From sex to bombs...

Interesting take on the latest sex scandal.

Lee Atwater's Southern Strategy.

McCain is still sore he isn't president.

Run away, run away!!

The perils of being a woman online.

Did Anonymous save the election by blocking Rove's hacking minions?

Verdun, France has a Forbidden Forest filled with 12 million unexploded bombs from WWI.

Don't make any sudden moves!! A moderate and intelligent Republican!!

Let some of these banksters go to jail.

To help you keep track of Republican sex scandals

Here's the sex offenders list. Another list of politicians from both sides of the aisle.

The discussion of moral values.

Here's a flow chart. (This one made me laugh).

One reason why Democrats just don't get on the list that often, we are not forcibly defined by the narrow confines of 'family values' which has nothing to do with real families and absolutely nothing to do with true humanitarian values.

It's not about the sex, it's about the utter hypocrisy.

Update: Blue Girl of They Gave Us A Republic has a point.

Update: Oh, gee. Where's the outrage? Will they compare this to the date Obama took with his wife?

Sanford's South American sojourn taxpayer-funded

Standing up to bullies

In Baghdad:

BAGHDAD, Sept. 17 -- The Iraqi government on Monday said it had revoked the license of Blackwater USA, an American security company involved in a shootout in Baghdad that killed at least nine people, raising questions over which nation should regulate tens of thousands of civilian hired guns operating in Iraq.

The Iraqi government's announcement was its most public assertion to date of its right to take action against foreign security companies when a suspected crime has been committed.

In Canada:

I asked some other bystanders if they knew what had happened. Two men, who said they had witnessed the whole thing, told me that she had been walking down the street smoking a cigarette. A cruiser drove past, stopped, and an officer got out and approached her. She ran. The police caught her. She resisted. She was a tiny little thing, they said, but she put up a helluva fight. It took three officers to bring her down.

“And the big cop, he slammed her face-down into the sidewalk just like she was a huge man,” said one of the men.

Then, he said, they cuffed her and went to put her in the van. She was part-way in when suddenly she just collapsed. Unconscious. She was bleeding from the head. That’s roughly when I came along.

(found via JJ of Unrepentant Old Hippie)

In school:

First, I had to throw a kid out of the benchmark tests for screaming at me. She told me to go ahead and call her mother because "my mother hates you."

The rest of the testing went well.

6th period the principal came in to "help" and it made things worse. They were out of control. Totally wrecked my plans.

7th was ok.

8th was 8th and then came the brawl...

You can hear it start, and my kids went for the door. I got there first. Only 2 got past me - the rest bounced off me. Kareem (the dumb fuck) tried to get out the door by crawling between my legs.

I felt myself start to go - so I went down hard right on his ribs - all 225 of Blodge. That left me in control of Kareem, left the door blocked, and made sure I was balanced and wouldn't fall. The VP came by and said what the hell happened? I told him. Kareem said ow.

To the media who drools for a scandal:

No president (or president-elect) can operate in a fish-bowl. On the other hand, when it comes to scandals, there is an exception and a need for extraordinary transparency. Thus, if you truly want to change the scandal paradigm, you should operate in a fish-bowl to show you have absolutely nothing to hide. Accordingly, I offer this suggestion for your consideration: Email all your past and present staff, all designated appointees, and any others with whom you have an informal relationship if they could have had contact with Blagojevich about your senate seat, and request they all report to you any and all such information that in any manner relates to the appointment to fill your senate seat. Instruct everyone to err on the side of too much information. In addition, tell everyone than when responding to you that they should also post their responses at your website to make them public. In short, you should insist that the public be told everything that you are told, and you should make it all available at you website - www.change.gov. Such action by you would forever change the standards of presidents in dealing with potential presidential scandals and nip this one before it can cause any more problems for your new administration. This would be a change everyone could believe in.

In their homes...

