From Scout: From WWL The head of a Hurricane Katrina charity established by former Presidents Bush and Clinton has resigned under duress following the exodus of seven members from one of its committees. In a statement, the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund announced that “in the best interests of the mission of The Fund,” its Executive Director Mary Ann Wyrsch agreed to step down. Her resignation follows the abrupt departure of seven out of nine religious leaders serving on a committee charged with disbursing $20 million from the charity’s coffers to hurricane-damaged churches. The departing committee members said they were upset by … Continue reading I think it’s called fired

Via Romenesko, this news: Police were called to The New York Times on Friday after the newspaper received an envelope containing a suspicious-looking powder. A worker opened the envelope, which contained a “white powdery substance,” at about 12:30 p.m. It was not immediately known what the substance was. Police and a Times spokeswoman, Catherine Mathis, said the envelope also contained an editorial with an “X” through it. Mathis said the worker followed the newspaper’s security protocol by putting the envelope in a plastic bag and calling police. The employee was taken to a hospital to be examined, but was showing … Continue reading Predictable

From Holden: Today we learned that The Decider has been speaking to the Lebanese PM… MR. SNOW: The President also reiterated his support for the democracy in his conversation with Prime Minister Siniora. And, according to Pony Blow, the dude is a liar. Q Now, Siniora is describing the President’s comments as promising to get Israeli to rein in its attacks. Did the President say anything like that? MR. SNOW: No. What the President — or, the President reiterated his position. Prime Minister Siniora at one point — I think he’s been public about this — has wanted a ceasefire. … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Oh, my. Via the Raw Story, the Miami Herald reports that Rep. Katherine Harris started a whispering campaign against former Rep./MSNBC host Joe Scarborough regarding his little intern murder problem in order to keep him out of her senate race. You can’t make this shit up. Hat-tip to watertiger. Continue reading Republican Juggernaut vs. Banjo Boy

From Holden: *Bush Boom, Bitches! Consumers continued to curtail their spending last month as rising gasoline prices dampened purchases of other goods, a fresh indication of a cooling economy. The cutback pushed retail sales into negative territory in June, when they dipped 0.1 percent after edging up by the same amount in May, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Excluding gasoline sales, June retail sales fell 0.2 percent. Continue reading BBB*

Stripe, despite being fat and sleek, is unwell again. He’s developed a kind of weird head twitch, his internal organs are enlarged and his blood sugar’s all over the place. The Best Vet Ever thinks it’s either insulinoma or another form of cancer. Which depending on its progression, could be treated very easily. But first they have to figure out what exactly is the problem, and even though he’s the size of a Nerf football, his little body seems to be pretty good at hiding the exact cause of his illness. They’re doing tests, which Stripe is accepting with a … Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging: Vet Edition

From Holden: Chimpy is stuck at 36% job approval in the latest AP/Ipsos poll, but the important news is the nation is tilting towards the Democratic Party in a BIG way. Republicans are in jeopardy of losing their grip on Congress in November. With less than four months to the midterm elections, the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that Americans by an almost 3-to-1 margin hold the GOP-controlled Congress in low regard and profess a desire to see Democrats wrest control after a dozen years of Republican rule. [snip] The AP-Ipsos survey asked 789 registered voters if the election for … Continue reading Jumping on the Democratic Bandwagon

From Holden: Former Republican Senate candidate Pete Coors stumbles in the president’s footsteps. Beer magnate and former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Pete Coors was arrested on a drunken-driving charge and is due to appear in court next week. A Colorado State Patrol trooper pulled Coors over after he saw him run a stop sign around the corner from his home in Golden at 11:25 p.m. on May 28, according to Coors spokeswoman Kabira Hatland and the citations. Coors stopped his 2004 green Jaguar in his driveway, and the trooper smelled alcohol, said State Patrol spokesman Trooper Gilbert Mares. Coors failed … Continue reading Colorado Kool Aid

From Holden: Ignored for nearly five years by the Bush Assministration, military lawyers speak out about detainee rights. The top lawyers from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines contradicted the Bush administration on Thursday on how to bring terror suspects to trial, endorsing an approach that extends more human and legal rights to detainees than one that administration lawyers have pressed Congress to authorize. Testimony by the military lawyers to the Senate Armed Services Committee provided a new indication of divisions within the administration about how far to extend the protections of the Geneva Conventions to terror suspects. Those … Continue reading Military Lawyers Have Their Day

From Holden: Yo, Republicans – Ruin the Army much? On the last day of January 2005, Steven D. Green, the former Army private accused of raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdering her family, sat in a Texas jail on alcohol-possession charges, an unemployed 19-year-old high school dropout who had just racked up his third misdemeanor conviction. Days later, Mr. Green enlisted in a soldier-strapped Army, and was later assigned to a star-crossed unit to serve on an especially murderous patch of earth. He arrived at the very moment that the Army was increasing by nearly half the rate at … Continue reading Bottom of the Barrel

