Boehned Again

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) can't get his own debt ceiling bill to add up, and he's getting major tea-fections in his fractured yet intransigent Republican Party as the clock ticks down and Wall Street gets ticked off at the GOP.

Comin' up empty or passing a piece of legislation that gets amended away in the Senate?

Showdown approaching. I'm betting on the threat of the 14th Amendment growing stronger the longer the GOP have the legislative edge. But if their edge evaporates, then the question is whether the Dems can peel off enough GOP votes to support their own bill.

Otherwise, Mr. President: The Constitutional Option.

The Constitutional Option

Just pay it.

Insulting

The GOP started their new run in the House by reading their own bowdlerized version the U.S. Constitution, for example conveniently leaving out slavery, much as their core constituency wants to believe slavery had little to do with the Civil War.

When they read the section on having to be born in America to become President they got interrupted -- a birther screamed to Jesus before being arrested by Capitol Police.

The GOP had two members vote illegally, i.e. not officially sworn in, and asked for permission from ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi to keep the votes in the record.

Their next big media event is a vote, without debate, to repeal the historic healthcare reform enacted this past session under Democratic leadership. Odd choice if they're really fiscal conservatives, as it will add $230 billion to the deficit and leave 17 million Americans uninsured, i.e. just like before reform passage.

They're claiming any new programs have to be offset by an equal amount to spending cuts, yet have exempted tax cuts from their proposed rule, as if they are magic beans. Yep, more deficit. Like they gave America with the Bush tax cuts they all voted for.

New House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is already backtracking on his party's promise to reduce spending by $100 billion this year.

And Rep. Darrel Issa (CA-R) has had to backtrack wildly from calling Obama "the most corrupt President", saying a day later he meant the Administration, not the President himself, and again today backing further by saying he meant "corrupt like a computer." WTF are you saying, Darrel? Awesome session start for you, sir.

Awesome session start for all these clowns.

At a time like this, there's only one thing to do:



(Groucho and Eddie Murphy rule.)

McRepugnant

Does Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) really want to go down in history as the last man standing between the bankrupt policy of DADT and its repeal? Does he really want that to be his legacy? Even his bosom buddy, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is strongly (and admirably, tough as it is for me to admit) for repeal.

Here's what I'm wondering: What the hell is his reason? A list of possibilities:

• Political: He's so nervous about alienating the dominant rightwing votership in Arizona - because in six years he'll have to run again?

• Personal: He's homophobic, like a lot of older dudes.

• Misinformed: He has a complete misapprehension of how service people who are gay and those that know they are gay interact with each other professionally?

• Egomaniac: He's a grump who just wants to thwart something and act like he's the military expert?

Per the Andrew Sullivan post link above, he's acting anti-Constitutional, on one hand denying civilian command of the U.S. military (which I do doubt he'd be doing under a Republican President) -- that's called fascism -- and, on the other hand, somehow making the military a democracy where majority rule of soldiers would dictate with whom they would serve, rather than their orders.

I always thought that soldiers were supposed to follow their orders without question. But maybe that's only the order John McCain personally approves of. Yep, that last reason is looking more and more likely every day.

Enjoy your legacy, Sen. McCain.

Beverly Hills Tea Party

Pat Boone is leading the "citizen's revolt" in Beverly Hills. That's funny on the face of it!

But even better is this clip of Pat vs. Jamie Court of Consumer Watchdog, who is smart and plain-speaking enough to completely dismantle and counter Pat's no-nothing presumptions that the Tea Party is (a) anything close to the majority will of the people (that was the last Presidential Election, actually, when Obama won a clearer mandate than Bush Jr. or Clinton ever did) and (b) that their anger is properly directed, as well as (c) that it's all a spontaneous citizen's revolt rather than something heavily influenced on the idea and financing level by big oil companies:



Pat keeps looking off camera left whenever Court nails him with the truth (often), which I expect is to a buddy he's with who shares his reactionary views. It's such a smug expression every time, like "get a load of this guy," the kind of avoidance look that seeks reinforcement of his pre-existing views rather than fair and open consideration of the other man's argument.

