• Politics, Schmolitics

    South Dakota’s Sneaky Little End Run

    news > Mondo Washington by James Ridgeway With Michael Roston” href=”http://villagevoice.com/news/0609,roston,72317,2.html”>village voice > news > Mondo Washington by James Ridgeway With Michael Roston A campaign to push the legislation through the U.S. court system up to the Supreme Court where South Dakotans can lead the charge to overturn Roe v. Wade, will cost over $1 million. South Dakota doesn’t have that kind of money. So the Governor is studying ways of accepting into the state treasury private funds with which to wage the battle in the name of the South Dakota citizenry. In short,the well-heeled opponents of abortion are going…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Obama on Hybrids

    Recently in Barack Obama – U.S. Senator for Illinois‘s blog, he posted a reaction to the State of the Union speech, focusing on hybrid cars and the American auto industry. I’ve been meaning to respond to this for a while, because we own a Ford Escape Hybrid. I was reminded of this vague intention because we followed another Ford Escape Hybrid last night after dinner, which always gets us talking about the technology, the pigheadedness of goverment in not getting behind the concept more, and so on. Obama says: The precariousness of an oil economy, crushing healthcare costs, and the…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Smoking Dutch Cleanser

    A check of Technorati today revealed that lots of people were talking about something called “Smoking Dutch Cleanser.” Since I missed this reference the other day, I went looking for it. Turns out Maureen Dowd, Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist, had something interesting tucked behind the New York Times’ “Orange Curtain” of premium content. Not to worry, I knew someone would make it their business to part that curtain so that all could enjoy the sensation of Nevada Thunder | Blog Archive | Smoking Dutch Cleanser Vice President Dick Cheney bitterly complains that national security leaks are endangering America. Unless, of course,…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Bush Misled Country To War

    Can I get a “Well…duh!”? Chicago Tribune | Former CIA official says Bush misled country to war WASHINGTON — The former CIA official charged with managing the U.S. government’s secret intelligence assessments on Iraq says the Bush administration chose war first and then misleadingly used raw data to assemble a public case for its decision to invade. Paul Pillar, who was the CIA’s national intelligence officer for the Middle East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005, said the Bush administration also played on the nation’s fears in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks, falsely linking Al Qaeda to…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Bush: Is This Thing On?

    Oops! – Bush Unaware Mikes Were Still On – Yahoo! News When reporters left, Bush spoke about the National Security Agency program that he authorized four years ago and which has drawn criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike. However, the microphones stayed on for a few minutes. That allowed journalists back at the White House to eavesdrop on Bush’s defense of the eavesdropping. His private statements were basically no different from what he’s said in public. “I want to share some thoughts with you before I answer your questions,” Bush began. “First of all, I expect this conversation we’re about…

  • Hot Off The Presses - Politics, Schmolitics

    Miserable Failure: Bush Administration Totally Disengaged on Katrina

    I’ve been tagging del.icio.us links with this phrase today: RhetoricOfFailure. In fact, I bundled it together with a lot of other terms, like “CorruptRepublicans” and “SmirkingBastards” and “anti-truth.” Because every time I read a news item about something that didn’t go so well lately for the current Administration, I tag it and add it to the growing linkslist of failures. . I’ll be adding a new tag to the bundle: “Disengaged.” I just ran across this article from Boing Boing, and began sobbing helplessly at the needless loss of life and property because a bunch of elected and appointed officials…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Domestic Spending Cut Bill

    It’s Alive! It’s Alive! It’s… not quite dead, but it’s feeling better. Call your Congressdrone: Error may snag $39 billion spending-cut bill – Yahoo! News WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A typographical error in a $39 billion U.S. domestic spending-cut bill signed into law by President George W. Bush on Wednesday could mean another vote on the measure that passed only after Vice President Dick Cheney intervened with a tie-breaking vote. The law, which sparked fury among Democrats and strong opposition from some Republicans in an election year, cuts funds for health care, student loan and other programs. This time, MAYBE, we…

  • Politics, Schmolitics - Uncategorical Weirdness

    A Few Things That Have Been Bothering Me Lately

    Right, enough incessant style-twitching and markup-tweaking for a while. Now for a few things that I’ve been turning over in my mind lately, kind of like when you’re out back digging in the garden in early spring, and you turn over a forkful of earth and find a lot of worms and goo. Thursday night, I stopped off at a nearby mega-supermarket to pick up a few items for dinner. I’m always on the lookout for odd experiences there ever since the Screaming Child incident, and generally I am rewarded with minor annoyances; they have far more “scan your own…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Elegant Napalm

    IMproPRieTies: reax Of all the tedious media coverage of reaction to the SOTU I saw, I most respected Renee Montagne’s visit to three New Orleansians in a FEMA trailer in the darkened eastern sector of the city. These people watching the Bone tossed from the House, sailing through the deluxe mediascape, landing with an thud in that dark abandoned wreck of the town. Hearing the President ignore not just the city, but his federal administration’s obscene failure to address the city, and now the failure to address that obscene failure, which is apparently the only way Mr. Bush knows how…

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Boehner? Boehner? Anyone Else? Boehner?

    Lobbying Colors GOP Leadership Contest Boehner, the guy who handed out checks on the House floor from tobacco concerns, has just been elected Majority Leader. A fair chunk of his change was raised from Abramoff-linked Indian tribes. Not that it’s wrong that they’re Indians, it’s that they were working with Abramoff. “We will want people who are clean running the House,” said Rep. Melissa Hart (R-Pa.), a Boehner supporter. So do we, Melissa. So we’ll just have to elect them. Do these people not get it? Do they not realize that the lobbying scandal taints everyone in their leadership? I…