Condi - No!

I have been a bit too busy to post, so just a quick post while something is on my mind. There is absolutely no way I would ever vote for Condi Rice as President. It has nothing to do with sex or race. Heck, if being forced to vote between Hillary and Condi, at this time, I would end up voting Hillary. It is very simple for me. I will not support neocon war hawks anymore. They have caused more damage to the US then any terrorist attack, in my opinion. Plus, Condi is no more then an over blown foreign analyst. She has ZERO qualifications on domestic policy. I can handle voting for someone with zero foreign policy experience not zero domestic. The war on terror is the most overblown aspect in government right now. We have much bigger and more urgent domestic issues. That is not to say that it is not important. However, we must prioritize. The neocons have shown themselves to be grossly incompetent in their handling of domestic issues. Worry about home first. Therefore, I can NEVER vote for Condi as long as she has never been involved with domestic policy issues.

How can this be so under the radar?!?!

Holy cow! How in the world can the spending bill fall so far under the radar? This is monumental.

The Republican party has a split in it the side of the Grand Canyon and the moderates are blowing the right up all over the place. This is not all the loss of Delay. This is the poll number abyss that Bush is in too. For crying out loud, his numbers are lower the Nixon's second term at this time.

I dare say this is not winning McCain any support in the Republican party. However, Bully for you sir and the rest of the moderates. I just hope this move does not backfire.

I am still not sure what to think of this shocking turn. However, it does have a lot more effect on the American people then Plamegate. It should be getting a bit more attention.

RIP Underneath their Robes

What a sad day. One of my favorite blogs, Underneath their robes, has aparently been sent to the bit bucket becuase the blogger let slip who he was. Probably would not have been so bad if he had not been ghost writting as a she. Not a big surprise, though. I don't think that blog would have worked from a male viewpoint. Just a shout out to David Lat: you did a good job in making a staid legal system entertaining.

Not as bad as I thought

Well, as I read reports on the presidents speech on CNN, it did not appear to be as attacking as I thought he was going to do. I think the net impact will be pretty small in either direction.

I do want to go on record saying that I do not believe the Administration pressured the agencies for a certain finding. I think they may have read what they wanted to see, though. Probably giving more credence to the items that supported their view; but had less support. Combine that with the fact that I do not think our intelligence agencies are very effective or accurate these days and it is easy to come up with the justification for almost any position. Both sides are too blame for not scrutinizing the information further.

I supported giving the President the powers based on what we knew. I thought, at the time, that he moved us into war too quickly. However, I see absolutely no way that we should pull our troops out. I am actually in agreement with John McCain that we need more troops there in the short term and a timetable is a horrible idea.

We got ourselves into this mess and history has taught us that we must clean it up. If we don't clean it up, it will expand by osmosis and infect that entire region.

Prediction: Bush poll numbers will drop after Veterans Day speech

I personally feel like Bush is about to make a huge error by attacking the Democrats in Veterans Day speeches. "It will be the most direct refutation of the Democrat charges you've seen probably since the election," is the quote from an anonymous WH official. The President and his advisors are clueless to the fact that the American people are completely fed up with this garbage. Bush's biggest liability is what use to be his strength. The people no longer trust him. Attacking the Democrats is not going to help rebuild their trust. I truly feel that this will only make him look petty and even less of a leader.

I think it is time for Bush to get rid of Rove. I think Roves attack dog style has run its course. Of course, Bush is surrounded by sycophants, so the odds of that happening are about nil because no one has the backbone to tell the President when he is wrong. Kind of like T.O and Drew Rosenhaus.

Pat Robertson is not a Christian

Robertson is a useless piece of DNA. The world will be a better place when he passes on and ends up in the proper level of hell that is reserved for those who misuse God. I am sick of his idiocy like this here. Any real Christian would shun him as a tool of all that is evil.

Afternoon quickie

Just some general musings...

I am very pleased with the moderate Republicans in the House and Senate finally being able to exert a little bit of pressure on the right wing. I can only imagine the curse words being uttered in various meeting rooms on Capitol Hill and in the White House.

