Governor Hypocrite

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at the Republican Governors Association conference, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006, in Miami. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)Halo supplied by AP, not God.
Maybe I should start calling the Mittwit "The Mittocrite". Or maybe just Mitt, the lawn man. He's not going to be President. His position on illegal immigration seems to be, Keep those illegal immigrants out. Except the ones who do the grounds of my estate.

Boston Globe: Illegal immigrants toiled for governor
Guatemalans say firm hired them

As Governor Mitt Romney explores a presidential bid, he has grown outspoken in his criticism of illegal immigration. But, for a decade, the governor has used a landscaping company that relies heavily on workers like these, illegal Guatemalan immigrants, to maintain the grounds surrounding his pink Colonial house on Marsh Street in Belmont.

The Globe recently interviewed four current and former employees of Community Lawn Service with a Heart, the tiny Chelsea-based company that provides upkeep of Romney's property. All but one said they were in the United States illegally.

The employees told the Globe that company owner Ricardo Saenz never asked them to provide documents showing their immigration status and knew they were illegal immigrants.

"He never asked for papers," said Rosales, who said he had paid smugglers about $5,000 to take him across the US-Mexican border and settled in Chelsea.

The workers said they were paid in cash at $9 to $10 an hour and sometimes worked 11-hour days.

Romney never inquired about their status, they said.

Security, Schmecurity

Persons stand in the door of a British Airways Boeing 767 grounded at London's Heathrow Airport Thursday Nov. 30, 2006, as it sits in a maintenance area. British authorities are urgently checking four commercial jets and two dozen sites in and around London for radiation levels as part of the fast-expanding investigation into the death by poisoning of former Soviet spy Alexander Litvinenko. Home Secretary John Reid said traces of radioactivity have been discovered at a dozen sites and in all, experts are scrutinizing 24 sites. He did not say whether the radioactivity found at the sites was polonium-210, used to poison the former KGB agent, who died a week ago. Authorities will not will not say if the aircraft shown are under investigation. (AP Photo/ Max Nash)

For the last 5 years we, the nonthreatening flying public, have been subjected to more and more ridiculous security measures. I've waited in three hour security lines. I've been pulled out of line and wanded and frisked, forced to take off my sandals and walk on bare floor, had nail clippers confiscated, thrown away perfectly good coffee, water, juice, and once an apple, flown without a carryon, stuffed my purse into my carryon to make it seem I had only one bag, and on my most recent trip, had to place all small liquid or gel containers in a one quart ziploc bag. I've watched my mother questioned roughly by arrogant screeners, old people in wheelchairs scared into tears, baby strollers searched, and women felt up by perverse male screeners.

And a guy could fly on a plane carrying radioactive polonium?

Wouldn't that be one of the more important 'threats' to screen for? Couldn't they put a Geiger counter in that stupid airport screening machine? Shouldn't a dose big enough to kill a man set off something?

I know, I know, the whole airport security thing is a huge joke, just like the 13 or so years where we got asked the Lockerbie questions [Have your bags been in your possession the entire time? Has anyone unknown to you asked you to carry anything?], like anyone would ever answer 'yes' if they really had a bomb. It's just window dressing. In my rational brain I know that, but still, I expect that something major like a radioactive element that could be used as a trigger for a nuclear weapon is something that shouldn't go into the passenger cabin on a commercial aircraft.

WaPo: Britain Extends Probe Into Poisoning of Former Russian Spy

Police search the Itsu sushi restaurant on November 25. Traces of radiation have been found at the London restaurant which was visited by former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko on November 1.(AFP/File/Leon Neal)
(I walked by this restaurant last month, but Coach Mom and my sister don't like sushi, so we had lunch closer to Piccadilly Square.)

Go Read This

If you read anything today, read Digby:

Hullabaloo: President Unbound

Here's my favorite part:

I blame the media []. After 9/11 they lost their minds and became unthinking hagiographers and adminstration cheerleaders to an absurd extent. The man's halting, incoherent first press conference after 9/11 scared me more than the attacks and yet the press corps behaved as if they were in the presence of a God whose stuttering, meandering gibberish were words uttered from on high. He was called a genius and compared to Winston Churchill. Paeans to his greatness were turned into best sellers. His "gut" was infallible. It was patently obvious that he was in over his head and yet this bizarre, almost hallucinogenic image of the man emerged in the media that actually made me question my sanity at times. It took years for this trance to wear off with a majority of the public and even longer in the media. It was one of the strangest phenomenons I've ever observed.

We Love Lists

NYTimes: The 10 Best Books of 2006

Falling Through the Earth and Absurdistan are on my Christmas wish list.

Whatever

Mission...Accomplished?

I'm your puppet
The Chimperor's insistence on meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki on his 'diplomatic' trip has broken up the fragile Iraqi government.

WaPo: Bloc Led by Shiite Cleric Quits Iraqi Government
Lawmakers Loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr Protest Prime Minister's Summit With Bush

President Incapable of Empathy

Democrat James Webb holds up his Marine Corps son's combat boots during an election victory rally in Arlington, Virginia [on] November 9, 2006. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES)

The Hill: Son also rises in testy Webb-Bush exchange

At a private reception held at the White House with newly elected lawmakers shortly after the election, Bush asked Webb how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.

Webb responded that he really wanted to see his son brought back home, said a person who heard about the exchange from Webb.

“I didn’t ask you that, I asked how he’s doing,” Bush retorted, according to the source.

