Smirkmonkey To Congress: "Cheney You"

Today's New York Times has a story with some real money quotes about the george w bush administration. [All emphasis added]

“I expect real answers, or we’ll have testimony under oath until we get them,” Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, who will head the committee beginning in January, said in an interview this week. “We’re entitled to know these answers, and in many instances we don’t get them because people are hiding their mistakes. And that’s no excuse.”

Leahy describes the administration as having been "obsessively secretive", an obsession that John Dean, Nixon's counsel, describes as "worse than Watergate".

The article also quotes DoJ spokesdrone Brian Roehrkasse:

“The department will continue to work closely with the Congress as they exercise their oversight functions, and we will appropriately respond to all requests in the spirit of that longstanding relationship,” said a department spokesman, Brian Roehrkasse. “When making those decisions, it is vital to protect national security information, particularly when they relate to sensitive intelligence programs that are the subject of oversight by the Intelligence Committees. We also must give appropriate weight to the confidentiality of internal executive branch deliberations.”

In other words, f*ck you, Congress.

Thus far, the administration has "work[ed] closely" with Congress only when it was in the interests of the administration; otherwise, the bushies have told Congress to go Cheney themselves. And bush has already decided (remember, he's "the Decider") that he and only he has the "right" to determine what affects "national security." And as far as "the confidentiality of internal executive branch deliberations" goes... well, Cheney's energy policy, anyone?

I am constantly amazed that anyone in the bush administration can utter total lies like this without choking... or bursting into hysterical laughter. The bush cabal has carried "secrecy" to lengths that could only have been dreamt of in the old USSR.

"Yeh, we'll deal with Congress in a full spirit of cooperativity. Sure. We will. Yup. Heh, heh. Jes' the same way we dealt with Congress on Afghanistanistan and Eye-raq's nukular weapons. An' if they don't lahk it we'll ship their butts to Gitmo. Heh, heh."





And this website has a chilling comparison:

The guy on the right is serial killer Ted Bundy. A reader comments: "But you know what's even creepier? It's not even a physical resemblance. It's an aura, it's a glow, it's the creepy madman glowing out of the smirk."And here's a plug for the best ever article about Bush.

And if you want to read more about Bundy, try here.

Norovirus in Iowa

Nearly 1,000 Iowans have gotten ill in the last several weeks due to norovirus.

At least seven outbreaks have occurred in a wide variety of settings such as social receptions, long−term care facilities, a gaming facility, business functions, restaurants and schools. The outbreaks have no common links, but are spread by people failing to wash their hands after going to the bathroom and before preparing food, as well as working in food preparation while ill with vomiting and diarrhea. [Now there's a mental image I didn't need...]

While norovirus outbreaks can occur throughout the year, it is unusual to see this number of them in a short period of time, prompting concerns that more disease will spread as we go into the holiday season.

Live in WA State and Drink Eggnog? Read This.

Creamery recalls improperly pasteurized eggnog.

Golden Glen Creamery in Skagit County, WA, has agreed to a voluntary recall of its eggnog because of potential health problems related to improper pasteurization.

The Washington Department of Agriculture says the eggnog was bottled in quart−size glass containers and had a pull date of November 28 on the cap. The product was distributed at groceries in Bellingham, Issaquah, Seattle, Langley, Bellevue, Bremerton, Silverdale, Everett, Kent and Redmond.

Getting A Passport? Do It NOW.

In a variation on the "Friday Afternoon News Dump" -- where a press release is issued late in the day, hoping the importance of the story will be lost over the weekend -- our friends at the Department of Homeland Security announced the official requirement for citizens of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda to present a passport to enter the United States when arriving by air from any part of the Western Hemisphere beginning January 23, 2007.

If you've been thinking about getting a passport, now is the time to do it. Starting in (I believe) mid-2007, new passports will include an RFID chip (radio frequency identification), the same technology used to prevent theft of small-package, high-ticket retail items like CDs and DVDs. One of the security experts (probably Bruce Schneier) pointed that that the current RFID technology potentially allows these "tagged" passports to be read by unauthorized devices (leaving the holder open to really horrendous ID theft problems). Schneier (assuming it was he) recommended that passports be obtained now, before the RFID requirement kicks in, adding that by the time the passport needs to be renewed (ten years after issuance), the RFID technology -- and security of the data on the chip -- should have improved considerably.

TBogg and the "Unfriendly Skies"

Yesterday, TBogg commented on the recent foofaraw about the six Muslim clerics flying from Minneapolis to Phoenix. In his post, he mentions -- in passing -- the one and only (thank God) Annie Jacobsens, she of "Terror in the Skies" fame (or infamy, as you will).

Since I hadn't read Snopes' take on the matter, I followed TBogg's link, and came across this paragraph from the report on the incident issued by the Federal Air Marshals service:

The source said the air marshals on the flight were partially concerned Jacobsen’s actions could have been an effort by terrorists or attackers to create a disturbance on the plane to force the agents to identify themselves.

This makes a lot of sense. No one has ever said the terrorists are stupid (misguided, maybe; animals, yes; but stupid, no).

I think if I were planning to highjack a plane [note to TSA: I'm making a supposition here, not a confession; I'm not OJ Simpson], it would probably be nice to know if there were Air Marshals on my flight, and if so, who and where they were. Since one can't very well stand up in the middle of the flight and ask the marshals to identify themselves, having a sympathetic (to the cause) yet obviously Anglo woman start trouble would be one way to get the info I want.












And Anglos do sympathize with al-Qaeda and the rest of their ilk... for instance, (left to right, above) John Walker Lindh, Richard Reid and Jose Padilla (okay, Padilla isn't Anglo, he's Hispanic, but you know what I mean). None looks particularly "Muslim", yet all were "fighters for the cause", at least in their own minds. So it wouldn't be impossible for al-Qaeda to recruit a non-Arabic-appearing woman for the purpose.




A propos of nothing, while I was searching for the picture of Lindh, I ran across an outfit called FrontPageMag (no link, cause they seem to be even more rabid than Malkin); Lindh's picture was in an article entitled "The Ten Most Dishonorable Americans"; in addition to Lindh (who certainly is dishonorable), the list includes Michael Moore, Danny Glover, Oliver Stone, and US Reps James McDermott (D-WA) and Barbara Lee (D-CA). As I say, more rabid than Malkin.

Pupils Evacuated After Warning at Nuclear Plant

The New York Times reports:

In the first nuclear-related evacuation since the Three Mile Island accident of 1979, a Tennessee school district sent all 1,800 pupils home on Tuesday morning [618: Nov 21] because operators at a nearby nuclear reactor believed they might have had a leak of radioactive cooling water inside the plant.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) operates the Watts Bar nuclear plant, about halfway between Chattanooga and Knoxville. Operators at the plant observed indications of a possible leak and declared an "unusual event", which is the lowest alert level.

Robert W. Greene, superintendent of schools in Meigs County, made the decision to close the schools and send the children home, while the school buses were still on duty (the incident occurred around 6:15 AM and was cancelled at 7:35).

I think Greene made the right decision.

Certainly, it entered into his considerations that the school buses were already available, so there would not be the logistical nightmare of trying to round up transportation once the drivers were off futy for the morning. The Times article also indicated that many parents had heard the alert on police scanners and were understandably concerned. These factors merely made his decision easier.

Granted, the Watts Bar plant is the youngest in the nation (it commenced operations in 1996), and is of a much better design than the TMI plant (and light years ahead of Chernobyl). But given the reckless lack of oversight of corporate America -- particularly the energy sector -- by the current administration, one really cannot blame the superintendent for erring on the side of caution (although given the political climate in Tennessee, I doubt the political aspects entered into it). The man was primarily concerned with the safety of his students, which is the important thing.

"Merry Christmas" versus "Happy Holidays" Revisited

One of the best explanations I've run across for the whole "Christmas versus Holiday" brouhaha comes from -- of all places -- FireRescue Magazine. Author Nick Brunacini (whom I suspect may be related to Phoenix Fire Chief and fire service legend Alan Brunacini) writes:

Christmas is right around the corner. If this year brings the same “what are we supposed to call the holiday” confusion as last year, let me make a suggestion: Quit whining about the big retailers renaming “Christmas” to “Holiday” and get over it. These companies are in business to sell you stuff, and they’ll eliminate anything they perceive as getting in the way of the bottom line.