I think there is almost no chance of a filibuster over Alito in the Senate. Something major is going to have to hit the fan for that to happen. Everything that I have seen so far seems to indicate that, while there may be a few contentious moments, sometime in late January or Early February Alito will be confirmed. I think what will be even more interesting is the question of how does the court handle the transition? Timing could all make all the difference in the world on a couple of cases.

As I said before, France has a serious racial/cultural issue to deal with. Systematic racisim/discrimination has led to the "riots" occuring. Not really sure this is so much a roit as it is a bunch of kids torching things becuase they see no other way out.

Wingnuts see boogey man in every Arab and African

I love how all of the Islamophobes are jumping on how the French situation is another jihad. This piece in the Chicago Sun-Times that seems to be jumped on as a "OMG! Its the truth!" type piece in the blogosphere just shows how little most commentators and bloggers understand France.

This does not have a thing to do with Islam. It is simply French racisim come to roost. It is the same situation as the US had in the 1960's. The French are as bad in their discrimination against non-native French, if not worse, then the US was against African-Americans. 30% unemployment with no hope of getting out of a ghetto will cause this. These kids have nothing to lose because they have nothing. It is not an Islamic attack. It is simply a reaction to the fact that they feel their situation is hopeless.

So any wingnut who tries to jump on this as 'Islam is bad' is a complete fool becuase they know not of what they speak.

Am I the only one tired of these games?

The idea of "hitting back" at the Democrats, as put forward in a report on CNN.com, actually just makes me shake my head. I really think this administration spends too much time on PR and not enough time on work. I guess in todays enviroment, PR is the work.

Democrats are just as bad, if not worse, on this. The black hole of ideas in Washington is all encompassing these days. I would like to see the centrists start chastizing the wingnuts of both parties and actually try to solve some issues instead of playing childs game of blaming the other side. In the over twenty years since I reached voting age, I do not think I have had more disdain for our elected officials then I have right now.

Statesmanship is dead, as is the hope of an idea accidentally slipping out of the feeble minds of our fearless "C" student leaders.

This has possibilities for the "DOH" of the week. Mostly for lack of any other good candidates.

Republican right wing already starting whispering campaign against McCain

Well, Bob Novak already has the right wing machine greasing the gears against John McCain.

Many New York contributors to McCain's 2000 presidential campaign were reluctant to attend this year's event. The fact McCain will be 72 years old for the 2008 presidential campaign was cited to explain lack of enthusiasm, as was the senator's support for the Iraq war.

Now Reagan was 73 when he began his second term. The only reason age would matter is in a second term. However, this is a red herring. Simple fact is that the hard core right wing wants nothing to do with McCain and want to do whatever they can to torpedo him. Too bad most of them don't realize that the rigth wing has no one charismatic enough to go up against Hillary. McCain and Gulliani are the only two that i feel have a chance. I keep hearing Condi rice as a choice. Flat out, she stands no chance. She has no domestic experience and, as much as I hate to say this, while i think this country could vote for an african-american or a women as president, I am not sure they are willing to do both at the same time right now. There are still too many people who would not vote for either one. Combine the two and you have a candidate who has to beat way too many odds.

Intellectual property stolen from Wonkette

This one is a keeper. Wonkette had this great screen grab from the LA Times web page. Amazingly enough, as of this posting, it is still up there. Must have been a Freudian slip by the editor.

The loons are at it again.

I guess all I need to say is Indiana Republican governor candidate. The idea behind this proposed resolution is why the extreme radical right wing of the party needs to be jetisoned to some insane asylum. The loonatics are not only running the asylum; but are also trying to run our country.

Anderson Cooper 24/7 360 + Z axis

With all of the hurricane coverage, I thought Anderson Cooper had already taken over CNN. At least the part that has not been taken over by Wolf Blitzer and 'The Situation Room.' I just have to wonder when they will show the softball master, Larry King, the door out.