From Scout: E.J. Dionne has a good column on Bush’s failed policy in today’s WaPo entitled “Big Bang Theory in Ruins.” Continue reading Their dream theory is a bust

So Spocko has been battling these moronic brownshirt tools for months now: Dear AP Editors and Management: On Thursday morning June 29th Lee Rogers of the ABC/Disney radio station KSFO 560 am said, “Why don’t you dopes at the Associated Press do the world a favor and commit mass suicide?” This comment followed an AP story about a hunger strike. Lee Rogers is the morning co-host of Melanie Morgan, who has recently called for the execution of Bill Keller of the New York Times and the hanging of the news media that published articles about a Treasury Department program designed … Continue reading Don’t Mess With The Vulcans

From Scout: You may remember the King of Jordan’s trip to NOLA and that Qatar pledged $60 million for Katrina relief. Now it is Saudi Arabia’s Prince Turki Al-Faisal who has visited New Orlean to say they will continue to support its rebuilding. Saudi Arabia has given more than $100 million that has gone to various charities including Habitat for Humanity, a food bank, a Jesuit high School. Charity Hospital and for equipment to fishermen in Plaquemines Parish… A Saudi Arabian prince pledged that his kingdom will keep bankrolling the relief effort in this hurricane-torn region, continuing a trend of … Continue reading The Arabs “Get” New Orleans…Come on America

Never, ever, ever point out a Republican mistake: The political spat was sparked by a Democratic House campaign committee video claiming “Things Have Taken a Turn for the Worse” that features images of the coffins, a makeshift grave in Iraq and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Because the Olympic-level whining that will ensue will hurt your eardrums, annoy the neighbors and, should you try to play the Spot The Bullshit drinking game, make you all fourteen stages of tequila at once. “For the Democrats, everything is about politics, so nothing they have done over the last three years to shamelessly … Continue reading Screaming Makes The Headaches Worse

River: The naivet of Americans who can’t believe their ‘heroes’ are committing such atrocities is ridiculous. Who ever heard of an occupying army committing rape??? You raped the country, why not the people? In the news they’re estimating her age to be around 24, but Iraqis from the area say she was only 14. Fourteen. Imagine your 14-year-old sister or your 14-year-old daughter. Imagine her being gang-raped by a group of psychopaths and then the girl was killed and her body burned to cover up the rape. Why not the people, indeed? One type of criticism of the Bush administration … Continue reading May This Be the Last of Your Sorrows

I’d like to see this addressed at the next academic panel on how the Internet is killing journalism: Conrad Black’s tangled finances provoked sharp questioning Wednesday by a federal judge who wondered how the former media baron pays his $200,000-a-month living expenses — without having an income. Judge Amy St. Eve grilled Black’s lawyer on discrepancies between a financial statement Black filed in November and one filed this week. The recent statement shows stock and a bank account of greater value than disclosed last year, for example. “The value of these investments has gone up substantially,” St. Eve said. Black, … Continue reading Media Ethics in Action

From Holden: By now you may have heard that Joe and Valerie Wilson are suing Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, I. Lewis “Scooter Libby, and ten (Ten!) John Does. They have set up a trust to help pay their legal expenses and, being the classy people that they are, plan donate any proceeds from a settlement, less legal fees, to charity. Coinciding with the filing of the Complaint, the Joseph and Valerie Wilson Legal Support Trust has been established. Funds from the trust will help the Wilsons pay the substantial legal costs forced upon them by the unlawful leaking of Mrs. … Continue reading Class

From Holden: Gee, it seems like only yesterday that Fred Barnes was celebrating the Bush Bounce. How fitting that Barnes’ Fox News is the one to pop his bubble. The president’s approval rating dropped to 36 percent, down from 41 percent approval two weeks ago and 40 percent in mid-June. Bush lost ground this week among some key constituent groups, such as Republicans, whites and men. Overall, 53 percent of Americans say they disapprove. Thanks to Attaturk for tipping me off. Continue reading Back In Pony Territory

From Scout: New Orleans has pulled out of contention for the ’08 Democractic Convention because they don’t have corporate sponsorship. Ashley asks Why? And Slim says not so fast and makes a point….. The Dems should just choose New Orleans, and then put their shoulders to the wheel to help raise the money to make it happen. This is our chance to make a difference locally in New Orleans while changing the course of the country at the same time. What better way to spotlight the neglect of New Orleans by the Bush administration (and, by association, the GOP candidate) … Continue reading Not so Fast……

