Hey Dick Leave the Constitution Alone

Dick Cheney what a guy! His Vice President's office is not to be monitored in its handling of classified materials because...well....he is NOT really part of the Executive branch...because the Vice President is named in the Constitution as President of the Senate. My God how the main stream media howled when Al Gore came out with his "no controling legal authority" statement on making fund raising calls from a federal office. Yet here is Cheney a clear member of the execuative branch saying he is unaccountable to executive orders because...well...his office of the Vice President is not part of the executive and that is just fine. Move along, move along, no story here.....
I rather like Rahm Emanuel's solution. Fine, he says, Cheney and the Vice President's office are not part of the Executive Branch...we can do that. We will remove them from funding for Executive branch. I say "Go for it Rahm!!"

I was reading a diary over at dKOS entitled Is George W Bush Planning to Trigger Apocalyptic War? and it chilled me. The diarist's quote of Jeff Sharlet caught me cold. Sharlet starts by saying "We keep trying to explain away American fundamentalism." Then goes on to describe where I find myself.

Those of us not engaged personally or emotionally in the biggest political and cultural movement of our times—those on the sidelines of history—keep trying to come up with theories with which to discredit the evident allure of this punishing yet oddly comforting idea of a deity, this strange god. His invisible hand is everywhere, say His citizen-theologians, caressing and fixing every outcome: Little League games, job searches, test scores, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, the success or failure of terrorist attacks (also known as "signs"), victory or defeat in battle, at the ballot box, in bed.... A divine love that speaks through hurricanes. Who would worship such a god? His followers must be dupes, or saps, or fools, their faith illiterate, insane, or misinformed, their strength fleeting, hollow, an aberration. A burp in American history. An unpleasant odor that will pass. ( Jeff Sharlet, from Through a Glass Darkly, Harpers Magazine, December 2006 )

They are, from my perspective, so surreal that I find myself simply reaching for denial or thinking that they are "dumb rednecks" who will have no long term impact. But armageddon fundamentalists are not as I would have them be. Many ETs (End Timers) have impressive secular educational credentials in the academic, legal, medical, and engineering fields (e.g. Olasky at UT). Still their religious born desire for the purification obtained from a great "die back" of humanity is crazy and must be resisted and fought. If the dKos diarist is right W is looking for a way to attack Iran before him term ends we are really in trouble.

Don't Cave Dems...Please Don't

Democrats in the Congress please continue to do what the people sent you there to do i.e. bring the troops out of harms way in Iraq. You cannot accomplish this if you roll over and give Bush want he wants after a veto. The safety of the troops is primarily the responsibility of the commander and in this case the commander-in-chief. Bush has ways of keeping those troops provisioned just keep reminding people of that. And also remind them that a good commander does what is necessary to insure that his troops are never left without the resources they need to defend themselves. In this case what a reasonable commander would do is compromise with Congress and accept the pull out time line knowing that if things turned around in Iraq that timetable might melt away.In any event Bush must be held accountable.

Is it time for Gun Control yet?

I wonder how many people Cho Seung-Hui would have killed with a rock, knife or baseball bat? Would even one person have died before he was overwhelmed and hauled away? But Mr Seung-Hui had a gun, no by all accounts he had two guns. He could instantly dish out mortal wounds before anyone could get near enough to stop him. And so he did.

Already the fake disgust of the NRA-istas is heard, they tell us not to use this tragedy for political purposes i.e. lessening the opportunity for gun violence by strengthening gun control laws. They need not be afraid, over 87% of the country favors the minimum wage and it still hasn't gotten out of the Congress. When it comes to guns is there even 50% of the population who wants more regulation?

It's the Southern Accents That Get Me

Even at this late date there are people who call in to C-SPAN just falling over themselves to heap praise upon George W. Bush. He has not lied to us, he has protected us. He is a good man, they say, and even more call him a good Christian man. Invariably these people are out of touch with facts and current events and could care less. What they do know they get from FOX News and Limbaugh or one of his many clones and then they mix that all up.

Often those with the strongest feelings and the fewest facts tend to be the people who speak with a Southern accent. After a while it just gets to me; there will be no convincing such people. They are not open to facts, debate or persuasion. Bush is their beleaguered hero and thats that.

I would say to the Democratic political strategists...yeah go ahead and write off the South.

