Let The Stonewalling Begin

Attorney General Michael "Mum" Mukasey has denied a Congressional request for information on the Justice Department's investigation of the CIA's destruction of the torture tapes. In a letter to Senators Leahy and Specter, Mum denied the Senate the requested information, as well as their request that Mum appoint a special counsel, since no one really expects the Bushit Justice Department to conduct a real investigation.

Snow Job Returns Home

Tony "Snow Job" Snow has returned to his home at Fux News, to no one's great surprise. He's hosting the Bill O'Liely crap fest tonight. Not much difference from his duty as Dumbya's press secretary.

Rethug Mischief

Rethuglican Senators are making mischief again: they defeated an energy bill which would have had the first new fuel economy standards in some 30 years because of the bill's imposition of taxes on oil companies. Surprised? In addition, some Rethug Senators, unhappy with the NIE's deflation of the march to war against Iran, want a Congressional investigation of the report's findings, suggesting that the NIE was "politicized." Riiiiight! The consensus of 16 intelligence agencies is "politicized" when it doesn't fit the Rethug roadmap for endless war in the Middle East. So the Senate Rethugs want to jump in and. . . what's the word? POLITICIZE the process. This should be interesting; maybe the Rethugs can put the Yellow Elephant logo on the next NIE cover.

Gore: U.S. Blocking Climate Change Progress

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Al Gore said yesterday that the U.S. was "principally responsible" for blocking progress at the UN climate conference being held in Bali, Indonesia. Specifically, the U.S. delegation, led by Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky, is rejecting specific emissions cut targets, saying "We don't have to resolve all these issues...here in Bali."

No, of course not, Paula. You can do what everyone expects the Bushies to do: punt it to the next administration taking office about 13 months from now. Another "heroic conservative!"

(Photo: Paula Dobriansky with another star of the Bush firmament, L. Paul Bremer.)

Rethugs Racing to Out-Bigot Each Other

Mike Hucksterbee and Willard "Muff/Mousse/Flip Flop Mitt" Romney are finding out what happens when you pander to a base of bigots. (Hint: it's akin to "you are what you eat.") In their latest salvos on "Who loves Jeebus more," Hucksterbee ("Christian leader") took another swipe at Willard's Mormon faith, and Willard fired back at Hucksterbee's un-Americanism for bringing it up. Well, when you're dealing with the likes of Bobo and Milton (typical Rethug Iowa caucus voters and products of "Christian" home-schooling, pictured above), the level of discussion is expected to be fairly shallow; but the crudity that we're starting to see from these nimrods, and from those who act for and support them, is not a little frightening. If this on-going back-and-forth doesn't imply a religious test for public office, what does? How many of these base voters believe deep in their hearts that America is only to be governed by a Christian (read: evangelical Christian right-winger)?

As Sinclair Lewis said, "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying the cross."

"Go Back, Ah Say, Go Back An' Git Intelligence I Agree With"

Rethug Presidential candidate Fred "Foghorn Leghorn" Thompson has awakened from a long slumber to alert us that the recent National Intelligence Estimate that said that Iran's nuclear weapons program was halted in 2003 is, in Foghorn's word, "foolishness." He said, "I don't care what this latest NIE says," not that he has an inkling beyond what wife Jeri Juggs has briefed him on.

Foghorn joins the ranks of the neocons, who were taken aback by the NIE's findings which knocked the legs from under their quest for war with Iran. According to them, the report is (take your pick), an attempt to undermine Dumbya, misleading and inaccurate, or foolishness. Oh, wait. . .what's this? Dead Eye Dick says he "doesn't have any reason to question" the NIE findings. Dayum! You boys need to get on the same page in the neocon manual!

Say Whuh?

Don't expect any members of the Washington elite pundit "Village" to refer to the statement by Rethug Presidential candidate Mike "Huckster-bee" that we should be "free of energy consumption in this country within a decade." OK, I guess if Rethug Presidents continue to launch wars, some day there may be no one around to consume energy. As Kevin Drum points out in the Washington Monthly, ever since Ronnie Raygun's gaffes ("trees cause pollution"), Rethugs are generally given a pass by the mainstream media when they make goofy statements because, well, that's what Rethugs running for President do.

Dead-Eye Man Walking

Universal health care will be one of the key issues in the 2008 elections, as it should be. Think Progress passes along a wonderfully ironic ad by the California Nurses Association, which points out that Dead Eye Dick Cheney would be a dead man if not for his Federal health benefits coverage. His history of heart problems would have given him a "death sentence", according to the nurses' group, without the blue-chip health insurance provided to him.

