For some reason, okay the Swiftboating of John Kerry and the utter disrespect shown to Max Cleland come to mind, some Democratic Senators are showing the yellow side of their eyes. They are preparing to hoist a white flag thus making the Multi-millionaire Wingnut Pundit Brigades prophecy about the confirmation of Scalito self-fulfilling.

It's time to start taking back the debate. It's time to stand up for America and filibuster this jackass. As Atrios said, it's time to drop a turd in the punchbowl that is the cesspool of the 1600 Crew.

Here are the numbers. Scalito: Wrong For America today and all the tomorrows to come.

AR: Lincoln(D) (202) 228-1371
AR: Pryor(D) (202) 228-0908
CA: Boxer(D) (202) 226-6701
CA: Feinstein(D) (202) 228-3954
CO: Salazar(D) (202) 228-5036
CT: Dodd(D) (202) 224-1083
CT: Lieberman(D) (202) 224-9750
DE: Biden(D) (202) 224-0139
DE: Carper(D) (202) 228-2190
FL: Nelson(D) (202) 228-2183
HI: Akaka(D) (202) 224-2126
HI: Inouye(D) (202) 224-6747
IA: Harkin(D) (202) 224-9369
IL: Durbin(D) (202) 228-0400
IL: Obama(D) (202) 228-4260
IN: Bayh(D) No FAX listed
LA: Landrieu(D) (202) 224-9735
MA: Kennedy(D) (202) 224-2417
MA: Kerry(D) (202) 224-8525
MD: Mikulski(D) (202) 224-8858
MD: Sarbanes(D) (202) 224-1651
MI: Levin(D) (202) 224-1388
MI: Stabenow(D) (202) 228-0325
MN: Dayton(D) (202) 228-2186
Local (612) 727-5223
MT: Baucus(D) (202) 224-0515
ND: Conrad(D) (202) 224-7776
ND: Dorgan(D) (202) 224-1193
NE: Nelson(D) (202) 228-0012
NJ: Corzine(D) (202) 228-2197
NJ: Lautenberg(D) (202) 224-9707
NM: Bingaman(D) (202) 224-2852
NV: Reid(D) (202) 224-7327
NY: Clinton(D) (202) 228-0282
NY: Schumer(D) (202) 228-3027
OR: Wyden(D) (202) 228-2717
RI: Reed(D) (202) 224-4680
SD: Johnson(D) (202) 228-0368
VT: Leahy(D) (202) 224-3595
VT: Jeffords(I) No FAX listed
WA: Cantwell(D) (202) 228-0514
WA: Murray(D) (202) 224-0238
WI: Feingold(D) (202) 224-2725
WI: Kohl(D) (202) 224-9787
WV: Rockefeller(D) (202) 224-7665
WV: Byrd(D) (202) 228-0002

And possible Republicans who are purportedly strongly pro-choice:

Lincoln Chafee Fax: (202) 228-2853 / (401) 453-5085
Susan Collins: Fax: (202) 224-2693 / (207) 990-4604
Olympia Snowe: Fax: (202) 224-1946 / (207) 874-7631
Ted Stevens: Fax: (202) 224-2354

We can't get good government through the appointment of bad people. Call or fax these Senators and politely remind them that we're stuck with C-Plus Augustus for another couple of years, but his legacy will be with us for a couple of more decades if they don't stand up to the 1600 Crew and do the right thing.

If their legacy is the confirmation of Scalito, a known liar and crony, what's that say about their service as Senators? In two or five years will they be able to tell us they honestly did the best job they could? Or will they make half-assed lame excuses?

Call/Fax, do something. We can win this thing.

(thanks to Dr. Atta J. Turk at the Glorious Rising Hegemon for allowing me to steal the list. Like he had any choice.)

I read this article this morning. At first I was thinking, "damn straight, no teachin' o' the Bible in school", but as I thought about this particular proposal, I think I'm beginning to like it.

Democrats in Georgia and Alabama, borrowing an idea usually advanced by conservative Republicans, are promoting Bible classes in the public schools. Their Republican opponents are in turn denouncing them as "pharisees," a favorite term of liberals for politicians who exploit religion.