There is no dog in this race

In fact there are no dogs, no race. There is nothing there:

AP reporter Liz Sidoti, fresh off a stint delivering donuts to John McCain, pens an "analysis" of the Blagojevich indictment that begins: "President-elect Barack Obama hasn't even stepped into office and already a scandal is threatening to dog him."

Then, in the very next sentence, Sidoti admits "Obama isn't accused of anything." And that pretty much sets the tone for the "analysis" -- ominous warnings that Obama could be implicated in the scandal, followed by concessions that he, you know ... isn't.

Sidoti writes: "But the fact that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a fellow Democrat, has been charged with trying to sell Obama's now-vacant Senate post gives political opponents an opening to try to link him to the scandal."

Well, sure. Republicans can try to link him to the scandal. Have they succeeded? Are there actual substantive connections between Obama and the wrongdoing? Because if there aren't, that's the story: Republicans smearing Obama by falsely suggesting he is tied to the wrongdoing. Indeed, Sidoti later acknowledges "U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said prosecutors were making no allegations that Obama was aware of any scheming. And Blagojevich himself, in taped conversations cited by prosecutors, suggested that Obama wouldn't be helpful to him."

So there's a great big ball of nothing here, yet Sidoti continues to pretend that Obama is caught up in the scandal, writing "There were signs the continuing investigation could still involve Obama."

Well... once you've been trained by the Bush administration how to actually report 'news', it's hard to stop. How fast will they start calling it the Obama Depression and Obama's Iraq War? In 3... 2... 1...

Even back in 1989, McCain wasn't talking about being a POW...

Oh wait.... yes, he was.

Tom Fitzpatrick in 1989 for the Phoenix New Times writes about McCain's actions:(my bold)

McCain: The Most Reprehensible of the Keating Five

[snip]

So you spend your days desperately trying to make sure you will be one of the survivors. You keep volunteering to go on radio and television stations to protest your innocence. Last week you made ABC's Nightline.

Not long before that you somehow managed to get James Kilpatrick, the national columnist, to write a favorable paragraph about you. Last Sunday morning, you made it to national television again; this time on ABC's This Week With David Brinkley. You smiled at the panel with your usual studied insouciance. Sitting next to you was Senator John Glenn of Ohio.

Brinkley, Sam Donaldson, and George Will were the interrogators.
It was a sobering scene. There you sat with Glenn, both sweating before the cameras, waiting to answer questions: two badly tarnished American icons.

No one forgets that Glenn was the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth. You won't let anyone forget that you were a prisoner of war. But you have played that tune too long. By now your constant reminders about your war record make you seem like a modern version of Arthur Miller's tragic failure Willy Loman.

Clearly, both you and Glenn sold your fame for Charles Keating's money.

It was a Faustian bargain. It was also a bad joke on the rest of us and a disaster for many old people who lost their life's savings to Keating.

The money was never really Keating's to give. But he never would have got his hands on it if you and the rest of the Keating Five didn't halt the government takeover for two long years while Keating's people continued their looting.

And now, the tab for the Savings and Loan heist must be paid from taxpayer pockets.

On Sunday, Senators Dennis DeConcini, Alan Cranston, and Riegle refused offers to appear on the Brinkley show. What must we make of that?

You, the closest of them to Keating and the deepest in his debt, have chosen the path of the hard sell. You may even make it out of the pot, but to many, your protestations of innocence taste like gall.

After reading this article it's clear that McCain is actually kind of a shit. And today's media's romance with the Straight Talker is beginning to hit the rocks:

But now, Drew's done. After noting McCain's shift to the hard right, away from the 2000 persona that made him a hero to many, Drew explains that McCain "morph[ed] into just another panderer -- to Bush and the Republican Party's conservative base."

[S]ome very smart political analysts believed from the outset that McCain could win the nomination by sticking with his old self. And they still believe that McCain won the nomination not because he gave himself over to the base but as a result of a process of elimination of inferior candidates who divided up the conservative vote, as these observers had predicted. (These people insisted on anonymity because McCain is known in Republican circles to have a long memory and a vindictive streak.)