We've seen this smug smile before, on the face of El Presidente Bush back when he was in the White House. This goes to how Conservatives and Tea Partiers hold their assumptions and communicate in shorthand to each other their innate "rightness" when faced with real questions or counterarguments in the real world outside their Fox hollow.

It's the type of assumptiveness regarding, say, their self-serving interpretation of the Constitution that goes back to the Confederacy, when the nation faced the exact same kind of rightwing (and regional) obstruction that we are saddled with now by self-proclaimed Chancellors like Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), who has "a standing hold" on all Senate business unless he sees fit to let it come to a vote.

There's another word for what Sen. DeMint is practicing. It starts with "F."

Poison Tea

It turns out that a highly experience Republican operative, Sal Russo, is both funding of Tea Party Republican candidates and reaping the big bucks for himself:

Unlike many of the newly energized outsiders who have embraced Tea Party ideals, Mr. Russo, 63, is a longtime Republican operative who got his start as an aide to Ronald Reagan and later raised money and managed media strategy for a string of other politicians, including former Gov. George E. Pataki of New York. His history and spending practices have prompted some former employees and other Tea Party activists to question whether he is committed to, or merely exploiting, their cause.

Mr. Russo’s group, based in California, is now the single biggest independent supporter of Tea Party candidates, raising more than $5.2 million in donations since January 2009, according to federal records. But at least $3 million of that total has since been paid to Mr. Russo’s political consulting firm or to one controlled by his wife, according to federal records.

Yep, those 'baggers are so good with money. That's why Republican Senate nominee for Delaware, Christine "Li'l Sarah" O'Donnell seems to make all her income off of running for office and could be indicted for how she's has misused previous campaign funds for her personal expenses:

Now, the FEC, the Federal Election Commission, allows you to spend money after a campaign to retire debt, but not to add to the debt. And she has lots of debt from 2008, which troubles a lot of people. They think it's hypocritical, because -- because she wants America to spend what it has. But let us show you some of these checks. You can decide for yourself if she should have written these checks from her campaign money. For example, a check for 475 bucks, she labeled it as mileage reimbursement. Remember, this is three months after the campaign is over. This means she drove hundreds of miles and she submitted this with campaign funding.

Also, $157 on a phone bill from Verizon Wireless; by all indications, this is her personal phone. Also, $28 at a gas station -- the gas station in the town where she's originally from -- Moorestown, New Jersey. She still has family there. This is campaign money. There's no campaign going on.

Six hundred dollars for her utility bill paid to Delmarva Power. Also, there are little piddly expenses, but increasing her debt. And these are very telltale. You wouldn't need to spend this for any campaign, let alone a campaign that is not going on anymore.

$19 at a place called the Pike Lanes. The Pike Lanes is a bowling alley. That would pay for about eight games of bowling.

Also $26 for a meal at Ruby Tuesday's restaurant -- campaign money once again.

And then she even used campaign money for a $2.84 charge at Staples. In addition, she paid rent money with her campaign funding.

Maybe that's why O'Donnell cancelled Sunday morning appearances on both CBS' Face the Nation as well as Faux News, where Chris Wallace went to the unusual length of - gasp - criticizing her as well as Bob Schieffer. Or maybe it was her "dabbling" in witchcraft?

How about 'baggin' Republican Senate nominee in Alaska, Joe Miller? Miller has been on the Federal payroll as U.S. Magistrate for half a decade but is touting his Constitutional interpretation of enumerated rights to say that unemployment benefits are unconstitutional -- and refused to answer any questions from, again, Faux News anchor Chris Wallace on what in hell he'd actually do to help all those Americans suffering due to the economic crisis:



It all seems like a witches brew of bad tea to me.