Democrats in both states have introduced bills authorizing school districts to teach courses modeled after a new textbook, "The Bible and Its Influence." It was produced by the nonpartisan, ecumenical Bible Literacy Project and provides an assessment of the Bible's impact on history, literature and art that is academic and detached, if largely laudatory.

This proposal squarely co-opts their arguments about the Bible and their use of religion as weapon for intimidation and slander by the christo-fascists. A curriculum that offered this book, or something similar that taught the Bible as literature and studies it's influences on Western Civilization is really a good thing. It might allow folks to see it's lessons for what they are, lessons if taken in a context of how it the book is constructed. I suspect that most parents, especially those who count themselves as "Sunday" Xtians will agree with this tack, and move on. After all, if the kids aren't getting exposed to their brand of religion in Church, well they're learing about the Bible in school. Even if it's in a non-partisan, neutral environment, this becomes a non-issue for most voters. Yawn. They are letting the Bible be taught as literature...when's the sale at W*M, and do we get another tax cut check this year?

Needless to say, this is making the hard core fundies crazy, because they see the issue slipping away from them. And it's going to be hard to recapture any momentum if this curriculum is adopted, especially if it's an elective.

Betty Peters, a Republican on the Alabama school board who opposed the initiative in that state, also dismissed the initiative as "pandering." Democrats, she argued, had adopted a new strategy: "Let's just wrap ourselves in Jesus."

In 2004 John Kerry's critics were pasting the image of him being an "effete" out-of-touch liberal all over the place. John Kerry did not help himself out too much. Perception, is after all reality with todays "sound-bite" media. So when Kerry called for the filibuster of Alito, I was pretty happy. John Kerry being a leader. Cool. But...

Why is he in Davos? If he's going to lead on this, his ass ought to be in DC, pounding on his colleagues doors from sunup to to sundown. He ought to be Leading, not talking about Bird Flu in Davos.

His staffers ought to be there putting out continuous press releases of those meetings, documenting on-line and in realtime why the wayward and non-supportive Democratic Senators are rationalizing their support for Alito (and yes, not supporting the filibuster is supporting Alito) even as they say they'll vote against him.

Pretty black or white, to me anyhow. Either Mr. Kerry leads by actually you know, Leading. Or he just gets on the bus and rides until the next election, knowing that once again his non-response response cost him the chance to make a difference in the lives of all Americans for the next 30 or so years.

I'm terribly sorry. I think that there might actually be proof that the Theory of Evolution is bullshit. The proof? Here are a couple of invertebrates who have somehow managed to fool everyone about having a spine:

Robert Byrd, 88 years old and as crotchety as they come. Ol'Bob wants another term in the Senate and he's going to vote for Strip Search Sammy. Someone ought to remind Bob (and his constituents who are coal miners) that Sammy loves him some coal mine owners, and fuck-all to the miners. Sammy is a company man, and Ol'Bob is working hard to get re-elected, so he's not gonna let a few dead coal miners, or pesky mine safety crap get in the way of his re-election campaign. Nope, not Ol'Bob. I guess his mission is to beat Strom Thurmond in his last days...funny how they shared so much in common at both ends of their lives, isn't it? No trace of either evolutionary forces or "intelligent design" in the Senator from West Virginia. Just a bold unwillingness to do the right thing, and stand by his constituents and the rest of America with a brain.

Mary Landrieu, gosh she always reminds me of that Star Trek episode with the Arkons. With her perfectly shellacked hair, and her fake smile, you'd think she had been possessed. Well, she has. By the Fear of Karl. Despite the fact that her constituents, you know the non-white and poor ones, were tossed aside by the 1600 Crew like bloodied sanitary products in the wake of a Summer Storm, she feels it's her duty to help the Preznit by standing with those who might upset the constitutional balance in this country forever. She just can't wait to do a favor for the same people who smacked her down then shit on her face. For Mary Mary, perhaps a recommendation for a good battered womans shelter might be in order, since she definately does not belong in the Senate. Isn't that just a classic sign of an abused spouse? Always making excuses for her man, and never quite getting up the courage to act on her own behalf, and certainly not on behalf of the people who sent her to represent them. Mary is living proof that some slime molds can be partially sentient.