Mike Brown - Sterling example of middle management in America

What can I say? I don't think there is an appropriate adjective to describe how flabergasted I am at the report on Mike Brown's emails during Katrina. [Even more detailed in the actual report from Rep Melacon's office here]

This one email selection seems to sum up how incompetent Brown was to be in this position:

On Wednesday, August 31, 2005, at 12:20 p.m., Marty Bahamonde, one of the only FEMA
employees on the ground in New Orleans, sent a desperate message to Mr. Brown:

Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical. Here are some things you might
not know.
Hotels are kicking people out, thousands gathering in the streets with no food or water.
Hundreds still being rescued from homes.
The dying patients at the DMAT tent being medivac. Estimates are many will die within
hours. Evacuation in process. Plans developing for dome evacuation but hotel situation
adding to problem. We are out of food and running out of water at the dome, plans in
works to address the critical need.
FEMA staff is OK and holding own. DMAT staff working in deplorable conditions. The
sooner we can get the medical patients out, the sooner wecan get them out.
Phone connectivity impossible.


Mr. Brown responded to Mr. Bahamonde at 12:24 p.m. This is Mr. Brown’s full response:

Thanks for the update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?

Anything specific I need to do or tweak?!?! What the hell kind of response is that? The buck on this has to go to the President. He and his staff have a responsibility to appoint qualified people. A responsibility that he has done a pretty terrible job on. i guess the main qualification is how much you can tell the President that he is the greatest President ever.

Read the whole pdf. If anyone can make a serious defense of Mike Brown after reading it, i would love to see them try. Mike Brown was a disaster in a disaster.

Brent Scowcroft is a voice of reason who was ignored.

I must say that I read Jeffery Goldberg's interview with Brent Scowcroft with complete fascination. I always respected Mr. Scowcroft's views and I do not think I could agree more with his assessments on the Iraq War.

The neoconservatives—the Republicans who argued most fervently for the second Gulf war—believe in the export of democracy, by violence if that is required, Scowcroft said. “How do the neocons bring democracy to Iraq? You invade, you threaten and pressure, you evangelize.” And now, Scowcroft said, America is suffering from the consequences of that brand of revolutionary utopianism. “This was said to be part of the war on terror, but Iraq feeds terrorism,” he said.

The Bold emphasis is mine. I think it is important. Iraq has done more to feed terrorisim then it has done to reduce it. Scowcroft understood the negative issues involved with occupying Iraq in Gulf War I. All of his concerns then over an invasion played out in Gulf War II. The following comment sums this up.

“This is exactly where we are now,” he said of Iraq, with no apparent satisfaction. “We own it. And we can’t let go. We’re getting sniped at. Now, will we win? I think there’s a fair chance we’ll win. But look at the cost.”

I actually found the following paragraph from Goldberg to be most interesting:

Colin Powell told me that he was not offended by Scowcroft’s public doubts. “The concern is cost—what are we getting ourselves into? That is not an unprincipled concern.” But the White House—in particular Rice—saw Scowcroft’s op-ed as a betrayal, and as a political problem: Scowcroft has a commanding voice on national-security matters. But there was another, more personal dimension. “What makes it even more awkward is the suspicion that he’s speaking not just for himself” but for the elder Bush as well, Robert Gates, who was Scowcroft’s deputy at the National Security Council, said.

I should not be surprised about the Bush folks seeing betrayal in Scowcroft's actions, they take criticisim about as well as three year old takes having their favorite toy taken from then. It does put the father/son relationship into an interesting light though. Another point later on is about how the Elder Bush has tried to get the Younger Bush to talk to Scowcroft; but it has not worked.

Iraq is the neocons Waterloo. Everything they have built thier philosophy on is falling apart becuase of it. The cost has been too high for a gain that probably will not be what they envisioned. I think this is another case of Father knows best. Too bad the Son is surrounded by a group of ideological fools.

Bush threatens to veto budget becasue it is not spending enough!

How about this? President Bush is dusting off something he has not used since he entered the Oval Office, a veto. Now, is this becuase of some big budget busting bill like a transportation bill? No. It is bigger, the budget bill. Holy cow! Finally saying no to spending? Alas, no.

According to the New York Times, "The Bush administration threatened Tuesday to veto a huge budget bill if Congress withdrew $10 billion set aside for health insurance companies participating in the Medicare program." I guess the medical field is the new oil industry for Bush. Throw $7B at bird flu and threaten to whack the whole budget if Congress tries to show some fiscal restraint and cut a $10B subsidy for HMO's.