Brunacini, in discussing the "... politically correct homogenization overtaking us...", which, he points out, "... is obscuring our sense of perspective" goes on to say:

To be heard in today’s world, one must be a zealot, a criminal or an idiot. It doesn’t matter which side of an issue you take, as long as it is fundamentally fanatical and in direct opposition to the group of lunatics living on the polar opposite side. As a result, much of center mass of our civilization is forced to hide behind the skirt of political correctness in an attempt to avoid drawing the wrath of the xenophobes currently in charge.

I think Brunacini hits the nail right on the head here.

Some more quotes from his piece:

• I suppose intolerance is a family-learned trait that doesn’t discriminate based on skin color, gender or sexual preference.
• As a culture, we spend an inordinate amount of our time and energy being offended by inconsequential BS.
• Perhaps he [618: the Battalion Chief faced with a discrimination complaint over a petty matter of lemonade and Kool-Aid] was thinking to himself, “My God! The inhumanity of man against man,” or maybe it was more along the lines of, “You’ve got to be kidding me—these morons called me for this?”

While these paragraphs appear in the middle of the piece, I believe they sum up his argument rather nicely:

Most of us go out of our way to get along with others. The reason for this is pretty simple—you’ve got to go along to get along. When we allow people their differences, they allow us ours. This is the glue that holds society together. In the close-knit quarters of fire departments, the leeway we allow one another becomes the ultimate factor in how good a place it is to work.

Fire departments that strive to make everyone the same end up with very large volumes of rules and regulations that pertain to personal conduct. These same places almost always come equipped with large personnel divisions that are kept busy with investigations, enforcement and dealing with the avalanche of lawsuits that stems from trying to make everyone the same. I am not advocating total anarchy, merely suggesting that the few rules we do maintain be developed around what we do for a living, with some of the U.S. Constitution thrown in for good measure. A rule that says we will come to a complete stop at a negative right-away makes a lot of sense. We are a public safety response agency and shouldn’t kill the motoring public as part of our standard response.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could apply the same logic outside of fire departments?

TSA Up To More Sh*t...

Associated Press reported on Nov 17 that TSA officials and a private security company at San Francisco International Airport cheated on undercover tests of screeners at passenger checkpoints.

A report from the DHS Office of Inspector General said:

Security officials would notify screeners as the agents approached checkpoints, radioing in their physical descriptions and sometimes even the agents' methods for concealing contraband.... The TSA last month awarded Covenant a four-year contract worth more than $300 million to continue screening at the airport.

Covenant Security, based in Illinois, claimed the initial whistle-blower complaint was '"unsubstantiated" and the product of one "disgruntled employee.' Turns out that quote was, to remember the Nixon era, "inoperative". The OIG investigation clearly demonstrated that Covenant and TSA officials were conspiring to cover up the cheating.

Given the fact that the word "covenant" is generally used these days in terms of its religious meaning ("a solemn agreement between the members of a church to act together in harmony with the precepts of the gospel")*, I would tend to believe that the company is another one of the fundie wingnut corporate crowd cashing in on george w bush's "faith-based" operations.

The Transportation Security Administration was the first agency set up in response to the 9-11 terror attacks, and was later subsumed in the creation of DHS. I've cited before TSA's remarkably poor performance, especially in the integrity area; this is just one more shining example of how they are keeping us safe. Not.

In all fairness, however, I do have to credit the DHS OIG for, first, investigating these complaints, and second, for releasing the results. We've all seen how bushco suppresses findings that aren't favorable to the administration, and here is their 'brightest star' in the GWOT (Global War On Terra) criticizing its 'brightest child'.


*See, for example, Covenant Transport, a "Christian" trucking company based in Chattanooga, TN. Covenant, despite claiming adherence to "Christian" principles, has a crappy reputation among truckers. Just one more example of Christianist hypocrisy.

Marginalizing george w bush

While I was posting a comment on the Dark Wraith's post (excerpted below), I decided to follow in the steps of Pissed-off Patricia and Skippy*, and to attempt to marginalize as much as possible the BlunderBoy preznit, by refusing to capitalize either his name or initials.

Thus far, all of the comments on DW's post has been positive, and pretty much all said -- in effect -- add my name to the list.

And, of course, DW is right. We, as liberals, should be grateful for george w. bush, as his arrogance, stupidity, laziness, and greed have energized what had been a semi-comatose electorate. As DW said:

I don't mean you, personally, but you as an attitude, a posture, a way of Americanism that had been lurking in the shadows all the years I was becoming complacent, all the years I was imagining a world becoming better. It was not; and it was not because you as a face of America had always been there waiting to return from the receding memories of Vietnam, Central America, and other places most people don't even know about.

I almost forgot, as I drifted into this century in a sort of self-assured, half-slumber of comfort about America's future.

You reminded me that my America is not everybody's America; and if I should want my America, I must be forever diligent, eternally at the guard, and permanently ready to fight for it, perhaps even with my life, which you, I am most certain, would be willing to take if I were to become too much a vexation to you and your kind.

The man is almost too good.

*Although in Skippy's case, I don't know if it's marginalizing commander codpiece or just a permanently-missing shift key...

The Dark Wraith on GW Bush

Even for the Dark Wraith -- as talented and gifted a writer as any best-seller -- this is impressive... and quite moving:

Even from the tiny hill upon which I stand here in cyberspace, I can see thousands upon thousands who share my revulsion at you. Not merely at your policies, Mr. Bush, but at you: you as a coward, you as a liar, you as a manipulator, you as a torturer, you as a breeder of death, you as a destroyer of America's future, you as a taker from the poor, you as a giver to the rich, you as a phony from the day you set foot on this good earth.

Have you any idea how grateful the world will be when you are finally removed from the stage and sent back to the shadows whence you came? Have you any idea, sir, how many people around the world will celebrate, certainly with great caution, the return of hope that this nation can lead by moral principle and not by incompetent violence?

Amen, brother. Amen.

86... 41 and 43... hike

(Yeah, really straining to come up with a pseudo-football-related head on National Eating Day)

Jurassic Pork takes umbrage at those criticizing Dear Leader:

And, after all, how dare any one, especially an unwashed Middle Easterner, impugn the abilities of a person who’s had everything handed to him on a platinum fucking platter by Daddy and his buddies? Just because a man is given a legacy grant to two Ivy League universities, a spot on the Texas Air National Guard protecting the Lone Star State from tumbleweeds blowing across from Oklahoma so he could stay out of Vietnam, an easy discharge with no record detailing said discharge, a start up company that blows up in his face like a chemistry set, is rescued by a fellow Texas Air National Guard fuckup who then gives him an even bigger chemistry set to blow up, more of Daddy’s buddies like Mr. Rove who tell him what to say and how to say it and finally the presidency of the United States with the help of more of Daddy’s friends with the black robes wielding the only votes that matter during an election…

As usual, go read the whole thing.

Populism 101

In a discussion of populism, Blue Gal uses an excellent line:

I've said this before and I'll say it again and again and again...We are not our parents democratic party. We are our Grandparents Democratic Party.

She explains it this way:

Populism scares the hell out of the party apparatchiks because populist issues do not come out of think tanks on the coasts. Populist issues are fostered in Grange Halls and at high-school sporting events; at kitchen tables and in the corner booth of small-town diners throughout the land. In no political area is the saying “all politics is local” more of a truism than in populist movements.

Head on over and read the whole thing.

Minneapolis Muslim Mayhem

(Doesn't that sound like a headline from the Daily News or the New York Post?)

AP has a piece up about the latest bit of "anti-Muslim hysteria": six imams removed from an US Airways flight leaving Minneapolis for Phoenix.

Three of them stood and said their normal evening prayers together on the plane, as 1.7 billion Muslims around the world do every day, Shahin said. He attributed any concerns by passengers or crew to ignorance about Islam.

