The Songs of Summer

The Chicago Cubs play their first night game at Wrigley Field. The Democrats nominate Michael Dukakis for president. The Republicans nominate Vice-President George Herbert Walker Bush. The Iran-Iraq war ends. And the summer Olympics are held in Seoul, South Korea.

'twas the summer of 1988. And this classic rocker was all over the radio...

"Rev It Up" by Jerry Harrison (of Talking Heads)

The Dumbing Down of America Continues

Defense Attorney to Lindsay Lohan:

Whatever you have done in the past, do a 360-degree turn and go the other way.

Yes...that will fix the problem. Lindsay should definately spin around completely and walk backwards!

Fixed

Thanks to Gil for recommending I download the Firefox internet browser to fix the problems Blogger was having with the Safari browser on the new iMac.

Problem somewhat fixed. There are still a few bugs but it's functional for now.

The San Francisco Marathon

Congratulations to everyone who took part in yesterday's San Francisco Marathon; and to Andrew Cook of Denton, Texas, the winner for the second year in a row!

The Songs of Summer

From the hot summer of 1995...

"Waterfalls" by TLC

Grim Kitty

Oscar the cat is reportedly able to sense when residents are about to die at the Steere House Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, curling up next to patients during their final hours.

The New England Journal of Medicine has even investigated Oscar's other-worldly abilities. David Dousa, who carried out research for the Journal :

He doesn't make many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die.

Oscar's accuracy rate is so astonishing that Steere House staff now alert the families of residents when he sits down next to their ailing loved one.

(Photo: Stew Milne / AP)

Massacre at ABC News

Now that they've been beating NBC Nightly News as the #1 rated network news cast by essentially removing most world news from "World News Tonight" (in favor of more light feature fare), ABC News has parted ways with four longtime news veterans, who essentially formed the last iota of credibility the network's news division had left.

Gone are national correspondent Dean Reynolds (a 23-year veteran of the network and son of Frank Reynolds, the anchor of "World News Tonight" prior to Peter Jennings); Bill Redeker, a 32-year international correspondent with the network; Mark Litke, ABC's chief Asian correspondent, who has been with the network for 27 years; and Bob Jamiemson, who has been with ABC since 1990 after spending 20 years at NBC News.

"World News," which has now virtually stripped its ranks of veteran foreign correspondents, on Tuesday night had three sports-related stories and no international news.

Memo to the powers that be at ABC: Don't you think it's time to change the name of your product? You don't exactly specialize in international news anymore now do you?

If you listen carefully you'll hear Peter Jennings rolling over in his grave.

The Songs of Summer

A number 1 smash from the summer of 1974...

"Band on the Run" by Paul McCartney and Wings

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Impeachment Now

25 percent. Frankly, I'm surprised the President's approval rating is that high! The lawlessness of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney has become exasperating. And the only way to save our republic is for the House of Representatives to file articles of impeachment against both men immdediately. The Senate should follow with conviction of the two men and their removal from office.

Chutzpah

Quote of the Day:

You have to give Republicans points for consistency. They bring the Senate to a halt and then blame Democrats for not getting anything done. They destroy FEMA's ability to respond to natural disasters and then hold it up as an example of why you can't trust government to do anything right. They lose a war via unparalleled military incompetence and then claim that liberals are defeatists for pointing it out. They spend 20 years claiming that Social Security is going bankrupt and then use the resulting public insecurity about Social Security as an explanation for why the whole system needs to be privatized.

-Kevin Drum, on the Republican plan to paint Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as "all talk and no action."

Impeach Gonzales

Like a child who has been caught in a mountain of lies, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faced Papa Patrick, Grandpa Arlen, Grandma Dianne, and Uncle Russell earlier today and proceeded to trip over those lies, sputtering and blathering to the point that only the most rabid Republican (read: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney) could possibly still support his remaining as Attorney General.

Behold what happens when an ideological imbecile president nominates an ideological imbecile lawyer to run the Justice Department...





Impeach Gonzales now! And I mean today! I know the votes are there in the House, and following today's testimony it probably won't be too hard to find 67 votes in the Senate to convict.

The Songs of Summer

The # 1 single in the country this week in 1986. (To put that in perspective, those born that week are now old enough to drink!) The video is still a superb piece of filmmaking...

"Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel

The YouTube Debate

It worked quite well. Most of the questions were relevant and a few were rather softball, but the overall concept was a major step forward for democracy; a nice example of government by the people.

