PSoTD

Norman Solomon at Media Monitors Network hits the nail on the head:

On Oct. 29, hours after the indictment of Lewis Libby, the lead editorial of the Times ended by declaring that “the big point Americans need to keep in mind is this: There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.” On Oct. 30, the Times columnist Frank Rich referred to “Colin Powell’s notorious presentation of WMD ‘evidence’ to the UN on the eve of war.”

And so it goes in the opinion section of the New York Times. There’s now eagerness to blast the Bush administration for some aspects of false prewar propaganda — while the newspaper continues to dodge its own crucial role in promoting that propaganda.

If Michael Moore was looking for an appropriate target for his next movie, the national PoliPress would be hard to beat. And I, for one, would love to watch a movie that tore into how easily these journalists convert into tools.

According to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted this past weekend, less than half of the American public believes former senior White House aide I. Lewis Libby Jr. did anything illegal in the matter for which he was indicted; a majority says the controversy involving him is an isolated incident rather than symptomatic of low ethics at the White House; and there is little shift in the already low opinion ratings of the players closely associated with this controversy, including ratings of presidential adviser Karl Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney. President George W. Bush's job approval rating has also not changed compared with polling conducted a week ago.

That's somewhat depressing for our nation, but here's the real news in the survey:

The weekend poll asked Americans how well they understand the Libby case. About two-thirds say they understand it very (22%) or somewhat (46%) well, while about one-third (31%) say they don't understand it very well or don't understand it at all.

Those who present themselves as knowledgeable about the case — saying they understand it "very well" — tend to be much more critical than others about the seriousness of the charges and the broader implications for the Bush administration. Whether this is an indication that public opinion will grow more critical as the facts become better known, or whether it merely reflects the somewhat higher proportion of Democrats among those highly familiar with the case, is not clear.

The more people know about this case, the more they are pissed off about it. More light, please. More real journalism, please. No more talking heads, please.

Others weighing in on this poll: Tennessee Guerilla Women...

What kind of public policy education are they providing at the University of Connecticut? I'm not too impressed by this professor's comments...

Ken Dautrich, a professor of public policy at the University of Connecticut, said the indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby "pales in comparison" to Watergate or the Lewinsky affair.

The significance of Friday's developments was the resignation of Libby, who while widely unknown prior to the scandal, was a prime catalyst for the administration's divisive foreign policy, Dautrich said.

"It's not the president or vice president who lied to a grand jury. It's a top aide, but Bush or Cheney, they don't have a stink left on them," Dautrich said.

"This is the guy behind the Bush administration's foreign policy. This is a guy who thought Saddam Hussein had to be taken out. He was the highest-level hard-liner, and was a close advisor to Cheney and Bush. Clinton lied to a grand jury. This was just a high level aid," Dautrich said.

Sure seems to me that a lot of folks think Bush and Cheney have quite a stench at this point.

Firedoglake has been the place to go the past few weeks about the Plame case. And she thinks that Fitzgerald has Cheney in his sights.

From Instapundit:

THE MOUNTAIN HAS LABORED AND BROUGHT FORTH A MOUSE: At least if this report from the Post is true: No Rove indictment, and only a lame False Statements Act charge against Libby, which wouldn't even relate to the underlying issue. This will be a blue Fitzmas for some people if it works out that way, but it's too early to be sure that these reports are correct.

For anyone who thinks that this is the end-all to the whole investigation, please review the Watergate timeline. First arrests, June 17, 1972. Two years later? Nixon's resignation, August 8, 1974.

What happened during that time? Continued investigations, criminal convictions, and a steady loss of control by the President over all branches of government. Republicans are in denial if they don't think the Bush Administration is at quite a risk for a repeat performance.

Read.

In his warped world, it was all due to government.

Far from existing from time immemorial, as many have assumed, racially segregated seating in public transportation began in the South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Those who see government as the solution to social problems may be surprised to learn that it was government which created this problem. Many, if not most, municipal transit systems were privately owned in the 19th century and the private owners of these systems had no incentive to segregate the races.

These owners may have been racists themselves but they were in business to make a profit -- and you don't make a profit by alienating a lot of your customers. There was not enough market demand for Jim Crow seating on municipal transit to bring it about.