Webb confessed that he was so angered by this that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief, reported the source, but of course didn’t. It’s safe to say, however, that Bush and Webb won’t be taking any overseas trips together anytime soon.

UPDATE: Today's WaPo offers this version of the exchange:

At a recent White House reception for freshman members of Congress, Virginia's newest senator tried to avoid President Bush. Democrat James Webb declined to stand in a presidential receiving line or to have his picture taken with the man he had often criticized on the stump this fall. But it wasn't long before Bush found him.

"How's your boy?" Bush asked, referring to Webb's son, a Marine serving in Iraq.

"I'd like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President," Webb responded, echoing a campaign theme.

"That's not what I asked you," Bush said. "How's your boy?"

"That's between me and my boy, Mr. President," Webb said coldly, ending the conversation on the State Floor of the East Wing of the White House.

Darth Cheney Answers His Master's Call

What can I do for you, sir?
He was summoned to Saudi Arabia. Didn't go on his own. Summoned. And people wonder if this is a war about oil and corporate profit?

WaPo: Civil War in Iraq Near, Annan Says
Study Group Begins Two-Day Meeting

Saudi Arabia is so concerned about the damage that the conflict in Iraq is doing across the region that it basically summoned Vice President Cheney for talks over the weekend, according to U.S. officials and foreign diplomats. The visit was originally portrayed as U.S. outreach to its oil-rich Arab ally.

The Getaway

Commander Codpiece is apparently preparing for the day when he is indicted for war crimes in the Hague. In the fine tradition of war criminals through history (like Joseph Mengele) he's bought a getaway ranch in Paraguay.

A mere

....98,840 acres of land in Chaco, Paraguay, near the Triple Frontier (Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay)....

He can hide his entire bloody administration there. Dick Cheney is probably already wiping the whole place off The Google Maps.

Ice, Ice, Baby

By Jae C. Hong, AP
Kristine Lilly gets a celebratory lift from U.S. teammates Abby Wambach, center, and Aly Wagner after the winning goal.
USWNT 2 - CanadaWNT 1

Kristine Lilly with the gamewinner in her unbelievable 319th start for the national team. She has more national caps than any player ever in the history of soccer, male or female, and her record will probably never be broken (she started at age 15 in an era of few professional opportunities for women; today there are many fewer national games per year). Too bad the game wasn't on ESPN, only on FoxSoccerChannel; great if you have DirectTV, but the rest of us are shut out. And it was played at the Home Depot Center, a pathetic excuse for a soccer field in California, where the field is too small and Californians don't come out to support women's soccer. Had the game been in Cary, North Carolina or somewhere on the East Coast Coach Mom and I probably would have been part of more than 20,000 in the crowd. Instead they played to a crowd of less than 7,000.

USAToady: Lilly's clutch penalty kick ices Gold Cup title for U.S. women

CARSON, Calif. — The U.S. women's soccer team extended its record unbeaten streak and earned its third CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup title Sunday night — barely.

Kristine Lilly converted a penalty kick in the final minute of overtime to give the USA a 2-1 victory over Canada in front of 6,749 at the Home Depot Center.

The USA received the penalty kick after Canada's Robyn Gale fouled Carli Lloyd in the penalty area in the 120th minute.

Lilly, the tournament MVP, scored her 117th international goal in her 319th game by placing the ball to the right of goalkeeper Erin McLeod. The victory extended the USA's record unbeaten streak to 32 games.

WaPo: Lilly's PK Gives U.S. Gold Cup in OT
United States 2, Mexico 1, OT

sportsnet.ca: Penalty pain for Canada

ussoccer.com: USA Wins CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup with 2-1 OT Victory vs. Canada

My Heart Is Hard

Smoke rises after mortar attacks in Baghdad November 26, 2006. REUTERS/Mahmoud Raouf Mahmoud (IRAQ)
I still haven't forgiven Michael Moore for supporting Ralph Nader in 2000, for being so ignorant of history that he could say with a straight face that there's no difference between Republicans and Democrats, but this letter helps me towards my better nature:

Sunday, November 26th, 2006
Cut and Run, the Only Brave Thing to Do ...a letter from Michael Moore

Friends,

Tomorrow marks the day that we will have been in Iraq longer than we were in all of World War II.

That's right. We were able to defeat all of Nazi Germany, Mussolini, and the entire Japanese empire in LESS time than it's taken the world's only superpower to secure the road from the airport to downtown Baghdad.

And we haven't even done THAT. After 1,347 days, in the same time it took us to took us to sweep across North Africa, storm the beaches of Italy, conquer the South Pacific, and liberate all of Western Europe, we cannot, after over 3 and 1/2 years, even take over a single highway and protect ourselves from a homemade device of two tin cans placed in a pothole. No wonder the cab fare from the airport into Baghdad is now running around $35,000 for the 25-minute ride. And that doesn't even include a friggin' helmet.

[]

The Soviet Union got out of Afghanistan in 36 weeks. They did so and suffered hardly any losses as they left. They realized the mistake they had made and removed their troops. A civil war ensued. The bad guys won. Later, we overthrew the bad guys and everybody lived happily ever after. See! It all works out in the end!

In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.
H.L. Mencken

The Mittwit Has The Media A-Twitter

Wikipedia: Mormon underwear (from Andrew Sullivan, time.com)
Mitt Romney is a liar, he's a hypocrite, and he wears funny Mormon underwear (we're pretty sure). His company, Bain Capital Partners, just bought ClearChannel, so maybe he'll make some money in his doomed Presidential campaign. He zigged left here, he's zigging right on the campaign trail, but he's got no core. Just another corporate tool.

