From Holden: Put down the Kool-Aid and pick up a nice refreshing glass of ImpeachmentTea. Continue reading What All The Kewl Kids Are Drinking This Summer

From Holden: Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, prevented by term limits from running for governor again, has his eyes on the White House and is campaigning in Iowa. Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said in Cedar Rapids today that he is optimistic his legislature will quickly reinstate a ban on same sex couples serving as foster parents. He concedes that it would prevent Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter from serving in that role. Huckabee explains his reasoning. “What I feared was going on was that the plaintiffs in this case were not as interested in foster children as they were in making … Continue reading Fuckabee

From Holden: Chimpy shores up his base. Wages are rising more than twice as fast for highly paid workers in the Washington area as they are for low-paid workers, an analysis of federal data by The Washington Post shows. That means the spoils of the region’s economic expansion are going disproportionately to workers who are already well-paid, widening a gap between rich and poor in a place where it is already wider than in most of the country. Continue reading Mission Accomplished

From Scout: Talk Left has a post on Rove’s speech at the Aspen Ideas Festival Sunday. Here is Rove on Iraq…. “You know it’s not going to be U.S. style. It’s not going to be a Midwest small-town atmosphere. It’s going to be Iraq with deeply felt sectarian strains with bad guys and people with lots of guns, but it is going to be a functioning society. It already is a distinct improvement on the society that existed.” Nic Robertson on CNN yesterday… Once a confluence of cultures, Baghdad is turning into sectarian islands of fear. (on camera): In an … Continue reading No wonder Rove got jeered by some during Aspen speech

Sometimes the Internet scares the living shit out of me. So, so, SO not work-safe. A. Continue reading Uh, Guys?

I like this bit a whole lot: Can Democrats capitalize on this incredible disconnect with the electorate the Rubber Stamp Republicans have on the issues? Only if we keep the conversation focused on just that disconnect: why is the GOP wasting it’s time on a gay marriage ban that’s already been rejected by the Senate when the only plan they have for Iraq is Stay and Pray? Why are they worrying about the Pledge of Allegiance when people are having to choose between paying for food or paying for gasoline to get to work? Because this is exactly it, the … Continue reading Stay and Pray

Okay, so Pirates of the Caribbean 2?

Come inside and we’ll discuss the hotness. Er. The plotline. Yeah.

Continue reading “Dead Man’s Chest”

Worst band of all time. My money’s on Creed. A. Continue reading Tell Me

From Holden:

At his Chicago Presser.

Either He Does Not Understand or is Deliberately Misinterpreting Hamdan v. Rumsfeld

Q I’d like to ask you to speak on the broad implications of that recent Supreme Court case — not the specifics of the case. But the justices said that you overreached your authority. And your critics have been saying that, too. Given your support and respect for the Court, are you willing to rethink how you use your presidential authority?

THE PRESIDENT: I am willing to abide by the ruling of the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court said that in this particular case when it comes to dealing with illegal combatants, who were picked up off a battlefield and put in Guantanamo for the sake of our security, that we should work with the United States Congress to develop a way forward. They didn’t we couldn’t have done — made that decision, see. They were silent on whether or not Guantanamo — whether or not we should have used Guantanamo. In other words, they accepted the use of Guantanamo, the decision I made. What they did say was, in terms of going forward, what should the court system look like? How can we use a military commission or tribunal?

[snip]

These are the types of combatants we have never faced before. They don’t wear uniforms and they don’t represent a nation state. They’re bound by an ideology. They swore allegiance to individuals, but not to a nation. The Geneva conventions were set up to deal with armies of nation states. You’ve got standard rules of war.

So this is new ground. This is different than any President has been through before, in terms of how to deal with these kind of people that you’re picking up off a battlefield and trying to protect the American people from.

Justice Stephens’ majority opinion clearly stated that the rights of Hamdan and the other detainees are protected by the Geneva Conventions, a point that Justice Kennedy also emphasized. To claim that the detainees “don’t wear uniforms and they don’t represent a nation state” and that the “Geneva conventions were set up to deal with armies of nation states” is to violate the ruling of the Supreme Court.

Your President continues, Read More…

Continue reading “Your President Speaks!”