I see. So... the restaurants around the country had no incentive to segregate the races in the late 19th and 20th centuries then, because they were private? How about the venues of entertainment? Hotels? This didn't happen without the aid of government?

Blaming segregation on anything other than the accepted society of the time is an excuse. Buses and other forms of transportation were just a segment of segregation. Jim Crow laws were a manifestation of a social structure built outside of government. Once again, Sowell is simply using selective generalizations in pursuit of a predetermined position. Cretinous.

Harriet Miers withdraws her Supreme Court nomination.

It'll be interesting to see how certain segments of the rightwing will beat their chest about this development. The way the Bush Administration is floundering at this point, I'd say the odds are 50-50 that the Bushies misstep into another major controversy in their do-over.

Atrios is right. Bush's answer to criticism and disbelief in his policies is to say the same thing over and over, louder and louder. It's a stupid answer. But even more moronic is laying out to the press these repetitive activities as if they were a reasonable strategy.

Will you be celebrating Ten Commandments Day?

A suggestion to the coordinators of Ten Commandments Day - if you're going to have a Day to Celebrate the Ten Commandments, and you're going to have a web site to celebrate that day, have the commandments listed somewhere on your site. And if you're so concerned about the visibility of the Commandments, try to place them somewhere on the site that can't be ignored. I know you're quite interested in selling your glitzy looking pins for $15, but it sure looks like you're forgetting the point of your "holiday".

While I'm at it, I have to admit to being curious as to whether Ron Wexler, CEO, Ten Commandments Commission, or Pastor Myles Munroe, Chairman of the Ten Commandments Commission, has ever broken the 10 Commandments. If so, where were they when they did it? Because, it seems to me that if you're all fired up to have a copy of the Ten Commandments displayed somewhere, perhaps the place to display it is where they are likely to be broken, not where people are being punished by the laws of the land. Perhaps the focus should be placing such displays at sports arenas, to prevent the taking of the Lord's name in vain; at "meetup" hotels, where adultery can be taking place; EVERY place of business that is open on Sunday; capital punishment facilities for state incarceration systems, etc.

Unless, of course, your real goal is to sell some costume jewelry.

The fighter, punchdrunk and blurry, balanced on the back of his feet. He felt the blow to his face, he rode the snap of his head back, leaning into ropes, bouncing back forward. He threw his arms and hands towards the colors that faded left and right. He was strong, he was at one point stronger than his opponent, and all he had to do was land the right blow and the fight would still be his.

We all ought to recognize that the national Republican Party is, at this point, the punchdrunk fighter, and if somehow they manage to survive the Fitzgerald investigation with no indictments, that will amount to a sense of legal invincibility for the Bush Administration, with all sorts of wild flurries to follow.

Hey, if the expected announcement to name Ben Bernanke to succeed Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan does happen today, one can only hope.

From The Times-Tribune:

Gov. Ed Rendell asked the Legislature this week to appropriate $15 million for LIHEAP, which would increase the fund to $135 million. The $120 million in the fund now would produce average grants of $239 to 330,000 households, an amount that would not even cover the projected increases.

Lawmakers also should approve Mr. Rendell’s request for a state sales tax "holiday" for the purchase of energy-efficient appliance and weatherization materials, in the interest of conservation.

The sales tax holiday idea is an interesting idea, similar to what Governor Ridge did with computer purchases during his term, but it's likely to take more than $15 million from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to make up for the state's share of the federal LIHEAP shortfall. Depending on the federal government to effectively take care of the rest of the funding problem seems too risky as we head into winter.

Hey, here's an idea - how about using the Internet more effectively, both government and farmers? Setting it aside in disaster-involved states is one thing, but the rest of the nation?

From the Montgomery Advertiser:

Alabama farmers will not have to drive miles out of their way to apply for government disaster aid and other benefits — at least for now.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday it is prepared to "set aside" plans to improve efficiency by closing about one out of four of its Farm Service Agency county offices around the nation. Lawmakers had complained about the plan.

There are 49 county offices in Alabama and all were under review for possible consolidation or closure, state Farm Service Agency officials said.