David Broder apparently didn't dig deep enough to realize that the Mittwit ran as a moderate when he ran for Mass. governor, before he began running against our state as a Presidential candidate. WaPo: Romney Leaving Mass. With Mixed Record: As Governor Eyes National Stage, He Faces Scrutiny of His Performance at Home

....Romney is a staunch conservative....

Joan Vennochi of the Boston Globe apparently has access to The Google:

Boston Globe: JOAN VENNOCHI
Romney's dance to the right

When he ran against Ted Kennedy for the Senate in 1994, Romney wrote a letter to the Massachusetts Log Cabin Club, pledging that as "we seek to establish full equality for American gay and lesbian citizens, I will provide more effective leadership than my opponent." During that same campaign, Romney was accused of once describing gay people as "perverse." In response, Romney's campaign vehemently denied that he used the word "perverse" and said that he respected "all people regardless of their race, creed, or sexual orientation."

While running for governor in 2002, Romney and his running mate, Kerry Healey, distributed pink fliers at a Gay Pride parade, declaring "Mitt and Kerry wish you a great Pride weekend." He backed domestic partner benefits for public employees, winning the endorsement of the national Log Cabin Republicans. In his inaugural speech, he promised to defend civil rights "regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or race."

As governor, he appointed openly gay and lesbian people to high-profile administration positions. He doubled the budget line item for the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, until he tried to disband it last May -- more political theater for the Republican right.

But why didn't the Boston Globe dig up the sacred Mormon underwear for the last gubernatorial campaign? Why didn't Shannon O'Brien? Inquiring minds wanted to know.

Andrew Sullivan: Mormon Sacred Underwear

New Element

Check it out: Bushcronium!

A major research institution has just announced the discovery of the densest element yet known to science. The new element has been named "Bushcronium." Bushcronium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 311. These particles are held together by dark forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. The symbol for Bushcronium is "W". Bushcronium's mass actually increases over time, as morons randomly interact with various elements in the atmosphere and become assistant deputy neutrons in a Bushcronium molecule, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists to believe that Bushcronium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as "Critical Morass". When catalyzed with money, Bushcronium activates Foxnewsium, an element that radiates orders of magnitude more energy, albeit as incoherent noise, since it has 1/2 as many peons but twice as many morons.

I saw this at Democratic Veteran, who found it in comments at Firedoglake.

Happy Thanksgiving

Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra are expecting -- twins! -- according to today's Boston Globe (scroll down to 4th item). This brings me to my favorite celebrity game, which kids of famous athletes will be the best athletes? I have my money on the Hamm-Garciaparra kids, over the Agassi-Graf kids, because of the combining of two sports.

Well, anyway, that's a little good news to contemplate at your Thanksgiving table. Back next week.

History Lessons

Damage done to a black-owned newspaper office in 1898. Courtesy of the New Hanover Public Library (Charlotte Observer)
Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
George Santayana


The Charlotte Observer has written a huge special report documenting the racist campaign of the late 1800s that culminated in the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898, which led to the adoption of the Jim Crow laws.

Charlotte Observer: The Ghosts of 1898 (you may need to register to read, or use bugmenot.com)

which contains this:
EDITORIALS
Blot on N.C. history
We apologize for Observer's role in racist 1898 campaign

An apology to our readers

An apology is inadequate to atone for the Observer's role in promoting the white supremacist campaign. But an apology is due. As Mr. Faulkner observed, the past is not dead. For much of the 20th century black citizens were denied political rights, adequate education and economic opportunity because of their race. The legacy of that era helped shape North Carolina for decades. Only in recent years has our state begun to reap the benefits of talented blacks' full participation in its economic, cultural and political life.

We apologize to the black citizens and their descendants whose rights and interests we disregarded, and to all North Carolinians, whose trust we betrayed by our failure to fairly report the news and to stand firmly against injustice.

I was alerted to this series by this diary on dailykos: N Carolina Newspaper Exposes The Riot That Began Jim Crow and Interviews the Descendents.

Flooded with Disinformation

Richard Perry/The New York Times

In June, a road was washed out in Roscoe, by the Beaverkill River in the Catskill region.

NYTimes: Our Towns
TimesSelect After 3 Floods, Trying to Brace for No. 4 (TimesSelect wall)

Here’s what’s at stake: The Delaware River is the longest nondammed river east of the Mississippi, extending 330 miles from the Catskills to the mouth of the Delaware Bay. Nearly 15 million people — about 5 percent of the nation’s population — rely on it and 216 tributaries for drinking water and industrial uses. New York City gets half of its water from three reservoirs on the Delaware, and countless towns from here to the Atlantic exist because the river does.

From 1955 to 1996, there were no major floods. Now, it seems, there’s one every year. The Delaware River Basin Commission, which manages the river system, has begun a flood mitigation study, but on Thursday you could hear the frustration in the voice of every resident who spoke.

“I hear the word rain, and I hear a four-letter word,” said Joan Homovich, a retired teacher, who estimates her basement has flooded 10 times since 2003 and now obsessively goes online studying water releases from the reservoirs on the river. “When I thought about this rain I couldn’t eat.”

Part of the difficulty is a blizzard of conflicting agendas.

