Politics: From The Department of

The Stupid Never Stops.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor

Now that President Obama has announced his nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court vacancy left by resigning Justice David Souter, the Republicans are out in full — or should I say FOOL — force, yipping their little puppy heads off about Judge Sotomayor.

Here, for example, perennial pouty jowled loser Newt (what kind of person has a nickname that means "slimy reptile"?) Gingrich calls Judge Sotomayor a racist. Wow, Newtie, considering that some of your best friends have said things that would make a full-throated racist blush for shame, that takes some brass cojones, buddy. Hope they're nailed on tight, coz something tells me my Latino y Latina buddies will be aiming for those low-hanging fruit right soon. You, the friend of racists galore, do not, buddy, not diss a respected Latina candidate for the Supreme Court by calling her petty names.

Although the GOP itself isn't attacking Sotomayor, relying on these hunchmen, as Frank Zappa might have called them, to do their dirty work, some of them were happy to give Newt the reptile's message a helping, as it were, tweet.

Pat Buchanan went on MSNBC's Hardball to call Judge Sotomayor "an affirmative action pick. [...] Clearly the president was down to four choices, all of them woman, and he picked the Hispanic." Given that Pat has the IQ of a turnip, and would only be admitted to Princeton or Yale as a working janitor, cum grano salis, kids. Consider the fucking source.

Republican Party Leader Rush Limbaugh called Sotomayor "a reverse racist" who was appointed by "the greatest living example of a reverse racist" -- Obama. For a list of racist remarks by this paragon of enlightenment and virtue, take your anti-nausea medication and then go here. All I can say is, if I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning, I'd hammer in the evening and flatten his peener. Naturally, Rush would be my first choice of sources to help me determine if a person was racist. So not.

Sad loser and perennial Presidential candidate who has yet to win anything, Tom Tancredo, is heaping on the abuse with a shovel. He started off by calling Judge Sotomayor a racist. Considering that he spouted some of the most outrageously racist rhetoric of any Presidential candidate in decades, you'd think the man would have the decency to keep his festering gob buttoned. But that's never how it is with Republicans, is it?

Since that last attack, he's grown even more rabidly spittle-flecked and is now accusing the Judge of being a member of La Raza, which he likens to the KKK. Uh, hello, Tomaso? First of, you're lying, buddy. La Raza is an organization more like Catholic Charities than, say, the Knights of Columbus, or some of the more recondite (and bloody-handed) Catholic organizations, one of which could probably claim you as a member, no? Secondly, I know, and YOU know you're Italian, but you look awfully, uh, "coloured," my friend. And I mean that in a not-so-good way. You know, as in, should a bunch of skinheads be looking for some "Messican" to mess with, and come across you, I reckon you'll be trying to take the bus back from Tijuana, broken limbs and all.

Students at UNC apparently think about as highly of Tancredo as do your hosts at this fine blog. They sent him running for cover during his most recent gob-flabbing visit.

Meanwhile, Senatorial embarrassment Jeff Sessions of Alabama has shot a hole in the GOP banner held up by the whiny "legislating from the bench, waaah, waaah!" faction by agreeing that judges legislate from the bench. Jeff, apparently, didn't read the GOP talking points. Maybe he doesn't know how.

ICHC Catertainment

Other Republicans, having been bitten badly by the Irony Vampire, have taken to referring to Judge Sotomayor as the Democratic version of Harriet Miers. It's a sad day indeed when the worst thing you can say about your opponent is that he picked someone who's kinda sorta maybe like the dreadful twit your dreadful twit of a leader picked for the same position, once.

"I would point you to the Harriet Miers nomination under the second President Bush," Levey said. "She was also many people felt and intellectual lightweight, picked because she was a woman, people felt. And even though Republicans controlled the senate, she ultimately had to withdraw. And that could happen here. This is someone who clearly was picked because she’s a woman and Hispanic, not because she was the best qualified. I could certainly see red and purple state Democrats gawking at it and she may very well have to withdraw her nomination."

— Curt Levey, executive director, Committee for (Conservative) Justice.

Yeah, right, Mr. Levey. How insulting can you get? Harriet Miers went to some cowpat school followed by some cowpat law school. Judge Sotomayor did her undergraduate work at Princeton, and got her law degree at Yale. (Naturally, the shrieking harpies of the right (and perenially wrong) wing will start beating that tired old drum about how Sotomayor, like Obama, got an affirmative action free ride to two of the top schools in the world. Let me remind them that the competition for those schools is intense, and (1) they're not government-funded, so they are not required to implement affirmative action; (2) even if they do so, they do not lower their standards to accept intellectually deficient candidates for reasons relating to the exoticism of their colour, background, or ethnicity. In other words, they might admit Latina or African-American candidates because they want a more diverse campus, but they pick the best African-American and Latina candidates, not the worst, and not the average mooks, either. Moreover, both schools are sufficiently intellectually rigorous that a candidate who did not work hard and did not have the intellectual heft required would soon drop out. Neither Princeton nor Yale give "charity" grades, except to the children of their alumni who donate huge sums. You know, like Gee Dumbya Bush.)

