public corruption investigations. So there – his replacement may have been picked by Republican party representatives and it may be that some or all of the replacing of the actingUSA had connections with Rove’s office.
And btw – the original report never made it to the Members of Congress or their committees. Until very recently. http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000845.php
I’ll put more links on another post so this doesn’t end up in moderation, but basically Conyers and Miller have been hounding on this. Supposedly, the Black matter is being investigated in connection with the Abramoff investigation and there were reports awhile back of trips to Guam.
The USA that was appointed to replace Black is related to one or some of the people who were being investigated (a local elected officer pushed the investigations after Black was pulled off, demoted and prohibited from going forward).
And again, there are some reports of the local Republican’s request for who they wanted appointed being hand delivered to Rove.
All a pretty interesting set of circumstances. Who knows what Abramoff has had to say? Who knows what Ralston might have to say? BTW – it is probably just a coincidence that one of the Plame team is also handling the prosecution of Safavian. I mean, there are so many Abramoff cases, who in DC isn’t going to be a little bit involved with one or the other.
Dang – I only put one link in my post to try to keep it out of moderation – but it’s there anyway. Phoeey.
I’m going to do another one with more links and it will probably hit moderation too, but maybe they can keep each other company. ;-)
*ilson! Yikes! I didn’t know that about Ron Paul. Definitely in need of an intervention! (Of course, I shouldn’t be surprised. They do tend to disappoint, don’t they.)
Mary — hit the F5 key, and see if your post shows up. The “refresh comments” button is squirrelly today.
lotus – Thank You for the Glaspell link
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Also going to tack on for anyone reading the Waas article, McCallum is currently having a hold on his appointment as ambassador to Oz. He is the guy who headed up the strange tobacco settlement – where DOJ unexpectedly one day just up and settled for a small fraction of what their witnesses indicated was the value of the suit. A group (CREW maybe?) has filed FOIA requests for docs relating to this interesting decision, and a judge has recently sided with them. Meanwhile, back in Congress, some Senators are saying — gosh, we’d like to hear a bit more about that too while you’re at it and before we give consent on this nomination.
Just a merry band of musketeers Ashcroft brought with him.
Off topic but damn it all…
http://billmon.org/archives/002463.html
Juan Cole. I’m going to have to go do yard work, this is upsetting.
Thanks ck – I think it is just caught in the spam filter – I can see it, but it says it is awaiting moderation. Usually if you do more than one link I’ve noticed you go into moderation, but I must have other stuff that is triggering it or maybe just bc it is long?
Thanks though – I am completly lo to no-tech and I need any help I can get on fritzes.
How the Left Lost Teen Spirit — excerpt:
http://www.akashicbooks.com/howtheleft_excerpt.htm
This book is a rant in the form of a memoir. The rant is against a particular kind of liberal self-destructiveness that masquerades as pragmatism but has been, instead, one of the main causes of the decline of progressive political power despite widespread support for progressive political goals. …
To some establishment Democrats, it is people like me who have screwed up the party. I was against the war in Iraq, and I met with and supported Howard Dean in the early stages of the primary campaign, thinking that he was a strong vehicle for that opposition. I have been involved with political fundraising concerts, Im an ACLU board member, and Im a friend of Michael Moore. To me, it is the conventional wisdom prevailing in Washington, D.C. that has screwed up the party. …
OT but I had to share…
My 12 year-old is now posting to FDL!! She always sees me on this site, and has it bookmarked on her account. Well last night I found out that she had posted a nice little snark (below) to the Ann Coulter thread (we had watched her on the Today show live).
unluckybob says:
June 7th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
I think that if she takes a breath to get some oxygen to her brain, that itty bitty black dress of hers will explode.
God I love her! :)
Links for other Abramoff/Ashcroft post.
Recent Talking points article on the emergence of the mysterious “squashed” memo:
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000845.php
2005Bloomberg article about the memo and machinations and Abramoff:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/…..UOlJHtjiXI
Conyers et al pdf letter to Justice:
http://www.house.gov/judiciary…..r10605.pdf
Justice pdf response:
http://www.house.gov/judiciary…..111405.pdf
Other letters from House Dem judiciary members (generally Conyers ;-) ) re multiple issues, but there are other letters relating to the Abramoff matter on this site as well.
http://www.house.gov/judiciary…..tters.html
Apparently, Andrew Cohen wasn’t too impressed with Snarlin’ Arlen, either. His essay, “Betrayal In The Buffet Line“, adds to the snark.
