From Holden: New York Daily News, October 2, 2003: [Former Limpbaugh housekeeper Wilma Cline] also gave the Enquirer a ledger documenting how many pills she claimed to have bought for him – 4,350 in one 47-day period – and E-mails she claimed Limbaugh sent her. In one missive, Limbaugh pushed Cline to get more “little blues” – code for OxyContin, the powerful narcotic nicknamed hillbilly heroin, she said. “You know how this stuff works … the more you get used to, the more it takes,” the May 2002 E-mail reads. “But I will try and cut down to help out.” … Continue reading Down Memory Lane WIth Limpbaugh and the ”Little Blues”

From Holden: New York Daily News, October 2, 2003: [Former Limpbaugh housekeeper Wilma Cline] also gave the Enquirer a ledger documenting how many pills she claimed to have bought for him – 4,350 in one 47-day period – and E-mails she claimed Limbaugh sent her. In one missive, Limbaugh pushed Cline to get more “little blues” – code for OxyContin, the powerful narcotic nicknamed hillbilly heroin, she said. “You know how this stuff works … the more you get used to, the more it takes,” the May 2002 E-mail reads. “But I will try and cut down to help out.” … Continue reading Down Memory Lane WIth Limpbaugh and the “Little Blues”

From Holden: Personally I have no sympathy for the man, but then I’ve never been an alcoholic myself. George Bush’s problems are not only personal. By necessity, they have become the problems of our entire country. And our country is like the family of an alcoholic, devastated by the drinker’s actions but powerless to stop them. Many will consider it a cheap insult to call the president an alcoholic. But recovering alcoholics, with steady doses of humility and rigorous honesty, can become extraordinary human beings. It is no insult to be an alcoholic. However, an alcoholic who simply controls his … Continue reading Should We Feel Sorry for the Dry Drunk In Chief?

From Holden: It’s the housing market you are hearing. Sales of existing homes fell for the third time in the past five months in May, with the weakness led by a big drop in demand in the Northeast. The National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday that sales of previously owned homes dropped by 1.2 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.67 million units. The median price of the homes sold in May rose to $230,000 in May, up 6 percent from the same month a year ago. That represented a slowdown from huge double-digit price gains … Continue reading That Giant Sucking Sound

From Holden: What is it about Florida that attracts the loonies? First we have Bloated Addict forgetting to swallow his condom full of Viagra before re-entering the country from a sex tour of the Dominican Republic, and then we have everyone’s favorite Republican Juggernaut claiming that Democrats in the House want her to beat an incumbent Democratic senator. U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris said she is getting support in strange places in her fall bid for the U.S. Senate. [snip] “I’ve had Democrats in the House of Representatives come to me and say ‘You know, we’d really like to take the … Continue reading Notes from Fantasia

From Holden: Ha! Looks like Tom DeLay’s clever plan to remove his name from the ballot in Texas is about to blow up in his face. DeLay and the Republican Party of Texas waited until the Bugman had won the Republican primary before trying to get him off the ballot by having him claim residency in Virginia, thus disqualifying DeLay for the November election and allowing the Republicans to pick a replacement late in the game. Funny thing is, the US consititution says nothing about a congressional condidate’s residency prior to election, it only requires that on election day he … Continue reading Tom DeLay’s Clever Plan

From Scout: On Saturday in a post entitled “Government by PTSD” NOLA blogger Adrastos wrote “This City is being governed by reflex right now as if City Hall were a giant nerve responding to stimuli without stopping to think. We need considered and intelligent action and not brave words and empty gestures.” I don’t know if this story from the Times Picayune on Nagin reorganizing city government is more gesture or what…. Offering a sneak preview of his second-term administration, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said Monday that he plans to reorganize local government to better respond to the city’s … Continue reading Movement or Moving Deck Chairs?