So, what's going to become of this? Who knows. But one thing is pretty goddamn clear, we don't or can't enforce party discipline the way that the republicans do, and until we can we're just going to be represented by the shades of Grover Norquist's happy, smiling neutered farm animals. There has to be a political price to pay for these people who are abandoning the Americans who don't believe in a unitary executive, who don't believe that the Constitution is just so much pulp covered with scrawled letters, who believe that each small step towards fascism is not okay.

They are basically taking on the most unpopular Preznit in history, why are they afraid of their own shadows? And where oh where did their vertebrae go?

Gee, the photos of Bad King Bunnypants have been declared "irrelevant" and scrubbed from the known universe more thoroughly than Beloved Leaders military records. Oh, but wait...our leading adolescent would never deliberately want to hide anything embarrassing from his fella 'murkins would he?

Amos very straightforwardly told me that the photographs had been removed and that they had been removed because they showed Abramoff and the president in the same picture. The photos were, she told me, "not relevant."

Asked whether he personally has ever been lobbied by Abramoff or other lobbyists, Bush said: "I, frankly, don't even remember having my picture taken with the guy. I don't know him. . . . But I can't say I didn't ever meet him, but I meet a lot of people. And, you know, evidently he was . . . at the holiday party: Came in, put the grip-and-grin, they clicked the picture and off he goes."

So, what was it about that blue dress again?

Well, this is interesting. From George Wanker errr...Will's column on Tom Delay the Not-Whiner:

Furthermore, he is not about to plea-bargain in the court of public opinion. He chafes under prudential reticence: His attorneys tell him not to trumpet the fact that the Justice Department told them he is not a target in the Jack Abramoff investigation. But about other matters, the bantam is belligerent. (my em)

I guess even Abu Gonzales knows what Americans not fuck with. Short-statured, non-swarthy white guys from Texas being high on that list.

So, with all the other pressing issues in the Commonwealth of Virginia, like oh, I don't know, transportation in Northern VA, and perhaps education, they are getting ready to ban Gay Marriage, a most pressing social issue. Well, VA is after all home to two of the premier Fundie Whackos in 'Murka ... Pat and Jerry.

The state Senate all but guaranteed on Wednesday that Virginia will hold a November referendum on whether to amend its 230-year-old Bill of Rights to bar same-sex marriages.
...
"The family is the foundation of our society, and it's been based on a union of a man and a woman since the inception of marriage," said Del. John A. Cosgrove (R-Chesapeake). "A constitutional amendment . . . will protect that."

But oh, wait. The zaniness in Virginia continues and this from a Northern Virginia Democrat, no less...

In a society that loves to assure itself that it is oh-so-child-oriented, the war against kids is raging with renewed vigor. In Richmond, where state lawmakers nearly fall over each other competing to see who can concoct the wackiest proposals, the bizarre bill of the day is House Bill 1368, the Home Serenity and Tranquility Act of 2006.

This feat of legislative creativity would ban all athletic activities on every sports field and every swimming pool in the state of Virginia, even apparently including indoor facilities, before 8 in the morning, after 6 in the afternoon, or at any time on Sundays, unless the organizers of the event got written permission from every single homeowner within 65 yards of the facility. I kid you not.

This would effectively mean a ban on all athletic activity after the work and school days and on Sundays throughout all of Virginia. ...
...
Where does such a venemous proposal come from? Well, literally, it comes from the pen of a Fairfax County Democratic state delegate named Robert Hull. But of course now that he has every youth soccer league, Little League and parent from here to the Tennessee border thinking of him as Oscar the Grouch, Scrooge and Fagin all rolled into one, Hull has beaten a quick retreat and declared himself an opponent of his own bill. Seems he only offered the bill as a favor to a constituent, who, of course, he will not name.

I'll say this for the Va lege...they certainly have the corner on weirdness:

But Richmond remains the national capital of silliness. This is what makes state legislatures so much fun for reporters to write about, but it's not hugely comforting to folks who take voting seriously.