There's an endless supply

The top ten ethics scandals from CREW, via Think Progress:

No new enforcement mechanisms for congressional ethics;

Ted Stevens still sitting on Senate Appropriations;

Senate Ethics Committee looking into Sen. Craig, but not Sen. Vitter;

Millions of missing White House emails still unaccounted for;

Rep. Murtha’s abuse of the earmarking process remains unchecked;

Lurita Doan remains chief of GSA despite illegal conduct;

White House covering up its role in the firings of the U.S. Attorneys;

No Child Left Behind funds directed to Bush fundraisers who provide inadequate reading materials for kids;

Court decision regarding search of Jefferson’s office limits ability of DOJ to investigate other corrupt lawmakers; and

FEMA knowingly let Katrina victims live in hazardous trailers

And then there's the top ten idiots for the week.

Is sex to Republicans always about domination,

Submission, and humiliation? Is that why they are so unsettled by Democrats? Why have these last few years been cluttered with so many Republicans flaming out in weird and hilarious sex scandal death spirals?

What gives?

Remembering fondly Hastert's time in Congress

And wondering why he'd turn his back on all the wonderful perks the office entitled him to have...

Like hanging out with the prez and others in the halls of power:







But then he was rudely reminded that he was supposed to be working...



And now indicates he's resigning. Eli of Multi Medium knows why:

Why Denny Hastert would suddenly decide to retire, rather than just not running for re-election. I had a feeling it might be something bad…

[Brent Wilkes’ nephew and flunky Joel Combs] testified today– just as Hastert let it be known he would be resigning from Congress– that Wilkes had paid “to fly Cunningham and former House Speaker Dennis Hastert from a golf outing in Palm Springs to San Diego for a reception and then back to Washington on private jets.”

Does that mean we all can ignore subpoenas?

Because ... I kinda thought... ignoring subpoenas was against the law. Are these Republicans and Democrats showing their love for the rule of law?

This is over the Duke Cunningham's briber Brent Wilkes:

In addition to Issa, Blunt, R-Mo., and Hastert, R-Ill., Wilkes' attorneys are seeking testimony from:

_Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Ill.

_House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas.

_House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo.

_House Appropriations defense subcommittee chairman John Murtha, D-Pa.

_California Republican Reps. Duncan Hunter, John Doolittle, and Jerry Lewis. Hunter chaired the Armed Services Committee and Lewis chaired the Appropriations Committee in the last Congress.

_Republicans Reps. Peter Hoekstra and Joe Knollenberg of Michigan. Hoekstra chaired the House Intelligence Committee in the last Congress.

_Democratic Rep. Norm Dicks of Washington.

The subpoenas from U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California were read on the House floor late Monday in accordance with House rules requiring lawmakers to inform the House speaker if they've been subpoenaed.

All the lawmakers said in notifications to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that after consulting with House attorneys they had decided not to comply with the subpoenas.

Good to know that we don't have to take these thing seriously....

Update: Steve Bates of Yellow Doggerel Democrat reminds me in comments what it says in the Constitution:

Members of Congress probably do have a leg to stand on in this case. U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 6, first paragraph:

"The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place."

Emphasis mine. This may not apply directly, but the principle that one cannot interfere with members' activities while Congress is in session is pretty clear.

Standard reminder: I am not a lawyer, nor do I even play one on the web.

What the Republican party stands for now

Is greed, corruption, corporations, scandals, and war. Even invoking Reagan's name brought back Iran-Contra and the fact that so many of those players then have access to the White House now.

Frank Rich via jurassicpork of Welcome to Pottersville:

By my rough, conservative calculation — feel free to add — there have been corruption, incompetence, and contracting or cronyism scandals in these cabinet departments: Defense, Education, Justice, Interior, Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development. I am not counting State, whose deputy secretary, a champion of abstinence-based international AIDS funding, resigned last month in a prostitution scandal, or the General Services Administration, now being investigated for possibly steering federal favors to Republican Congressional candidates in 2006. Or the Office of Management and Budget, whose chief procurement officer was sentenced to prison in the Abramoff fallout. I will, however, toss in a figure that reveals the sheer depth of the overall malfeasance: no fewer than four inspectors general, the official watchdogs charged with investigating improprieties in each department, are themselves under investigation simultaneously — an all-time record.