Farmers in Butler County south of Montgomery were relieved to hear the local Farm Service Agency office in Greenville was in no threat of closing soon. Some would have had to drive 50 miles to get to the next county office, said Myron Salter, who raises cattle on a 400-acre farm in McKenzie.

Is a 50 mile drive such a big deal? How often do these farmers have to do this? There are commuters in California that do that every day...

Dear Republicans,

President Bush is yours. Please quit implying that he's not a Republican (or actually saying he isn't) about this or not a Republican about that. You've spent years accepting and adoring President Bush. He's yours. Don't try to pawn him off as anything other than the Republican Standard Bearer. Don't suggest he's somehow part-liberal. He's yours, all yours, and we're not taking responsibility for his policies.

Interesting bit from McClellan's gaggle yesterday:

Q Yes, Scott, you said that the President has directed the White House to cooperate fully with the investigation. So can you tell us whether Harriet Miers, in her connection with the White House, has been involved in any way with the leak investigation, or whether she's testified before the Fitzgerald grand jury?

MR. McCLELLAN: She has been -- carried out the direction of the President, just like the rest of us here, to cooperate fully with the special prosecutor. She has been White House Counsel during part of the time that this investigation has been ongoing. I'm not going to comment on the investigation, though, beyond that.

This puts her nomination in a slightly different light...

Quoting David Frum (yes, I know) from National Review Online:

This afternoon, Senator Arlen Specter emerged from a meeting with Ms Miers to announce that the nominee had told him she considered Griswold v. Connecticut "rightly decided." Griswold of course is the 1965 case founded upon the idea that rights can be constructed out of the "emanations" and "penumbras" of the Constitution. It is anathema to "strict constructionists," of the kind Miers is said to be. She also is quoted as having told NY Democratic Senator Schumer that "nobody knows" her views on Roe v. Wade - disavowing the words of James Dobson, Karl Rove, Judge Nathan Hecht, and many others who have spoken on her behalf.

I am just clearly not getting this. I do not understand why Senator Schumer - or anyone - would find such pursuit of secretiveness acceptable. Stealth candidacies for Supreme Court Justice should be a clear and unanimous political pukefest - no one should have it crammed down their throat, conservative, liberal, moderate, nobody.

Yesterday Frum was on Michael Medved's radio show about the Miers nomination, which Frum strongly opposes. Medved (who grudgingly supports it) kept trying to make the comparison of Miers to Clarence Thomas, particularly in how the politics are foaming around the unknown qualities about the nominee. Frum stated that the biggest difference between Miers and Thomas was, whereas Thomas had staked some reputation on Constitutional law regarding race, Miers hasn't staked her reputation on anything. He stated that whereas Thomas was brave, Miers was not.

I was hoping that a caller would follow up to add a name to the "not-brave" list: George W. Bush. A stealth nominee for Supreme Court isn't brave, it's about the most pussolitical thing Bush could have done. With this candidate, Bush is taking a stand that he will nominate people he likes without much record, but he won't define why. That's not politics, that's pussolitics, and that's why his own side is so upset with him.

Frum is quick to say that Miers isn't brave. Frum's next step is to accept that neither is her boss.

And liberals and progressives should realize that any Democrat that accepts Miers as a nominee because she's an unknown is practicing pussolitics as well.

Liberals are again falling for it. All this excitement that Cheney might get pulled into the Plame case? Really? So what!!!!

We're getting too overheated!

Do you remember this story?

Miami doctor helps fix Cheney's knees

There was no aneurysm surgery. It was phase one of the upcoming brain transplant. Cheney has the ultimate escape plan - he'll let his body serve the time, but his brain is moving on when the time comes. Don't be surprised when you hear about the dual hospitalization of Cheney with another member of the Bush administration...

Rice was selected by Cheney and Rove due to four factors: positioning for a run for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination; Cheney's interest in seeing what sex was like from the other side; above-eyebrow head cavity capacity; and the predisposition to publicly scowl. Doctors were afraid that a new public scowl for other possibilities, particularly Laura Bush, would raise questions after the brain transfer, but feel Rice is scowl-compatible, which is of high importance as Rice is expected to admit to the transplant surgery after she is indicted as Cheney.