The highlights? The questions on political dynasties (Clinton's answer was classic); how long we'd remain in Iraq after the inauguration of a Democratic president in January of 2009; the Dafur situation; and the question from the snowman about global warming. :-)

Leaving me scratching my head? Why the Iraq questions didn't come first and foremost.

You can see the questions asked here.

Light Blogging

The new iMac has just been set up and unfortuntely the internet browser that is included with the computer (Safari) isn't all that compatible with Blogger. While I try to figure it out blogging may be light. But be prepared for a site change, as it looks like I'll probably wind up moving to Mac's iWeb service or to WordPress.

TV News Anchor Pete Wilson, 1945 - 2007

Longtime San Francisco news anchor Pete Wilson died unexpectedly Friday night, a day after suffering a massive heart attack during hip replacement surgery at Stanford Hospital. He was 62.

I've only been a San Franciscan for a year, but in all the years of visiting and vacationing prior to the move, it was obvious that Wilson was THE face of TV news here. He arrived in the Bay area in 1983 at the ABC station (KGO-Channel 7) before moving across the street to the infamous independent NBC affiliate KRON-Channel 4, where he spent 12-years as the station's principal anchor. Following that station's disaffiliation with the NBC network, Wilson returned to KGO-TV where he has anchored the 6pm newscast - and hosted an afternoon talk show on their sister radio station - since 2002.

He ruffled some feathers last year when he publicly criticized San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who is in a same-sex partnership, for having a baby with a friend, Rebecca Goldfader, who is a lesbian. The Board of Supervisors demanded that KGO fire him, but Wilson addressed the issue on his radio show and reiterated his support for same-sex marriage and same-sex adoption.

For a brief moment over the weekend, as news of Wilson's death hit the newswires, some Californians outside of the Bay area thought that the former California Governor, also named Pete Wilson, had died.

As a follower of local TV news since I was a teenager, Wilson was indeed a pro. Not one to simply sit down and read a teleprompter, Wilson always gave the impression that you needed to sit down and listen to what he had to say. And he was infamous for his deep sighs and eye rolling at some of the absurd stories that would make their way to his newscasts.

Wilson is survived by his wife and a son.

(Photo: KGO-TV)

Heck of a Job

The trailers supplied to Hurricane Katrina refugees seem to have a big problem. They contain unhealthy levels of formaldehyde. 66,000 people live in these trailers. One man has died from the resulting respiratory problems related to the chemical. Yet, when confronted with the first complaints in June of 2006 FEMA lawyers argued against an investigation of the trailers. "Once you get results and should they indicate some problems, the clock is running on our duty to respond to them," wrote one of the agencies lawyers at the time.

This organization - and the administration they are part of - have failed the people of New Orleans and Mississippi at every level. "Brownie" was incompetent, but the current FEMA is just plain corrupt.

The Songs of Summer

July of 1979, the peak of America's love affair with disco...

Following the depature of founding member Leon Sylvers III (to become the in-house producer at SOLAR Records) the Casablanca label teamed the remaining Sylvers family with uber-producer Giorgio Moroder. Having just produced a string of hits for Donna Summer and winning that year's Academy Award for best original score for "Midnight Express", Moroder was the hottest producer in the business in the summer of '79.

The result of the collaboration with the family was the aptly titled LP "Disco Fever." The first single from the album was a dance club favorite and disco radio smash. With top notch production and superb vocals from brother Edmund and sister Angie, that track is posted here as part of the Songs of Summer series. Enjoy...

"Mahogany (Do You Know)" by the Sylvers

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The Right Wing Fascist Nut-jobs

Ok...so, the Prez is having a tube stuck up his ass on Saturday and, while under anesthesia, will turn the reigns over to Vice-President Cheney. All in all Dick will be Acting President for about two-and-a-half hours. It's been done before; it'll be done again. That's what the Constitution is for.

BUT...

...the right wing fascist nut-jobs are absolutely jizzing over the prosepct of "President Cheney." Suggestions for his brief tenure:

Bomb Iran.
Pardon Scooter.

See the list over at the conservative National Review.

Dive Deep

When Morcheeba released their first post-Skye Edwards CD ("The Antedote") back in 2005, I was among the many who were deeply disappointed. The replacement lead singer had limited vocal range and the songs were a bit rough-edged when compared to the band's previous catalog.

The singer on that album has been jettisoned and, over the last few months, the band has been in the studio recording some new material. The final product, expected to be released sometime this autumn, will be called "Dive Deep" and will feature rotating "guest" lead singers.