Excuse me. The concerns were due to ignorance about Islam? Have the imams ever stopped to consider what happened on 9-11? The various highjackers stood in unison, probably said their last prayers, then proceeded to raise hell.

I don’t blame the passengers on that plane one little bit. I would have done the same thing.

Much as I despise preznit, I wish the boy had gone into Afghanistan and completely destroyed al-Qaeda and their Taliban supporters. If he had done that – instead of getting sidetracked on his fantasy war in Iraq – we would not now be considered a “rogue nation” by many.

Muslims claim Islam is a “religion of peace.” It’s hard to square that with the daily reports of the latest Muslim atrocities, either against Christians or against their fellow Muslims.

Have all Muslims been given a bad rap by the misguided actions of a few? Hell, yes.

But, given what 19 Muslims did to our country five years ago, Muslims must be nucking futs to think that they’re not going to be watched like hawks. Deservedly or not, Americans are going to view all Muslims with suspicion for many years to come. The Muslims are just going to have to deal with it.

Of course, it would help if the Muslim leaders could get their followers to stop killing everyone in sight…..

The Republican Mindset in a Nutshell:

"But Clinton got a blow-job"...

United States Constitution v. George W. Bush, et al.

Via Kos diarist Vyan and front-pager Georgia10, we find even more evidence of the American way of life being driven into shrill unholy madness by the incompetence, mendacity, and sheer disconnection from reality of the George W. Bush administration [™ Shrillblog].

First, Georgia10:

This demonization of ideas which don't square with the notion of an imperial presidency is a failsafe tactic employed by this administration whenever it happens to find itself on shaky legal and ethical footing--which is to say, it's employed quite often. Criticism of the war was dangerous, as now, the mere idea that the government should be obey [sic] the Fourth Amendment is a "grave threat" to national security.

Read that last sentence again: "the mere idea that the government should [ ...] obey the Fourth Amendment is a "grave threat" to national security."

What kind of lunatic would come up with such a thought? In this case, it was Abu Al Gonzales, he of the torture memo, the guy who said the Geneva Conventions were "quaint" (and I bet you thought I was going to say Bush, didn't you?).

Now, Abu Al is saying that supporting the Constitution of the United States is a "grave threat to the liberty and security of the American people." Which specific part of that "goddamned piece of paper" irked the administration asshats this time? Oh, right, it's that troublesome Fourth Amendment. You know which one I mean:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Yeah, I can see how the Bushies would say that one just causes problems. For them, at least.

Georgia10 goes on to say: [emphasis added]

For them, the greatest impediment to the war on terrorism launched that day was never bearded men wagging their fingers on grainy videotapes and promising streets filled with blood, but a vocal citizenry fiercely dedicated to enforcing the rule of law.

It is that bloc of citizens, those who call out this administration on its illegaties [sic], who are viewed as the enemy, as the "grave threat". It is us, who refuse to give up liberties in a spat of communal cowardice, who scare the shit out of them. For our dissent, our diligence, and sheer strength in numbers operate as the ultimate threat to that which they seek to protect the most: their power.

Amen.

And the amazing part is that so many people -- so many Americans -- still see these thugs as America's "defenders". They're not defending our country, they're destroying it, and much more surely than bin Laden could ever hope to.

If it hadn't been for the Constitution, the neocons might never have come to power: they might have been silenced themselves, just as they are trying now to silence us. If it hadn't been for the Bill of Rights, Bill Clinton -- had he been as truly evil as the neocons would have us believe -- would surely have sent Lizard Boy Gingrich and the rest to the 90's version of Gitmo.

And they should be careful in pulling this crap now, for the Dems are taking the majority come January. If the Rethuglicans want a "unitary executive", they may rue that... what if the unitary executive were President Hillary Clinton?

I can hear the neocons now: [source: Wikipedia]

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

Then, for even more, we go to Vyan:

In discussing Abu Al's feelings on the warrantless wiretapping, Vyan quotes Gonzales: [Emphasis Vyan's]

"We believe the president has the authority under the authorization of military force and inherent authority of the constitution to engage in his sort of program, but we want to supplement that authority," he said.

Vyan then comments:

Both of these men [618: Cheney and Gonzales] took an solemn oath to "Uphold the Constitution", yet both seem hell-bent on violating it's very tenets.

Abu presents a false hobsons choice between the possible loss of "liberty" due to a devestating terrorist attack - which even in the worst case scenario is less likely to be as deadly and damaging as Hurricane Katrina - against the very real fact of lost liberty happening right now as a result of the Bush administrations Imperialist actions.

They claim this type of survellance has been "highly succesful", yet the FBI considers the thousands of false leads and dead-ends they've generated so far to be "a waste" of time and resources. Resources which could and should be better spent on credible leads gained through legal means.

There is also the problem that evidence gathered against real terrorists who are actually captured using extra-legal means - is inadmissable under the fruits of the poison tree doctrine. (Of course this may be exactly why Bush has pushed so hard for the use of Military Commisions and the abondoning of Habeas Corpus)

Newly empowered Congressional Democrats have already found that the Bush Administration has been regularly violating at least 26 Federal Laws - including FISA.

But it has to be said that this type of nonsensical counter-factual politicing by appointed Civil Servants is dangerous to the foundations of our Democracy itself. It is a far greater danger in the estimatation of many legal and constitutional scholars - than anything Al Qaeda has done, or will ever do.

The deepest cuts to liberty are those which are often self-inflicted.

The last link in Vyan's quote leads (via his diary and the "Truth 2 Power" blog) to a chilling article at Talking Points Memo Muckraker, detailing how the Bushistas may have broken over two dozen federal laws and regulations -- some of them multiple times. The article is based on a report (unreleased, of course) from the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee. The report quotes Michigan Representative John Conyers:

The laws implicated by the Administration’s actions include federal laws against making false statements to congress [sic]; federal laws and international treaties prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; federal laws concerning retaliating against witnesses and other government employees; executive Orders concerning leaking and other misuse of intelligence; federal regulations and ethical requirements governing conflicts of interest; the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; communications privacy laws; the National Security Act; and the Fourth Amendment.

This is similar to something I said a while back:

A couple of people are now starting to start about applying the RICO (Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) law to the Bushies. Now, I was a cop, not a lawyer, so I'm not that familiar with the intricacies of RICO, but I remember how quickly it put an end to a lot of groups ranging from street gangs to the Mafia. Maybe it should be considered. Lord knows they're corrupt enough.

If I have ever seen a "corrupt organization", it is Bush's (well, Rove's) Republican Party.

The verdict of this court is in:

We find for the plaintiff, the United States Constitution.

See ya in Gitmo, boys.

Oh, and you guys don't get lawyers, either. You're "enemy combatants", after all.

WMDs and Railroads

In an article in the October issue of Homeland Protection Professional (no link, paid subscription), Technology Writer Douglas Page discusses the January 6, 2005, train derailment in Graniteville, SC. The train was carrying deadly chlorine gas, sodium hydroxide and creosol. One chlorine car ruptured, spewing 90 tons of gas into the atmosphere. Nine died, hundreds were injured, and more than 5000 people were evacuated (many could not return home for two weeks). Page notes that approximately 13 million tons of chlorine was produced in 2004, with most of it shipped by rail.

What does a tragic rail accident have to do with Weapons of Mass Destruction?

What if, instead of derailing in a small South Carolina town at 2:40am, the train had derailed at 3:30pm? What if it happened in Washington, DC, where tracks run less than five blocks from the US Capitol and the National Mall? In the autumn, with the Mall crowded with tourists?

What could happen is this:

• 100,000 people could be killed or injured in the first 30 minutes.
• People could die at the rate of 100 per SECOND.
• A cloud of toxic gas 10 miles wide and 40 miles long could be produced

You think maybe a terrorist might consider that scenario worth considering? Remember, fewer than 3,000 died in NYC on 9-11.

I've been bitching about chemical security for a while. Back in August, I wrote:

Force the chemical and energy industries off their collective asses and start making some serious progress in securing their respective facilities. [snip] Chemical security is a joke: recent articles in the NY Times, for instance, showed open, unmanned gates into freight yards handling hazardous loads.

