Happy Birthday, USA!

It's Fourth of July and I bet I know what the nation has been wishing for:

World peace and some heavy duty cortisone cream for that rash on our ass we call the Bush administration.

Have a fabulous Fourth and don't burn your fingers; remember, when you light your sparklers, safety first; and, above all, visualize "IMPEACHMENT!"

I Beg Your Pardon...

...but this ain't no pardon. At least Libby's conviction will stand for the next few minutes.

Bush's statement made no mention of the term "pardon," and he made clear that he was not willing to wipe away all penalties for Libby.

The president noted Libby supporters' argument that the punishment did not fit the crime for a "first-time offender with years of exceptional public service."

Ironically, Bush then uttered the following words that will eventually bite him in the ass:

... if a person does not tell the truth, particularly if he serves in government and holds the public trust, he must be held accountable."

Not Mitt Romney's Dog

If this were Mitt Romney's dog, he'd be strapped to the top of a station wagon. And there'd be leakage.

Friday Malamute Blogging

GO SOX!

The city sure is pretty after a Sox game at the Cell. Even if they did lose.

Friday Malamute Blogging

Catchin' rays...

Hillary has chosen her "song"

Are you fucking kidding me?!?!?

Arrgghh!!

So close.

The Senate voted 53 to 38 to end debate and allow a vote on the no-confidence motion itself. Since 60 votes were required to shut off the debate, or invoke cloture, supporters of the motion were lacking seven votes. But Mr. Gonzales’s critics could console themselves with the knowledge that they mustered a majority, and that several Republicans sided with them.

7 votes eh?

From Roll Call:

Not Voting - 7
Biden (D-DE)
Brownback (R-KS)
Obama (D-IL)
Coburn (R-OK)
Dodd (D-CT)
Johnson (D-SD)
McCain (R-AZ)

I'm not saying that all 7 of those absent would necessarily have voted in favor of the vote of no-confidence, but when 6 of those 7 are absent due to campaigning...well...

Gore-mand Politics?

(For Red Rabbit, who wondered why I didn’t sign a petition this week to draft Al Gore into the presidential race)

Now that almost everyone, with the exception of the right-wing crazies and NASA chief Michael Griffin, has conceded that global climate change is a crisis, maybe it’s time to send a chill down all our spines by recognizing that many of those currently on the bandwagon of lowered carbon footprints are the same SUV owners who helped tip the climate situation towards disaster. If a recent New York Times article is to be believed, some of these people have even decided it’s possible to have it both ways: “Hundreds of thousands of consumers aren't giving up anything to downsize. Instead, they are simply adding pint-size transportation to their driveways, parked alongside their S.U.V. or pickup” (“And Gas Saver Makes Three in the Driveway” May 26, 2007) Add to this the difficulties that cities like Chicago are experiencing getting state governments to maintain, let alone expand, public transportation systems, and you begin to see what may be the political footprint of this recent movement. Chicago has just proposed dramatic fare increases and service cuts or suspensions to its public transportation system, changes that will disproportionately affect the poor while making public transportation a less attractive option for everyone. But this dismal prospect has hardly been noticed by our global warming set. Even though getting more people on buses, subways, trains would do more to diminish greenhouse gasses than tooling around town in the best of hybrids, we are witnessing a movement whose adherents appear to be more willing to plump down $22,000 for a well-equipped, environmentally friendly vehicle than to support tax increases that would build new transit lines and extend services so that riding public transportation becomes viable for greater numbers of people.
When you consider that SUV owners knew at the time they purchased their gas-guzzling behemoths that petroleum is a nonrenewable fuel source, that auto exhaust is a major pollutant, and that their mini-tanks were more likely than regular sedans to result in fatal injuries to other drivers in accidents, you get an idea of the political calculus being employed here. These safety-conscious consumers are more than willing to pay extra for what they think is best for the health and wellbeing of their families. Of course, if you aren’t wise enough or wealthy enough to do the same for yours, well then, heaven help you. Or to put the matter slightly differently, these are people who view health and safety as luxury goods rather than public goods. Now I could be wrong (and in this case I’d like to be) but if this is the view guiding the current movement, then this hybrid’s going to pull to the right no matter how many times you align the front-end.

None of this is necessarily a knock on Al Gore, who does have the distinction of having taken an idea that the Right had banished to the hinterland of American politics and making it so mainstream that even Rupert Murdoch has cozied up to things green. And Gore has done it in a way that should be a lesson to the other Democratic candidates: By sticking to his guns! But so far there’s little evidence (excepting John Edwards’s healthcare plane) that his counterparts are paying attention. As for Gore, he needs to demonstrate that he’s aware of both the possibilities and limitations of what he’s accomplished so far. If he can bring the same intensity to a broad, progressive agenda then pass me the pen and the petition.

Friday Malamute Blogging

Ahh, water is good after a 5-mile walk. If we didn't keep his water bowl raised up off the floor at home, he'd try to get all 4 paws in it.

What Shall We Do with a Drunken Failure?