Still to come in Richmond: So many stupendous bills, including Del. Bob Marshall's proposal to hold colleges liable for any injuries suffered by students who are given morning after pills by the student health service.

Talking Dog, an attorney himself has been having conversations with other lawyers who are representing some of the detainees at GITMO, the garden spot of the Caribbean. TD has done several of these over the past few months, and with the 1600 Crew's further insistence on becoming, "Big Brother America", it's worth a few minutes to check it out.

The Talking Dog: I understand that the only evidence the government purports to have by way of "a charge" against Mr. Al-Dossari is that he was "present at Tora Bora". Has the government ever expanded or provided more detail for its statement of charges-- whether in classified form or public form? Are you aware of any further charges against him? I understand that there were reports out of the Buffalo Evening News a number of years ago that Mr. Al-Dossari was a reputed Al Qaeda recruiter who may have approached the defendants in the "Lackawanna Six" case. Has the government made any reference to that as far as a basis to detain Mr. Al-Dossari? Has any effort been made to obtain evidence from Mr. Al-Dossari with respect to that Lackawanna Six case, or any other legal action?

Joshua Colangelo Bryan: The Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) expressly found that there was no evidence to support this Lackawanna Six connection, and it was expressly not a basis for his continued detention. An interview with at least one of the Lackawanna Six in prison revealed that that defendant had never so much as met Mr. Al-Dossari. I understand that he was also questioned at Guantanamo about this.

Drop over to The Talking Dog and check it out...

News story: Pentagon commissions study on readiness. Study finds that the Army is beginning to show evidence of structural problems due to long and oft-repeated deployments of the same troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, mid-grade offices bailing out; divorce rates up due to family separation; and the Guard and Reserve are becoming sparse as their soldiers vote with their feet instead of being asked to go back in to combat as what they (the Guard and Reserve soldiers) perceive as being second-class citizend compared to the RA soldiers.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday disputed a Pentagon-commissioned study that warns the Army needs more troops for Iraq and Afghanistan, telling reporters the service is nowhere close to its breaking point.
...
Rumsfeld said he has not read the study but took issue with its conclusions.

The author of the study makes a some interesting points about the status of the military, but not from a nya-nyah, you're all fucked up point of view, but from a sober "fix it or you're gonna have trouble" perspective. Since the 1600 Crew is absolutely never wrong, how could the author even be a little right?

Could it have been that the invasion of Iraq was nothing but a combination of a way for The Deserting Fratboy Coward and his Bedwetting Chickenhawk allies to get wood and get elected/reelected? Gee, the 1600 Crew would never play politics with something as serious as WAR would they? Like hell they wouldn't.

The first official history of the $25 billion American reconstruction effort in Iraq depicts a program hobbled from the outset by gross understaffing, a lack of technical expertise, bureaucratic infighting, secrecy and constantly increasing security costs, according to a preliminary draft.

The Army appropriated $1.9 million in November 2002 to create a "contingency plan" for what to do if Iraqi forces damaged or destroyed the nation's oil complexes and pipelines. That "task order," under a running contract, went to Kellogg, Brown & Root, a Halliburton subsidiary. The Army later used that task order as a justification for awarding the company a new $1.4 billion noncompetitive contract to restore oil equipment, a program that became one of the most criticized moves of the conflict partly because Vice President Dick Cheney was once the top executive at Halliburton.

Until January 2003, reconstruction planning was conducted in secrecy "to avoid the impression that the U.S. government had already decided on intervention," the draft history says. Possibly as a result, the American administrative authority arrived with no written plans or strategies for purchasing and contracting and no personnel with expertise in the area. Among the first challenges the program faced were the impossibly great needs of crumbling public works. Mr. Nash is cited in the document as saying that officials realized early on that Iraq would need $70 billion to $100 billion over several years. They were forced cut the list of projects down again and again.

"No matter how we pared the list, we needed $20 billion more than we had available or Iraqi reconstruction and transition would stall," Mr. Nash is quoted as saying.

Until January 2003, reconstruction planning was conducted in secrecy "to avoid the impression that the U.S. government had already decided on intervention," the draft history says.