I'm not the only one, of course. Just about every safety and security person outside of DHS has been screaming about how tempting these targets would be.

The Emergency Response Guide, a cooperative effort of the US Dept of Transportation, Mexico's Secretariat of Transport and Communications, and Canada's Transport Canada, indicates a minimum exclusion area of 100 meters (330 feet) in all directions for most unknown spills. If the spill involves a tank, rail car, or tank truck, the minimum is 800 meters (1/2 mile). The Graniteville chlorine leak required an exclusion zone of one mile.

Just for the hell of it, here are some minimum evacuation distances from the ERG:

• Chlorine: 0.8 mile
• Phosgene: 2.6 miles (phosgene is an ingredient in methyl isocyanate)
• Cyanogen chloride: 1.5 miles
• Pentaborane: 2.1 miles
• Liquified gas, flammable, poisonous: 3.2 miles

For acetone cyanohydrin, its so lethal the Feds advise emergency responders not to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to victims who may have come in contact with it.

How close are you to a rail line?

The Department of Homeland Security, of course, is still too busy planning for the last attack to worry about the next attack. The chemical industry sure isn't going to volunteer to implement security procedures on their own: keeping things safe costs money, which could otherwise be put to "better" uses... like stock options, dividends, and executive pay packages.

The industry doesn't even really learn from its own mistakes, either: after Bhopal, Union Carbide did the absolute bare minimum in upgrades in its West Virginia plant (which produced the same methyl isocyanate as the Bhopal plant). Then they sold off the Indian subsidiary that ran the Bhopal plant, claiming that the management in Bhopal had not followed corporate guidelines. [Note: for a really in-depth look at how Union Carbide botched Bhopal, as well as detailed discussions of the Three Mile Island disaster, and two well-handled crises -- Rely tampons and the Tylenol poisonings -- see Steven Fink's Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable.)

And Lord knows we can't rely on the Bush administration to protect us. The current crop of politicians (at least until January) is too deep in the pockets of their corporate sponsors to do anything that would reduce profits. Why do you think the Feds are so enamoured of duct tape?

The problems aren't restricted to chlorine, either. There are plenty of other hazardous materials running around the country: anhydrous ammonia (used in commercial cooling systems), propane, gasoline, fuel oil. In fact, the ERG has 70 pages of listings by chemical name... in about 6-point type (about 50 listings per page, or roughly 3500 altogether).

One in six trucks carries some sort of hazardous material.

Okay, this piece isn't going to give you the "warm fuzzies". It's not supposed to. It's supposed to wake you up so you can lean on your Congresscritters to improve our security.

MN Fundie Wingnuts and Hindu Winners

CorrenteWire's Chicago Dyke has a post up, excerpting a letter from the fundie wingnut loser in Minnesota's 50th (State) Senate race. The winner is a Hindu.

As is typical, the fundie wingnut has to inject his obligatory mouth-breathin', Bible-thumpin', hooker-humpin', sister-marryin', rifle-rack-in-the-pickmup neocon wingnut idjit "come to Jesus" moments. CD points out: [emphasis added]

Honestly, it scares me to think of how many of these types are still in government and making policy. I understand what it is to have strong faith, but when you reach the point that you can’t even say “good luck!” without injecting Baby Jeebus into the mix…

We really, really need to do something about the fundie infestation in this country. I’m starting to wonder if we will ever ahem, ‘save’ a goodly portion of the population. Taxing churches seems like a good start to me.

Yeah, what CD sez. I love the phrase "fundie infestation". I hope she doesn't mind if I adopt it. (And as Skippy would say, "Yes! Chicago Dyke coined the phrase"... "y!cdctp")

Go read the whole thing.

Why the Bush Admin is Soooooo FUBAR, Part 93,759,864

Taken from one of Drum's posts at Atlantic Monthly (and totally out of context, at that...):

"...and the CIA's then-Paris station chief, Bill Murray, says, ..."

Bill MURRAY?!?



As CIA Station chief?!?!

No wonder the CIA is so f***ed up...

Meechigan Football - Mrs.618

The past couple of days have been very somber for not just University of Michigan football fans, university staff and faculty, sports writers and family of Bo Shembechler, but for us " old time townies" as well. I say this as someone who grew up with Maize & Blue blood in her veins.

I am not much of a football fan per say, but growing up 6 blocks from the stadium, Saturdays in the fall always meant football...For one reason or another you may not have been attending the games, but you still planned your life around the. I can honestly say there was never a time in my life that U of M football and Shembeckler weren't synonymous. On nice fall days while jumping in the leaves I never needed to have the radio on as I could always tell who was winning by the cheers and jeers wafting down from "The Big House."

I also learned one of my favorite pass time in those Saturdays, one that I still enjoy today, that is people watching. An hour or so before the game my folks would put the lawn chairs out on the front porch and we would watch all the people passing by, some just enjoying a fall day spent at the game others a bit tipsy and rambunctious, some begging to park in our front yard. ( Something my father forbade)

I did how ever pass up the one opportunity I had ever had to meet the man; it was after his wife Millie had taken ill, but was still doing the everyday normal things a wife and mother do, and that was her grocery shopping. As I was walking into the store I saw the coach and he realized he had been reconized... I could tell that he was preoccupied and did not need the hassle of yet another fan, when he looked up and our eyes met I simply nodded and waved , he smiled an appreciative smile and returned the wave. He was a man with a big heart, one that brought many people joy.

While Meechigan may not have one the game today, I think Bo would have been proud of them, it was a well played game in this amateurs opinion, they got out there, they played hard, and they took the loss with the grace and dignity, that real men are taught. I think both Woody Hayes and Bo Shembechler would be proud of their respective teams today.

So Coach I raise my glass to you, in thanks for the legacy you have left us, not only a great athletic program at the university, the boys you turned into men, but for all those who's life's you have touched
both on and off the field. And most of all thanks for all the great memories you created for us.

Criminal Justice: The Esperanza Fire

[Second of two articles]

In my previous post, I discussed the shameful Ivan Hill case. This case, however, is somewhat better. Prosecutors in Riverside, CA, have charged a suspect in last month's "Esperanza" fire, which killed five firefighters, along with ten other fires. The prosecutor's office says it has "overwhelming evidence" against Raymond Lee Oyler.

Defense counsel, of course, claims Oyler has an "air-tight" alibi for the fire: he was caring for his 7-month-old baby. The alibi is "confirmed" by Oyler's girlfriend and sister (the article is a little ambiguous here, so I am assuming the grilfriend and sister are two people).

The AP article says:

Arsons are challenging to prove because evidence often burns and suspects can be miles away creating an alibi by the time anyone notices flames.

This is true as far as it goes, but it is also misleading. Certainly, a fire -- especially a wildfire like Esperanza -- creates wide-spread destruction, but -- and this is a crucial "but" -- a properly trained, experienced arson investigator can often determine "cause and origin" where the uninitiated eye sees merely chaos. Arson investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and Certified Fire Investigators (through the International Association of Arson Investigators) can have an almost uncanny ability to spot indicators of cause and origin. [As bloggers seem to be held to a much higher standard of disclosure than reporters or White House appointees, I should point out that I am a member of IAAI, but I am not a CFI. Yet.]

At 10 of the fires, investigators recovered remains of incendiary devices: five to seven paper or wood matches wrapped around a cigarette using duct tape or a rubber band. The arsonist lit the cigarette, which slowly burned down until it reached the matches and ignited them, sparking a brush fire. The device allows a time delay of up to 11 minutes that arsonists can use to escape and create an alibi.

[snip]

Thomas Fee, president of the International Association of Arson Investigators, said the DNA evidence could be key to linking Oyler to the other blazes. That DNA allows prosecutors to focus on the similarities between the cigarette-and-match devices used at the June blazes and the one used at the Esperanza Fire.

The way the incendiary devices were constructed can be used to show that the same person crafted them all — a so-called "arsonist's signature," said Fee, who isn't involved in the Oyler case. The signature can be as subtle as the location of the matches on the cigarette's stem or more obvious, such as the brand of cigarette used, he said.