New York City, which controls the reservoirs, wants to be assured of drinking water for more than eight million people. Upstate residents want the city to also use the reservoirs to manage river flows and minimize flooding. Fishermen and environmentalists want to protect fisheries and limit man-made disruptions on the river. Towns want to be able to dredge and clean out streams to improve water flows that would prevent flooding.

[]

Residents want the agency to release water and lower the reservoir levels, creating a void that could trap rainfall that could otherwise cause flooding. The agency says its options are limited because the reservoirs are not built for flood control. But for the first time it has said it would make efforts in that direction.

Residents say the city is already failing to deliver. (The agency says reservoirs are now at 100.5 percent of capacity. Normal is 70 percent.)

[]

This year in the Catskills is among the wettest on record, but who knows what to read into a few years of wet weather. Freak of nature? Global warming? Thirty-year rainfall cycle? Act of God?

No one knows, and there are acts of nature that are beyond the machinations of man.

But despite the weaselly words with which the NYTimes ends its piece on the floods in the Catskills, these types of floods are predicted by the science of climate change. I heard Al Gore describe this type of weather scenario in An Inconvenient Truth.

Al Gore, transcript (unofficial), An Inconvenient Truth

What is often unnoticed the fact that global warming causes more precipitation but more of it coming in one time big storm events because the evaporation off the ocean puts all the moisture up there when storm conditions trigger the downpour before it falls down.

[]

The places where people live were chosen because of the climate pattern that had been pretty much the same on Earth since the end of the last ice age. Here on [my] farm, patterns are changing. It seems gradual in the course of a human lifetime but in the course of time as defined by this river, it's happening very, very quickly.

Misc. Football Links

Portsmouth 2-1 Watford: Jay DeMerit scores first for the struggling Hornets, nodding a corner past David James (bbc.co.uk)
The Beckhams are interviewed by Ali G. Before there was Borat, there was Ali G. (YouTube video):
Da Ali G show - david and victoria beckham

12 photoshopped pics of Teddy Sheringham (Guardian [uk])

Freddy Adu's US coach says if he's going to play in Europe, he's going to have to work hard even in practice. So I guess he doesn't do that here. (mls.net)

Brad Friedel's gonna come home to the US after he retires, dodgy British accent and all, and run a top-tier football academy in Cleveland, Ohio (BBC Sport)

Mexican tabloid reports that the USMNT coaching job has been offered to Jose Pekerman of Argentina, and that Fernando Clavijo would be his assistant. If so, Sunil Gulati should be drawn and quartered. Klinsmann, Sunil, not the Peckerman. (Du Nord)

The Iraq SNAFU

Sunday's Guardian (uk) has a video of the insanity that is the US presence in Iraq. It's too real, and of course would never be in any major US newspaper.

Guardian (uk): Iraq: The Real Story. A film by Sean Smith

Sean Smith, the Guardian's award-winning war photographer, spent nearly six weeks with the 101st Division of the US army in Iraq. Watch his haunting observational film that explodes the myth around the claims that the Iraqis are preparing to take control of their own country.

Must Read

Important series in the LA Times today documenting the incredible rise of cancer rates among Navajo Indians, caused by the US government failing to clean up the radioactive waste left behind from uranium mining on their lands.

BLIGHTED HOMELAND
They took shelter amid the poison
During the Cold War, uranium mines left contaminated waste scattered around the Navajo Nation. Homes built with it silently pulsed with radiation. People developed cancer. And the U.S. did little to help.

The slide show is actually a video documentary of interviews and photos.

Saturday November 18th Blogtopia* Roundup

I want that drink. I need that drink? How long 'til this dumb dinner is over?

Actual caption: President Bush attends a dinner hosted by Vietnam's President Nguyen Minh Triet in Hanoi, November 17, 2006. (Reinhard Krause/Reuters)
New drinking game: Drink every time the media refers to Nancy Pelosi as 'Nancy'!

James Wolcott reports rumors that Bush is indeed drinking again.

Maru the Crankpot (WTF IS IT NOW?) links to this and many other funny posts (scroll up to see the post).

Glenn Greenwald: Cheney Administration is pathological, laughing as they shred the Constitution.

Soon to be former Congressman John Sweeney (R-Wife Beating and Drinking) in trouble again, this time for doctoring police records. Bye bye!

Professor Juan Cole at Informed Comment:

Bush went to Vietnam and boasted about how we would have won if we had not quit. This was, he said, the lesson for Iraq of the Vietnam War. He managed to be wrong about two wars at once and to anger both his hosts (how churlish!) and the Iraqi public. The American Right never admitted that they lost in Vietnam, thus the Rambo movies and, Melani McCallister argues, the US admiration for Entebbe. Iraq was their chance, they thought, to get it right. Bush had also said insulting things to the Philiippines about how wonderful it was that we had colonized them (and killed 400,000).

Colonialism is over with. When will they get that through their heads?

And actually we can't win in Iraq by just staying. Just like when you are sinking in quicksand, staying put is not a virtue.

Reminds me of the old joke about Bush. What's the difference between Iraq and Vietnam? Bush had a plan to get out of Vietnam. Who knew the plan was not to go until 2006 and to have Air Force One at the ready?


*yes! skippy coined that phrase!

Press The Meat

Our political discourse is ruled by idiots.

Go watch this video before you watch Meet The Press again. Warning: don't have any liquids in your mouth or you will spit them all over your computer.