Pennsylvania State Representative Rep. Bud George gets it about LIHEAP. The Pennsylvania General Assembly needs to figure out the difference.

The Democratic chairman of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee today said a report that the Bush administration has no current plans to seek additional heating assistance funding despite record energy prices means Pennsylvania must either put up or pay the consequences.

"The onus is clearly on Pennsylvania to step to the plate now that the Bush administration has indicated that boosting energy assistance is not a priority," said state Rep. Camille "Bud" George, D-74 of Clearfield County. "Time is running out for the Commonwealth to find a way to help vulnerable businesses and citizens afford heat this winter."

...

"The average LIHEAP grant doesn’t even cover the increased costs Pennsylvanians will pay this winter for heat," Rep. George said. "We don’t have a safety pin cushion, never mind a safety net."

One point: Pennsylvania currently doesn't pay any additional state funds for LIHEAP anyways - which is different than most Northeast states. So... let's not fool ourselves. There's been onus on Pennsylvania for quite a while to supplement the funding. But now, maybe the state legislators will act.

This should be America's Solidarity moment. Solidarity over our expectation for the standards of governing.

You know what we ought to be doing? Red White and Blue Ribbon Day. Pick a date. If people support an independent investigation of President Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003 - a real investigation, an investigation that leaves no rock unlifted - on that date they wear a red, white or blue ribbon that day to work, to school, to do chores in the yard - whatever. Let the people show what they want. Let the people show what they expect. Let the people decide whether the governing decision of going to war should be expected to undergo serious official investigation afterwards. Would this not set the bar higher for such war choices, knowing that such review would be imminent? Shouldn't Americans expect the standard to be that high - and structurally expected?

We should have this Solidarity moment. There should be a day where we all put our cards on the table on this issue - ALL OF US.

I have to go to Bakersfield on Thursday (family health emergency). I thought I'd check on the news there... and whoop-te-doo, here's this:

The dilapidated little bungalow that briefly housed two future U.S. presidents named Bush more than a half-century ago will be turned into a museum.

"My hope is that kids will come here and say if two presidents lived right here in Bakersfield, maybe I can accomplish great things too," said the home's owner, Republican political consultant Mark Abernathy, who also plans to build a children's reading center in the backyard.

George and Barbara Bush rented the two-bedroom, 950-square-foot white frame house on Monterey Street with their 3-year-old son, George W., while the elder Bush was working as an oil-field equipment salesman.

Kern County officials approved the museum project last month. But some residents of the now heavily Latino neighborhood found it hard to believe that Presidents 41 and 43 lived there for three months in 1949.

The long-vacant home's hardwood floors are mostly covered by green shag carpeting, and a chain-link fence surrounds the property. Abernathy, who bought it for $65,000 in 2000, said the museum project will cost about $500,000 and will be funded by private donations.

When the museum opens in 2007, it will feature Bush family photos - including one of little W. on a wooden horse with a cowboy gun - plus items from the oil fields that fueled Bakersfield's boom. A new building in the backyard will house four classrooms for after-school reading programs for local children.

"Our goal is to restore it to exactly the way it was when they were here in 1949," Abernathy said.

Help will come from the Bush family, the Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, and the Kern County Museum, he said.

Now, this is conservative country - Bakersfield is home to Bill Thomas, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee .

But you have to wonder about the logic of pouring half a million dollars into a tourism project for two guys who lived in the town for three months nearly 60 years ago, and who, at the time, did nothing particularly notable. The Bushes aren't royalty, and every place they ever called home isn't worthy of such efforts or expenditures. Think $500,000 couldn't be spent in a better way to benefit Bakersfield? This is pretty much pissing money away to promote the Bush "brand". And if any government money is spent on this waste, well, that will be just another Republican boondoggle.

For anyone that thinks that the LIHEAP appropriation doesn't need considerable more funding, take a look at the National Energy Assistance Directors' Association' 2005 National Energy Assistance Survey - A National Survey of How Low Income Families Are Coping with High Energy Bills (pdf). I believe this survey of 1,100 LIHEAP recipients was taken pre-Katrina, although results were announced in mid-September.