The description of the 'sets' as given in the article, however, may prove to be a problem. For the layman, "five to seven paper or wood matches wrapped around a cigarette using duct tape or a rubber band" may sound like identical sets, but to a fire investigator, they are as different as night and day: paper matches are not the same as wood matches, nor are duct tape and rubber bands identical. Even a rookie lawyer could wreak havoc if that were the only evidence.

On the other hand, it is likely that either the prosecutor's office released ambiguous information to the press or the reporter -- who probably is not an arson investigator -- did not fully understand the information.

A "signature device" is usually virtually identical from fire to fire. The article mentions the case of former South Pasadena fire investigator John Orr, who as convicted of four counts of murder after a fire at a home improvement warehouse, along with dozens of other fires. Orr's devices consisted of three or four paper matches attached to a Marlboro Light, wrapped in yellow lined paper. Orr used virtually identical devices in almost all of his fires; it was this simularity that helped convict him in (I believe) four separate trials. Of course, the fact that authorities found a manuscript, written by Orr, describing his fires in detail that could only be known to the arsonist, didn't help Orr's defense any. (The history of firefighter arsonists is fascinating, but that is an article for another day). The full story of Orr's descent from respected arson investigator and mentor to convicted murderer is told in Joseph Wambaugh's book, Fire Lover.

At the top of this post, I said that the Oyler case was "better" than the Hill case. It is, but only because the authorities were able to identify and arrest Oyler before he had a chance to start even more fires. Certainly, the fact that five firefighters lost their lives makes Oyler's story anything but pleasant.

Should Oyler be convicted, I would hope that part of the sentence imposed would include psychiatric evaluation and treatment. Serial arsonists are a strange breed, and we know nowhere near as much as we should about these people. Back in December of last year, I wrote about Tookie Williams, founder of the Crips street gang, saying:

I believe that executing people like that serves no useful purpose. In fact, keeping mentally ill murderers alive might actually benefit society, in that -- assuming their cooperation -- medical science might be able to develop treatments that could either restore these people to health, or maybe treat someone else before that person becomes a killer.

The same logic applies to serial arsonists.

Criminal (In)Justice: The "60 Freeway Slayer"

This is the first of two articles dealing with the state of the criminal justice system, at least as it is constituted in California.

The Los Angeles District Attorney’s office was able to convict accused "60 Freeway Slayer" suspect Ivan Hill in the rape and strangulation murders of six prostitutes during a ten-week period starting in November, 1993. The jury also convicted Hill of “special circumstance” allegations of multiple murders and having a prior murder conviction. The death penalty phase of the trial will begin next month.

At the time of Hill's arrest for the "60 Freeway" killings, he was in prison for robbery, attempted robbery and assault with a deadly weapon (which are all felonies), and was set to be released in three months.

Here’s the kicker: the prior murder conviction was in 1989 – Hill served a maximum of four years, ten months for the 1989 murder conviction.

Murder is generally defined as:

[T]he killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in law. In the U.S., special statutory definitions include murder committed with malice aforethought, characterized by deliberation or premeditation or occurring during the commission of another serious crime, as robbery or arson (first-degree murder), and murder by intent but without deliberation or premeditation (second-degree murder).

This means Hill killed someone intentionally; inadvertent killings are (usually) considered manslaughter.

In an interview, LA County District Attorney Steve Cooley said Hill had been convicted of a total of eight killings, implying that (perhaps) the 1989 conviction was for two earlier homicides. If this were indeed the case, Hill would have served two years, five months for each of the killings.

Let’s look at the timeline here:

• 1989: Hill convicted of murder (possibly two, as noted above)
• 1993-1994: “60 Freeway Slayer” killings (first body discovered November 1, 1993; last found January 12, 1994); six dead
• 1994: Hill convicted of robbery, attempted robbery, and assault with a firearm
• 2003: Hill arrested for “60 Freeway” killings, three months before scheduled release for the 1994 convictions (served approximately nine years)
• 2006: Hill convicted in Freeway case, penalty phase to begin next month.

If Hill were convicted in the 1989 cases on January 1 and began the “60 Freeway” killings as soon as he got out, he would have served 58 months, for two murders, before being released to kill again.

This is unconscionable.

Given that Hill’s victims in the current case were all African-American prostitutes, it stands to reason that any earlier victims would also have been African-American – serial killers tend to stick within their own race and to chose a specific demographic (or image) for their victims. Could the fact that the earlier victims were black have had something to do with Hill’s obscenely-early release?

British politician William Gladstone once said, "Justice delayed, is justice denied." Justice was not necessarily delayed in Hill's first imprisonment in 1989 (if it was, in fact, his first, which is doubtful), but it was certainly perverted. LESS THAN FIVE YEARS for murder. They've got to be kidding, especially in light of nine years for the 1994 convictions.

Of course, it is possible Hill escaped from prison, but it is much more likely he was paroled. Parole boards, by and large, tend to be made up of well-meaning but incredibly naïve people, the ones who want so desperately to believe that “he didn’t kill” because he didn’t want to kill, not because there were no young African-American hookers in the Super-Max cell block with him. Remember the scene in Backdraft, where Robert DeNiro and Billy Baldwin go to Donald Sutherland’s parole hearing? It’s just like that.

This is particularly ironic in view of last night’s episode of “Law and Order”, in which main plot was that the killer had been convicted of two separate strings of murders and escaped to kill five or six young schoolgirls. In the sub-plot, the father of one of the victims gunned down the mass-murderer after McCoy and company were unable to pursue a death-penalty case against him. The father, in his trial, claimed temporary insanity, but – after being cleverly maneuvered by McCoy – blurted out, “I did what needed to be done.” Although I missed portions of the program, it appeared the killer had managed to avoid execution even after having received the death penalty in his earlier trials.

Pokin' 'Round the Blogs...

Part One

The Blue Girl in the Red State (and there must be an easier way to refer to her) has an interesting post up on the Missouri elections, and the rationale underlying it. Well worth the read.

Just a snippet as an appetizer:

Terry Price, we absolutely know what we have done. We have replaced a senator who had more interest in serving K Street than he had with serving his constituents. We fired a senator who voted to suspend Habeus Corpus and legitimize torture, as well as repeal Posse Comitatus and The Insurrection Acts. We voted against Jim Talent and his 94% endorsement of the policies of George Bush, not against George Bush. We voted against a senator who skipped 65 of 95 Senate Armed Services Committee meetings while touting his service on that committee. We knew exactly who we were voting for, and more importantly, we knew precisely who we were voting against. We too believe the country was headed over a cliff and Jim Talent was reading the map for George Bush as he steered us farther and farther off course.

As I say, well worth it.


Part Two

Bob's Links and Rants -- a neighbor of mine, even though we haven't met -- discusses Rumsfeld addressing the American Spectator Annual Dinner on the 16th, praising economist Milton Friedman.

Then he points out:

This morning's headline?

Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman dies at 94

You're probably wondering, as I was, who else Rummy mentioned in his speech: Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL), and President Bush.

Just saying.

We should be so lucky.


Part Three

Anntichrist S. Coulter is still raising money for her friend Leola. If you could send them even a couple of bucks, it would help offset some truly horrendous medical bills. And if PayPal doesn't like you, the way they don't like me, Annti has a smail mail address for the fund.

Michigan-Ohio Update & Bo Schembechler

Obviously, the post about the Michigan-Ohio game was written before the news came out about Bo Schembechler's death.

Of course, there hasn't been much definitive information about the exact circumstances of his death, but from what I understand, he had had a pacemaker-defibrillator implanted last month; the pacemaker-defib was apparently working properly -- sending out electrical charges to stimulate a normal heart rhythm -- when he collapsed at the WXYZ studios in Detroit. This would imply to me that Schembechler's heart was damaged to the point where even the pacemaker-defib could not maintain his life.

Granted, I'm not a physician... or even an MD (which, contrary to what the docs believe, does not stand for "major diety"), but it doesn't take a Bill "Cat-Killer" Frist to see that if 'external' electrical charges aren't working, your heart is shot.