From Holden: How is it so many of Chimpy’s buddies wind up crosswise with Johnnie Law? Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was ordered Friday to stand trial following an investigation into the sale of television rights at Mediaset SpA, Italian news agencies reported. [snip] Preliminary hearings began in October after a four year investigation by Milan magistrates into claims of embezzlement, false accounting, tax fraud and money laundering in television rights deals between 1994 and 1999. Continue reading Fraud Trial Ordered for Berlusconi

From Holden: Democratic party affiliation is rising. During the month of June, 37.0% of Americans identified themselves as Democrats, up from 36.4% in May. Only once in the past year have a larger share of American adults identified themselves as Democrats. The number of Republicans remained essentially unchanged—33.5% in June and 33.6% in May. However, the number of Americans unaffiliated with either major party dipped to 29.5% in June. That’s down half a point from 29.5% in May. Continue reading The People’s Party

From Holden: Most states are failing to enact the testing requirements of NCLB. The Education Department says 34 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have major problems with the tests that were supposed to be in place in the just-ended school year. They will get federal approval only if they correct the problems in the coming year. In addition, Nebraska and Maine had their testing systems rejected outright. They all face the threat of losing from $40,000 to more than $1 million of the money they receive to administer the No Child Left Behind law. In most cases, … Continue reading Left Behind

From Holden: E&P: A new Gallup poll finds that roughly 2 in 3 Americans urge a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, with 31% wanting this to start immediately. Continue reading America Wants Out

From Holden: Also from yesterday’s interview with Larry King, Chimpy seems intent on ignoring the portion of the Hamdan decision that requires him to abide by the Geneva Conventions. KING: What do you make of the court’s decision on Guantanamo? G. BUSH: They finally ruled and I have been saying to people that we want to resolve the Guantanamo issue, but the court has got to give us a road map forward. They did. It basically said it’s OK to have Guantanamo but you have got to work with Congress to devise a military tribunal, military commission in such a … Continue reading Ignoring SCOTUS

From Holden: From Larry King’s hard-hitting interview. Response of the Day KING: Al Gore was on recently on this program and concerning the environment he said, “President Bush and Vice President Cheney have anointed to any key position that has anything to do with climate change special interest spokesmen for the oil companies, coal companies, and this is no secret.” How do you respond to that? G. BUSH: Um. Greiving Families Anger The Chimp KING: Concerning Iraq, do you ever have doubts about it? Do you ever say, you know, “The country obviously turns one way. Things don’t look great … Continue reading Your President Speaks!

Gimme! A. Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging: Joey Edition

From Holden: Wow, the New York Times’ television reviewer Alessandra Stanley vivisects Larry King’s fluffing of the president. Two kinds of celebrities go on “Larry King Live” on CNN: those with something to sell and those with something to hide. [snip] And that is why President Bush invited the CNN talk show host to the White House on his 60th birthday. [snip] At times, Mr. King even provided the president with answers. “You’ve always had a lot of compassion for the Mexican people,” the interviewer interjected in a discussion of the president’s immigration bill. Mr. Bush seemed a little surprised, … Continue reading King of the Softballs

From Holden: Texas Republicans begin their sobfest. Fort Bend County Commissioner Andy Meyers thinks this may create a problem. “If Tom [DeLay]’s gonna be on the ballot, he’s gonna be on the ballot,” he told RAW STORY. “The concern that some of us might have is that the legal process might stretch out so far that there might be a 30 day campaign. There’s no way that there’d be enough time to organize. “We’re kinda stuck,” he concluded. “It’s hard to get up and say, ‘vote for me, but, hey I might not be the candidate.’ To me it doesn’t … Continue reading Somebody Pass The Crying Towel

From Holden: Sounds like a certain Republican Juggernaut is getting desperate. [A]fter a question from a member of the audience about illegal contributions made to her campaign by a defense contractor in 2004, [Rep. Katherine] Harris said that she had not known the $32,000 donation was illegal and she has since donated the money to charity. She then upped the political ante by suggesting Nelson had made a similar mistake. “That actually happened in the past, and it happened to Bill Nelson,” Harris said. “The difference is that when I did find out, I donated that money to charity. . … Continue reading Off The Deep End