Also, not to belabour the point, unless it's on Levey's head, not one Democrat has hitherto said one critical word about Judge Sotomayor. They seem to like her. So do the proles. Wrong again, Levey. Miers was so bad, even the party faithful threw up their hands in horror. Sotomayor is so superior to Miers that their names should never occur in the same sentence. But tell Mr. Levey that.

From the article:

On Tuesday, Fox News’s Andrew Napolitano claimed on his radio show that Sotomayor “has a reputation for not being a very hard worker.”

Damn, Faux Noise sure does love that stereotype of the "lazy Latina," huh? Someone should take those mouthy shills out into the fields and have them pick our lettuce and tomatoes for whatever pathetic nickel-and-dime wage we're paying our Latino/Latina field workers these days. Doesn't it chap your hide that some soft-palmed greaseball who has never done any work harder than pulling their pud in their whole fucking life has the gall to opine on someone else's hardworkingness or lack thereof? Faux Noise, y'all should buy your shills a copy of Syed Husain al-Atas, The Myth of The Lazy Native. But what am I saying? Y'all lack the intellectual heft for that.

Also from the article, some pathetic weeny commenter waves his around:

“Conservative politico” likely working on the nomination: “Substantial questions also persist regarding Judge Sotomayor’s temperament and disposition to be a Supreme Court justice. Lawyers who have appeared before her have described her as a ‘bully’ who ‘does not have a very good temperament’ and who ‘abuses lawyers’ with “inappropriate outbursts.’”

Wait, what??? I thought Republicans were all like, "We hate hate hate dem lawyers"?? Don't I remember a ton of Republican political ads accusing various Democrats of "being in the pocket of trial lawyers"? And quivering-jowled Republicans wailing endlessly about how lawyers were the veritable scum of the earth, ate their own children for breakfast, had been filmed killing puppies, kitties, and bunnies, and were Satan's very own spawn? So, now they're crying because Judge Sotomayor "bullies" lawyers? Hello? I R confoozed.

ICHC for teh Catertainment

Also, gee, after Nino Scalia flips off the press repeatedly and mutters something sounding suspiciously like "Va'fan'culo" while giving the sign of "up your booty with a ten-foot pole," "Conservative politico" might want to quit flapping his gob about suitable judicial temperament and what-all. We won't even raise the Long Dong Silver and pubic hair on a Coke can business of Justice Clarence Thomas.

Nino Scalia's "suitable" judicial temperament

Mind you, it does sort of shoot a hole in the right, I mean, wrong wing's arguments against the judge when some right-wing shills and whores (some of whom work for the same organizations as the decriers)admit that Judge Sotomayor brings very impressive credentials to the position. More impressive, in fact, than any other candidate over the past 100 years:

Coming from a housing project in the Bronx, Sotomayor ended up graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton. She also was a co-recipient of the M. Taylor Pyne Prize, the highest honor Princeton awards to an undergraduate. Sotomayor then went to Yale Law School, where she served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal and managing editor of the Yale Studies in World Public Order. Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY) said on Fox News this morning that of all the nominees, Sotomayor “brings the most in terms of judicial experience — in terms of serving on a federal court — in 100 years.”

Anyone want to raise the case of Supreme Court Justice Byron "Whizzer" White? Methinks Justice White's primary qualification for the position, other than some less-than-memorable lawyering, was, um, having been a football star, kinda? OK, Whizzer (urk) White had impressive academic qualifications, but no more impressive than Sotomayor's, with the sole exception of the Rhodes Scholarship. In fact, she outdid him, in that she accepted editorship of both the Yale Law Journal and the World Public Order Studies. Moreover, Sotomayor has been a judge for nearly two decades — which is more judicial experience than Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, or most of the rest of the court had when appointed.

Matt Yglesias, writing over at ThinkProgress, pokes another hole in the tattered Republican argument:

I recall a lot of issues being raised during the Samuel Alito confirmation fight, but at that time I don’t remember anyone raising questions about the intelligence of a Princeton/Yale Law graduate who’d done time on an Appeals Court.

But, see, it's DIFFERENT because Alito has dangly bits! He's a boy, she's a girl, end of story. Or something. Media Matters is keeping track of all the lies being trumpeted by various crooks and liars in attacking Judge Sotomayor. No blame if you no clicky the linkies. It made me so mad I had to lie down with a glass of wine and a book of pretty pitchers for twenty minutes.

Cthulhu Hats For Cats

Meanwhile, even as these spawn of Cthulhu* bay and howl about how Sotomayor's every remark and every blood corpuscle is all about race, race, race, therefore rendering her unfit to genuflect in the hallowed halls of the Supreme Court to such worthies as Scalia, who is reported and demonstrated to have flipped reporters off in public, including immediately after leaving a church (Nino! How could you!). Or Alito, who said the following:

In an exchange with Sen. Tom Coburn, who had asked Alito to discuss how his personal experiences shows that "he cared for the little guy," Alito said that his family"s experience as immigrants influenced his outlook on immigration cases.

Alito: "And that"s why I went into that in my opening statement. Because when a case comes before me involving, let"s say, someone who is an immigrant " and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases " I can"t help but think of my own ancestors, because it wasn"t that long ago when they were in that position.

When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account."