This is one of those situations where neither CPR nor an AED would have served any purpose. If an AED had been available, and if the pacemaker-defib had been firing as designed, the AED would probably have read a normal sinus rhythm, and would not have allowed a shock. If the pacemaker had not been firing, Schembechler would probably have been asystolic ("flat-lined" for the "ER"-watching crowd); AED's do not read asystole as a shockable rhythm.

Either way, Schembechler was probably dead before he hit the floor.

Does this mean you should not take a CPR class? Hell, no. Take the clas, cause the person you find probably won't be in Schembechler's circumstances.

BTW, there was a lot of discussion around the office today about Schembechler's death would affect the game. Opinion seemed to be more or less evenly split: either it would drag the Michigan team down (through sorrow, depression, and loss), or it would further energize a team that's already "up" (their own "win one for the gipper" moment).

Either way, it's gonna be a hell of a game.

UCLA, ACLU... What's the Diff?

Okay, the wingnuts are getting a little out of control. I was chatting with a friend about the UCLA police Tasering a student for failure to show identification in the university library.

One of the local loonies overheard us -- one of us said something about an ID dispute -- and he jumped right in... about the "ACLU police" stunning the guy for disputing Intelligent Design. First, he demanded to know when and why the ACLU had established its own police department, and he wanted to know why they were zapping the kid for not believing in "Intelligent Design", which he claimed had been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

We tried to expalin the difference between UCLA -- University of California, Los Angeles -- and the ACLU -- American Civil Liberties Union -- but he kept demanding to know why the ACLU had its own cops.

And we're supposed to reach out to these morons....

Michigan-Ohio Game*

I know that for some people -- my father and both brothers spring to mind -- football is a religion. And I know that Michigan and Ohio have been rivals since Don Imus crept from his mother's womb 103 years ago. And I even know both teams are going into the game with 11-0 records.

But this is just plain silly.

I heard on the radio today that the Department of Homeland Security has designated this weekend's game a "National Special Security Event", which is the same designation used for Presidential inaugurations, national political conventions and the like. This means the Secret Service is in charge of security for the event, assisted by DHS, FBI, DoD, and all the rest of the bureaucratic alpha-bits agencies.

All time off has been cancelled for the Columbus police and fire departments. The city is bringing in the county and state cops, and apparently every other uniformed group including the Cub Scouts.

The rumor mill even says the University of Michigan Police Dept is sending troops to Ohio for the game.

Now, is everyone over-reacting to a flippin' football game?... or do the dweebs at DHS figure this is a way to see a sold-out game?


*It seems to be legally required that every Michigan-based blogger comment on this game. I could give a rat's rectum about football. I was born in Brooklyn, NY, so I'm waiting for the Dodgers to finish off their extended road trip and come back home.

Bush and the Will of the People

I was reading Milton Friedman’s obit on Yahoo today, and I saw a rather ironic quote from Commander Codpiece:

"He has used a brilliant mind to advance a moral vision — the vision of a society where men and women are free, free to choose, but where government is not as free to override their decisions," SEARCH
President Bush said in 2002. "That vision has changed America, and it is changing the world.”

This is truly rich, coming from the man who has used more “signing statements” than all other American presidents combined, the man whose minions stole elections in Florida and Ohio, the man who allowed his mouth-breathin’, Bible-thumpin’, hooker-humpin’, sister-marryin’, rifle-rack-in-the-pickmup neocon wingnut idjit buddies to try to overrule the sovereign State of Florida in the Terry Schiavo case, the man who – proclaiming himself “The Decider” – single-handedly trashed 230 years of American juridical history (along with a certain “Goddamned piece of paper”, the Bill of Rights, the writ of habeas corpus, and a few other Constitutional goodies), the man who ignored the knowledge and recommendations of his own advisors to hurl us into an illegal and insane war, the man who has the unmitigated gall to suggest that disagreeing with him is tantamount to treason.

Of course, to be fair, Bush doesn’t really believe the government should override the peoples’ decisions… he reserves that “right” for himself only.

Oh, and the lovely yet talented Mrs 618 sent along this priceless quote from Dim Son:

"I have opinions of my own -- strong opinions -- but I don't always agree with them."

As she said, "Only Shrubby could spit out something so stupid".

Do Something Good...

Anntichrist S. Coulter, whose heart is as big as her home state of Louisiana (plus a large chunk of the 47 adjacent states), is raising money to help a friend of hers, Leola Kinchen, who is trying to deal with a brain tumor.

More information on Leola is here.

Now bear in mind, Annti has had her own problems recently, but here she is, doing her damnedest to help someone who really, really needs it.

If every single one of my readerswere to donate a measly five dollars, we could help raise... ummm... $25.00. Or so.

Please, go hit her PayPal button (remember, the money goes to Leola, not Annti). Not that Annti doesn't need it, but right now, she's concentrating on Leola.

Thanks, folks.

More Early Mornin' Bits 'n' Pieces...

A Los Angeles fire captain is in serious trouble:

“A veteran Los Angeles city fire captain tortured a female acquaintance before he strangled her last summer, an accusation that makes him eligible for the death penalty, according to a Los Angeles County grand jury indictment unsealed in court Wednesday. "

Or, he’ll be scouted by the Bushies for recruitment to Club Fed/Gitmo… [emphasis added]

A 23-year department veteran, Del Toro had been the supervisor of Fire Station 1 in Lincoln Heights and had trained firefighters in stress management and prevention of sexual harassment, despite a history of domestic violence allegations against him. The case highlighted the Fire Department's failure to track domestic abuse within its ranks.

This is absolutely inexcusable.

Homicide investigators followed a trail of blood from the body to Del Toro's home, sources said.

Yup, that’s stupid enough to be a Bushie.
_____
Daily Kos front-pager DarkSyde has an interesting article comparing George W. Bush to Wile E. Coyote: [emphasis added]

It's really difficult to judge which is more pathetic: That George Bush has to rely on Daddy's friends to bail him (And the entire nation) out from the consequences of his own piss-poor decisions, again, or that Baker and Gates may now have to essentially beg Iran and Syria to pitch in and save the Bush Family name.

Yup, that works.

Early Mornin' Bits 'n' Pieces

Heard a couple of interesting things on NPR this morning on the way in:

• In a story on a terrorism class being held at the Joint Special Operations University, an instructor referred to the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) as "Thousands Standing Around" and as the "Take your Shoes off Agency" (which was really reaching, but quite appropriate).

It's no great secret that I do not hold the TSA in high esteem. They, like the rest of TSA, are still preparing for the last attack, instead of thinking about the next. Certainly, anyone who has spent any time at a major airport since 9-11 can recall all those white-shirted losers standing around looking official (when they're not stealing from passengers, groping a pregnant woman's breasts, or missing [fake] bombs). Just Google "TSA screener arrested" and see what pops up: ten pages of stories. Ten PAGES.

• There was also a story on "faith-based investing", which is, to me, a terrifying concept. One "faith-based investor" said he's not homophobic, he just doesn't want to invest in companies supporting the "homosexual agenda".

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but the only people I've heard using the term "homosexual agenda" are the fundamentalist neocons... who tend to be homophobic to the hilt and/or closted gays: the Ted Haggards, the Mark Foleys, the Ken Mehlmans.

In his (her?) Kos diaries mentioned a few weeks ago, Dogemperor -- a walk-away from a dominionist church -- refers to a "dominionist glossary" (if I can find the link, I'll update this post); I believe "homosexual agenda" was listed as one of the "code phrases" understood by dominionists (and other mouth-breathin', Bible-thumpin', hooker-humpin', sister-marryin', rifle-rack-in-the-pickmup neocon wingnut idjits), and totally missed by others.

One of the local wingnuts here also said there was a "clear correlation between the homosexual agenda and the prevalence of birth control, partial-birth abortions, and sexual immorality".

• The lovely yet talented Mrs 618 was watching C-Span last week, and saw an interview with an author who wrote about "selective literalists" - those whackos who pick and choose certain parts of the Bible (usually from Leviticus) for "literal" interpretation, while completely ignoring passages that don't agree with their preconceived notions of right and wrong. More on this later.