From Scout: From the NYT A decade after the Pentagon declared a zero-tolerance policy for racial hate groups, recruiting shortfalls caused by the war in Iraq have allowed “large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists” to infiltrate the military, according to a watchdog organization. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks racist and right-wing militia groups, estimated that the numbers could run into the thousands, citing interviews with Defense Department investigators and reports and postings on racist Web sites and magazines. “We’ve got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad,” the group quoted a Defense Department investigator as saying in a report … Continue reading Extremists infiltrating US military

Can Len Downie wank any harder without snapping it right off? Downie said he was approached to add his name to the Baquet/Keller piece sometime last week, but did not want to be part of something that involved other newspapers. “I was contacted by Bill [Keller] and I decided not to participate in a group,” Downie told E&P Wednesday. “I was asked if I was interested in being involved with several editors about this and I declined. I think one of the important things about American journalism is that each newspaper operates on its own and I didn’t want to … Continue reading It’s a Question of Physics

From Holden: The Republican Juggernaut apparently has two positions on guest workers. One for non-immigrant audiences… [Katherine] Harris declared in a letter to supporters this week that incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Tallahassee, is “weak on immigration.” Her reason: He favors a sweeping immigration bill offering millions of illegal immigrants and future guest workers a path to citizenship. [snip] “She does oppose amnesty and those who are here illegally being rewarded with an easier path to citizenship than anyone who comes here legally,” spokesman Ingram said of Harris’ stance. [snip] Supporters of the bill avoid using the term “amnesty,” but … Continue reading Flip-Flopper!

From Holden: Today’s gaggle makes me wonder what the defition of the word “unacceptable” is. Q Tony, one week ago the President said in the East Room that a missile launch, a test firing would be unacceptable. MR. SNOW: It still is. [snip] Q If I could follow, if the first test firing was unacceptable, what’s the potential second test firing? MR. SNOW: Well, look, we’ve had seven firings. They’re all unacceptable, each and every one of them. And in your Daily Les, Kinsolving outdoes himself. Q Before North Korea launched its missiles on July 4th, the President said the … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Ha! “I think Mitch [Wade] made a mistake in trying to bribe [Katherine] Harris,” a Capitol Hill source says, chuckling. “She’s so incompetent she can’t be bribed.” Continue reading Vanity Fair Quote of the Day

From Holden: Gallup’s demographic breakdown of its poll respondents show that African Americans, Hispanics, and Non-Hospanic Whites all dissapprove of the job Chimpy is doing as president. Gallup’s annual poll on Minority Rights and Relations finds little change in blacks’ and Hispanics’ evaluations of George W. Bush compared with last year. The vast majority of blacks continue to give Bush low marks for his job performance, while Hispanics are more likely to disapprove than approve. Hispanics’ views of Bush have generally tracked the opinions of the broader public in recent years. [snip] Just 15% of blacks approve of the job … Continue reading A Rainbow of Bush Hatred

From Scout: Yesterday in Afghanistan from the NYT….. KABUL, Afghanistan, July 5 — Three bombs apparently aimed at buses carrying government workers and Afghan troops exploded in the capital during morning rush hour Wednesday, killing at least one person and wounding at least 45, officials said. SNIP Afghanistan is in the grip of an increasingly aggressive anti-government insurgency and U.S.-led counteroffensive in which more than 600 people, most of them suspected rebels, have died since early May. Most attacks have taken place in the rural south and east, where guerrillas can hide in rugged terrain and seek refuge across the … Continue reading Afghanistan worsens…British may send more troops

From Scout: Below Holden asks if the Republican House’s subpoena of Rumsfeld for Abu Ghraib documents is a first. Nope and I’ll bet the results of this subpoena will be much the same as the subpoena for Katrina documents that Rummy received. That subpoena came from a Republican House select committee…… The resolution establishing the Select Committee granted subpoena authority to the Republican chairman, but not to the Democratic minority. This was one of the primary reasons Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership refused to appoint members. And the results of the subpoena…. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, for … Continue reading Subpoena not a first for Rumsfeld