And, in fact, if y'all remember that far back, when Alberto Gonerzales was nominated for the AG position, Republicans couldn't make enough noise about his Hispanicity. (Yeah, I made that word up, so what.)

From the article:

"Look, this is not just any nomination," Hatch, then Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman declared on February 1, 2005. "This is a nomination for the Attorney General of the United States of America. This is the first Hispanic ever nominated for that position, or for any of the big four positions in the Cabinet of any President. ... We work with Hispanic people all over America who are every bit as devoted to our country as any citizen who has ever been in this country. I personally love Hispanic people. Frankly, I know my friends in the Hispanic community, and Hispanic people all over America, are watching this debate, and they are sensing something very unfair going on here."

Of course, Gonerzales had no qualifications for anything, except maybe dogcatcher, unlike Sotomayor, who is a highly qualified individual. We all know the Republicans like to keep their pet "cullud" folks around for patronization purposes, and prefer that these be singularly stupid or lacking in accomplishments, as it helps them to bolster their arguments against equal rights for people who are not rich, old, white, and, preferably, male. Methinks Judge Sotomayor would not put up with patronizing attitudes. She probably scares the holy shit out of all those head-patting yobs of the Republican party, no?

Scotusblog, a blog maintained by a large group of practising attorneys and others with some actual knowledge of the legal profession, has a heartening take on the Judge:

Objectively, her qualifications are overwhelming from the perspective of ordinary Americans. She has been a prosecutor, private litigator, trial judge, and appellate judge. No one currently on the Court has that complete package of experience.

Scotusblog decries the attacks on previous nominees and makes its case in reasonable terms. You might find the post eminently readable. It also cautions those attacking Judge Sotomayor to remember that there is a cost to their insubstantive attacks, with which point I agree heartily in fact, but would hope that the overwhelming pother of idiots currently dictating the fate of the Republican Party will pay absolutely no attention to the voice of reason and continue their headlong rush over the cliff.

The White House has not been silent in the face of Republican noisemaking. And Judge Sotomayor herself is not one to take crap from anybody, so Nino, consider yourself warned. Vanity Fair has a nice whup upside the head of the baying few in their current issue.

If you're wondering what YOUR role might be in this unfolding drama, consider these words of wisdom from a commenter at HuffPo:

Michellemlm

To those who are angry about this:

Our representatives aren't reading the comment sections on here. Write your rep in your district, especially the republican reps and let them know how you feel about Sotomayer's record and how you feel about the attacks on her. Let them know that your vote will count on election day. here's the link to contact your senator my email, phone or mail. Activism means taking action.

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

She's right, yaknow. Gedoff your ass and write those jerks, not just one email but one email per day, or one letter or postcard per day for the next four, five, or six weeks. They won't listen without a couple of righteous whacks upside the head with the trademarked Golden Bat o'Clue. It's your job to give it to 'em.



* Longtime commenter and friend McBlogget insisted in a private missive that no reference to Cthulhu was acceptable without a picture of a Cthulhu hat; and even found an example of same, for which reason we forthwith edited this post. Note that Cthulhu appears to be eating the cat, whose expression of long-suffering patience has won our admiration.

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Entertainment: Srsly

With sincere apologies to Jeffo:



I have just ONE request/addendum: Can we deport Flush Rimbowl and Dick "Dick" Cheney to the Lose Star State right before secession?

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Politics: From The Department of

You Can't Make This Shit Up: KKKarl Rove, aka Turdblossom, aka Brainfather of the Thousand-Year Republican Reich is attempting to give our new President advice on the politicization of the Justice Department.


Yes, that would be the same KKKarl Rove who, under Bush's tenure, politicized the Justice Department — by firing out of hand, and for no good reason anyone has yet determined, many excellent career attorneys (like David Iglesias, to offer just one example) for not being, what's a good phrase? Partisan hacks? Tools? Extreme Christian-Reichwing conservatives willing to bend over and take it in the keister for KKKarl? And by hiring hacks like Monica Goodling to oversee the hiring practices of the Department. Monica Goodling*, whose sole qualification for the position consisted of an unvarying allegiance to the Republican party.

* Note: Link to a PDF of DOJ investigation of Goodling.

Jason Linkins has the dirt over at HuffPo, with a big ha-ha of bitterly ironical laughter. Truly, it sucketh the chrome right off a high-rise building to have that motherfucker KKKarl offering his counterfeit two cents on the issue of politicizing the very office that is supposed to ensure justice for all. On the plus side, our new President is ignoring the little maggot.

We've blogged about this before, repeatedly. Mary Beth Buchanan, U.S. attorney for Pennsylvania; David Iglesias, New Mexico; Monica Goodling; Harriet Miers and Sara Taylor; and the ongoing corruptionfest known as the Abu G show.

The cherry on KKKarl's shitpile-dessert has to be his disingenuously-posed question about the (obviously greatly-hoped for, at least by KKKarl) firing of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. KKKarl had targeted Fitzgerald for investigation, for the unthinkable crime of actually investigating the KKKarl Cabal. Hopes ran high all over blogtopia (y,Sctp!) for well over a year. Hopes that Fitzgerald, keen, methodical, impartial, painstakingly devoted to Justice, would find a way to topple the Evil Empire built by Cheney, Rove, Bush, and their rage of hunchmen.