...early in the morning?

a) Put him in the longboat ’til he’s sober
b) Spray him with whiskey and light him on fire
c) Put him in the back of the paddywagon

or—ding, ding, ding, ding! my personal favorite

d) Slap him around and call him Suzie

Food Poisoning, my ass. Oh, and that's non-alcoholic beer, I'm sure.

Steve Gilliard, 1966-2007

Damn, he's gone. I think I've read Steve every single day for the past four or five years. No one could rant like he could rant—blunt but eloquent, and always straight to the heart of the thing. We loved his style and we will miss him.

Friday Malamute Blogging

There's an 80 lb animal who lives in our house. He must be fed, watered, and exercised regularly or he'll destroy his surroundings. I wonder if this qualifies our house as a "ranch."

Hmmm...gotta go feed the livestock.

Remember

Quirino Chavez, 180th Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, killed in action November 9th, 1943, probably in a battle to take Venafro, Italy. He was buried December 9, 1948, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It took five years to bring his remains back stateside for burial.

Update: A million thanks to K. Martin for getting a photo of my Uncle Quirino's grave in Santa Fe as soon as I requested it.

What the hell are they up to now?

On May 9th Bush signed NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/NSPD 51

(1) This directive establishes a comprehensive national policy on the continuity of Federal Government structures and operations and a single National Continuity Coordinator responsible for coordinating the development and implementation of Federal continuity policies. This policy establishes "National Essential Functions," prescribes continuity requirements for all executive departments and agencies, and provides guidance for State, local, territorial, and tribal governments, and private sector organizations in order to ensure a comprehensive and integrated national continuity program that will enhance the credibility of our national security posture and enable a more rapid and effective response to and recovery from a national emergency.

Recovery from a national emergency?!? Should we be expecting one of those? Is there an uptick in chatter coming over the wires? Is Richard Clark's hair on fire?

(b) "Catastrophic Emergency" means any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions;

So, didn't we already have rules in place for national emergencies? This has all the markings of a "dead-of-night" pull-the-wool-over-their-eyes Karl Rove super-secret plan to take over the world.

I'm definitely getting a "chickenheart-at-my-front-door" feeling.

Friday Malamute Blogging

I'm ready for my close-up, Mr DeMille.

Makes Me Wanna Holler...

Goddam spineless Democrats!

In an effort to appease antiwar Democrats, the party’s leaders plan to allow two votes in the House. One would provide the war money, and seems likely to be opposed by large numbers of Democrats. The other, separated out to allow more Democrats to vote in favor, would include popular measures that are also part of the package, including a minimum wage increase and $17 billion in added domestic and military spending.

The bills would then be combined into one and sent to the Senate, with the idea of getting the measure to the president by the weekend.

After combining the two bills into one, roll onto a lightly floured surface and fluff gently. Serve on a silver platter. And, voila! A recipe for disaster!

Sounds like smoke-and-mirrors to me.

Bush Authorizes Covert Action Against Iran

This is bad in so many ways:

The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

...

Also briefed on the CIA proposal, according to intelligence sources, were National Security Advisor Steve Hadley and Deputy National Security Advisor Elliott Abrams.

"The entire plan has been blessed by Abrams, in particular," said one intelligence source familiar with the plan. "And Hadley had to put his chop on it."

Ok, aside from the overall evility of this development, I think we need to be reminded daily that the Bush administration is filled with criminals (see bolded section below).

Abrams' last involvement with attempting to destabilize a foreign government led to criminal charges.

He pleaded guilty in October 1991 to two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress about the Reagan administration's ill-fated efforts to destabilize the Nicaraguan Sandinista government in Central America, known as the Iran-Contra affair. Abrams was later pardoned by President George H. W. Bush in December 1992.

In June 2001, Abrams was named by then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to head the National Security Council's office for democracy, human rights and international operations. On Feb. 2, 2005, National Security Advisor Hadley appointed Abrams deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for global democracy strategy, one of the nation's most senior national security positions.

As earlier reported on the Blotter on ABCNews.com, the United States has supported and encouraged an Iranian militant group, Jundullah, that has conducted deadly raids inside Iran from bases on the rugged Iran-Pakistan-Afghanistan "tri-border region."

U.S. officials deny any "direct funding" of Jundullah groups but say the leader of Jundullah was in regular contact with U.S. officials.

Hmmm...must be a reason this was leaked to ABC.

UPDATE: It gets worse.

Ships packed with 17,000 sailors and Marines moved into the Persian Gulf on Wednesday as the U.S. Navy staged another show of force off Iran's coast just days before U.S.-Iran talks in Baghdad.

Gay Flamingos

Is there really any other way to describe flamingos? Cute story:

"Fernando and Carlos are a same sex couple who have been known to steal other flamingos' eggs by chasing them off their nest because they wanted to rear them themselves," said WWT spokeswoman Jane Waghorn.

"They were rather good at sitting on eggs and hatching them so last week, when a nest was abandoned, it seemed like a good idea to make them surrogate parents."

Gay flamingos are not uncommon, she added.

"If there aren't enough females or they don't hit it off with them, they will pair off with other males," she said.

Monday Malamute Blogging

He doesn't like to be combed.