Very Smart Bad Guys

The reason I hate David Addington and John Yoo is that I feel like I know them, that we all knew the very book smart, wargame playing armchair chickenhawks with a libertarian bent, but these are two particular ones who got law degrees and put them to work for Dick Cheney, their Grand Vizier writing memos declaring torture legal as long as it's under the President and only the President's authority, as long as he says he thinks he's protecting the country.

Today they squirmed in front of Congress, particularly Yoo. He knows he's in trouble underneath his own smugness, but Addington takes the cake it that department. The smugness of the geek, only that he's smug about Abu Ghraib.

Take a look, even if you have to skip through the clip a bit, but I found it f-a-s-c-i-n-a-t-i-n-g. The first moment of accountability since Scooter Libby got convicted (and we all know how that ended) and these guys won't answer anything they think might box them into being revealed:



Here's more of Addington, this time defining the Vice President as "attached" to the legislative branch, lots of quoting of opinions, smug ammo:



Last clip I'll link to is Addington refusing to discuss the torture policy he and Yoo designed, the shame of the U.S.A. in the eyes of the world, in our owns eyes, how far fallen from "The Greatest Generation" that actually fought a World War for which all citizens mobilized and sacrificed. He won't talk about it, because the terrorists are watching.

Makes one kinda nostalgic for Nuremberg.

Friday

So Obama take a slightly nuanced position supporting the FISA compromise but pledging to fight the telco immunity giveaway in the Senate. He admits it's not a perfect bill, but as they say about laws and sausages, it'd not pretty watching them get made.

I'm not terribly torn up about it. Everyone agrees that FISA needs to be updated for new technologies, and everyone in the Constitutionality camp wants to make sure that our government's Executive branch can't violate the rules without oversight from the other two. From what I understand the bill does all that well enough.

The immunity is a sticking point, as wiretaps have been used in the past on civil rights leaders and so-called "enemies" of the particular President of the time (i.e. Nixon). I'd rather the telcos hadn't pitched in when the Bush/Cheney syndicated told them to, but those were heady times and I'm not sure the companies did so enthusiastically.

In any case, rather than blaming Obama for the sins of the GOP Administration, I'd rather get him in office and start the promised transparency January 20, 2009. As President he'll still need to keep some secrets and take steps to protect us all, but it's hard to imagine it will be in the treasonous manner of the mob that still inhabits the White House and associated offices.

While sometimes it's hard to remember, George W. Bush is still in office, and no amount of projecting a President Obama is going to make January 20th come any sooner.

Wild Times

There's suddenly a flurry of action at the end of 2008. I can't hope to cover or even tie together on short notice all that's happening in our political America just this week -- two days.

The FISA vote -- Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) has been staunch and articulate on protecting the U.S. Constitution, threatening to filibuster and forcing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to pull the bill from the floor. Dodd has been a total hero, and while I don't know if it will significantly improve his Presidential bid, it makes him the #1 pick for a new, progressive Majority Leader.

Dodd made Orrin Hatch break down into sad nonsense. The bottom line as Ted Kennedy said:

The President has said that American lives will be sacrificed if Congress does not change FISA. But he has also said that he will veto any FISA bill that does not grant retroactive immunity. No immunity, no FISA bill. So if we take the President at his word, he's willing to let Americans die to protect the phone companies.

Not so fun to remember that they are still President, even if the Primary Season sometimes makes us forget.

But the really huge decision affecting us all, the one designed by Rupert Murdoch et al with this Republican Administration to control all of the news we receive by television, radio and print all in one market. And if the market, like most, has only one newspaper, guess who's going to control the agenda?

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin cast the deciding vote to allow monopolistic territorial media control by major corporations:

Free Press: FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is ignoring the public will and defying the U.S. Senate. His decision to gut longstanding ownership rules shows once again how the largest media companies — with their campaign contributions and high-powered lobbyists — are corrupting the policymaking process at the expense of local news coverage and independent voices.