Several kind souls have, in recent days, availed themselves of the donation link on this page to send us scratch and keep the chinchillas from starving. They appreciate it, in their non-verbal and furry way, and so do I. Thanks to that generosity, and the bit we get each month from Blogads, we just renewed our domain for the next six years. The three of you who visit each day hoping we’ll have been eaten in the night by wild dogs are stuck with First Draft for the forseeable future. A. Continue reading The Thank You Post

Go name John Laesch’s new boat. And give him some money, would you? I’m sick of having to see the local TV newstwinks fawn all over Fat Denny every time he blows through town. I would say this at all the book events, but one of the things I loved most about the old Dean campaign blog was just how much fun people there were having. That’s what drew me in, these people taking honest to God joy in what they were doing, with the kind of overcaffeinated, slightly strange, obsessed stuff that happens when you’re up for four days … Continue reading In Which Athenae’s New Political Crush Gets A Boat

Your compassionate conservatives at work: Sen. Mel Martnez should try to live on $10,712 per year ($5.15 an hour). Clearly, based on his recent vote not to raise the minimum wage, he feels that Americans earning that amount can sustain themselves. He can say it is to help business or to protect jobs, but he has once again stuck it to working Americans who will live below the poverty level working full time at that wage. Why ask business to pay a fair wage when he can burden the American working family already crushed under the national debt? Thank you, … Continue reading Morality

From Scout: Via Josh Marshall… (CBS4 News) WEST PALM BEACH Sources have confirmed to CBS4 News that conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh has been detained at Palm Beach International Airport for the possible possession of illegal prescription drugs Monday evening. Limbaugh was returning on a flight from the Dominican Republic when officials found the drugs, among them Viagra. Limbaugh entered a plea deal back in April in a previous case where his charge of fraud to conceal information to obtain prescriptions was dropped under the condition he continue undergoing treatment for addiction. Limbaugh had admitted to being addicted to … Continue reading HaHaHa

From Holden: When is a timeline not a timeline? When Pony Blow says it’s not. Q Tony, you had Democrats over the weekend — Senator Kerry, Senator Boxer — saying that even the framework of a plan would kind of fly in the face of Republican the Democrats want to cut and run. Do you have any response to that? I mean, the President, himself, has implied it, Rove has said it outright. MR. SNOW: There’s still a pretty significant difference between what Senator Kerry or even Senator Levin had proposed, and what General Casey is talking about, simply because … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Fox blues. Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes is on the warpath following his network’s recent ratings slump, and he won’t hesitate to clean house to turn things around. So far during the second quarter, the No. 1 cable news channel’s primetime schedule has dropped 22% in its core 25-54 demo and 8% in total viewers. The first quarter was even worse. Continue reading Trouble At The Mill

From Holden: Breaking News banner just flashed up at CNN.com: Supreme Court agrees to consider forcing the Bush administration to regulate carbon dioxide, a gas linked to climate change, from motor vehicles. Hey, this might be a good day at The Court. Continue reading SCOTUS

From Holden:

I was on the beach so I missed the gaggle on Friday. Most of you have probably read the juicy bits, but I can’t let it go without comment. It’s an obsession, remember?

First off I noticed it was asterix day in the James S. Brady Briefing Room as Pony Blow overstated the number of casualties in the Bali bombing by a factor of ten.

Here’s what it [the Treasury Dept. trolling through your bank records for the past five years] has done — this is the concrete part, as opposed to the abstract, potential dangers. It helped capture Hambali, who was responsible for the Bali bombing which killed more than 2,000 people.*

And at the end of the transcript we learn…

*CORRECTION: 200 people lost their lives in the Bali Bombing.