I wrote a comment there, but apparently the WaPo comments software has an issue with the string “13292″ (must be something text messagers send back and forth), so it kept getting swallowed. Therefore, I’ll reprint it here in its entirety.
The Bush Administration, by my count, has broken four laws that were intended specifically to regulate the behavior of the executive branch. The War Crimes Act of 1996 was violated by the rendition program, Gitmo, and the black sites. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was broken by the NSA surveillance programs, and the President bragged that he’d done it and would do it again. The act that criminalized the deliberate exposure of an undercover CIA agent’s identity was violated when Valerie Plame’s CIA NOC status was revealed. The President’s own EO 13292, which makes it illegal to classify an illegal act, was violated at least twice.
The President has used signing statements to change the meaning of laws as many as 750 times. He has, without any apparent consultation with Congress, moved funds from one program to another. Yet the Congress has done NOTHING. We can’t even persuade the “opposition” party to vote for censuring the President.
The Congress’s role in government has been reduced to shoveling money into the executive branch. I hope they’re happy with their new responsibilities, because they have certainly earned them.
Let’s see if that’s a magic string here, as well.
jim preston,
I live in Rohabacher’s district. I think you’re being kind. FYI, GOP has a 2:1 registration advantage, and Rohrabacher’s a local boy.
Dems are running Jim Baker again, an ex-Marine officer and successful businessman. He’s a great guy but with no chance. According to a UCSD poli sci prof quoted in today’s LAT (re: Busby), there isn’t a contestable congressional district in this entire state.
Has anyone else been having trouble with dKos today.
I got nothing from the site now. It just immediately goes to done (at least for FDL it tried for a while) before showing a 404 page.
Anyone wonder if part of the plan of disrruption is rolling DOS attacks around the left blogsphere for the next few days?
Hmmm, how did I misspell “Rohrabacher” twice in the same post even after previewing? Must be Freudian or something.
ck @ 12:30 pm (#75) – Actually, this has been a problem before. I noticed the other day that if a comment is in moderation, folks who loaded the page before it’s released from jail have to reload the page (which is what hitting F5 does in Internet Explorer) to see it.
This is why I cite times as well as article numbers. Might not be necessary normally, but if enough comments are in moderation …
kristinejoy 80; thanks for sharing that; how proud you must be!
Bionic @ at 12:42 pm (#83) – I think maybe someone decided this was a good time to do software maintenance. Crooks and Liars was down earlier, as well.
Bionic, I’ve had no problems with DKos today, but I kind of wondered when FDL went down if some funny business might be going on. For now, I’m chalking it up to my baseline paranoia.
Taylor, if you didn’t let on that you’re guest-hosting, nobody could tell the difference. It’s entirely appropriate to link to your own excellent blog, but being a regular here is by no means mutually exclusive.
Now that there is another thread too, I officially think there are gremlins playing with the site. Gremlins who want the Zarqawi thread to be what gets pulled up for every site hit??
Saw that and had a good chuckle, kristinejoy. Props to “unluckybob.”
Mary @ 12:34 pm (#78) – I don’t think it was length so much as something to do with the content. I had a similar thing happen at the WaPo today. Turns out it was objecting to the number “13292″ for some reason. What the heck is that about? Anyway, some spam filters learn from spam posts that are fed to them, and so it’s just possible you wrote resembled something spammers write that it triggered the filter.
Don’t anybody miss
http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..illed/#com ment-134236
lhp’s first pass at her Helen Thomas feast report!
Thanks to all for your understanding–I am a proud mom. I will have to make sure to scan the evening comments in the future to see if there is a return of Unlucky bob….
and do you know what hooked her on this site…the britney-sean preston thread a few months ago…very funny thread. Both my girls are also devoted “Countdown” fans, so at least I am helping to increase the Progressive population.
Nice chops, Mary.
Who turned the lights out?
How come I don’t know what Kazuza means?
OFG – you “chatted” with Joe Wilson? OMG.
I’m starting to love Patrick Leahy.
I also remember reading a while back about the Frederick Black removal being orchestrated by Rove and that W had full knowledge.
Leisure Guy was right.