“Martin’s FCC relied on slanted research and a rigged process to reach today’s preordained outcome — local media wrapped in a bow for Tribune, News Corp., Gannett and all the rest.

John Kerry's talking about freezing FCC funding in retaliation, not sure how much that will do with the horse already over the gate.

It's clear to me that the only candidate who's just all out declaring themselves the people's warrior to beat back our almost medieval global corporations, get our Constitutional rights and help America save itself. There's things I like about the others, but Edwards is starting to do in Iowa what he's known for doing best: making the strongest closing argument.

Think about it, three lawyers. Can Obama or Hillary do what Edwards did in courtrooms for huge verdicts?

Meanwhile, Blackwater, no joke, shot to death the The New York Times' dog in Iraq, and Ron Paul reveals exquisite literary taste when he calls a spade a spade.

Unimmunity

I can't say I have high expectations for how it will fare in the Senate, but the FISA bill made it out of the Judiciary Committee day without immunity for those telecoms which knowingly violated the law for Cheney/Bush.

It was a 100% party-line vote, with Sen. Dianne Feinstein getting the message and reversing her support for immunity earlier this week. I had let her know what I thought by email, as her phone lines were jammed.

Seems the main metaphor these days:

Hold the line.

Go Ask Alice

Are you like me on this whole NSA / FISA illegal wiretapping scandal?

Are you too busy to work out the detail but know that of course the Cheney/Bush/Gonzales Administration shredded the Constitution, the only question is whether we'll ever find out how small the pieces were?

Are you just hoping that the "independent" Judiciary and Democratic majority with do the jobs we pay them for, get the truth out and punish, or at the very least stop the Administration for continuing their nefarious ways?

If you're like me, you may get a lot out of this Daily Kos diary by Night Owl where he explains what happened in the Federal Appeals Court where today the huge class action case finally kicked in, Hepting v. AT&T and Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. Bush. The diary is an annotation of this original liveblog by Wired.

The government, you know, "our" government, lays out this Catch-22 argument claiming the Executive Branch's absolute right to absolute secrecy, absolutely no oversight, for anything that branch of government says relates to national security.

The President someone working for him can classify anything at any time and he/they can decide that no one, even in the highest levels of the other branches of government, can see it -- even to judge if it should be classified.

Under their argument, We the People, and no other branch representing us, gets to check if someone in their branch is actually abusing their power and breaking the law.

One of the three judges, Judge Harry Pregerson, is eighty-three, was a U.S. Marine Corps First Lieutenant in World War II, and seriously wounded in Okinawa. He's seen a lot of American democracy:

"Who decides whether something is a state secret or not? ... We have to take the word of the members of the executive branch that something is a state secret?"

Garre counters that the courts should give "utmost deference" to the Bush administration.

Judge Pregerson: "What does utmost deference mean? Bow to it?"

Yes. Bow to your President.

Another judge, Judge Hawkins ask if a document provided by an ex-AT&T employee to the Electronic Freedom Foundation (co-plaintiff) is really that secret?

"Every ampersand, every comma is Top Secret?," Hawkins asks.

"This document is totally non-redactable and non-segregable and cannot even be meaningfully described," Bondy answers.

Because if you describe it to someone outside the Administration, then they will have to kill both of you.

And yet another instant classic from today's hearing, the third judge:

The government says the purported log of calls between one of the Islamic charity directors and two American lawyers is classified Top Secret and has the SCI level, meaning that it is "secure Cheshire compartmented information." That designation usually applies to surveillance information.

This allusion to 'Cheshire' inspires the judicial money quote:

Judge McKeown: "I feel like I'm in Alice in Wonderland.".

At the heart of all this evil is, of course, Richard Bruce Cheney. This is info-surveillance porn, power porn. Bureaucratiporn.

The two questions are how the judges will go on this and, if they go against the government, will anything against CheneyBush be enforceable?