Save the Forest: Eat the Baby to Save the Baby

This Happened While We Were In London

The pigeon struggled in the pelican's mouth before going down kicking and flapping

BBC: Pelican swallows pigeon in park

Luckily we weren't actually there.

Blogtopia* Roundup

The 2006 election was nine days ago and this is what CNN had on their screen today (Digby)

DC media Kool Kidz Klub apply following purple prose to Nancy Pelosi: too reliant on a tight inner circle; 'she shattered party unity', 'fratricide'; a 'liberal idealist' for supporting conservative Jack Murtha for House Whip; Digby says media are applying Clinton Rules Redux, 'cause

For some reason, when Democrats are in power the press corps immediately goes from being merely shallow to insufferable, sophomoric assholes.

See, also, Glenn Greenwald: Beltway attacks on Nancy Pelosi; John Murtha: Let's Get To Work

Bush Administration hires gynecologist opposed to contraception and abortion to family planning position at Health and Human Services; Digby says: Bush Hires Latest Sacha Baron Cohen Character, with picture of said doctor and his cheesy porn-star moustache. Pharyngula critiques his scientific beliefs and finds them wanting: Bad science? It's OK—just put him in charge of women's health

If you've got the stomach for it, go to the News Blog and watch the video of UCLA campus police (part of LAPD, natch) tasering a student in the library 5 times because he won't leave quietly. And after the first tasering, they are tasering him because he can't get up after being tasered. Sick, sick, police state stuff. (Who would Jesus taser? asks Americablog.)

Billmon with an interesting perspective on newly-Democratic, newly-progressive, newly-elected Virginia Senator Jim Webb: Comrade Webb; read Webb's Wall Street Journal op-ed here: Class Struggle.

Today is Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean's 58th birthday: dailykos: Happy Birthday, Howard Dean!. Go to democrats.com and throw the Dems some money for Howard's birthday. I gave $20.58. Thanks, Howard.


*yes! skippy coined that phrase!

Two More For US

NYTimes: Two Democrats Win in Georgia

ATLANTA, Nov. 15 — Georgia officials certified the votes on Wednesday in two extremely close Congressional races, putting the Democratic incumbents, Jim Marshall of Macon and John Barrow of Savannah, officially in the winners’ column.

WaPo: 2 More Called Winners in House; 7 Races Undecided

George Orwell Would Be Proud

WaPo: Some Americans Lack Food, but USDA Won't Call Them Hungry

The U.S. government has vowed that Americans will never be hungry again. But they may experience "very low food security."

Every year, the Agriculture Department issues a report that measures Americans' access to food, and it has consistently used the word "hunger" to describe those who can least afford to put food on the table. But not this year.

War is peace.

James Carville Needs To STFU

James Carville, Clintonista married to a Republican strategist, is running around accusing Howard Dean of doing a terrible job as DNC Chairman. Carville charges that the DNC had $6,000,000 in the bank that they should have spent in Democratic races, and that the party should have taken an additional 15 seats as a result. (He called Dean's performance "Rumsfeldian"; them's fightin' words, Boudreaux.)

I'll put aside the fact that you can't do a straight money-to-victory analysis here. Rahm Emmanual put $3,000,000 into Tammy Duckworth's race, and she lost; he put $0, zero, into Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01), and she won, so there you go.

But why doesn't Carville look at his own Clintonista house? Hillary Clinton spent $29.5 million to win her Senate race in New York, a race that was essentially over before it started; can you even name her opponent? (HINT: he had the same name as a member of the cast of West Wing; I'll leave his name in Comments.) She won 67% to 31%. Wouldn't it have been more useful for her to donate half of her vast stores of money to candidates around the country who were actually in competitive races? Looking at it from that perspective, her actions were Cheneyesque. (Is that stretching it? Like giving no-bid contracts to Halliburton? Well, it works as well as James Carville calling Howard Dean who helped WIN BACK CONGRESS Rumsfeldian. I mean, what has Rumsfeld ever won? The handshake of Saddam Hussein? The trust of Commander Codpiece? I mean, really.)

Minority Whipping

The Good Old Days, Celebrating the Good Old Days (photo courtesy HuffPo)

WaPo: Trent Lott Elected Minority Whip

WaPo's 'The Fix': Mississippi Senator Rises Again

Or, as a commenter at Fark.com put it:

Trent Lott selected as Senate Minority Whip, because if there's one thing that Trent Lott likes, it's whipping minorities.

I saw this comment on Eschaton, who also dug up Lott's prior statements about his love for Strom Thurmond.

I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either.

Fox, Henhouse

Fox News is in the news today for two separate but equally dubious things.

First, they put out a memo on Election Night instructing their reporters to look for signs that 'Iraqi insurgents' were celebrating the Democrats' victory in the mid-term elections. The original is posted on the Huffington Post and says:

"And let's be on the lookout for any statements from the Iraqi insurgents, who must be thrilled at the prospect of a Dem-controlled congress."

Not really a surprise to see Karl Rove's inhouse network exposed as UnFair and UnBalanced.

Not only that, Fox News apparently paid $2,000,000 in ransom to "Palestinian terror groups and security organizations in the Gaza Strip" in order to secure the release of a reporter and a cameraman last summer. A leader of Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees said that they used the money to buy weapons including rockets to use against Israel.

That's Fox News for you. Funding terrorists around the globe, then looking for them to make political statements against the Democratic Party. Oh, the hypocrisy. What next? They'll declare a fake War on Christmas, then get caught selling holiday ornaments? Oh, they already did that.