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled work day.

Chattin' With Mr. C.

I was chatting earlier today with Mr. Conservatard, discussing the various possibilities for the remainder of the Bush reign. Mr. C. said he believes the administration will be pushing to pass as much legislation – Bolton to the UN, wiretapping, the rest of his “unitary executive” crap – as they can before the 110^th Congress takes over. I tend to agree with him on all but one point: he said Bush was formulating these plans.

Garbage.

Bush couldn’t formulate a glass of chocolate milk given a gallon of Hood’s finest and a jug of Hershey’s syrup.

There’s no doubt somebody is formulating something, but I’m inclined to believe it’s Cheney and Rove, or possibly Poppy’s “A-Team” that Junior had to call in to bail out his butt yet again.

As Digby points out: [emphasis added]

I hope people understand that James Baker and Robert Gates are in the Bush family business not the "wise old sage who will do what's right for the country" business. Indeed, their entire lives have been devoted to bailing out Bushes. (And they haven't always been successful. Jimmy may have pulled one out for Junior in Florida, but he was called back, much against his will, to get Poppy re-elected and failed.) Their job is simply to try to save Junior from ignominy and that is not necessarily what is in the best interest of the US or Iraq.

Digby then quotes the ever-wonderful Molly Ivins:

Jim Hightower's great line about Bush, "Born on third and thinks he hit a triple," is still painfully true. Bush has simply never acknowledged that not only was he born with a silver spoon in his mouth -- he's been eating off it ever since. The reason there is no noblesse oblige about Dubya is because he doesn't admit to himself or anyone else that he owes his entire life to being named George W. Bush. He didn't just get a head start by being his father's son -- it remained the single most salient fact about him for most of his life. He got into Andover as a legacy. He got into Yale as a legacy. He got into Harvard Business School as a courtesy (he was turned down by the University of Texas Law School).

He got into the Texas Air National Guard -- and sat out Vietnam -- through Daddy's influence. (I would like to point out that that particular unit of FANGers, as regular Air Force referred to the "Fucking Air National Guard," included not only the sons of Governor John Connally and Senator Lloyd Bentsen, but some actual black members as well -- they just happened to play football for the Dallas Cowboys.) Bush was set up in the oil business by friends of his father.

He went broke and was bailed out by friends of his father. He went broke again and was bailed out again by friends of his father; he went broke yet again and was bailed out by some fellow Yalies.

Ivins hardly paints the picture of Bush as a master thinker (he’s probably more of a master baiter).

Despite his claims of being “The Decider”, Bush seems to lack even the most rudimentary decision-making skills. Hell, he probably needs Laura – or at least his valet – to tell him which shoe goes on which foot (“George, your shoes are on the wrong feet again”… “But, Lauuuuraaaaa, theeeese are the only feet I haaaaaaave!”).

Obviously, Mr. C. is right in that the Bushies will try to get their agenda passed before the grownups return, if for no other reason than to give the Democrats as much trouble as possible when they try to reverse Bush’s assorted disasters. Face it, the more problems the Republicans accumulate, the harder it will be for the Democrats to solve them. The harder the Dems have to work, the more the Republicans can bitch about how the Democrats aren’t doing anything. And you know those lying sack-o-shit Republicans will very conveniently forget just who caused all these problems in the first place.

An Attaboy for (gasp!) Curt Weldon???

Much as I hate the Bushites and everything they stand for, I do have to give one of them some credit. Curt Weldon (R-PA) is a long-time member of the Congressional Fire and Emergency Services Caucus. As such, he (and the other 340 members of the Caucus) have been a voice for America's first responders.

I hope that at least a few of the newly-elected Democrats will take his place in this important group.

For your services to America's firefighters and EMS personnel, Mr. Weldon, thank you.

On the other hand, for your unswerving support of that lying sack of shit George W. Bush and his insane policies, STFU.

A propos of absolutely nothing, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams is also a former volunteer firefighter.

You have to give these people credit, especially the volunteers. They're the ones that run into buildings everyone else is running out of. They don't get paid anything near what they're worth to American society (if they get paid at all), and their budgets are usually among the first to be cut (along with the cops).

Volunteer firefighters have to meet the same training criteria as the full-time paid guys, yet they often have to do it on their own time and at their own expense.

Now that we're done -- for a while -- with the requests for campaign donations, why not kick a few bucks towards your local fire department?

Impeachment? No Effin' Way.

There's been a lot of discussion on the Internets the last couple of days about how the Democrats might consider impeaching George W. Bush for his actions as preznit.

I don't think any reasonable person doubts there would be sufficient evidence to at least get him impeached (remember, impeachment is Fed-speak for an indictment, not a determination of guilt). One commentator on NPR the other day pointed out that there would be at least as much evidence -- if not more -- against Cheney (sorry, no link, 'cause I can't remember who said it or when). There's certainly no lack of websites demanding Bush's removal from office (here, here, here, just to pick the first three from Googling "impeach bush").

No, if the decision were made to offer articles of impeachment, the problem would be knowing when "enough is enough". The boy has been so incredibly stupid, so amazingly arrogant, and so genuinely horrifying as preznit, we could probably come up with at least 500 articles -- each one a separate and discrete offense.

Badtux has pointed out that Speaker-Elect Nancy Pelosi has pretty much ruled out impeachment for reasons of simple math. The speaker is, of course, next in line after the Vice President.

More to the point -- as Badtux said at the end of his piece -- we'd wind up with (ulp) Preznit Cheney.

Now, I am hardly a Constitutional scholar, nor am I an attorney, but it seems there are a few different ways a possible impeachment ploy could work out. None of them are really good, at least from my point of view.

1. Bush is impeached, tried, and removed from office. This leaves Cheney as president (someone shoot me). As we saw with the Nixon administration, the new president gets to name a new vice president. Cheney would probably nominate someone even worse than he is. We (as in the American people) lose.
2. We impeach Cheney first; he's tried and removed. Bush gets to name Cheney's replacement. W would probably pardon Cheney (the way Ford pardoned Nixon) then re-nominate him. Otherwise, Bush would name some other moron -- like Santorum. We lose.
3. We impeach Bush and Cheney together. If they're both removed from office, the presidency would land in Pelosi's lap.

This would be a win, except for one thing: I think a lot of people -- maybe even a majority -- would view it as a power grab by Democrats. It would be a safe bet that some Republicans who might vote to convict Bush and Cheney (Snowe, Collins, McCain come to mind) if there were a Republican Speaker, would not do so with a Democratic Speaker. So we go through all the aggravation of impeachment and a trial, and come out with... nothing. All we would have done is make both of them martyrs. Kinda like the way the Republicans made a martyr out of Bill Clinton.

I think (and I've said this before) we should let Bush serve out his term, go back to Crawdad in disgrace, and spend eternity being remembered as...

Worst. President. Ever.

At least Warren Harding would be happy.

Yeah. What Badtux Sez.

In my piece "Post-Election Catch-Up", the prolific commenter Anonymous left me about a 500-line conspiracy-theory-"9-11 was no terror attack" piece of crap. I say piece of crap because most -- if not all -- of the allegations have been proven false.

Turns out Badtux got the same thing. Fortunately, the penguin saved me from having to respond to the conspiracy-theory-commenter (go read his rebuttal, and be glad I didn't post my own 500-line response).

"Why, Rummy, Why?"

I was chatting with a conservative coworker today, and asked him what his take was on Rumsfeld's resignation/firing. I was hoping to get a reasonable response, perhaps similar to responses posted by other bloggers: "Rumsfeld quit to avoid removal from office", "this is as close as Bush'll ever get to admitting we need to make a change", and so on.

Instead of a logical response, I got a tirade: "Why do you think he retired? He was sick and tired of you liberal commie-lovers targeting him"... and on and on and on...

No semblance of rational thought. None whatsoever.

And yet we have to reach out to these morons and try to work with them for the common good.