Or will the Vice President just cut out the middleman?

And shoot all three judges in the face.

And the Children Shall Lead...

Mister Bush and President Cheney should be commended for engendering new political activists and starting them young. Video courtesy of Crooks & Liars:

President Bush was presented with a letter Monday signed by 50 high school seniors in the Presidential Scholars program urging a halt to “violations of the human rights” of terror suspects held by the United States…

There's more awesome video with the students interviewed by CNN after the event (damning stuff as they describe what Mister Bush was lecturing about just before getting served by them) at Raw Story and this quick ass-covering from the White House:

White House spokesman Dana Perino said Bush let the student know "the United States does not torture and that we value human rights," a statement seemingly contradicted by Bush's signing statement which gave him power to largely ignore a Congressional ban on torture spearheaded by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

At this point, lying to children should be easy for Mister Bush.

(Nettertainment has decided to no longer refer to him as "El Presidente" as this past week's four-part Washington Post story on Vice President Richard Bruce Cheney confirms the lingering suspicious that Mister Bush is merely a figurehead who has carried out shadow President Cheney's orders the entire length of his official term to date. Think Grand Vizier, often the de facto ruler in Ottoman times.)

Will these kids make the difference in Bush/Cheney policy reversal? Talk about the walls closing in.

Meanwhile, Congress grows cajones:

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday issued subpoenas to the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney’s office and the Justice Department after what the panel’s chairman called “stonewalling of the worst kind” of efforts to investigate the National Security Agency’s policy of wiretapping without warrants.

Get ready for a showdown...please!

Double Impeachment

For well over a year I've been saying that whatever you imagine is going on inside the Bush Administration, the truth is going to be much, much worse.

As predicted, whoops, there it is:

Just past the Oval Office, in the private dining room overlooking the South Lawn, Vice President Cheney joined President Bush at a round parquet table they shared once a week. Cheney brought a four-page text, written in strict secrecy by his lawyer. He carried it back out with him after lunch.

In less than an hour, the document traversed a West Wing circuit that gave its words the power of command. It changed hands four times, according to witnesses, with emphatic instructions to bypass staff review. When it returned to the Oval Office, in a blue portfolio embossed with the presidential seal, Bush pulled a felt-tip pen from his pocket and signed without sitting down. Almost no one else had seen the text.

Cheney's proposal had become a military order from the commander in chief. Foreign terrorism suspects held by the United States were stripped of access to any court -- civilian or military, domestic or foreign. They could be confined indefinitely without charges and would be tried, if at all, in closed "military commissions."

"What the hell just happened?" Secretary of State Colin L. Powell demanded, a witness said, when CNN announced the order that evening, Nov. 13, 2001. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, incensed, sent an aide to find out. Even witnesses to the Oval Office signing said they did not know the vice president had played any part.

Excellent reporting (finally!) from the Washington Post. A big two-part article, sheer terror, like a Tom Clancy novel gone bad.

Just how neutered, how "owned" was the rest of the White House help:

Powell asked for a meeting with Bush. The same day, Jan. 25, 2002, Cheney's office struck a preemptive blow. It appeared to come from Gonzales, a longtime Bush confidant whom the president nicknamed "Fredo." Hours after Powell made his request, Gonzales signed his name to a memo that anticipated and undermined the State Department's talking points. The true author has long been a subject of speculation, for reasons including its unorthodox format and a subtly mocking tone that is not a Gonzales hallmark.

A White House lawyer with direct knowledge said Cheney's lawyer, Addington, wrote the memo. Flanigan passed it to Gonzales, and Gonzales sent it as "my judgment" to Bush [Read the memo]. If Bush consulted Cheney after that, the vice president became a sounding board for advice he originated himself.

Remember, this is Cheney's M.O. He did this with the bullshit leaks about Iraq having WMDs, owning Tim Russell by appearing to corroborate a story his chief henchman Scooter Libby had leaked to Judith Miller at the New York Times.