Two of the new tracks have been posted on the band's MySpace page, and if they are any indication of what the entire album will sound like, then it would seem Morcheeba might just have their groove back.

Click here for the two new tracks. They are called "Enjoy the Ride" and "Gain the World."

Impeachment Now

So, it seems that President Bush's latest point man in Iraq is just another Republican Party hack, sent there to do the administration's political bidding. Rather than sit down with a major network reporter, Gen. David Petraeus has agreed to be interviewed by Hugh Hewitt, the conservative fascist who also does the administration's bidding by way of his conservative radio show and blog.

Petraeus also wrote an op-ed in 2004 supporting the re-election of the Republican presidential ticket.

Yes, I know it shouldn't surprise me that Gen. Petraeus is a Republican. Most members of the military are. But high-profile generals usually keep the politics out of war management, maintaining at least the illusion of objectivity while in uniform. Even Dwight Eisenhower and Colin Powell resisted the urge to declare their political affiliations until after they retired from the armed services.

In related news, the Pentagon now seems to be part of the Bush/Cheney propoganda effort to marginalize those who publicly criticize the administration's utter incompetence. Specifically, Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman sent a letter to Sen. Hillary Clinton (Democrat-NY) stating:

Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia.

Sending such a letter to any member of Congress from the halls of the Defense Department is way over the top, but that this one was sent to the opposition party's leading candidate for president makes the political aspect of the Pentagon's motives reek to the heavens.

President Bush and Vice-President Cheney have twisted the machinery of government that is supposed to remain free from the partisan politics to benefit their own radical fascist agenda. And unless the Democratic leaders in Congress begin impeachment proceedings against both men, the remaining 18 months of their term could become a very dangerous time for America.

Update: Sen. Clinton has challenged Defense Secretary Robert Gates to back-up his undersecretary's position or distance himself from it:

I request that you describe whether Under Secretary Edelman's letter accurately characterizes your views as Secretary of Defense.

...Under Secretary Edelman has his priorities backward. Open and honest debate and congressional oversight strengthens our nation and supports our military. His suggestion to the contrary is outrageous and dangerous.

While I still think the Democratic Party should deny her the nomination based on purely electoral reasons, I do have to admit that situations like this reinforce my perception that should she win the White House, Hillary Clinton would be one hell of a president.

The Songs of Summer

A true classic (in every sense of the word) from the summer of 1988...

"Roll With It" by Steve Winwood

"Songs of Mass Destruction"

That is the title of the new Annie Lennox album, according to a press release issued to arjanwrites.com. The set will feature a song called "Sing," which features Madonna, Sarah McLachlan, Celine Dion, Fergie, Faith Hill, Pink, Dido, Gladys Knight, kd Lang, Bonnie Raitt, Shakira, Melissa Etheridge, Anastasia, and Joss Stone, among others.

Produced by Glen Ballard (Michael Jackson, Toto, Anastacia, Shakira), the CD is scheduled for release on 2 October.

The Dumbing Down of America Continues

The On Language section of this past Sunday's New York Times Magazine defends the overuse of the word "like" in today's society.

Like, I'm totally shocked!

How Did We Get Here?

Maureen Dowd, on the resurgance of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda:

Oh, as it turns out, they’re not on the run.

And, oh yeah, they can fight us here even if we fight them there.

And oh, one more thing, after spending hundreds of billions and losing all those lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, we’re more vulnerable to terrorists than ever.

And, um, you know that Dead-or-Alive stuff? We may be the ones who end up dead.

Andrew Sullivan on the same subject:

On its core foreign policy responsibility since 9/11, destroying al Qaeda, the Bush administration has gone backwards for the past two or three years, bringing us full circle back to the summer of 2001. The war in Iraq has clearly, demonstrably, made us and the entire world less safe.

...[al Qaeda in Iraq] only exists at the strength it does because of the Bush administration's bungling of the Iraq occupation. So we have failed to restrain old al Qaeda and we have empowered new al Qaeda by the Iraq occupation. We have thrown away our moral high ground; and we have lost the military low-ground.

Ok, now...imagine if Al Gore or Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter had been president for the last 6 years. And imagine if they had let Osama bin Laden go uncaptured for so long following 9/11. And imagine if they had been called out for mismanaging a war to the extent that the key terrorist group responsible for that horrible day had been revitalized and strengthened.

Do you think for a second that they would have been re-elected in 2004? And on the off chance that they were, do you think for a second that the Congress would have held off on impeachment?

I didn't think so.

Say it with me: The. Worst. President. Ever.