Slush pile me and W

You are reading--if indeed you are human and are really reading this blog entry- a slush pile blog. Slush pile is the term publishing houses use to describe unpublished and mostly unpublishable manuscripts. The slush pile is the land fill of literature.

OK! I can deal with that, I'm a big boy.

The fact is that I am not disciplined enough in my writing. Which is to say I do not write every day. Real authors do exactly that. They also do an additional thing...they revise. They may feel, when writing, that the spirit is upon them and every word is worth its weight in gold but invariably it is not so. The gold, in fact, comes from considered and careful editing.

Personally, I think that Karl Rove is itching to go to before a Congressional committee and show everyone just how brilliant he is. I do not think he will make any indictable mistakes if he should appear before either Chairman Conyers or Senator Leahy. Moreover, I think Karl needs this sort of appearance and has hungered for it secretly since coming to Washington. After all, what would you want were you 50 times smarter than the man who is President and who out of the public eye dismissively calls you "turdblossom"? One thing really smart people hate it is to be mocked by a dumbass- read W. As much as Karl Rove wants a Republican majority for the future, what he wants more is recognition. Karl has had to take a lot of shit for W and that gets old, especially since W by now is already history. If Karl is going to have a time it is now.

Slush pile me and W

You are reading--if indeed you are human and are really reading this blog entry- a slush pile blog. Slush pile is the term publishing houses use to describe unpublished and mostly unpublishable manuscripts. The slush pile is the land fill of literature.

OK! I can deal with that, I'm a big boy.

The fact is that I am not disciplined enough in my writing. Which is to say I do not write every day. Real authors do exactly that. They also do an additional thing...they revise. They may feel, when writing, that the spirit is upon them and every word is worth its weight in gold but invariably it is not so. The gold, in fact, comes from considered and careful editing.

Personally, I think that Karl Rove is itching to go to before a Congressional committee and show everyone just how brilliant he is. I do not think he will make any indictable mistakes if he should appear before either Chairman Conyers or Senator Leahy. Moreover, I think Karl needs this sort of appearance and has hungered for it secretly since coming to Washington. After all, what would you want were you 50 times smarter than the man who is President and who out of the public eye dismissively calls you "turdblossom"? One thing really smart people hate it is to be mocked by a dumbass- read W. As much as Karl Rove wants a Republican majority for the future, what he wants more is recognition. Karl has had to take a lot of shit for W and that gets old, especially since W by now is already history. If Karl is going to have a time it is now.

George Allen A Piece of Work

Senator George Allen R-VA has recently been accused of using a racial slur during college by at least one classmate and another associate. He has, of course, denied it. We are being asked to believe that this man who had the Confederate battle flag pinned to a wall in his house; who kept a noose in his office, certainly would never use the N word. OK, I'll bite. Georgie never used the N word. So then what are the Confederate battle flag and noose about? Is he just shining on white redneck Virginians for votes? Is that why he is getting his picture taken with the Conservative Citizens Council; the direct descendant of the openly White Supremacist and Segregationist White Citizens Council? Could it be that Georgie is saying the N word plenty loud and clear with his flag, noose, meetings?

Sen Allen's response to the news that he is part Jewish was also decidedly weird. He must have been hungry when confronting reporters since he wanted them to know that his Jewish heritage had not stopped him from enjoying a good ham sandwich recently. He also raved about his mother's pork chop recipe. I guess Senator Allen was talking past the reporters to that real Virginia out there he had introduced to "macaca" a while back. That Virginia doesn't exclaim "Oy Veh" nor savor Woody Allen movies, nor see a problem with Mel Gibson's DUI arrest ravings.

It seems clear to me that Mr. Allen is trying hard to tell Virginians that he is not going pay much attention to them, let alone represent them, if they are not white and conservative. He is quite a piece of work.

The W Down Sign

When driving behind a massive SUV with a Bush/Cheney sticker still present a year and half after the election, I simply cannot help using the thumb and index finger of each hand in tandem to make a W easily visible to the rear view mirror glance of the Bush supporter in front of me. Then having made the W sign, I allow my hands to fall into a thumbs down position. I am saying "W is going down." I do this over and over never really knowing whether the Bushie SUV driver in front of me even sees the gesture let alone understands it. Actually, the ones who suddenly change lanes or attempt to speed away from me do realize that I am gesticulating. They may think I am some sort of terrorist

Yes my act is pathetic. I live in a red state; pathos is my lot. I am surrounded by these people and altogether too aware of their crying need for unanimity. I just want them to know that I am following Apple computer's advice to "Think Different." I know that my little W-down sign will accomplish nothing. But it makes me feel better. And truth to tell a huge number of W stickers have vanished from my morning drive!

Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran?

Whenever I read a Sy Hersh piece I think the stuff he says cannot be true. "No they wouldn't do that, it's too nuts!" I often initially think to myself. But as time rolls on I--we all--discover that yes it may be too nuts, but the W Administration will do it. It was Mr Hersh's reporting that first informed us that Abu Ghraib was not an isolated incident but part of a systematic program of torture to soften detainees up for Military Intelligence interrogations. He reported that the authority for the program went right up to the Pentagon E Ring offices. At first that story seemed preposterous, we were Americans, aka THE GOOD GUYS, and good guys don't torture people. But then came the Gonzalez memos providing the President with a legal justification for torture; and suddenly we knew we were through the looking glass.

Now Mr. Hersh writes in the New Yorker that bombing Iran to take out the nuclear weapon making infrastructure is under serious consideration at the White House. Some options even call for the use of tactical nuclear weapons to get at hardened underground labs, (that would be a precious irony; using nukes to prevent the spread of nukes). Again, my first reaction is "Why that's just nuts! We are not winning in Iraq as it is, the last thing we need now is a war with Iran!"

I keep forgetting. I am a member of the "reality based community." For me things have to make sense and add up. Bombing Iran does not make sense nor add up.

But then again I am just not amoral and ruthless enough to see that bombing Iran does make sense. With poll numbers as rotten as Bush's and with the prospect of one or both houses of Congress going to the Democrats in November now would be the time for some of that "Commander in Chief" razzle dazzle. If he lays some of that famous "Shock and Awe" on Iran it could change the political dynamics here at home. Rove is probably focus grouping it right now.

The Leaky Bush Administration

So Mr Bush who hates leakers turns out to be THE LEAKER in the Scooter Libby affair. Mr Bush is apparently not culpable for breaking the law since he declassified this intelligence info on the fly when giving it to the VP for Scooter to give to NYT reporter Judith Miller. But what about the President's pledge to fire any leakers he found. Is he going to fire himself? I sure wish he would.

The second thing to consider is that Bush, Cheney and Libby were aware or should have been aware that the intelligence they were using had largely been discredited. Still if the overriding concern was to butress a justification for the Iraq war it would have served their purposes well to put this information into the hands of gullible NY Times reporter Judy Miller.

Finally, can the President legally blow the cover of a CIA operative? While I have no problem with the President being able to declassify intelligence information on the fly ( especially in an emergency), I do have a problem with him blowing the cover of a CIA operative as happened in the Plame case. If the information about Ms. Plame went from President Bush to Vice President Cheney to his then Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and on to Ms. Miller of the Times then the President appears to be in violation of Federal law.

OK So I am Blogging now right? Hello?!

I feel embarassed for people who do not realize there is a 7 secord delay on most call in shows. They have waited a long time to get on the air. They have a very hot opinion they want to express. Someone tells them they are on the air. It is the host but he/she dosen't really sound like the host through the phone...and anyway the caller can still hear the host talking on the radio. In that instant the caller often falls victim to confusion and then does not recover. The host prods for the hot opinion as the caller just begins to realize that it is gone. Things go down hill from there.

I wanted my frist official blog post to be different from a muffed radio call in but mainly I wanted it to be different from routine first posts of new bloggers and I think I have accomplished that objective. I certainly have not delivered a hot a opinion as yet. I have several. But now just does not seem like the time. Then again I need to give you a reason to read these posts don't I.

Well here is one. Karl Rove told a group of Republicans a while back that if Al Qaeda is calling someone in America, the White House/NSA wants to know about it. Now it occurs to me that of 275 million Americans most of us (oh around 99.9%) do not know a bin Laden. But George W. Bush surely knows the bin Laden lad who invested a substantial sum of money in his oil company. And then his dad former President George H W Bush sat on the Carlyle Group board with another bin Laden. I'm not saying they held hands or anything but that Mr. Bush probably knew that Mr. bin Laden. So a big confusion could arise here. Al Qaeda may start calling and end up somehow talking to George W or George H W and then what would Karl Rove and NSA do....?