George Bush is no Ronald Reagan. That much is damn sure. He makes me wish for the days of the Tax and Spend liberals. At least they tried to pay for what they did and not shaft the furture generations with the bill. George Bush is a disgrace in the category of fiscal responsibility. Must have been hit in the hit with too many kegs.

Too focused on conservatives to see whole picture

It seems that some political writers, like David Broder in this article, are way too focused on the small part that complained about Miers not being a known conservative. They really seem to miss the point that was stated by many on all sides that said she was not "qualified."

My contention was always that she did not have the kind of career that proved that she was capable of handling the challenege of the SCOTUS. For all I know, she may have been perfectly able. However, I am not going to hire a ship captain for an oil tanker who has only commanded a charter fishing boat. Both have experience on the seas and know the rules. However, they are completely different jobs and require different resumes.

If the President made a mistake, it was thinking the 'trust me' line would work. Alito is the choice who should have been made. The weakness was that Bush was afraid of putting forward a qualified candidate with a paper trail. There was no weakness in Miers pullback. It was the intelligent thing to do. Only an idiot would have pushed forward for a vote that he had no chance to win.

The pundits claiming it is a breach of the call for "up or down vote" are just trying to spin the fact that the candidate in front of them now is formidable and will not be the pinata that Miers would have been.

Our government is full of "C" students. Look at who we had running for President in 2004, the Peter Principal at its finest. We need some "A" students at some level of government to try to bring some sense to it. I could not care less if it is a right or left leaning. I just want some of the best minds on the SCOTUS.

In the eye of the Beholder

The Democrats are crowing over their Rule 21 coup this afternoon. They managed to push forward on a Congressional investigation of bad intelligence in the Iraq War AKA Plamegate. Crowing over at the Daily Kos the the "Reid just proved to Senate Republicans that Democrats don't need the filibuster to stop Alito (or any other judge, for that matter)."

Excuse me if I don't see anything of the sort. A special prosecuter has still not been able to bring forth an indictment on the actual Plamegate issue. Maybe he will. My personal feeling is that there is not going to be enough for an indictment. As far as the intelligence, I have felt and will continue to think until proven otherwise that some mid level people, wanting to look good to their superiors, massaged or interpreted the data in the way they thought their bosses wanted. I doubt a Congressional investigation finds anything.

As far as the parlimentary parlor tricks that the Democrats are crowing about as ways of stopping Alito's nomination are strictly that, tricks. There will be no treat for the Democrats. If they wish to look obstructionist[something that has been shown in the past to be detrimental to the party attempting it], it will only last so long. Alito will be confirmed.

This was a petty tit-for-tat from all sounds of it. Kids throwing a tantrum. Paper victory that is pretty useless.

UPDATE: Heck, not even getting anything new. The report was due in a few days anyways. Leadership was told it was already going to be coming. In other words, an even bigger political play that was pointless.

Political DOH! of the week.

Barely even a day into the life of this blog and I am already pulling out something I was going to wait a week for. However, the Senate Democrats have called for it with blinding speed.

Nominee for Political DOH! of the week!

Democrats call for a closed session of the Senate"

What in the wide world of sports is this suppose to do? Are they holding a kegger on the Senate floor? Maybe they are having a bachanal?

Congratulations Dems. I fully expected someone in the administration to get this award first. You guys have slam dunked it. What are you thinking???????

Gee, lets hold a secret sesssion. We can call it while the Republicans are all outside. We can then trash the Iraq War and call attention to this.

Menawhile, while the Democrats are holding their super secret what is in your pants meeting, the Republican can stand outside and talk about how silly this is. Plus, its secret!!!!! No press!!!


DOH!

Congrats to the US Senate Democratic leadership on its initial coup of the DOH of the week.

Cindy Sheehan for President, Mickey Mouse for VP!

The Village Voice is running this little comedic piece on Cindy Sheehan. Nice comedic work.

I think the Iraq war was a mistake. A big big big mistake. It would only be made a bigger and more costly one by pulling out now, though.

My biggest chuckle [a full belly rolling guffaw(and that is a lot of belly)] comes from the idea that some of the fringe parties think of her as a credible figure. Granted this is the fringe. These radicals that are too loony for their own left wing.