Rainy Bay

We got 0.01 of an inch of rain today, and that broke the record for July 18. (It had never rained on this date before.)

It was also enough to cause a power outage in the East Bay, where 17,000 residents were without electricity.

On 0.01 of an inch. How pathetically sad is that?

The Songs of Summer

From the summer of 2000, a hot one from Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue...

"Kids"

Impeachment Now

Quote of the Day:

[President Bush] is like a man trapped in a burning house who calls 911 to put out the brush fire down the street. Hello?

-Thomas Friedman, in today's NY Times, on the total and complete failure of the Bush Administration's Iraq policy.

What would he do at this point?

If your whole legacy was riding on Iraq, what would you do? I’d draft the country’s best negotiators — Henry Kissinger, Jim Baker, George Shultz, George Mitchell, Dennis Ross or Richard Holbrooke — and ask one or all of them to go to Baghdad, under a U.N. mandate, with the following orders:

“I want you to move to the Green Zone, meet with the Iraqi factions and do not come home until you’ve reached one of three conclusions: 1) You have resolved the power- and oil-sharing issues holding up political reconciliation; 2) you have concluded that those obstacles are insurmountable and have sold the Iraqis on a partition plan that could be presented to the U.N. and supervised by an international force; 3) you have concluded that Iraqis are incapable of agreeing on either political reconciliation or a partition plan and told them that, as a result, the U.S. has no choice but to re-deploy its troops to the border and let Iraqis sort this out on their own.”

The last point is crucial. Any lawyer will tell you, if you’re negotiating a contract and the other side thinks you’ll never walk away, you’ve got no leverage. And in Iraq, we’ve never had any leverage. The Iraqis believe that Mr. Bush will never walk away, so they have no incentive to make painful compromises.

And they're probably right. Bush won't walk away. He won't even adjust course. He's bound and determined to drive us all off the proverbial cliff.

Impeachment now.

George, Barack, and Hillary

Quote of the Day:

Our dumb luck, alas, is that our supreme leader is a trust-fund kid with a chip on his shoulder and zero understanding of history or war...

And what has this messianic maniac in the White House done? He has set loose a fantastically murderous war in Iraq, he has sacrificed thousands of young Americans with the result not of restraining but empowering our enemies, he has done incalculable long-term damage to the country's fiscal standing, he has indirectly caused the massacre of tens of thousands of innocents, he has come close to wrecking the military of the United States, and he has robbed the United States of its long and hard-won record of humane and decent warfare.

This is not the work of a conservative statesman; it's the mark of a delusional fanatic...It is a conservative duty to expose and restrain him from any more mischief in his final months. He has refused every olive branch toward sanity. He has balked at every face-saver. So he must be stopped. Above all else, he cannot be allowed to determine the future of this country's foreign policy in the Middle East. He has done enough damage already.

-Andrew Sullivan, a true Goldwater conservative, on the fascist turn the current Republican president has taken the party and the country.

The antidote? Sullivan says it could be Barack Obama:

...a small-c conservative can consider backing a liberal if all the viable "conservatives" are corrupt, divisive, shallow, in hock to religious fanatics or palpably unserious about national security. So far, that roughly describes the GOP candidates...

We're in a war we have to win. We have a constitution to defend. Those are my acting premises and guiding principles. Given that, I'm not sure we can afford more of this Republican recklessness and incompetence in foreign affairs - let alone their big government nannying and trashing of the rule of law at home...If Giuliani is elected, I don't think the Constitution will survive another terror attack. It's really that simple...

If [Hillary] Clinton is the nominee, of course, a lot changes. A lot of people will be forced to return to the GOP and struggle against most odds from within. So Obama is very much on the table. He has to be, by default. I'm reading; I've been observing; I'm researching more. That's all. Could any Democrat have spent and borrowed more than Bush? Could any Democrat have damaged national security more than Bush and Cheney?

I whole-heartedly agree about Obama, but I also think there are other Democrats in the race that could restore America's integrity: Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, even Al Gore if he decided to enter the race. But right now Sen. Obama has the numbers (money numbers and poll numbers), and his oratory is something to behold. And that goes a very long way in this day and age of the 30-second sound bite.

More importantly, Obama would bring large numbers of disenchanted moderate Republicans to the Democratic side in a general election...voters that would just as easily vote for Lucifer than for Hillary Clinton.

Hillary could win against some of the Republicans in the field. But put her up against three of the top four (Giuliani, McCain, and Fred Thompson) and she loses. It's really that simple. And do the Democrats REALLY want to lose yet another race that is theirs to win? Do they really think America can afford another four years of Republican/Fascist rule?