From Scout: Via Evacuee at Hurricane Katrina Aftermath A group of conservative and ministers will be holding a conference on Reconstruction of the Gulf Coast on July 26 at the Heritage Foundation. Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, an African American doesn’t blame Bush for the problems related to Katrina… Instead, he faults what he calls the “black culture.” “It’s not President Bush’s responsibility to make us get up and take care of ourselves. That was a political ploy in order to make blacks believe the Republican Party was against them and that they really don’t care,” Peterson said. Then there is … Continue reading Conservatives Claim Katrina Woes Due to “Black Culture”

From Holden: From the Senate Majority Project. This morning, Hillsborough Superior Court Judge Philip Mangones granted the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s motion to take sworn depositions and discovery from the White House and top DC Republican operatives in the civil suit arising from the 2002 phone jamming scandal. Those named in the motion include former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, former White House political director (and current RNC Chairman) Ken Mehlman, and Terry Nelson, a top strategist in the political operation of Sen. John McCain. Judge Phillip Mangones also denied the Republicans motion to postpone the trial for the … Continue reading Phone-Jamming Case Heats Up

From Holden: Would I pile on poor Katherine Harris now that her entire senior campaign staff is quitting on her (again) and she’s about to go under the knife? Yep. On the campaign trail and in her literature, U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris boasts that, as a freshman member of Congress, she passed the American Dream Downpayment Act, “enabling 4.5 million low-income workers to own their first home while growing the U.S. economy by $256 billion.” Federal reports indicate Harris’ claims are grossly exaggerated. A Government Accountability Office report issued June 30 found that, through 2005, only $98.5 million of the … Continue reading Republican Juggernaut Caught Lying

From Holden: The Republican Congress will not do it (hell, I’m not convinced that a Democratically-controlled Congress would), the only way to rein in the Bush Assministration is through civil suits. Human rights organizations that have succeeded in changing the legal landscape for detainees at Guantnamo Bay, Cuba, say they are now pursuing the possibility of bringing lawsuits on behalf of some of the terrorism suspects held in secret C.I.A. jails throughout the world. The lawyers say they believe that what was once was a remote possibility — challenging the detentions in the secret C.I.A. prison system in federal court … Continue reading Civil Suits the Only Way

From Holden: So, after conspiring with Ralph Reed and then-Texas Attorney General John Cornyn to close their casino in East Texas Jack Abramoff made an offer to the Alabama-Coushatta tribe. Abramoff, according to the lawsuit, wanted 10 percent of the Alabama-Coushattas’ gambling revenue forever in return for getting federal legislation to legalize their casino. What a guy! Continue reading Hudspa

From Holden: Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater on the Slacker in Chief. In 1989 Bush invested $500,000 of borrowed money in the Texas Rangers, assuming the title of managing general partner in the process. Bush held the job for five years, eventually leaving to run for governor of Texas. But, according to some intimates, he ran for office only after realizing that his dream job — commissioner of baseball — was going to Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig. “That’s all Bush wanted, to be baseball commissioner,” Linklater says. “And he probably would have been OK, but he wasn’t qualified, so he … Continue reading Couldn’t Cut It In Baseball

From Holden: It’s been a few days since Pony Blow bothered to hold the gaggle, but he did one yesterday aboard Air Force One somewhere over Germany. That Pony Blow, such a kidder. Q Was the President frustrated [by Iran], too? MR. SNOW: No, the President doesn’t give into frustration. To be frustrated is to waste your time stomping and fuming, and when you’re President of the United States your chief objective is to get things done. So as the facts on the ground change, you try to figure out proper ways to get people working in concert to get … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Unintended consequences? Perhaps. You see, first the Texas Legislature made the killing of human fetuses a capital offense, but maintained that a doctor performing a legal medical procedure in which a fetus was “killed” (ie: abortion) could use that legal procedure as a defense against prosecution. Then they outlawed third-trimester abortions and abortions for minors without parental consent. So, if a doctor performs a third-trimester abortion or an abortion for a teenager without the parents’ consent, is he a murder? A group of Texas prosecutors say yes. Could Texas doctors face murder charges for performing late-term abortions or … Continue reading Execute the Doctors

On the Times, the SWIFT story, and the whole conservatoid blogger howl that followed: In fairness to the Times, administration officials who tried to talk editors there out of publishing seem to have emphasized a much weaker argument for withholding the SWIFT story葉hat disclosure would put pressure on European governments to oppose the program. It’s hardly a valid national security argument to say that the public in other democratic countries might reflexively oppose something if they knew we were doing it. That’s a diplomatic problem of Bush’s own making, and he can’t reasonably enlist the press in trying to solve … Continue reading Weisberg