Later…

Q You had mentioned that the intelligence committees were briefed. Can you talk specifically about how members of Congress were briefed about this program, and when? And if the types —

MR. SNOW: No. Because I don’t know.**

All eyes scan to the bottom of the page…

**Additional information: appropriate members of Congress were briefed from the start of the program.

Pony Blow continues, click Read More…

Continue reading “Today on Holden’s Obsession with Last Friday’s Gaggle”

From Holden: I don’t have any inflated hopes that the Supreme Court will completely throw out Tom DeLay’s gerrymandered Texas redistricting map today but it is possible that they will reject a couple of districts that have actually harmed minority voting rights in Texas. Any change in DeLay’s map ordered by the Bush-packed SCOTUS would be a cold slap in the face to the GOP. Continue reading Cold Slap in the Face

Go read Steve and then come back and we’ll talk about journalism. In my offline life I do some work with aspiring journalists. This weekend I was talking with one of them who was raising the question of how to defend yourself when you write something that causes controversy or displeasure. This is what I told the kid: Your best defense is to check with everybody. Let me explain what I mean by this. When you’re writing an expos, you go back to the subject of that piece again and again and again, asking him or her to comment. Nothing … Continue reading ‘A Fundamental Mistake’

From Scout: While the Republicans in Congress beat up on Dems with harrumphs this past week that timetables are Cut N Run, General Casey was briefing the Pentagon and White House on timetables, which we now learn from leaks coming from “American officials” including a “senior White House official” …. WASHINGTON, June 24 — The top American commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September, American officials say. According to a classified briefing at the Pentagon this week … Continue reading Playing politics with the troops

From Scout: From the LA Times BAGHDAD — At least 50,000 Iraqis have died violently since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, according to statistics from the Baghdad morgue, the Iraqi Health Ministry and other agencies — a toll 20,000 higher than previously acknowledged by the Bush administration. Many more Iraqis are believed to have been killed but not counted because of serious lapses in recording deaths in the chaotic first year after the invasion, when there was no functioning Iraqi government, and continued spotty reporting nationwide since. The toll, which is mostly of civilians but probably also includes some security forces … Continue reading Numbers

From Scout: Here’s a classic from 1971….. James Taylor and Carole King…. You’ve Got a Friend Continue reading Late Night Music Video

From Scout: I thought it a bit embarrassing when the King of Jordan toured New Orleans in February and had a better handle on things than our own King. At the time I did a compare and contrast… King of Jordan– recognized Katrina’a impact immediately King of America–never thought levees would break even when his Palace had been told they would. …………… King of Jordan–glued to TV King of America–got the DVD 5 days later …………… King of Jordan–Visited the 9th Ward King of America–Bypasses unwashed to meet with landed gentry …………… King of Jordan–asks why is this place still … Continue reading Third World USA…Part II

They were uncooperative this morning. As in, refused to get out of bed. All that late-night partying really takes its toll at their ages. A. Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging: Heap of Beasties Edition

From Scout: watertiger asks the question that Bush probably won’t ever ask again. Continue reading Aaaah

From Scout: MwahHaHaHa…. Go read Attaturk…. So yesterday, because Brian Kilmeade has to go to bed early, it was time for FoxNews to do what FoxNews must do and be incestuous in its interviewing. They had “the mustache of blundering” on O’Reilly and they falafeled each other to a fine blather. Continue reading LOL

From Scout: From WaPo The report includes new details about some of Abramoff’s activities, including his collaboration with former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed and conservative strategist Grover Norquist. The Senate report recommended that the Senate Finance Committee investigate the use of tax-exempt organizations “as extensions of for-profit lobbying operations.” SNIP The report traces Abramoff’s business dealings with Reed, who is running for Georgia lieutenant governor, and Norquist, the prominent conservative thinker and anti-tax advocate. Both are longtime Abramoff friends who became involved in his work for Indian tribes. Reed conducted grass-roots anti-gambling campaigns against casino initiatives that would rival … Continue reading Reed and Norquist

From Scout: From the NYT WASHINGTON, June 22 — Under a secret Bush administration program initiated weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, counterterrorism officials have gained access to financial records from a vast international database and examined banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and others in the United States, according to government and industry officials. The program is limited, government officials say, to tracing transactions of people suspected of having ties to Al Qaeda by reviewing records from the nerve center of the global banking industry, a Belgian cooperative that routes about $6 trillion daily between banks, brokerages, stock exchanges … Continue reading Tell Me What’s Going On