Key findings include:

54 percent said that they would have had their electric or gas service disconnected, if LIHEAP benefits had not been available. This is an increase over 47% which said this in 2003.

16 percent reported that as a result of a home that was too cold, they became ill in the past five years.

8 percent reported that their electricity or gas service was shut off in the past year due to nonpayment of utility bills.

Again, these are pre-Katrina numbers. They are only going to go higher with the much higher energy costs.

Good to see other bloggers covering the funding issue for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP):

Yellow Dog Blog points out that Republicans in Congress stopped, at least for now, additional federal funding of the program, by a vote of 50-49. Three Democrats also voted against it. R.C. at the All Spin Zone suggests that we "remember this travesty the first time a story airs this winter about an elderly widow being found frozen to death in her apartment with no heat. While we read these stories every winter, it's likely that there will be more than ever before in the coming months."

No doubt.

TalkLeft has a very interesting point about the Miers nomination.

Sure, you may know this as Columbus Day.

Or, maybe Dick Cheney can shock the world and transform this day for future reference as "Vice Presidential Resignation Day".

After all, Spiro T. did the same on this date in 1973.

Another Anniversary to Tom Daschle and the U.S. Senate Mail Room for what was received in the mail 4 years ago!

Will the anthrax mailer's identity - and whereabouts - remain as mysterious as D.B. Cooper's?

Maybe the news media can ask the FBI. Maybe a U.S. Senator can ask the news media. Or maybe bloggers will need to start asking about this again.

It's not like this crime doesn't have continuing repercussions today:

Passengers stranded in Australian airport anthrax scare

Hundreds of travellers were stranded at Australia's Adelaide airport for more than two hours Sunday when it was shut down after white powder was discovered leaking from luggage.

Fearing a biological anthrax outbreak, airport authorities immediately evacuated the luggage handling area and the airport was closed, the national AAP news agency said.

Initial tests showed the powder to be harmless, said fire service spokesman John Foody.

Dear Senate Democrats:

Before you go hogwild over the selection of Harriet Miers for Supreme Court Justice, why not... GO THROUGH SOME OF THE CONFIRMATION HEARING PROCESS FIRST?

I find this headline VERY discouraging.

Senate Dems Defend Miers on Top Court Nod

Either this is brilliant strategy that I don't understand, or it is a premature calculation of the political situation. Either way it makes me uncomfortable.

IS THIS THE DEATH OF AMERICA?

Courtesy of The Daily Mirror in Great Britain.

I was drawn to this article in the Montgomery Advertiser because of a mention of the Alabama Farmers Federation. I'm interested in the Alabama Farmers Federation, since they have already given considerable money to the 2006 campaign of House Majority Leader Roy Blunt, but I just found this article of interest in general. I'll still be looking at the Alabama Farmers Federation in other aspects over time, just for reference.

University of Alabama students took turns Tuesday in a marathon reading of the state's controversial constitution. By the time the UA volunteers stop reading at 9 a.m. today, they do not expect to have put much of a dent in the 600-page constitution.

Matthew Lewis of Prattville, who organized the event, originally planned a two-day reading, but decided to cut it back to 24 hours.

"It would probably take three days or more to read the whole thing," Lewis said. "What we're trying to do is make a point about the need to reform our constitution."

The 1901 constitution has more than 750 amendments, and efforts to approve home rule to allow voters in the state to decide their own issues have been unsuccessful.

"More than 70 percent of the amendments in the constitution involve individual counties," said Lewis, who planned to spend the night helping volunteers read the wordy document. "It's so long because a coalition of special interests opposes reforms."

Lewis said the Alabama Farmers Federation was one of the special interests, because "it doesn't want home rule."

Alfa spokesman Jeff Helms said Tuesday that his organization has had a longstanding policy of opposing "any attempt to allow the state to give up its responsibilities and powers to county or local units of government."

Lewis distributed material during the marathon illustrating what he said were "good reasons" why home rule should be approved for each of Alabama's 67 counties.

The material points out that Alabama is the only state in the Southeast that deprives counties of local control "for even the most mundane of matters, including leash laws, rodent control, billboard regulations, court costs and fire protection."

A 600 page State Constitution? Does that make it the longest State Constitution in the nation?