That the Clintons don't see the potential defeat disturbs me. Bill Clinton - more than any politician of the last 25 years - has always been able to read the political tea-leaves; yet he seems to have lost that strength when he needs it most. Hillary can't win, and for the sake of his party and, more importantly, the country he led for eight years, the former president should sit the former first lady down for a very lengthy chat.

The Neptune Adventure

Neptune was the Roman equivalent of Poseidon, the God of the Sea. In a most hilarious segment, The Simpsons re-tell the Irwin Allen/Ronald Neame disaster classic, "The Poseidon Adventure." The costumes, the characters, and even Homer's bathroom scene are spot-on.

The Songs of Summer

The latest from porn star turned pop fluffer Colton Ford...

"The Way You Love Me"

Impeachment Now

Scott Horton gives three solid reasons for the impeachment of the President and Vice-President here, here, and here.

And, for good measure, he comments on why Congress and the media should be all over impeachment here.

Sen. Vitter's Manhood

Via Andy Towle:

The Internet Did It

That is the excuse a Nevada couple are using as to why they left their 22-month-old son and 11-month-old daughter so neglected that they were near death when officials found them.

Now the kicker: The husband recently received a $50,000 inheritance and spent it...not on the kids...but rather, new computer equipment and a gi-normous plasma TV.

Because, you know, those pesky cans of baby food are so fuckin' expensive.

Some people should just be castrated before puberty. YaKnowWhatImSayin?

German Juggs

Quote of the Day:

Your cleavage is distracting me every time I look into my mirror and I can't concentrate on the traffic. If you don't sit somewhere else, I'm going to have to throw you off the bus.

-A German bus driver to a 20-year-old female passenger who was dressed just a little too sexy for his concentration.

Dead People Threaten East Coast

A suspcious package caused the evacuation of a Miami International Airport terminal early this morning because an officer caught a glimpse of what he thought was a bomb in a package going through the airport's internal x-ray machine.

The contents of the box: Human ashes and a watch.

Mmm k folks, it's time to take a deep breath and calm down.

The Songs of Summer

Today's Song of Summer is pulled from deep within David Bowie's classic 1983 album, "Let's Dance." Co-produced with the legendary Nile Rodgers, this track was originally written and recorded by a band called Metro in 1977. Bowie's take on it is original, gritty, and, quite frankly, one of the best tracks on the album. It was on my Walkman all summer long. Enjoy...

"Criminal World" by David Bowie

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Chloe, Close-Up

Impeachment Now

Quote of the Day:

I think Bush's crimes are a little bit different. I think they're...more worrisome than Clinton's because he is seeking more institutionally to cripple checks and balances and the authority of Congress and the judiciary to superintend his assertions of power. He has claimed the authority to tell Congress they don't have any right to know what he's doing with relation to spying on American citizens, using that information in any way that he wants in contradiction to a federal statute called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He's claimed authority to say he can kidnap people, throw them into dungeons abroad, dump them out into Siberia without any political or legal accountability. These are standards that are totally anathema to a democratic society devoted to the rule of law.

-Bruce Fein, the man who wrote the articles of impeachment against Bill Clinton in 1998, commenting to Bill Moyers on the current president's illegal behavoir.

Speaker Pelosi: Save our nation. Impeach Bush and Cheney now.

Summer of Discontent

From the weekend news: al-Qaeda is as strong as they were before September 11, 2001 and Osama bin Laden has re-emerged with a new video praising suicide bombers. In the meantime, Baghdad continues to fall apart.

And George W. Bush still believes he's the right man for the battle against terrorism?

Happy B-day, B-man

The Weekend Starts Here

Off to Bodega Bay for the weekend to celebrate the B-man's birthday. I'll return on Sunday evening.

A special shout out to Jimmy G James for watching Little Miss Chloe this weekend. We appreciate it.

Fool's Paradise Day

Yes, it's actually a holiday, although its origins aren't really known. Rather than let the day go unnoticed, I would like to dedicate it to the fool in the White House, his criminal minions, and the 62,040,610 Americans who thought that giving them a second term was the way to go in 2004.

They're all living in their own Fool's Paradise.

And in their honor, I dedicate this song...

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The Songs of Summer: 38 Years Ago

This song was #1 on the national Hot 100 singles chart this very week in 1969.

"Love Theme From Romeo & Juliet" by Henry Mancini

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That Fuckin' Smirk

I just want to slap it off his god-damned face!