Americablog: Someone allegedly paid terrorist organizations $2 million for release of FOX News reporters

Ha Ha

Mike Keefe, Denver Post, November 9, 2006

Fat Lady Hasn't Sung Yet

There are still six House races where the votes are being counted; two other races, in Louisiana and Texas, will go to runoffs:

NYTimes: Counts Still Under Way in 6 House Races

But a few more have concluded:

Democrat Darcy Burner (former Microsoft executive) has conceded to her opponent, incumbent Republican Dave Reichert, in Washington's 8th District. She lost by less than 6,000 votes with more than 220,000 cast. I saw her speak on C-Span and was impressed. Hope she stays in politics and runs again in 2008.

Democrat Jim Courtney won the race in Connecticut's 2nd District by a mere 91 votes out of almost 250,000 cast after a recount. Talk about every vote counting.

Signs I Am Getting Old

I just watched a piece on local TV about an email death threat against local hero Doug Flutie. And Doug Flutie has badly dyed hair. Darker than his eyebrows, all one color, not a speck of the white at the temples or the red highlights that he used to have. Kind of sad. I still have my red and blue boxes of Flutie Flakes.

No sadder than yesterday when I was flicking through the channels and saw Robert Redford on CNBC, and he appeared to have a really bad orange wig on top, well kind of askew on top, of his grey hair. It looked like he had just stuck it on there himself, no stylist involved, a lovely bright orange color, and all his white sideburns and neck hair sticking out all around it.

Well, at least neither of them has had awful plastic surgery, like Michael Douglas or Mickey Rourke.

Personally, I'd rather be gray and saggy than fake.

Not Blue, Not Red: Purple

I saw this on Echidne of the Snakes, who makes me feel like I have a very boring title for my blog.

Wonkette Is Whaling on Sweeney

And given his history, isn't that appropriate?

Wonkette: Slappy Sweeney's Story of Success

Losing your “safe seat” in the House doesn’t mean you’re a Loser — according to the Albany magazine “Success,” it means just the opposite.

After all, the alleged drunk and wife beater has a long list of accomplishments to show from his years in Congress:

* When it comes to using federal cops to lock up cancer patients using medical marijuana, he’s No. 1.
* After boozing up at a bar in Upstate New York, he successfully stranded skiers on the lifts when he expertly knocked down a utility pole with his Jeep.
* Sweeney was named one of the Top 20 Most Corrupt Congressmen by the prestigious Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
* His stripper wife started a “fund-raising company,” and the next day landed a great client: John Sweeney!
* Of New York’s 29 members of the House, Slappy McDrunk ranked No. 1 in taking campaign donations.

All Wonkette posts referring to John Sweeney

'I Am Macaca'

WaPo: I Am Macaca, By S.R. Sidarth

The larger question that this experience brings up is: How far has society progressed on the issues of race and openness? By 2050, according to most projections, the United States will be a minority-majority nation. But the fact that Allen believed I was an immigrant, when in fact I am a native Virginian, underlines the problems our society still faces.

Then again, Webb's victory last week gives me hope that Virginia will not tolerate playing the race card. It is still hard for me to accept that I could have had a pivotal role in the election results; I would not wish the scrutiny I received on anyone. But I am also glad to have helped Webb. Every little bit counted, especially in an election decided by about 9,000 votes out of nearly 2.4 million cast.

The politics of division just don't work anymore. Nothing made me happier on election night than finding out the results from Dickenson County, where Allen and I had our encounter. Webb won there, in what I can only hope was a vote to deal the race card out of American politics once and for all.

Ya Notice?

The price of gas in my area has gone up 5 cents since Election Day.

Not that gas companies were trying to buy the election or anything.

'This war MUST end, NOW.'

Blah3: Veteran's Day

As you all know, now, I am a Disabled Veteran of Gulf War Poppy. I'm not proud, nor do I want sympathy... I was Disabled doing... printing....Hyper exposed to toluene making little metal plates for ships, Hyper exposed to Toluene making little metal plates for ships, nine hours a day, and 24 hour a day every 3rd day.

I'm now severely epileptic, I see the VA Doctors every few months. I used to be the young kid in the waiting room... no more... My heart gets torn apart, sitting there in the VA Hospital Neurology labs waiting room... Kids 19-20 years old being rolled in in their wheelchairs.. Fuct for life by this misbegotten war based on lies... These poor kids, their poor families.

Many of these kids are obviously missing large chunks of their skulls and brains. They wear helmets or other protective headgear, but, it is obvious that the level of trauma that they took was far more heavy than I took. More often than not, when my name is called, I defer to one of these poor Brothers... or Sisters first. Who the fuck am I to hold up their obviously more urgent care. I often set a precedent for others in the waiting room. We KNOW who needs care more than us. Thus the Band of Brothers and Sisters.

Regularly, sitting there in the waiting room, we discuss the War, the Policies, the Funding, and to a man, lately... the past year, we were all in agreement... The Bush Administration has been fucking US Disabled Veterans as quickly as they are making them. They have reduced VA Department budgets by over $300 Million dollars in the past six years. We all know this and feel it in our care, service and treatment. I used to see the doctors once a month... Now it's every six months... out of budget necessities, and with their sincere apologies. I can't blame the VA. I CAN blame the Goddamned Bush Motherfuckers though.