Wrongdoing of this magnitude does not happen by accident, but it is not necessarily instigated by a Watergate-style criminal conspiracy. When corruption is this pervasive, it can also be a byproduct of a governing philosophy. That’s the case here. That Bush-Rove style of governance, the common denominator of all the administration scandals, is the Frankenstein creature that stalks the G.O.P. as it faces 2008. It has become the Republican brand and will remain so, even after this president goes, until courageous Republicans disown it and eradicate it.

Why on earth should we elect to govern those who hate government and have, when given free rein, gutted the treasury and lost their ethics, their focus, and their reason?

Why on earth would we want more of what these last six years and counting have brought us?

Republicans cannot govern.



Update: Morse at the Republic of Sestakastan says it better.

Want to place your bets

On how long before Tenet Healthcare has another bout of lawsuits? (Via cookie jill at skippy the bush kangaroo):

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, brother of U.S. President George W. Bush, will join the board of Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC.N: Quote, Profile , Research), the biggest publicly traded hospital company said on Thursday.

The move to appoint Bush, 54, comes as Dallas-based Tenet continues its struggle to recover from a slew of scandals and lawsuits. Last year, it settled with the U.S. Department of Justice for $900 million over allegations that it had bilked the Medicare insurance program for the elderly. Earlier this month it settled a securities probe over fraud charges.

Government lawsuits and several legal actions related to quality of care caused doctors to flee the company's hospitals, which has led to sinking patient admissions.

Gee....scandals, lawsuits, bilking....Jeb should feel right at home.

Update: Sinfonian has an overview of Jeb's lifestyle after he left the governorship.

Oh, NOW she visits Walter Reed

When the mold has been slopped over with paint, and the mice temporarily in other quarters.

Rep. Jean Schmidt wrote in her weekly column sent out to reporters on Monday that stories about horrible conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center were "overblown."

Schmidt, a Clermont County Republican, decided to take "several hours" to travel to the hospital in Washington, D.C., to see the situation "first hand."

Her conclusion?

"I found the situation at Walter Reed to be overblown by both politicians and the media."

Schmidt wrote that in her tour of all four outpatient housing facilities, she was "pleasantly surprised to find that three of the buildings contained clean living spaces, updated television and computer access, and full access to cooking units or cafeterias."

She also inspected Building 18, the focus of the Washington Post stories exposing conditions at Walter Reed.

"While I believe that this building is beneath the standard of what is acceptable, I think it is wrong to suggest that mold found behind an air conditioner somehow is an excuse to say that all of our veterans are receiving substandard medical care.

Right. They started painting over the mold the minute the story hit. This story broke one MONTH ago. One month of painting and fumigating and plastering.

Overblown is a verb that better describes you, Ms. Schmidt.

Update 3/21: Hey, Jean! Some more places you should visit:

WASHINGTON - The Veterans Affairs' vast network of 1,400 health clinics and hospitals is beset by maintenance problems such as mold, leaking roofs and even a colony of bats, an internal review says. The investigation, ordered two weeks ago by VA Secretary Jim Nicholson, is the first major review of the facilities conducted since the disclosure of squalid conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Instead of just visiting the special VIP rooms:

The large, comfortable suites on the hospital's top floor are reserved for the president, the vice president, federal judges, members of Congress and the Cabinet, high-ranking military officials and even foreign dignitaries and their spouses. The only enlisted members of the military who are eligible to stay there are recipients of the Medal of Honor.

The suites have carpeted floors, antique furniture and fine china in the dining rooms. That's a stark contrast to mold- and mice-ridden housing that some wounded troops had been found to be living in.