That spoiled fuckhead smirk speaks volumes before he even answers the reporter's question.

Little Miss Chloe

Lawless & Incompetent...A Lethal Mix

George W. Bush, it seems, is bound and determined to shred the Constitution before he leaves office. He has "ordered" his former White House Counsel Harriet Miers not to appear before a congressional committee, despite a subpeona requiring her to do so.

His justice department is ordering other administration officials to do the same.

According to Josh Marshall, these "orders" would constitute a felony under federal criminal law, punishable by up to 5 years in prison.

SPEAKER PELOSI: Articles of impeachment should be filed immediately. George W. Bush is both lawless and incompetent. That's quite a lethal combination. Please...save our nation.

The Songs of Summer

Another one from this year. This white boy from Richmond, Virginia has a set of R&B pipes on him that rank up there with the likes of Donny Hathaway and Teddy Pendergrass. The second single from his debut album is currently #14 on the top 100 singles chart and was recently certified "gold" (half-million sales/downloads) by the Recording Industry Association of America.

"Wait For You" by Elliott Yamin

Bush's Amerika

Memo to the American Media

THIS is how you interview the man who has the distinction of being the worst president ever. THIS is how you do your fucking job.

(Ol' George comes across like the spoiled little void he was raised to be.)

Facing Reality

The President on the war:

I can't get out. And I can't finish it with what I have got. And I don't know what the hell to do.

Unfortunately, not this president; not on this war. No...that was President Lyndon Johnson on the Vietnam War, as quoted by his wife Lady Bird, who passed away on Wednesday.

President Johnson was realistic and patriotic enough to stand down for re-election in 1968. President Bush is unable to run next year, but something tells me he would if the Constitution allowed it.

That he refuses to see his mistakes and fix them will rate Mr. Bush much lower in presidential history than this 1960's Democratic predecessor. And will leave America in one hell of a mess when he steps down on January 20, 2009.

Lady Bird Johnson, 1912 - 1917

Lady Bird Johnson, first lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969, has died at the age of 94.

The Songs of Summer

This is my favorite track from "The Dutchess," Fergie's solo album. She takes a break from the hip-hop genre and turns in a very nice performance. The track is currently #2 on the Billboard Pop 100 chart.

From this, the summer of 2007, enjoy...

"Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie

Nancy vs. Condi

The Atlantic's Matt Yglesias argues that, should Congress file articles of impeachment against George W. Bush, they should, on the same docket, impeach Vice-President Cheney.

I agree.

However, Yglesias suggests that Speaker Pelosi and Senate President Pro-Tempore Robert Byrd (both Democrats and the next two in line for the presidency) should vow not to accept the office in the event that the Senate convict the war criminals now running the Executive Branch. Yglesias argues that, because the next in line would be Secretary of State Condi Rice (a Republican), such a move by Pelosi and Byrd would "demonstrate a lack of partisan motivation" on the part of the Democratic controlled Congress.

Perhaps. But it would also fly in the face of the Constitution and current federal law. In their congressional roles, the Constitution calls for the elevation of Pelosi or Byrd to the presidency in the event that the President, Vice-President, (and the Speaker of the House should Byrd elevate) are removed from office by impeachment, resignation, or death.

No...what should happen in the highly unlikely event of a joint Bush/Cheney impeachment and conviction is that President Pelosi (or President Byrd) vow not to run for a full term in the 2008 election. (For the record, I suggested dual impeachment last year when the Republicans held the majority in Congress and Dennis Hastert was still Speaker of the House and thus next in line for the presidency after VP Cheney.)

One more thing...think back to 1998 when the Republicans forced impeachment against Bill Clinton over a sex scandal. Do you think for a minute that then-Speaker Newt Gingrich or then-Senate President Pro-Tempore Strom Thurmond would have thought, for even an iota of a second, about giving up the presidency in a scenario that would have removed both President Clinton AND Vice-President Gore from office?

Yeah...neither did I.

Teena, Teena, Teena

From this past weekend's episode of "The Best of Soul Train"...

Rule of thumb...when you appear on national TV to promote your new single, not only should you learn how to lip sync, but Honey...you best learn the words to your own freekin' song!

Thirteen

Cheney is the least favorable vice-president in United States history. And, along with Dan Quayle (for the record, they are the last two Republican vice-presidents), he is among the two least popular.

Happy Birthday, Beth

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Back Tomorrow

Back from a short but fun-filled weekend of sun, drink, and relvery up at Russian River in Sonoma County. I need a day to decompress and catch up on some work. I'll be back tomorrow.