How FUCKING DARE THEY make a thousand Disabled Veterans every month, while they CUT the VA budget? Heartless motherfuckers. I'm not thinking about myself... I thinking about these poor kids in the Neurology Lab waiting room, hoping for... fuck... something... Here is what I see in that lobby.

We Love Lists

NYTimes: On a Desert Island...

We asked 22 funny people the same question: Which five comedies would you want to take with you if you were stranded alone on a desert island? Here's what they said.

My list would be:

Duck Soup
Groundhog Day
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
My Cousin Vinny
Uncle Buck

Mary Matalin Has Sucked James Carville's Brain Out

I have evidence to prove this.

Yesterday, Carville called for Democrats to replace Howard Dean, the man who engineered their House and Senate triumphs, with Harold Ford. Harold, who just lost to a real right wing nutjob in Tennessee. Insane, no?

Here's the icing on the cake. In 2000, Carville proposed that Al Gore should choose as his running mate......Zell Miller.

See, Mary Matalin has clearly sucked his brains out. No question.

Go away, James Carville. Your useful life is over.

72 Hours

Pelosi in an Armani pantsuit at yesterday's news conference: Clothes for playing with the boys without pretending to be one.
Photo Credit: By Carol T. Powers -- Bloomberg News
That's how long it took the Washington Post to write an article about the first female Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

Problem? The article is about her clothes.

Yes, you heard that right, the WaPo has gone almost immediately to sexist analysis of the woman's wardrobe.

Because nothing matters about a woman other than what she looks like, right?

Is it 2006 or 1966?

If Ms. Magazine still had the feature, this article would be on the 'No Comment' page at the back of the magazine. Classic, traditional sexist bullshit.

Think I'm overreacting? Do you really think any newspaper in the country will analyze the wardrobe of the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid? Of course not.

Jeez.

Washington Post: Muted Tones Of Quiet Authority: A Look Suited To the Speaker

Call Daddy!

The little ditty was written in my friend Irene Zahava's writing circle, in Ithaca, New York:


T'was the eve of elections in GOP land.

George, Karl, Dick and Rummy, the Great Asshole Band

Were playing their song, "we're great," ad infinitum

Not knowing the people were all poised to bite 'em.

"Hey Karl" says our George with his head full of holes,

"Now you know I cain't read but I don't like these polls."

"The evening is young, George. Let's not make a fuss.

My strategic plan says the win is for us."

Dick sits on the side tying flies and just wishin,

"This sounds just like Katrina, I think I'll go fishin."

While Rummy who's smart feels his gut passing gas

As he's starting to think "I'll be out on my ass."

The evening wears on, the Dems can't be ignored,

But our prez reads the comics and looks pretty bored.

When the polls finally close Karl hits George in the head.

"Hey wake up buddy boy, I believe we're all dead.

It's the riff raff who've won, they want minimum wage.

They want health care and clean air, I'm just in a rage!"

Georgie panics and says, "They all think I'm a baddy,"

So he gets on the phone and he wails to his daddy,

"Daddy help me, I'm stumped. Help me please - please do sompin'

I'm afraid we've been walloped, it's a real Texas thumpin'."

"Now my boy, you remember in '04 way way back.

I slapped up your head, said don't go to Iraq.

But no, you had to beat me, show your dad you're a man.

So you marched into war, missing one thing - a plan.

OK this time you listen and you do what I say,

Follow all my advice and then you'd better pray.

First give Rummy the boot, he's the one they all hate.

And I'll get on the stick and deliver Bob Gates.

Then you get on the phone, say congrats to that Nancy.

Just say one or two words, you'll flub up if it's fancy.

Then get out on TV to the millions of folks.

And whatever you do, don't tell any dumb jokes.

You've just never been bright son, now you're a lame duck.

Georgie what can I say, face the facts, you've been fucked."


Written by Ann Wexler 11/9/06

You Can't Pick Your Family

While surfing the tubes of the internets today, I found that Barry Goldwater's granddaughter, C.C. Goldwater, did a documentary on her grandfather that was aired on HBO last month. I didn't see it, but apparently, not surprisingly, she sugarcoats her famous grandfather's life.

Most interestingly, a review of the documentary in the Phoenix New Times fleshed out the HBO film's 2-dimensional portrait by quoting letters to and from Goldwater which they found in the Goldwater papers in the Arizona Historical Foundation. Most of the letters are kind of sad, with Goldwater's children and grandchildren writing to him asking for money, or just to use his name and fame for their own commercial gain.

As a result of the newspaper article, the family has gone in and placed the letters under seal. When you go read them, you'll understand why. They don't tell you much about the Senator, but a lot about his kids and grandkids.


Romanesko: New Times story prompts Goldwater family to hide papers

Phoenix New Times: Goldwater Uncut
You've seen the G-rated HBO documentary on the Arizona legend, but there was so much more to Goldy than that

Phoenix New Times (PDF file): Goldwater letters from Arizona Historical Foundation

Bye Bye

Don't let the door, and all that:

Senator Macaca

Senator Man On Dog

Congressman Richard Pombo (R-Lay Waste)

Congressman Jim Ryun (R-Real Estate Investing)

Congressman Curt Weldon (R-Russia)

Ken Mehlman (R-Big Red Closet)

And, finally, a rant from Doug Thompson at Capital Hill Blue:

And the horse they rode in on

Say Goodnight, Gracie

Brilliant at Breakfast: Say goodnight, Gracie

Burns and Allen both conceded today.

(Sorry, but SOMEONE had to do it.)