He did this when he chose himself as Bush's Vice Presidential running mate -- remember when he was running the search committee and ended up recommending himself...surprise surprise?

But it's not just Cheney to blame. Per Steve Benen at TPM:

The article is not explicit, but an underlying theme of the Washington Post's profile on Dick Cheney is that his unprecedented power is only possible because Bush is anxious to get out of the way...

...I'm reminded of the embarrassing point in 2004 in which the President agreed to talk to the 9/11 Commission, but only if Cheney could sit with Bush, and help answer questions, during the discussion...

...Cheney has routinely been the "surrogate President," with Bush putting his signature on the VP's ideas (military commissions, domestic warrantless-searches) because the VP told him it was the right thing to do.

Indeed, when it came to ignoring the Geneva Conventions, Cheney made his decision before Bush did...

...Meet George W. Bush, the not-so-innocent bystander of his own presidency.

Last month at the first Republican 2008 Presidential candidates debate, Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney cried out, "Double Guantanamo!"

There's only one sane response. Two-for-one these guys. Hello President Pelosi.

Fascist Pig

I give you (please, take him) Vice President Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney, criminal:

For four years, Vice President Dick Cheney has resisted routine oversight of his office’s handling of classified information, and when the National Archives unit that monitors classification in the executive branch objected, the vice president’s office suggested abolishing the oversight unit, according to documents released yesterday by a Democratic congressman.

He tried to abolish the very unit that was created to monitor him. Think Tony Soprano, without the charm.

It gets worse:

Vice President Dick Cheney has asserted his office is not a part of the executive branch of the U.S. government, and therefore not bound by a presidential order governing the protection of classified information by government agencies, according to a new letter from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to Cheney.

Is there any better argument for Irving Lewis "Scooter" Libby serving the longest sentence possible? These conspirators, led by mob boss Cheney, treat our sacred Constitution like an old man just asking to be shot in the face.

In other countries brutal, narcissistic, power-mad despots who pervert their country's Constitution like Cheney have faced stiffer penalties. While I don't advocate capital punishment for his acts of treason, surely we've past the point where anyone believes we won't learn that Cheney abused power even worse, and so much of it when he and ideological thugs (along with their puppet Presidente) jammed us into this illegal, ill-advised, tragically executed Iraq War.

Wait, it's actually gone well for Cheney, if you look at the staggering profit he stands to make off of his Halliburton options.

Worse will be if they get away with bombing Iran -- if they haven't already ignited WWIII.

Well, it's time to make Dick and George pay the piper. Hell, just a few more points and El Presidente will break Nixon's record 23% approval rating basement. Three-fourths (3/4) of this country know Bush is a loser, but I'd argue it isn't that we wouldn't want to have a beer with him anymore (although I really wouldn't -- ever). It's because we all know he wipes his ass with our U.S. Constitution, which is just the same as fouling all of us with no regard; no regard for our wishes, no regard for our 74%.

It's not that they just steal money for themselves or their cronies. They've stolen our whole idea about America, and our reputation in the world.

Well, you know what society traditionally does to the lawless.

Let's punish them.

1 Sentence

It's only the first, and there's always the chance the crime lord will pardon I mean break his soldier out of prison, but unless that happens it's just 30 days before Irving Libby will be scoot-scoot-scootering off to the poky for two and a half well-deserved years (eligible for release after two) of incarceration.

Then, $250,000 and two years of parole later, he'll have paid his debt to society for having perjured himself to a Federal agent, specifically lying to the FBI, a crime that would not be engendering calls for Presidential pardons if you or I had committed it.

Here's Irving doing the perp walk back from the sentencing. The judge seems disinclined to allow Irving to remain free pending appeal. So he has 30 days before walking in like Paris, only more dangerous to our Republic.