Hopes that died a sad death when it became clear that Fitzgerald was stymied by factors outside his control. But we dare say that the thought of revenge burned brightly in our breast anyway. Many of us prayed and hoped and worked for the day when this vile and wretched ambulatory bag of putrescence would finally be brought to justice for the vast and thorough corruption he had worked on the nation. The political discourse that he had flung into the gutter. The bitter partisanship that he cultivated like some malodorous fungoid. The fear, paranoia, hate, bitterness that divided us from each other in this nation even as his puppetmaster's other favourite puppet was flapping his gums about being a "uniter, not a divider."

No one has singlehandedly contributed as much to the destruction of everything this nation stands for as this nasty little man. Is it too much to hope that karma bites him in the tush? What would be a suitable fate for him? We'd like to wish him a thousand incarnations as a cockroach, but most cockroaches probably have a more beneficial relationship with humanity than this scum. Multiple lifetimes as a scum-sucking bottom-feeding eel? A diatom? A bacterium that survives on fecal matter?

Perhaps we'd settle for seeing him alongside Dick and Al in an orange jumpsuit. Don't forget the wrist and leg shackles.

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2008 Elections: The Real Analysis

Nobody does it better than Jon Stewart. The idea of putting clips of politicians making contradictory statements side by side allows viewers to form their own fact-based opinions on the lying scumbaggery of these lying scumbags:



Who the hell wants arch war-criminal and thug Karl Rove opining on the future of the country, is what we would like to know. Shouldn't he be in a jail cell somewhere? In an orange jumpsuit?

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2008 Elections: What a Surprise!

Oldy McMoldy lies. About everything. Pretty much all the time. What a horrible, terrible campaign the old man is running. It's kind of sad, really. He used to be ... less obvious about his greed and ambition? A somewhat nicer guy? Less of a puppet? Right now it's like Bush, Cheney, and Rove all have their hands up Oldy McMoldy's fundament. He's certainly adopted wholesale the Karl Rove position: Lie early and often.

These are the people (Rove, Cheney, Bush, McCain) who will tell you it's night when the sun is shining bright in the sky. And if you point to the bright and shining sun, they'll: (1) Insist you're mistaken; (2) Claim they never said it was night; (3) Aver that all you have to go on is your lying eyes, whereas they have the Super-Secret Knowledge of what time of day it really is.

Some of the lies debunked.



OY!

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Politics: Entertainment!

More entertainment for the politically-inclined masses:



Good work, kudos to the creator! Bit gross in parts, though, so be warned.

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Politics: Mmmm, Peach Mint

My favourite flavour.

You will be happy to hear that House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers of Michigan and Subcommittee Chairwoman Linda Sanchez today displayed their solid steel gonads to the White House. Which were so big, they needed a goddamned wheelbarrow to schlep them!


No, really. Conyers basically told the Gang of Thieves, Crooks, and Liars that they had better get him the documents he had requested, including unredacted FBI reports related to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s probe into the leak of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame. Operative quote:

“Both the rules and our previous oversight activity concerning the Fitzgerald investigation plainly encompass the current inquiry, and the notion that our oversight concerning criminal law enforcement should somehow stop at the gates of the White House has no proper basis.”

Um, YOW? Yowza, yowza, yowza? Been a long time since we heard such ass-kickin' plain talk from the representatives of We The People, yes?

(Pant, pant, pant, gasp)


And as if that wasn't enough, in a further display of gonadal wherewithal, Chairman Conyers and Chairwoman Sanchez went on to tell reptilian slime repository and FAIL-laden human impersonator KKKarl Rove, through his lawyer, that said maggot had better drag his pasty segmented behind before the committee on the date stated or the crack in it might be widened by lawful but forceful means. Operative quote:

“As Committee staff made clear, and as we indicated in our May 1 letter, the proposal that we somehow seek to separate the Siegelman matter from the broader issue of politicization of the Justice Department is unacceptable,” the two lawmakers wrote.

This hearing is related to the important matters of the unlawful prosecution and imprisonment of Governor Siegelman and the politicization of the Department of Justice.

In related news, Dennis Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment are now before the committee, and The Mighty Munchkin of Justice is pressuring the committee to consider them forthwith. If you want impeachment, help Dennis out by letting Conyers and Sanchez, and Dennis, and your Rep know that you support his request and they better get off their ass and review the damn thing. You have 21 days to take these actions. Also please contact all your friends, relatives, neighbours, colleagues, even those who don't support impeachment - the mood of the country is changing, and they may have changed their minds. Operative quote:

The Ohio lawmaker said that it is now “incumbent” for the Judiciary Committee to review evidence he presented. He promised that if the committee failed to hold any hearings on the resolution within thirty days, he would repeat his efforts. He told one reporter Wednesday, “Leadership wants to bury it, but this is one resolution that will be coming back from the dead. … I will be bringing the resolution up again, and I won’t be the only one reading it.”

Don't forget to call, write, or email &mdash or do all three. If at all possible, impeachment may be the one thing that could prevent Winky McMonkeyBrain from starting a third war with Iran.