Make The Public Airwaves Serve The Public Again

Dave Johnson, HuffPo: Restore The Fairness Doctrine!

I'd go further than this. I think that as a condition of being granted a license to broadcast, television stations should have to give political candidates free access to the PUBLIC airwaves.

Who profits from our current system of paid political advertising? Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox. GE, the owner of NBC. Etc., etc. It's basically a huge money-redistribution system. Corporations put money into political campaigns, and much of that money ends up in the pocket of the owners of the corporate media. Another corporate shell game.

Right now, the only way to get your message out in a political season is to pay for it. But why must that always be so? Can we imagine a new system, where broadcasters have to make available a certain amount of time for free to political candidates? Why not? We already regulate broadcasts by fining them for allowing people to say unimportant things like "fuck". Why not regulate broadcasts by requiring them to allow the most important of all speech, our political discourse, on the public airwaves for free?

Unsung Heroes of the Democrats 2006 Midterm Victory

George W. Bush, whose last minute appearances for Jim Talent in Missouri and Conrad Burns in Montana didn't help and probably hurt them.

Joe Lieberman, who sucked Republican dollars out of declared Republican races.

Karl Rove, back to being just Turd Blossom, no longer Boy Genius.

Rush Limbaugh, for making fun of Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's disease.

Dick Cheney, just for being Darth Cheney. Thanks, you Dick.

One guy called it right: Bob Geiger at democrats.com.

The Final Analysis: How The Senate Looks After Tuesday

So here's the bottom line: Of the 13 hotly-contested races, Democrats win 11 of them with Cardin, Stabenow, Klobuchar, McCaskill, Tester, Menendez, Brown, Casey, Whitehouse, Webb and Cantwell. The GOP gets victories out of Kyl and Corker.

And the Democrats take the Senate 51-49.

The Mighty Wurlitzer Will Now Bray for 'Bipartisanship'

Although you heard no cries for bipartisanship during the last six years when the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and the Presidency (and spent all their time cutting Democrats out of governing completely), now that Democrats have won the House and the Senate, the calls will come fast and furious. Bloggers call the corporate media 'The Mighty Wurlitzer' because they're the house organ for the Republican party. The organ has already begun to play the Republican theme songs. The Democrats must be bipartisan; you will hear this over and over again.

Don't be fooled. Listen to Glenn Greenwald of Unclaimed Territory:

The Bush meaning of "bipartisanship"

The President is going to include all sorts of flowery odes to the beauty of bipartisanship in his upcoming speech this afternoon -- much to the inevitable delight of the wise Washington pundit class, which will excitedly take him at his word and demand that Democrats "work with" the President rather than oppose and investigate him.

But what the Bush administration really means by "bipartisanship" -- as they are already making quite clear -- is that the Democrats in Congress do nothing to stand in their way and, most especially, that Democrats recognize that there will be no looking into what the Leader has done or subjecting his Decisions to any scrutiny. From Time's Mike Allen, today:

Advisers expect a battle royale over the balance of powers if Democrats use their new subpoena power to try to conduct what the White House is already calling "witch hunts." Bush and Vice President Cheney have made the expansion of executive power one of their hallmarks, and advisers say they do not plan to give up any of the ground they have won without a fight all the way to the Supreme Court. "We're going to have a fierce constitutional showdown over the boundaries of power between the executive and legislative branches," one adviser said. "The executive usually wins those battles, so we think we'll consolidate our gains."

To this administration, "witch hunts" means: refusing to allow them to rule in total secrecy and, instead, trying to find out what has really been going on in our Government.

Celebration

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (First ever female House Majority Leader)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
Enjoying the post-Democratic win election afterglow.

Some fun links to keep your buzz going:

Freedom (Youtube video)

Suddenly nobody is talking about John Kerry anymore... (TBogg)

Richard Pombo Takes a Pounding (Wonkette)

Dr. Death (Billmon)

Turn, turn, turn (Billmon)

Classic Clinton Riff - Hilarious and So, So True! (Raising Kaine)

Bitch-Chokers Stick Together (Wonkette) […or, as an astute tipster put it, “Congressman McChokey Gets Help From Congressman McSmacky.”]

The admiral sinks Curt Weldon (R-Russia). (Attytood)

Video: John Hall victory speech (and song) (Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record)


WAHHHHHHH!!!!
(President Bush reacts to a reporter's question during his press conference in the wake of Democrats taking over the House and perhaps the Senate. Photo by Pete Souza of the Chicago Tribune.)

Get Out There and Vote

SNCC Chairman John Lewis [now Congressman John Lewis, (D-GA)] Attacked By Alabama State Troopers, March 7, 1965, Suffered Fractured Skull

In 1964, Lewis coordinated SNCC's efforts for "Mississippi Freedom Summer," a campaign to register black voters across the South. The following year, Lewis led one of the most dramatic protests of the era. On March 7, 1965 -- a day that would become known as "Bloody Sunday" -- Lewis and fellow activist Hosea Williams led over 600 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. At the end of the bridge, they were met by Alabama State Troopers, who ordered them to disperse. When the marchers stopped to pray, the police discharged tear gas and mounted troopers charged the demonstrators, beating them with night sticks. Lewis's skull was fractured, but he escaped across the bridge, to a church in Selma. Before he could be taken to the hospital, John Lewis appeared before the television cameras calling on President Johnson to intervene in Alabama.

Here's Hoping

The German newspaper Bild imagines Jurgen Klinsmann as USA National Team Coach.