The Songs of Summer: 41 Years

This song was # 1 on the Hot 100 singles chart 41 years ago this very week...

"Paperback Writer" by the Beatles

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However...

It's absolutely fabulous knowing I share the day with the one and only Jennifer Saunders:


...and the late, great Phyllis Hyman:

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George & Nancy & Me

It's a treat, let me tell ya, sharing my birthday with some of today's better known conservative blow-hards...Sylvester Stallone, Nancy Reagan, and the ultimate christian-fascist himself, George W. Bush.

Ugh.

Bugsy

A year in jail is nowhere near just punishment for this asshole!

Ain't That the Truth!?

From today's White House press briefing:

Question: Scott, is Scooter Libby getting more than equal justice under the law? Is he getting special treatment?

Scott Stanzel (Deputy Press Secretary): Well, I guess I don't know what you mean by "equal justice under the law."

Couldn't have said it better myself!

Resign or Impeach

I didn’t vote for him but he’s my president, and I hope he does a good job.

-John Wayne, as quoted by Keith Olbermann, on the election of John Kennedy over Richard Nixon in 1960.

He quoted the late actor in a "Special Comment" segment of Countdown on Tuesday night, in which he passionately laid out the case for why the President and Vice-President should resign.

Some highlights...

The crisp matter-of-fact acknowledgement that we have survived, even though for nearly two centuries now, our Commander-in-Chief has also served, simultaneously, as the head of one political party and often the scourge of all others.

...But just as essential to the seventeen words of John Wayne, is an implicit trust—a sacred trust: That the president for whom so many did not vote, can in turn suspend his political self long enough, and for matters imperative enough, to conduct himself solely for the benefit of the entire Republic.

...We enveloped our President (after September) 2001. And those who did not believe he should have been elected—indeed those who did not believe he had been elected—willingly lowered their voices and assented to the sacred oath of non-partisanship.

And George W. Bush took our assent, and re-configured it, and honed it, and shaped it to a razor-sharp point and stabbed this nation in the back with it.

...When President Nixon ordered the firing of the Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox during the infamous "Saturday Night Massacre" on October 20th, 1973, Cox initially responded tersely, and ominously.

"Whether ours shall be a government of laws and not of men, is now for Congress, and ultimately, the American people."

...Watergate instantaneously became a simpler issue: a President overruling the inexorable march of the law of insisting — in a way that resonated viscerally with millions who had not previously understood - that he was the law.

Not the Constitution. Not the Congress. Not the Courts. Just him.

Just - Mr. Bush - as you did, yesterday.

It is nearly July 4th, Mr. Bush, the commemoration of the moment we Americans decided that rather than live under a King who made up the laws, or erased them, or ignored them—or commuted the sentences of those rightly convicted under them—we would force our independence, and regain our sacred freedoms.

We of this time—and our leaders in Congress, of both parties—must now live up to those standards which echo through our history: Pressure, negotiate, impeach—get you, Mr. Bush, and Mr. Cheney, two men who are now perilous to our Democracy, away from its helm.

For you, Mr. Bush, and for Mr. Cheney, there is a lesser task. You need merely achieve a very low threshold indeed. Display just that iota of patriotism which Richard Nixon showed, on August 9th, 1974.

Resign.

And give us someone—anyone—about whom all of us might yet be able to quote John Wayne, and say, "I didn’t vote for him, but he’s my president, and I hope he does a good job."

I absolutely agree with Keith, of course. But this President and his Vice-President won't resign. They don't believe they've done anything wrong, and that's why leaving them in office for the last 18 months of their term would be absolutely dangerous for the United States.

Speaker Pelosi: It is time to set aside your directive not to impeach. Get the wheels rolling, remove these men from office, save our nation.

(Thanks to Scott for the heads-up on the Olbermann piece.)

The full commentary here:

The Wisdom of the Founding Fathers

In Olbermann's commentary Tuesday night he mentioned a conversation at the Constitutional Convention between George Mason and James Madison that would give the House of Representatives all they need to impeach (and the Senate all they need to convict and remove) the President and Vice-President over the Libby issue.

Mason:

...the President might use his pardoning power to "pardon crimes which were advised by himself" or, before indictment or conviction, "to stop inquiry and prevent detection."

Madison:

If the President be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds tp believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty.

Thanks to Krago X by way of Angry Bear.

Happy Fourth!

The Songs of Summer

For your 4th of July, here is a true classic from the summer of 1972...