Ding ding ding. Here's the answer...

Most states have since made great progress in modernizing their governments. Since the mid-1960s, some 40 states have adopted new constitutions or substantially amended existing ones. Unfortunately, Alabama maintains the same outmoded, inflexible, and incoherent constitution that it adopted at the turn of the century.

The Alabama Constitution is the national poster child for outdated, obsolete constitutions. Alabama has the longest constitution in the United States -- probably the longest in the world. While the average state constitution is about 28,000 words, the Alabama Constitution has over 175,000 words. It is more than 20 times as long as the U.S. Constitution. It is over six times as long as the typical state constitution, and over twice as long as the next longest state constitution -- New York's. In fact, the combined constitutions of our neighbors -- Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida -- equal only about half the length of the Alabama Constitution.

In Pennsylvania, you can expect the following question to be continually debated during the cold weather:

Who has it worst on cost - oil heat consumers, natural gas heat consumers, or electric heat consumers?

For the poor, there's another issue: Who's going to help supplement LIHEAP?

From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

Last year, Congress provided nearly $2.2 billion for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). LIHEAP helps very poor households, many of whom are elderly, pay their home heating (and cooling) bills. Most of the assistance prevents heat from being turned off in northern states in the dead of winter, but some also keeps air conditioning running during southern heat waves.

...

If these projections prove accurate, the cost of heating the homes of LIHEAP beneficiaries will rise 47.5 percent between last winter and this winter (see Appendix 2 for a description of our calculation). This is the steepest one-year increase in these costs since 1974, before LIHEAP was created. Some analysts have recently suggested that prices may rise more than the Department of Energy projects...

For example, CBPP suggests that the state of Pennsylvania may need up to $200 million more than currently budgeted for LIHEAP beneficiaries in order to hold them harmless to cost increases. This is actually more than double what Pennsylvania is currently budgeted.

Then there's this:

Pennsylvania is the only state in the Northeast that does not supplement federal dollars with state funds for heating assistance programs, said Nick Troutman, a legislative liaison in the Harrisburg office of state Sen. Roger A. Madigan, R-Towanda.

There is going to be a major tug-of-war between states and the Federal Government on who should supplement the LIHEAP higher costs. And it's also part of the discussion of how America - and Pennsylvania - treats and responds the needs of citizens without sufficient financial resources. Pennsylvania's legislators better start thinking about how they can supplement the higher costs, and responding to the needs, or this story is going to dominate the news by February.

A Smoke-Filled Room has more on this, from a week ago.

Curious as to who are the top contributors for 2005-06 for Republican Representative Roy Blunt, DeLay's current replacement as House Majority Leader? According to opensecrets.org:

Leggett & Platt $14,000
Target Corp $10,000
Blue Cross/Blue Shield $9,000
Pfizer Inc $8,500
Dairy Farmers of America $7,000
Patton Boggs LLP $6,500
BT Assoc $6,000
Port of Kimberling Marina $6,000
SBC Communications $6,000
Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Assn $5,500
Sprint Nextel $5,250
Abbott Laboratories $5,000
Accenture $5,000
AFLAC Inc $5,000
Alabama Farmers Federation $5,000
Altria Group $5,000
Ameren Corp $5,000
American Assn of Nurse Anesthetists $5,000
American Dental Assn $5,000
American Optometric Assn $5,000
American Soc/Pension Prof & Actuaries $5,000
American Trucking Assns $5,000
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp $5,000
Citigroup Inc $5,000
Comcast Corp $5,000
Darden Restaurants $5,000
DLA Piper Rudnick et al $5,000
Exxon Mobil $5,000
Ford Motor Co $5,000
General Electric $5,000
General Motors $5,000
Home Depot $5,000
Independent Community Bankers of America $5,000
Intel Corp $5,000
Jacobs Engineering Group $5,000
Loeffler, Jonas & Tuggey $5,000
McDonald's $5,000
Motorola Inc $5,000
National Assn of Broadcasters $5,000
National Assn of Convenience Stores $5,000
National Auto Dealers Assn $5,000
National Beer Wholesalers Assn $5,000
National Cattlemen's Beef Assn $5,000
National Pork Producers Council $5,000
National Retail Federation $5,000
Northrop Grumman $5,000
Novartis Corp $5,000
Painters & Allied Trades Union $5,000
Parsons Corp $5,000
Peabody Energy $5,000
Petroleum Marketers Assn $5,000
PricewaterhouseCoopers $5,000
Procter & Gamble $5,000
Qualcomm Inc $5,000
Servicemaster Co $5,000
Siebel Systems $5,000
UBS Americas $5,000
Union Pacific Corp $5,000
Verizon Communications $5,000
YUM! Brands $5,000