Irving Lewis Libby is a villain in the annals of history. His treasonous behavior, due it appears to personal and political loyalties over love of country, or perhaps the confusion of the two, has led us into a disastrous trumped-up war of choice, war of aggression, war of pure tragedy. He's guilty of the worst kind of idealism, the narcissistic one. Whether or not narcissistic to himself, and I don't have any doubts, certainly narcissistic to his Neoconservatism, his Neocon allies here and abroad, and most frighteningly to his liege, Richard Herbert Cheney.

Lewis is a Frank Nitti- type henchman figure, only much worse at his job. I can understand why his fellow scofflaws had sent the judge letters of support -- after all, like the mob, they value loyalty over law -- but while you expect Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, John Bolton, it's a little more unnerving to see the unindicted war criminal who brought us Christmas bombings in Cambodia, Henry Kissenger linking the generations, and how sad to see former rockin' Dem James Carville's name thrown in via his wife, GOP dragon lady Mary Matalin.

Obstructing a federal probe. We're the ones who deserve the sympathy -- the American people, who sometimes against great and abused power only have the Constitution written by our Founding Fathers to aid us. Simple, moral, well-thought out, easy for a layperson to understand -- that's the beauty of our Constitution.

In the classic post-Vietnam War picture, The Deer Hunter, there's a key line uttered by DeNiro as an admonishment to the late great John Cazale:

Michael: Stanley, see this? This is this. This ain't something else. This is this. From now on, you're on your own.

This isn't a great noble heroic man. Look at all the dead in Iraq, us and their civilians, which is 99% of who's getting killed over there. The ends don't justify the means; the means just stoke the corruption of the ends.

This is this, Irving. This is a high crime, nothing else. We all know your bosses were directing the action, that of course they knew because it was their will and maybe someday they'll be punished, too, but you're the villain who carried it out.

We have laws like this because lying to a policeman is bad. We, as a society, have a vested interest in discouraging such actions, because it undermines the fundamental rule of law and, should it go unchecked, can lead to the downfall of the Republic.

You don't get to choose who gets to lie to the FBI, Scooter. That's not a power of yours under the Constitution, nor should it be.

This is this. From now on, Irving, be a man. Be on your own.

Inaccurate Gonzo

Monica Goodling, under immunity, nails Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' coffin shut.

More details including damning White House involvement from Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-MI) on Kos in what he so accurately calls "Goodling Testimony Revealing (Except to Republicans)":

Third, we learned the White House was intimately involved in the process of terminating the US Attorneys, from the beginning through final sign off, and Ms. Goodling believes Mr. Rove was involved in the process.

Crimes, crimes, crimes.

Today it was announced that Rove's, I mean Bush's General Services Administration chief Lurita Alexis Doan committed a huge crime by violating the federal Hatch Act which makes it illegal to use government workers in partisan political activities, like when she did a big presentation where she allegedly asked GSA political appointees during a January briefing how they could "help our candidates" win the next election.

Like an good Republican lawbreaker getting caught, she's attempting character assassination on her accusers.

And Bush's candidate for head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, senior lobbyist for the National Association of Manufacturers (you know, corporations that hate regulation) Michael E. Baroody, pulled his name from consideration today, avoiding facing a certain Senate vote against him. Reasons why Baroody was a choice only the Bush/Cheney/Rove gang would make:

His nomination began to founder after the disclosure last Wednesday that he would be receiving a $150,000 special payment from the association, and that the severance package was amended by the association in January, shortly after he was identified as the top candidate for the post.

You know, bribery.

But even with all these GOP criminals, the biggest excoriation of the day was Keith Olbermann's merciless shredding of Democratic Congressional cowardice in the face of Bush's veto. I'm assuming the end of this one is the Congressional Republicans lining up behind the weak new bill, while progressive Dems and politically savvy ones vote against it, a squeak by with a divided Dem party.

I can only hope for some ju-jitsu, in the offing, like the bill actually goes down in flames. But it is, indeed, a dark hour.

Leadership. Needed.