"Saturday In the Park" by Chicago

In His Own Words

George W. Bush, from his book "A Charge to Keep," published in November, 1999:

I don’t believe my role is to replace the verdict of a jury with my own.

The quote is courtesy of the Carpetbagger Report, whose take on the matter is straight up:

Perhaps we should call this what it is: "amnesty." In conservative circles, there’s a standard approach to law and order: we need tougher sentences, inflexible mandatory-minimums, and harsh punishment for those found to have broken U.S. law. But if you help expose the identity of a covert CIA agent during a war, lie about it, and are convicted by a jury on multiple felony counts, those standards no longer apply.

Way back in September 2003, as the investigation was getting under way, Bush announced, "If there’s a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is... If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of."

We now know exactly what he meant.

He's a Son-of-a-Bitch

I figured he'd pardon Scooter Libby sometime between the 2008 election and the inauguration of the winner in that contest. But that the rat-bastard commutes Scooter Libby's sentence before he even begins serving just boggles the mind.

Bush:

I respect the jury’s verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive.

Respect, my ass. The guy doesn't know the meaning of the word. He made this move for one reason and one reason only...

His approval numbers are in the shitter and he needed to shore up his conservative-fascist base within the Republican Party...the same Republican Party that impeached President Clinton on the same charges for a sexual indiscretion. In the Libby case, the defendant - at the direction of the President and Vice-President - put our nation's security at risk for partisan ends.

If you listen very closely tonight, you'll hear Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and Gerald Ford rolling over in their graves.

A Serious Blow to Justice

Former Sen. John Edwards (Democrat-NC), on the President's move to commute the prison sentence of Scooter Libby:

Only a president clinically incapable of understanding that mistakes have consequences could take the action he did today.

That's it in a nutshell. This is just par for the course from a President who has never had to pay for a mistake in his entire life. The rule of law, in his little minds eye, doesn't apply to him or his vice-president (whose hands are all over this, I'm sure).

Another reaction...this one from Sen. Barack Obama (Democrat-IL):

This decision to commute the sentence of a man who compromised our national security cements the legacy of an Administration characterized by a politics of cynicism and division, one that has consistently placed itself and its ideology above the law. This is exactly the kind of politics we must change so we can begin restoring the American people’s faith in a government that puts the country’s progress ahead of the bitter partisanship of recent years.

Something tells me that this very well may have cemented a Democratic victory in the presidential election next year.

Then again, President Gerald Ford came thisclose to winning a full term after pardoning Richard Nixon. Then again, the partisan divide in presidential politcs wasn't as wide then as it is now.

Gentilly

Quote of the Day:

All over the city, a giant slow-motion reconstruction project is taking place. It is unplanned, fragmentary and for the isolated individuals carrying it out, often overwhelming. Those with the fortitude to persevere — and only the hardiest even try — must battle the hopelessness brought on by a continuing sense of abandonment.

-Adam Nossiter, in a very important piece in Monday's New York Times, on how some are trying to reclaim their New Orleans neighborhood.

Perhaps - just perhaps - hope isn't lost.

The Songs of Summer

A hot one from five years ago...

"Hella Good" by No Doubt

Showdown

Sen. Patrick Leahy (Democrat-VT), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Tim Russert yesterday that he would bring contempt of congress charges against the President and key White House officials if they don't turn over subpoenaed documents in the U.S. Attorney firing scandal.

The administration has, of course, cited executive privilege in their refusal to turn over the documents, citing the power of the presidency against other branches of government.

Memo to Georgie: You're branch of government is equal to Congress in power and stature, and in the case of a cabinet-level department (Justice), in which the Senate must confirm high and mid-level members, Sen. Leahy's committee has every right to demand - and receive - documents pertaining to that department.

Contempt doesn't go far enough for me. Impeach the son-of-a-bitch.

Obama

He reportedly raised a record $32.5 million for his presidential campaign in the second quarter of 2007. Hillary is expected to announce this week that she has raised about $27 million.

Obama's huge take doesn't surprise me. Despite the concerns by some that the Illinois Senator's race would be a huge roadblock to the White House, I think the man would win a comfortable victory in a general election by bringing some moderate Republicans into the Democratic column.

Number 37

Quote of the Day:

Both the French and Canadian systems rank in the Top 10 of the world's best health-care systems, according to the World Health Organization. The United States comes in at No. 37.

-From a CNN fact check on Michael Moore's new film, "Sicko."

No. 37? I can't say that I'm surprised.

(The network found no inaccuracies in the film, by the way.)