BadTux, the (Not) Wrong Penguin

BadTux, whom I have quoted in the past, is usually a very sane and competent writer on a variety of topics. Imagine my joy when I thought I had finally caught him in a boo-boo of truly egregious proportions:

Thus why I haven't exactly been jumping up and down for joy, because the only resort that Congress has, in that case, is to impeach Bush. And as Nancy Pelosi noted, that ain't happening. Impeachment is off the table for the simple reason that the Democrats don't have the 60 votes in the Senate. They could create a circus, but that's about it.

Of course, I read the whole piece, screaming (silently) at the monitor... "BadTux, you fool, don't you see????"

Then, way down at the end of the post...

All the way down...

At the very bottom...

Not to mention that impeaching Bush means... President Dick Cheney. Somehow I doubt that Darth Cheney would be an improvement!!

Rassafrassin' penguin ruined my day.

But I suppose I should have known he would have spotted the most terrifying part of impeaching Bush.

A Man of Many Talents...

The Dark Wraith (who very kindly added my humble offering to his blogroll, as well as -- apparently -- that at Big Brass Blog) is a man of many talents:

[...] a college teacher and writer who specializes in economics, finance, mathematics, business administration, computer hardware and software skills, and English grammar and composition. His extensive writings on the history of the English language appeared on About.com in the avatar of the Selig Wraith in the Medieval History Forum; and he now writes on economics and politics as the Dark Wraith, under which pen name he also publishes and hosts Big Brass Blog. In addition, he serves as the editor and publisher of the blogScream News Wire service.

He is also quite gifted in the graphics field:

Graphic courtesy of The Dark Wraith, used by permission.

I am SOOOOO glad I'm not George W. Bush....

Post Election Catch-Up

First, congratulations to all the Democrats -- both candidates and workers -- who showed that, despite Bush's best attempts, democracy is not dead yet.

Second, I would like to take this opportunity to reach out to our Republican brethren, in the spirit in which they reached out to us in 2000 and 2004:

YOU LOST! WE WON!!!!

GET OVER IT!!!

LOOOOOOOO-SERS!!!!!

Third, on a more sedate and appropriate note, many bloggers have pointed out that our work has just begun. My good friend, Mr. Conservatard, reminds us:

I am sure that quite a few questions will be going thru every Americans head next week, and the Democrats better have answers. The questions will probably look like the following examples. Now that the Democrats have some power in the government, what are they going to do with it? What is the best way to fix the mess of Iraq? What are the Democrats plans to help the economy? What are the Democrats plans to reverse six years of the Bush regime’s attack on the Constitution? How are they going to reverse the ecologically devastating policies of the Bushtard/Big Oil cabal?

None of these questions have simple answers. If the Democrats are smart they will be open with the American public about the complexity of the problems and that any solution will not be perfect. The conservatards have spent a lot of time and money to fool the American public into allowing them to use the military as a tool. A tool called “The War on Terror” that was in reality a tool to help the conservatards advance their neo-conservative imperialistic agenda. You can take it to the bank that the conservatards and their masters will not easily put the crack pipe of power and money down without a fight.

Mr. C is quite right in his assessments (I especially like the phrase "the crack pipe of power"). Of course, Mr. C is not the only one to advance such cautions: Kos and company, Digby, Atrios, Billmon, and many others have said similar things.

They are all 100% correct.

Now is not the time for gloating (at least, not too much). Now is the time when we as Democrats, with our newly-minted majority*, have to reach out. I'm not saying we have to suck up to the Republicans, but neither can we show their arrogance and disdain for "non-believers."

And like Georgia10 at Kos, I'm having kind of a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of victory. Of course, I'm considerably older ("older than dirt", as my son says) and remember handing out flyers on the streets of NYC for Johnson, Humphrey and Kennedy. But after 12 years of Republican rule on capitol Hill and six years of Bush's phony-cowboy hell, it'll take some time to accept that the grown-ups are back in charge.

*And while our majority is slim, remember that Bush and his sycophants claimed 51% was a "mandate" (No, Mehlman, not that kind of man-date. Idiot.)

Damn! The Dark Wraith Does It AGAIN!!!

Graphic Courtesy The Dark Wraith; Used by permission


From Dark Wraith:

The Republicans have retained and even expanded their control of the House. They have won Senate seats where they should have lost, and they have taken a couple more they shouldn't have won. Several governorships have gone from Democrats to Republicans.

GOP faces are all over the TV, smirking, waving, smugly preening themselves before the cameras, talking about the "future," "the people's vote of confidence," and all manner of other sound bites that make you just sick to your stomach.

Yes, an election has been stolen. Again.

What, exactly, was it that you thought would happen? That the Republicans would play fair? That the rigged electronic machines, the tainted software, and their corrupted manufacturers from 2000 and 2004 had all simply vanished into thin air?

That the party of a President who had committed all manner of crimes both personally and by proxy through his subordinates would simply let all Hell break loose in a free-for-all hanging that could very well include humiliating disclosures, removals from office, and even prison terms?

That a party corrupted to its core even as it is insanely convinced of the rightness of its vision would merely stand down and let that vision of the Republic get savaged in such a way that it might be generations before people once again would forget how wretched that vision always turns out to be in practice?

And from his response to a comment:

Of no small importance in this regard is the plan by Republicans in some districts to have those sleezy voter qualification "challengers" slithering around at the polling sites trying to intimidate people. My own method in this regard is to simply walk up to them with my camera and take their pictures. I'll make sure a policeman is nearby when I do it. Any trouble they make will result in immediate, on-the-spot charges being filed against them. I am most definitely not in the mood to mess around.

They've had their fun being the school-yard bullies for six years; now it's their turn to get the swirlies. If my life experience is any indication of what's going to happen, school-yard bullies are great on offense but have a really hard time with defense: they tend to stick to offensive tactics even when they need to go to defensive mode (with which they are entirely unfamiliar), and that's where they'll get their come-uppance. My bet is that they'll get physical even in the presence of law enforcement officers, which will ensure their removal.

So, yes, I expect trouble; and, yes, I'm so looking forward to it.

And as far as getting myself a bloody nose or two, which is a real possibility when thugs run amok are in the mix, if I remember my old days properly, a bloody nose is pretty fun if I get to have some bloody knuckles with it.

Oh, hell, just go read the whole thing.

One thing for sure: I wouldn't want to be one of those Rethug "challengers" when the Wraith shows up.

Violent Crime Alert

From the "Coastal Journal", which is part of the Portland (ME) Press-Herald, from October 13, 2006:

Joshua [redacted], age 18 of Phippsburg, was arrested for Unauthorized Taking. [He] picked flowers from displays along Front St.

And I thought we had serious crime problems in Detroit....

Billmon on Haggard

From Billmon the other day:

Rocky Mountain High

You know you're in a pretty tight spot when you're a fundamentalist preacher with a high political profile and your defense is: "I only bought crystal meth from that gay hooker."

Maybe Jimmy Swaggart could survive something like that, but then Jimmy isn't gay.

Good luck in your future endeavours, Ted. You're going to need it.

Or, to quote that other Haggard (Merle):

I'd like to hold my head up and be proud of who I am / But they won't let my secret go untold / I paid the debt I owed them, but they're still not satisfied / Now I'm a branded man out in the cold

Update 8:00 PM ET:
Ted Haggard, the beleaguered pastor of a Colorado Springs evangelical church who had denied having sex with a male prostitute, has been fired by an oversight board, which found him guilty of "sexually immoral conduct."

So much for Christian forgiveness. God help me, but at this point even I feel sorry for the guy.
Posted by billmon at November 4, 2006 03:13 PM

I almost hate to say this, but I don't feel sorry at all for Haggard (Ted, that is). He's a typical, hypocritical, mouth-breathin', Bible-thumpin', hooker-humpin', sister-marryin, rifle-rack-in-the-pickmup neocon wingnut idjit... who just also happens to like smoking crystal meth and having sex (paid sex, at that) with men.

By his own logic (if one can call it that), he should be condemned to an eternity in Hell.

Of course, maybe once he feels the full brunt of his brethrens' "Christian forgiveness", he'll vote Democrat in an effort to save his soul.

I just LOVE seeing these bastards get their just desserts.