From the fine folks at ICHC

Given how successful we've been lately in Iraq and Afghanistan, we DO NOT WANT or need to start the next Presidency and Congressional Session tied up in foreign disasters. We have plenty of domestic disasters to deal with. So please, please, please, call, email, and write!

Kucinich has also warned the Judiciary Committee that if they don't get to it post-haste, he's going to present 60 (SIXTY!) articles of impeachment on the next go-round. Please thank him for his efforts. YAY Dennis! You rock! Operative quote:

“The minute the leadership said ‘this is dead on arrival’ I said that I hope they believe in life after death; because I’m coming back with it,” Kucinich vowed in an interview with the Sleuth this week. “It’s not gonna die. Because I’ll come back with more articles. Not 35, but perhaps 60 articles.”

[...]

For Kucinich, impeachment is more than simply a political windmill at which to tilt, he says. It’s about preserving the sanctity of the republic’s founding document.

“What we’re witnessing here,” he says, “is the not-so-slow-moving destruction of our Constittuion.”

Raw Story has the videos, copies of the letters, and more information at each preceding link.

Meanwhile, further displays of courage continue to erupt from other quarters. McClatchy, one of our few actual news organizations left, is reporting that Major General Antonio Taguba, who spoke out against the Bush regime's routine use of torture on detainees, is accusing the Misadministration of war crimes, and calling for those responsible to be held accountable. Operative quote:

"After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes," Taguba wrote. "The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."

Be still, our beating heart! Our collective goddammit beating heart!!

And Amy Goodman over at Democracy Now! tells us that former Senator Mike Gravel is calling for an independent investigation into 9/11 and the prosecution of Stupie O'Stutters and Demon McVampire, otherwise known as our not-at-all-esteemed Leaders.

Dang! It never rains but it pours, yes? Let's hope all these separate actions with a common goal bear the kind of fruit we want &mdash that these criminals receive their just desserts of investigation, impeachment, and imprisonment. Personal Responsibility! The people demand they take some!

These hypocrites and liars were so willing to call for personal responsibility on the part of the sick, the weak, the poor, the suffering, the helpless, the ill and disabled. When it comes to their own responsibility for anything, the only thing they're quick to show is a clean pair of heels. It's time to turn that around now.

Crossposted over at Out of Iraq Bloggers Caucus

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2008 Elections: Joy and Relief For The Suffering Masses

Oh, frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

The Ohio GOP, who brought us so many voter disenfranchisement scandals, is ... depressed about John McCain, says the L.A. Times. And that's good news.

Better yet is the link to the HuffPo, with its comments.

Anything that makes those corrupt, scum-sucking bottom dwellers miserable is just icing on this feline's cake. Now, if we could just jail Rove and convict Dumb!ya and Dick of high crimes and misdemeanors &mdash or treason.

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Politics: Oh Pleez Oh Pleez Oh Pleez Oh Pleez Oh Yes!

Is there a Deity? Does it hear the pleas of its creation? There's a good case to be made for the existence of a Deity that doth listen to the many prayers for good.

The Chicago Trib announced today that ambulatory scumball and professional sleazebucket impersonator KKKarl Rove has been subpoenaed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee about whether the White House improperly meddled with the Justice Department.

He will testify on 10 July about the illegal firings of U.S. attorneys and the dirty tricks involved in the prosecution of ex-Governor Don Siegelman. Rep. Conyers (D-Michigan) issued a statement that is admirably snarky in tone without departing from the professional standards that we expect of our legislators:

"It is unfortunate that Mr. Rove has failed to cooperate with our requests," Conyers, D-Mich., said in a statement. "Although he does not seem the least bit hesitant to discuss these very issues weekly on cable television and in the print news media, Mr. Rove and his attorney have apparently concluded that a public hearing room would not be appropriate."

We congratulate Michiganders for having the good sense to elect Rep. Conyers and to repeat the proof of their intelligence and discrimination as needed. We beg that portion of the electorate responsible for such abominations as Mitch McConnell (KYnYouPeopleQuitAwreddy), John Boner (R-OhGodNotAgain), John Cornyn (R-TXCutsForTehRich), Lindsay Graham (R-SCuzzball), and their ilk, to follow the example of Michiganders and Do The Right Thing. C'mon, there's gotta be way better candidates in each of your states to replace these pathetic lying weaseling proto-skunks. C'mon!

We are off to put our underroos on our heads and caper about singing "Oh, Frabjous Day! Callooh, Callay," and other such entertainments as reflect our overwhelming joy and delight in these developments.

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Politics: Rep. John Conyers Offers

A high-quality butt-kicking to that ambulatory slimeball KKKarl Rove.

Will it happen?

We here at this blog, your hosts at La Casa de Los Gatos, are so thrilled by this eventuality that we force ourselves to blog with an icepack on our repro bits as we swelter in the 100-degree temperature.

Dayumn, Rep. Conyers. May we offer you a pair of hobnailed boots? Or, better yet, spike-soled shoes? We could rub a little Scotch bonnet over the spikes first. In the interest of an unique experience, y'unnerstand.

Let's hope this causes the fetid little porker to squeal on everyone else in the chain of command at the Bush-Cheney Misadministration.

