Thursday, February 16, 2006

George Will Off the Reservation

I guess you have to respect George Will, a true conservative. He's not falling into the trap so many conservatives have who have gone from being conservatives to unabashed Bush apologists and sycophants. Their loyalty to Bush trumps their loyalty to the country and its Constitution.

No Checks, Many Imbalances: "Anyway, the argument that the AUMF contained a completely unexpressed congressional intent to empower the president to disregard the FISA regime is risible coming from this administration. It famously opposes those who discover unstated meanings in the Constitution's text and do not strictly construe the language of statutes."

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

The Daily Show on Cheney

They are so good, funny, but very politically relevant.

"With no word from Cheney, 'The Daily Show' stands in
Dick Cheney still hasn't appeared in public to discuss his accidental shooting of a 78-year-old man, but there are plenty of people willing to speak on the veep's behalf -- among them, Comedy Central's Rob Corddry. Playing the role of a 'vice president firearms mishap analyst,' Corddry explained it all Monday night for 'Daily Show' host Jon Stewart:

Stewart: Rob, obviously a very unfortunate situation. How is the vice president handling it?

Corddry: Jon, tonight the vice president is standing by his decision to shoot Harry Whittington. According to the best intelligence available, there were quail hidden in the brush. Everyone believed at the time there were quail in the brush. And while the quail turned out to be a 78-year-old man, even knowing that today, Mr. Cheney insists he still would have shot Mr. Whittington in the face. He believes the world is a better place for his spreading buckshot throughout the entire region of Mr. Whittington's face.

Stewart: But why, Rob? If he had known Mr. Whittington was not a bird, why would he still have shot him?

Corddry: Jon, in a post-9/11 world, the American people expect their leaders to be decisive. To not have shot his friend in the face would have sent a message to the quail that America is weak.

Stewart: That's horrible.

Corddry: Look, the mere fact that we're even talking about how the vice president drives up with his rich friends in cars to shoot farm-raised wingless quail-tards is letting the quail know 'how' we're hunting them. I'm sure right now those birds are laughing at us in that little 'covey' of theirs.

Stewart: I'm not sure birds can laugh, Rob."

Saturday, February 11, 2006

More Anti-intellectual Orthodoxy

This is truly scary stuff. Now, the people who got it right on WMD are being purged from the State Department and replaced with Bush loyalists who won't tell the Prince what he doesn't want to hear.

I don't know if we can survive three more years.

KR Washington Bureau 02/07/2006 State Department sees exodus of weapons experts: "WASHINGTON - State Department officials appointed by President Bush have sidelined key career weapons experts and replaced them with less experienced political operatives who share the White House and Pentagon's distrust of international negotiations and treaties."

Thursday, February 02, 2006

What First Amendment?

I have to say I have some grudging respect for the Capitol Police in the brouhaha over Cindy Sheehan's T-Shirt. Obviously, the screwed up and knew it. But I have to respect the fact that they knew enough that, once they ejected Cindy, they had to eject Mrs. Young, the congressman's wife. It shows that they had some appreciation for the First Amendment. They couldn't distinguish between a message they liked from a message they didn't in dealing with the "speech" of showing up with a message on a T Shirt.

Not so Congressman Young. See below. He would have ejected Cindy and probably tried for a better seat for his wife because she "supports the troops."

Congressman Young is one of the senior-most Members of the House of Representatives, the Chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee. His inability to grasp the implications of his hypocritical view of the First Amendment is frightening.

This is how we could lose our country. Not from Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussien attacking us, but rather from the - at best - neglect or - at worst- contempt our leaders have for our Constitution. No wonder we have a President spying on us and many people don't seem to care.

The Capitol's Tempest in a T-Shirt: "Young said he wouldn't be so mad if it were just Sheehan. 'I totally disagree with everything she stands for,' he said. But by removing his wife, Gainer's officers clearly 'acted precipitously,' Young said."