The Port of Kimberling Marina and Campground sure is rubbing elbows with DC's big players on this list...

Call it the "Apple Revolution" or the "Cherry Revolution" or the "Deadwood Revolution" or whatever...

When and where do we mass peacefully to demonstrate our desire that George W. Bush be removed lawfully from power?

Sha at simianbrain.com nails it.

This confirmation battle will be the one to watch, not for the Democrat v. Republican showdown, but for the intra-party massacre that threatens just beyond the rhetoric. It foreshadows next year's Alabama governor's race, where the two wings of the party will fall into direct conflict in the GOP primary on June 6.

Check it out. I think there are other elections - Republican primaries - that might be impacted by the Miers nomination as well.

Three years ago today, Bush and the House Leadership agreed on the Iraq Resolution.

Check out the header graphic the White House chose to give the news.

Somebody was giving big hints.

Some folks really abuse the privilege of CafePress.com.

But seriously, those various state Republican Party headquarters ought to be flying this baby. If there's a better symbol of the practice of putting President before Country, I haven't seen it.

He kind of took away the point of my next post.

But, being pointless never stopped me before. So, here's what I was planning to post...

The odd thing about the selection of Harriet Miers for Supreme Court is that I don't believe we really know what it means. But I feel, in my gut, what it really means is that there's big trouble coming down the pike for the Bush Administration, and they know it, and they want this pick settled up by November 25th because they may have an incredibly short shelf life for getting a selection approved. Why Miers over Gonzalez? Is it because of Miers - or is it because of Gonzalez? Or is it because they are in a hurry to make big news?

Whatever the case, I think the Senate Democrats ought to proceed slowly with their intepretation of Miers. I can't help but feel there's another shoe to drop that's going to put this White House selection in a different light.

The question in the San Francisco Chronicle:

Can you depend on President Bush in a crisis?

The answer of the day comes from Leonard Shek, San Francisco:

If you were lost with him in the woods, would you trust him to lead your party back to civilization? I think he'd be the first one we'd have to eat.

As George W. Bush usually does, he ended a speech on Friday as such:

"... and may God continue to bless the United States of America."

Just once, I'd like the White House Press Corps to ask what Bush means with this final flourish. Does he mean the government of the United States of America? Does he mean the geography of the United States of America? The individual states that are the United States of America? Or is he just clumsy in stating this about the people of the United States of America?

I'm no Biblical scholar, but did God bless any particular government in the Bible? I thought God blessed peoples... based on their beliefs and actions.

Or enough items for the federal government to be spending money on...

From the Jackson Sun:

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff should heed the warning of two Missouri lawmakers about the very real possibility of a major earthquake occurring along the New Madrid fault and take steps to become better prepared. If we've learned anything from this tumultuous hurricane season, it should be this: Now is the time to get ready for natural disasters, not after they happen.

Rep. Jo Ann Emerson and Sen. Jim Talent wrote to Chertoff asking that he organize an emergency response drill within the next year in anticipation of an earthquake. They pointed out correctly that the largest quakes on record in North America occurred along the New Madrid fault line. Experts say there is a 25 to 40 percent chance that a magnitude 6.0 quake could occur within the next 50 years. If a quake of magnitude 8.0 or higher were to occur, the region stretching from Memphis to St. Louis would be devastated, the lawmakers wrote.

Knowing that it is a matter of when, not if, the next quake occurs, it only makes sense to begin preparing now. As Talent so correctly put it, "A major earthquake is no time for on-the-job training."

You can follow along with all the earthquake activity around the world at the IRIS Seismic Monitor. Pretty cool site.