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Politics: Oh Pleez Oh Pleez Oh Pleez Oh Pleez

Can it be? Will the Democrats finally get up on their hind legs and subpoena that worthless fat turd and shit-impersonator (he'd need a couple of eons of evolution to be able to impersonate humans) KKKarl Rove, and throw his pasty, flabby, tuchus in jail if he fails to comply?

Pleez Mr. Conyers, Pleez Oh Pleez Oh Pleez!

The Birmingham News is reporting in a breaking story today that the Democrats have rejected Rove's offer to flip them off and refuse to testify in person about his role in the Justice Department scandal regarding the firing of attorneys tasked with enforcing the nation's laws, and in the unethical prosecution and imprisonment of former Governor Don Siegelman.

If you have a religious belief, please light a candle/sacrifice a relative/braid flowers in your hair and dance naked around the garden in the moonlight or whatever it is your particular religion prescribes. This vile slimebot must be forced to testify, then prosecuted and jailed for his role in corrupting the very meaning of justice.

If you don't have a religious belief, or just want to express yourself differently, blog the issue, write Conyers and thank him, write your Rep. and thank them for taking this belated and long-awaited stand, or urge them to vote with Conyers to hold Rove responsible. Here is a PDF copy of the letter Conyers sent to the slimebag and his attorney. Read it and dance around the house with your underwear on your head. But draw the blinds first. There's a limit to the tolerance of neighbours and passers-by.

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2008 Elections: Eating Your Own

Every time we begin to repent of perhaps taking Senator Hillary Clinton to task too harshly, she does something that (1) makes us go "WTF??" and then (2) take her to task again.

This time, it's her comments about why she does poorly in caucuses. In her own words:

"Moveon.org endorsed [Sen. Barack Obama] -- which is like a gusher of money that never seems to slow down," Clinton said to a meeting of donors. "We have been less successful in caucuses because it brings out the activist base of the Democratic Party. MoveOn didn't even want us to go into Afghanistan. I mean, that's what we're dealing with. And you know they turn out in great numbers. And they are very driven by their view of our positions, and it's primarily national security and foreign policy that drives them. I don't agree with them. They know I don't agree with them. So they flood into these caucuses and dominate them and really intimidate people who actually show up to support me."

What the fuck, Senator? Are you fucking talking about the fucking organization that was fucking created to fucking defend your fucking (this one's not gratuitous) husband against the Republicans' attempt to impeach him for fucking around on you while he was President?

The "activist base" of the Democratic party would be the same people who defended you and your husband when you alleged the existence of a vast right-wing conspiracy funded by Richard Mellon Scaife? The guy you sat down with recently? The same people who fought to ensure your husband a second Presidential term? Who turn out to his book signings and speeches and opened their hearts and wallets for both of you?

You're attacking those people? Without them, your husband would be the impeached ex-President and you would be living in Arkansas with no Senatorial title before your name. You do realize that, don't you?

And what's this about "a gusher of money"? Members of MoveOn are regular working folks, mostly. They give the small amounts that they can afford. This is not like raising over $1 million from lobbyists, or anything.

And to repeat a Karl Rove lie about MoveOn "didn't even want us to go into Afghanistan" &mdash a lie which has been repeatedly debunked??? AFAICT, MoveOn has never opposed the war in Afghanistan, a war which Bush bullied Congress into approving by basically handing off their power to declare war to him.

Hindsight is, of course, twenty-twenty, and for us to say we wish that had never happened is worse than useless. However, to accuse MoveOn of adopting a position that it did not take is disingenuous. Here are the words of the petition to which Senator Clinton refers:

We implore the powers that be to use, wherever possible, international judicial institutions and international human rights law to bring to justice those responsible for the attacks, rather than the instruments of war, violence or destruction. Furthermore, we assert that the government of a nation must be presumed separate and distinct from any terrorist group that may operate within its borders, and therefore cannot be held unduly accountable for the latter's crimes. . .

These words do not unequivocally oppose the invasion of Afghanistan. Rather, they state what all thinking beings must surely agree with: that war is the tool of last resort. If possible, we must always strive to accomplish our aims by peaceful means. Only when all possibilities have been exhausted can we go to war.

Why? Because the carnage of World Wars I and II have shown us that civilians and the innocent are disproportionately affected by war. While the profiteers and generals and governments and ministers often do well in wars, the average yob does not. And also because the weakest are most likely to be injured &mdash children, youth, pregnant women, the disabled and ill are least likely to be able to defend themselves against guns and bombs and other instruments of war.

And because war kills. And before we accept taking the lives of others, before we agree to stain our hands and our honour and our nation with the blood of the fallen, we must be convinced that there is a real and present danger to ourselves, our loved ones, and our nation.

Senator Clinton chose to use these words to categorize the dedicated X million members of MoveOn as &mdash what? Peaceniks? Thinking beings? Antiwar activists? We don't understand what she's trying to say, but we do understand that she is repeating an already debunked lie, and that her aim in repeating that lie is to somehow paint the activist base of the Democratic party as unpatriotic and unAmerican.