I find it funny how support and mentions of her from Democrats have really seemed to have fallen off since she started to go after Hillary. She is a creation of the Democratic scream machine and it is now screaming at them. Comic gold.

Tax Reform, DOA!

Well, our friends at the The President's Advisory Panel on Tax Reform have come down from on high after much deliberation has presented us with an innocuous proposal for tax reform that will do very little to change the nature of the tax system and will be DOA on the Hill. This morsel will attract so many of the vultures of special interests[not to mention the howls from E Street that it does not go far enough] that it seems inevitible that it will be devoured as soon as the Battle of Alito has completed.

[Details in less govermental format from CNN]

The change in the mortage deduction will raise the hackles of the developers lobby. Especially since it attacks their bread and butter - the over priced gated community. Try to find a home in one of these that will fall under the proposed regional caps. It won't happen.

The tax preparers will be up in arms because this is a gun at their heads. Make taxes easy? Over their dead dried up ink wells!

I really see no way that this proposal sees the light of day. In the end, the panel chickened out and avoided risking proposing any real reforms. They took the easy road and decided to use the rodakill they found on the side of the road instead of hunting out freshmeat. While it has positive aspects in eliminating many confusing deductions and the alternative minimum tax, I suspect it will be relagated to a roadkill buffet for the political vultures becuase our leaders won't be in the mood to fight for it.

Blog whore

What is a new blog without doing some blog whoring. Especially when it is the new workplace crime according to this Steve Johnson, complete with its own shoutout to Wonkette one of my own favs. [Hey moderate RINO's like a little dirt at times]

If it is a crime, I am so guilty. I currently have 27 different windows for work and one blog. Just call it time fill. At least I am not surfing for porn.

Spinning faster then a gyro on the ISS

One has to love Ron Fournier's ultra-high speed spin in this little ditty.

"With no sign of irony, Republicans demanded that Alito get a vote in the Senate — something they denied Miers."


What lovely balderdash. You have to make it to the confirmation process to get a vote. She was not denied a vote. She would not have been denied a vote. She pulled out becuase she was going to get a vote. The problem is the vote would have been no. There was no filibuster threat. there was no one saying they were going to do everything they could to prevent a vote. She was simply going to be rejected. To spin it to say the Republicans denied her a vote is about as intellectually challenging as refering to Alito as "Sloppy Seconds" *Cough*CBS'SJohnRobert's*Cough*.

Is it me or is it a requirement that political writers in the main stream be complete idiots? Whatever happened to to trying to report the news and not be the news. Edward R. Murrow would puke on the likes of John "innuendo" Roberts and Ron Fournier.

What am I missing here?

$7.1B to fight Bird Flu?!?! Ok, where is the real George W Bush? Global Warming is scientific theory; but the Bird Flu, which as of now has rarely been able to transfer from human to human, is so scary that it needs $7.1B right now?

First SARS and now Bird Flu. Enviromentalist are crazy; but the Doctors warning of a pandemic are serious. What the heck kind of bizzaro world is this?

Don't get me wrong. I don't want to see thousands of people die from the Bird Flu. However, I can not help but to feel that this scare is an artificial creation. Everyone is looking for the next Pandemic. Am I the only person who thinks this is just a little bit crazy?


According to one article, "There have been 65 known human deaths from the H5N1 bird flu virus, but none has been positively linked to human-to-human transmission." 65 deaths, all from bird to human contact. We are talking about something that has killed, worldwide, 65 people. Excuse me, but do we not lose more people to AIDS a day then that? Is this the new Fear Factor? Scare everyone on the planet about the new bogeyman, the "deadly" Bird Flu?

How many people does just regular Flu kill each year? Why is the Bird Flu so scary that it needs $7.1B dollars and it needs it now?

I just shake my head. I am sorry if there are those who think this is an ultra serious issue. I am not convinced. I am more convinved in the science of Global Warming then I am that the Bird Flu is going to morph into a worldwide pandemic.

The sky is falling and the Chicken Littles are going crazy. I think I will do my best not to touch them. Don't want to get sick!