*"Fuck Saddam. We're taking him out." Time, March 2002

* "I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."
-Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, D.C., June 18, 2002

*"After all, this [Saddam Hussein] is a guy that tried to kill my dad at one time." Houston, Texas, Sep. 26, 2002

Saying that the 1600 wasn't just looking for an excuse to go oust Saddam is patently bullshit. If it weren't for Operation Bush Wood, his electoral prospects would certainly have dimmed with the spectacular failure (is there any other kind he has) to catch Osama bin Forgotten, who taunts him still from the relative safety of the Pakistani-Afghan border. Dead or Alive, what pathetic bullshit.

Looking at the big picture, this report shows one thing...perhaps there was something more screwed up then FEMA...the reconstruction of Iraq. Funny, isn't it? Well, not really.

Question: If the TM (nee MSM) wanted a picture (which they got) of The Big Dog and Monica hugging on a reception line to be circulated world-wide, how long would it take to get? Seems somewhere out there is a picture or five of Bunnypants and JACKabramOFF the Giver.

The President's memory may soon be unhappily refreshed. TIME has seen five photographs of Abramoff and the President that suggest a level of contact between them that Bush's aides have downplayed. While TIME's source refused to provide the pictures for publication, they are likely to see the light of day eventually because celebrity tabloids are on the prowl for them. And that has been a fear of the Bush team's for the past several months: that a picture of the President with the admitted felon could become the iconic image of direct presidential involvement in a burgeoning corruption scandal like the shots of President Bill Clinton at White House coffees for campaign contributors in the mid-1990s.

In one shot that TIME saw, Bush appears with Abramoff, several unidentified people and Raul Garza Sr., a Texan Abramoff represented who was then chairman of the Kickapoo Indians, which owned a casino in southern Texas. Garza, who is wearing jeans and a bolo tie in the picture, told TIME that Bush greeted him as "Jefe," or "chief" in Spanish. Another photo shows Bush shaking hands with Abramoff in front of a window and a blue drape. The shot bears Bush's signature, perhaps made by a machine. Three other photos are of Bush, Abramoff and, in each view, one of the lobbyist's sons (three of his five children are boys). A sixth picture shows several Abramoff children with Bush and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who is now pushing to tighten lobbying laws after declining to do so last year when the scandal was in its early stages.

I wonder how much the owner of those photos will be charging for them. sure as hell, it's not gonna be a pittance. And if the Democrats can't tie Bunnypants to Abramoff with a bond at a molecular level, well, there's a bigger problem in top Democratic circles than we suspect.

When those pics come out, every ad we run this year should have any republican up for re-election with a picture of them and JACKabramOFF and Beloved Leader and JACKabramOFF. Every stinkin' ad.

Here's a new variation on the "Old One-Two"...

First it's the "Father Knows Best" defense from Preznit Criminally Culpable:

President Bush and the nation's deputy national intelligence chief today defended the legality of a controversial domestic spying program, describing it as a vital tool in the war against terrorists and denying that it violates the civil liberties of Americans.
...
Bush said of the intercepted communications, "These are not phone calls within the United States. This is a phone call of an al Qaeda -- known al Qaeda suspect -- making a phone call into the United States."

He said, "I'm mindful of your civil liberties, and so I had all kinds of lawyers review the process. We briefed members of the United States Congress . . . about this program.

"You know, it's amazing that people say to me, 'Well, he was just breaking the law.' If I wanted to break the law, why was I briefing Congress?" Bush said with a chuckle.
...
"Congress gave me the authority to use necessary force to protect the American people, but it didn't prescribe the tactics," he said. "It said, Mr. President, you've got the power to protect us, but we're not going to tell you how."

Second, there's this extension of the Crashhcart Mythology:

Hayden said that if the program had been in place before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, "it is my professional judgment that we would have detected some of the 9/11 al Qaeda operatives in the United States and we would have identified them as such."

1. Tell'em to Fight
   
2. The Bible as Literature?
   
3. Just Sayin'
   
4. Invertebrates
   
5. Blue Dress Relevance
   
6. Tidbits
   
7. Where do we get such men ...errr... mice?
   
8. Some of the best blogging...
   
9. The Books on Tape Administration
   
10. Why am I not surprised?