And in a fine demonstration of further ineptitude, her communications director explains her statement thus:

Howard Wolfson, communications director for the Clinton campaign, verified the authenticity of the audio, and elaborated on Clinton's charge that these same party activists were engaged in acts of intimidation against her supporters: "There have been well documented instances of intimidation in the Nevada and the Texas caucuses, and it is a fact that while we have won 4 of the 5 largest primaries, where participation is greatest, Senator Obama has done better in caucuses than we have." About Clinton's remarks suggesting dismay over high Democratic activist turnout, Wolfson said, "I'll let my statement stand as is."

In fact, the Nevada caucuses occurred prior to MoveOn's endorsement of Obama, and when Clinton made her remarks, the Texas caucuses had yet to take place.

Also, in fact, over at DailyKos, Texan Democratic party activists reported at the time that Clinton campaign workers were attempting to intimidate Democratic activists. The campaign threatened to sue the Texas Democratic party and provided legal advice to Clinton supporters in challenging Obama delegates.

There's something deeply divisive and divided and self-destructive about Hillary Clinton. This does not excuse the misogynistic bashing that she's getting from the mainstream media. But she works really hard to push people away. We just don't understand it. She started out with so much &mdash the goodwill, the money, the donors, the hardworking activists willing to put it all on the line for her &mdash she had them all. The name recognition. The abiding love and respect of so many voters who remember how good the Clinton years were. Now every day yet another person announces that they can no longer support Clinton. And that's in our tiny circle of friends and acquaintances.

U.C. Berkeley professor and former Clinton Labour Secretary Robert Reich announced today that he supports Obama's candidacy.

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Politics: Are They ALL

growing balls? Ovaries? Reproductive bits indicative of strength, fortitude and large-scale deweaselment?


Raw Story is telling us, this morning, that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has asked the (in)Justice Department to open a grand jury investigation into whether President Bush's chief of staff and former counsel should be prosecuted for contempt of Congress.

The idea of Harriet Myers and Josh Bolten in the hoosegow has us faint and trembling with delight.

A clarification: We don't necessarily want to inflict misery on other people per se. Seriously. We don't want people tortured or murdered or beaten up or jailed. We would prefer that people live peaceful happy lives as far as that is possible. What we do want is fairness and justice. If the law is going to drag some poor crack-smoker to the hoosegow, then it must also drag the rich coke-sniffer to the hoosegow.

Thus, if some of the people investigated during the baseless Whitewater scandal got to sit in the pokey, some of the people involved in the lies that led us to war in Iraq, the disappearance of billions from our treasury, the gifting of taxpayer dollars to companies like Halliburton and Blackwater, and the myriad crimes of this Misadministration must also be investigated, convicted as justified, and either spend their time in the pokey or start singing like canaries so we, the people, can find out exactly how, when, where, how often, and by whom we've been screwed. Because make no mistake about it, we have been screwed.

We want the rule of law. If it sweeps some of our idols and role models into its dragnet, well, we'll be unhappy but we'll live with it.

When Harriet Myers and Josh Bolten dared to tell the people that they would not be held accountable for their acts, that sent a very troubling message to the nation and the world. No one is, or should be, above the law. No one. Not kings, priests, presidents, businessmen, politicians, and certainly not the toadying shallow minions of a petty, egocentric sociopath who has treated the country like his personal poop-box for seven years. Because if any one person is above the law, then what incentive is there for any other person to obey it?

The article states, in part:

Pelosi, D-Calif., demanded that the department pursue misdemeanor charges against former White House counsel Harriet Miers for refusing to testify to Congress about the firings of federal prosecutors in 2006 and against chief of staff Josh Bolten for failing to turn over White House documents related to the dismissals.

She gave Attorney General Michael Mukasey one week to respond and said refusal to take the matter to a grand jury will result in the House's filing a civil lawsuit against the Bush administration.

So this is about the federal prosecutors that the Bush Maladministration fired in their effort to turn the Justice Department into their pathetic spineless tool. Finally.

Nancy Pelosi, if you can push this through, our admiration for you automatically rises ten notches, and we will back off on beating you about the head and shoulders verbally.

If you haven't been following the Justice Department scandal, you can find great detail about it here. Just search for justice department.

If you don't necessarily want that level of detail, we've blogged the issue here, here, here, here, and here.

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Politics: Maggot Denies Any Knowledge of Flies

Pasty gusano and Satan's hunchman (big thanks to Frank Zappa!) KKKarl Rove is now claiming to be an evil familiar of very little influence! Say what? Is this the same slimy spawn of a thousand demons who assured the American People right before the 2006 elections that, despite the polls showing Republicans polling lower than a worm's arsehole, they would win because he had "the math?" As opposed to, you know, "our," i.e., the rest of the universe's, math?

Now that longtime Republican activist Dana Jill Simpson has gone public with her allegations that Rove actively worked to arrest and convict Democratic Alabama Governor Don Siegelman for doing exactly what John McCain is doing, all of a sudden KKKarl's balls, which he used to need a wheelbarrow to trundle around, have shrunk to the size of lentils?

Things are, apparently, so bad out in the RoveMathWorld that MSNBC host Dan Abrams (huh?) is calling on our Attorney-General Mucousy to appoint a special investigator to dig to the bottom of the fecal pile surrounding the Turdblossom. Hey, ho, just another day in Bushiana now that the Rethuglicans no longer control both houses of the Legislature and the scheming, lying, scum-sucking moral reprobate Al-Butto GoneZales is no longer in a position to prevent the law from being carried out.

