Blogworthy, June 10th, 2007
Here's the latest edition of our occassional review feature touching on news and developments that we couldn't get around to writing about previously, as well as items we have accidentally overlooked. (This past week, incidentally, was chock full of absurdity and Republican corruption.)
Scooter Libby was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for obstruction of justice and perjury charges in the Valerie Plame case. No matter what the 150+ people will try to convince you, though, he was not convicted of outing Valerie Plame. Dick Armitage admitted he did that, already, though another Dick (Cheney) remains the co-defendant in a civil suit brought on by former ambassador Joe Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame.
No, they convicted Scooter for impeding the investigation. But so far, he hasn’t moved into his new digs. Anyway, the neocons, aided by a willfully ignorant traditional corporate media, continue to carp that the sentence is too stiff because he, after all, didn’t out Valerie Plame. Remains to be seen whether Scooter walks on a W pardon. Don’t be shocked.
William Jefferson, the Democratic congressman from Louisiana, was indicted on 16 counts of corruption. He’s the guy who stashed $90k in his freezer. Yes, I think he should resign. No, I don’t think political corruption is suddenly a bipartisan concern. DeLay, Foley, Abramoff, Ney, Noe, Libby, Dolittle, Enzi, McGee, Tobin, and I’m sure I left out a few dozen. And then there's Jefferson. It's entirely lopsided. (Jefferson actually had a progressive challenger last year who we supported, months before his indictment).
Ah yes, the latest Surgeon General nominee. Even in a position that should be utterly devoid of ideology, would we expect anything less than the farthest reaches of the conservative right from a President who still hasn’t quite come to grips with global climate change, occasionally bellows and beats his chest, and calls himself the Decider Guy?
No. So we will have to contemplate James Holsinger, who has in the past suggested homosexuality is something that can be “cured” and has supported exclusion of gays and lesbians from churches. His treatise on “pipe fittings” is certainly scholarly and brimming with wisdom, too.
The debates. Neither were truly remarkable, yet each had its moments of wonder. Joe Biden had moments of passionate honesty on the Democratic side (all the corporate media wanted to talk about was Clinton, though) and for the Republicans, Tom Tancredo stunned folks when he made the remark about Karl Rove telling him to stay away from the White House in the future, and if elected President, he’d return the favor. Postscripts for the debates: Mitt Romney doesn’t know what a non-sequitur is. And Wolf Blitzer doesn't seem to understand the difference between a presidential debate and a first grade classroom with his "raise your hand if you..." nonsense.
And our NASA administrator, Michael Griffin, isn’t really fazed by all this global warming business, either. Who’s to say, after all, that our climate couldn’t be improved? I mean, is this really all that bad? Oh, let’s use his own words, from an interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep:
Last: We’re going to be in Iraq for a long time. I know some of you are saying “Well, DUH,” into your monitors right now, but this is about to become policy, whereas before it was simply true but unacknowledged, inconvenient and heavily denied. And here’s a thought, a quote I’ll leave with you as you consider who to support in the ’08 elections. It’s from the article I’ve linked to above, from the military folks in Iraq right now who are carefully watching what’s going on in DC concerning this horrendous occupation:
Scooter Libby was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for obstruction of justice and perjury charges in the Valerie Plame case. No matter what the 150+ people will try to convince you, though, he was not convicted of outing Valerie Plame. Dick Armitage admitted he did that, already, though another Dick (Cheney) remains the co-defendant in a civil suit brought on by former ambassador Joe Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame.
No, they convicted Scooter for impeding the investigation. But so far, he hasn’t moved into his new digs. Anyway, the neocons, aided by a willfully ignorant traditional corporate media, continue to carp that the sentence is too stiff because he, after all, didn’t out Valerie Plame. Remains to be seen whether Scooter walks on a W pardon. Don’t be shocked.
William Jefferson, the Democratic congressman from Louisiana, was indicted on 16 counts of corruption. He’s the guy who stashed $90k in his freezer. Yes, I think he should resign. No, I don’t think political corruption is suddenly a bipartisan concern. DeLay, Foley, Abramoff, Ney, Noe, Libby, Dolittle, Enzi, McGee, Tobin, and I’m sure I left out a few dozen. And then there's Jefferson. It's entirely lopsided. (Jefferson actually had a progressive challenger last year who we supported, months before his indictment).
Ah yes, the latest Surgeon General nominee. Even in a position that should be utterly devoid of ideology, would we expect anything less than the farthest reaches of the conservative right from a President who still hasn’t quite come to grips with global climate change, occasionally bellows and beats his chest, and calls himself the Decider Guy?
No. So we will have to contemplate James Holsinger, who has in the past suggested homosexuality is something that can be “cured” and has supported exclusion of gays and lesbians from churches. His treatise on “pipe fittings” is certainly scholarly and brimming with wisdom, too.
The debates. Neither were truly remarkable, yet each had its moments of wonder. Joe Biden had moments of passionate honesty on the Democratic side (all the corporate media wanted to talk about was Clinton, though) and for the Republicans, Tom Tancredo stunned folks when he made the remark about Karl Rove telling him to stay away from the White House in the future, and if elected President, he’d return the favor. Postscripts for the debates: Mitt Romney doesn’t know what a non-sequitur is. And Wolf Blitzer doesn't seem to understand the difference between a presidential debate and a first grade classroom with his "raise your hand if you..." nonsense.
And our NASA administrator, Michael Griffin, isn’t really fazed by all this global warming business, either. Who’s to say, after all, that our climate couldn’t be improved? I mean, is this really all that bad? Oh, let’s use his own words, from an interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep:
I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with. To assume that it is a problem is to assume that the state of Earth's climate today is the optimal climate, the best climate that we could have or ever have had and that we need to take steps to make sure that it doesn't change. First of all, I don't think it's within the power of human beings to assure that the climate does not change, as millions of years of history have shown.So let’s not do anything, and by all means, keep burning fossil fuels no matter what. The NASA administrator, mind you. Save the salary, hire an ostrich.
And second of all, I guess I would ask which human beings — where and when — are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that's a rather arrogant position for people to take.
Last: We’re going to be in Iraq for a long time. I know some of you are saying “Well, DUH,” into your monitors right now, but this is about to become policy, whereas before it was simply true but unacknowledged, inconvenient and heavily denied. And here’s a thought, a quote I’ll leave with you as you consider who to support in the ’08 elections. It’s from the article I’ve linked to above, from the military folks in Iraq right now who are carefully watching what’s going on in DC concerning this horrendous occupation:
They doubt that Bush will pull the plug on the war or that Congress willIf this doesn’t spur you to action, to make sure your congressperson doesn’t get complacent about this issue, nothing will.
ultimately force his hand.