While KKKarl is loudly protesting his innocence and powerlessness in the same breath, Ms. Simpson, who apparently knows him well, has only one statement for him:

"I want him to swear in front of the United States Congress, and swear what he is saying is true," Dana Jill Simpson told MSNBC's Dan Abrams. Simpson has previously told news outlets, including RAW STORY, Harpers and 60 Minutes that Rove asked her to gather dirt on Siegelman.

We're not holding our breath, though we, just like the rest of the civilized world, long to see KKKarl in chains at the Hague, or workin' on a chain gang breaking big rocks into little rocks.


Dan Abrams sez:

"This is about politicizing our justice system and it just cannot go unchecked," he said.

Raw Story has the details.

Oh, pleez, pleez, pleez, pleez, pleez, Great Ctulhu, pleeeeez!

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2008 Elections: OMFG

This is exactly why we need political change. This is why we need to elect Obama, goddammit.

Raw Story tells us that Philip Shenon's new book, The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation alleges that Philip Zelikow (former colleague of then-National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice) who was appointed executive director of the 9/11 Commission despite his close ties to the Bush White House, was in regular contact with none other than creepy, purulent slimebag KKKarl Rove while overseeing the commission. Shenon is a reporter for the New York Times.

Who the hell was responsible for electing Zelikow in the first place? Blogger, journalist, and author Max Holland blogged details from his copy of the book here. Shenon claims that those responsible for electing Zelikow knew about the conflict of interest, but - unbelievably - allowed Zelikow to retain his position. The article states, in part:

Zelikow "had laid the groundwork for much of what went wrong at the White House in the weeks and months before September 11. Would he want people to know that?" Shenon writes, according to Holland's summary.

Jesus suffering Christ. So this asshole Zelikow knew what was going on, worked to block any action on Clinton-era terrorism czar Richard Clarke's warning that bin Laden was "determined to strike" within the U.S., and then gets appointed to the commission that's supposed to be investigating what went wrong. All the time hangin' with his homies KKKarl and KKKondoleeza. Thanks, you piece of shit. Thanks to you, three thousand people lost their lives. God alone knows how many are walking around with shattered lungs and bodies and minds thanks to the events of that day. Thanks to you, we've squandered TWO FUCKING TRILLION DOLLARS of the taxpayers' money on an endless war and occupation of a tiny little country that had absolutely nothing to do with any of this shit. Thanks to you, Zelikow, you son of a thousand and father of none, nearly four thousand of the U.S. armed forces' troops have lost their lives, and some forty thousand others have lost their health and one or more limbs or organs. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have lost their minds, or their peace of mind, or a family member or loved one, or their jobs and their health care.

Just so you could suck KKKarl's dick. Just so you could "protect" Israel. We are so fucking angry right now that we're ready to plotz. The article adds:

Widows of World Trade Center victims demanded Zelikow resign around the same time, when news emerged that Zelikow had participated in Bush administration transition briefings, but the commission's chairmen defended their executive director.

"Because he was one of the best experts on terrorism in the whole area of intelligence in the entire country, the same--they asked him to help the same reason we asked him to help," 9/11 Commission chairman Thomas Kean said on Meet the Press then. "We haven't found, I think, either Vice Chairman [Lee] Hamilton or myself, any evidence to indicate in any way that he's partial to anybody or anything."

Are you fucking kidding me? Are you so full of shit, Mr. Kean, that you have the gall to say something like that?

"His academic career focused on Cold War issues, from the Cuban missile crisis to the fall of the Soviet Union.... He is certainly not among the world's 'foremost experts' on al-Qaida, a topic on which he appears to have written nothing," wrote Salon's Joe Conason, "and he is very unlikely to have briefed the new administration on that threat."

No shit? You mean just like his good buddy KKKondoleeza Fucking Rice? The bitch who shopped through Hurricane Katrina while people drowned?

According to Holland's summary of Shenon's book,

"Zelikow continued to insert himself into the work of 'Team 3,' the task force responsible for the most politically-sensitive part of the investigation, counter-terrorism policy. This brief encompassed the White House, which meant investigating the conduct of Condoleeza Rice and Richard Clarke during the months prior to 9/11. Team 3 staffers would come to believe that Zelikow prevented them from submitting a report that would have depicted Rice’s performance as 'amount[ing] to incompetence, or something not far from it.'"

Are you fucking KIDDING ME??? Incompetence? Try complete fucking malicious evildoing.

When are these goddamned children of the fetid slime going to be held to account? When? Send them all to a firing squad.

Nancy Pelosi, you stupid cunt, if this does not force your hand and make you move to impeach the whole gang of crooks and liars, you have lost the right to call yourself a human being. Fuck! Thank Evolution we have a Dennis Kucinich in the House. Perhaps the Mighty Munchkin of Justice will manage to get impeachment onto Nancy's agenda. We are truly sorry that Kucinich is not about to be our next President, but perhaps this way he will finally give the American people the justice for which they have longed lo these past seven years.

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Karl Rove: Read about him in our sisterblog

On our sisterblog, TPC-CultureVultures, you can read a short item about Karl Rove schlepping his memoir around.

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