Wait. . .Dead Eye has a heart?

(Photo: Dead Eye illustrating the amount of health insurance that he believes average Americans should have)

Libby: Appeal Not Appealing

Lewis "Scooter" Libby has decided not to appeal his conviction on perjury and obstruction of justice in the Assministration's outing of CIA official Valerie Plame in retaliation for her husband's whistleblowing on the phony story about Iraq seeking uranium yellow cake. Of course, Preznit Chimpy, an unindicted co-conspirator, commuted Scooter's sentence last July. This means that the original felony conviction stands for the record, and Scooter gets to move on to a cushy position with a wingnut think tank or lobbying firm. Loyalty to the Bushits pays!

Lies That Are Kristol Klear

On Sunday's Fux News gab fest, neocon putz William "Wee Willie" Kristol made the claim that the 2003 Iraq invasion led Libya to end its nuclear weapons program, and Iran to freeze its program. As Think Progress notes, news accounts at the time of Libya's decision give credit years of diplomatic negotiations with Libya and numerous commercial incentives, not the invasion. Similarly, Iran gained influence and power within the region following the invasion; they weren't forced into a defensive crouch, pleading for mercy with the occupying army next door. As North Korea demonstrated, to deter an attack, it's advantageous for a country to acquire nuclear weapons.

(photo: Wee Willie receiving the Honesty in Media award)

The War on Christmas, Pacific Front

Someone alert Fux News! Call Wild Bill Donahue! Dig up Douglas MacArthur! This calls for an on-site report from "Loofah Bill" O'Reilly! (He could also use his time there to do an in-depth report on underage Filipino sex factories, a topic near to his heart-- if his heart is located near his pelvis.) Who knew that secular progressives had invaded the Philippines?!

Quote of the Week

"This book is so riddled with errors, inconsistencies, bad advice and hypocrisy that by O'Reilly's own standards -- we must not 'leave children exposed to harm'-- it should be placed in the adults-only section of the bookstore. Or better yet, with the joke books." --Alan Dershowitz, reviewing "Loofah Bill" O'Reilly's new book "Kids Are Americans Too" (not pictured here) in the WaPo "Book World," Sunday, December 9.

Kwazy-Putz Bolton: NIE a "Quasi-Putsch"

Former Ambassador to the UN (recess appointment) and former and current loon John Bolton was quoted in an interview in Der Spiegel as saying the recent NIE on Iran's abandoned nuclear weapons program represented a "quasi-putsch" by the 18 U.S. intelligence agencies that developed the report, and was a victory for politicized policymaking. We'll pause here to contemplate the breathtaking incongruity of a partisan crackpot like Bolton making such a statement (partisan of the American Likud Party, that is). There, that's enough.

Bolton is clearly on a mission with his fellow neocons to maneuver the United States into a military conflict with Iran, one assumes because it's enemy #1 of the war party in Israel. Dumbya, meanwhile, can't disavow the NIE, which his own intelligence agencies assembled, and which caused him to tone down his "WW III" rhetoric recently. So, we see yet another fissure opening on the right, dividing the loons with their not-so-hidden agenda (Bolton, Podhoretz, Kristol, WSJ, etc.) from the saps who are actually responsible (for now) for trying to keep our foreign and defense policy vaguely reflective of American interests (Rice, Gates, Hayden, etc.).

Image:
Kwazy-putz John Bolton (via Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog).

"The Cookie and Buzzy Show" Moves To Another Channel

State Department Inspector General Howard "Cookie" Krongard has resigned from the State Department. Several weeks ago, Cookie was testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on his Department's failure to properly manage their contractors, specifically the Blackwater mercenaries. When Committee Chairman Waxman noted that Cookie's brother, Alvin "Buzzy" Krongrad was on Blackwater's advisory board, Cookie claimed ignorance. During a break in the hearing, Cookie was told by Buzzy that he was connected to Blackwater. Oops. Buzzy later said that he had informed Cookie of his status with Blackwater weeks before the hearing. Cookie's testimony is being examined for possible perjury. Nicely played.

We will miss the further adventures of Cookie and Buzzy, although family dinners at the Krongards' house should be most exciting.

(S)Huckin', and Jivin'

Rethug Presidential candidate Mike "Huckster" Huckabee has run into a problem with the parole of convicted rapist Wayne Dumond during Huckster's governorship. The Huckster supported a parole to Dumond, who raped a distant Clinton relative and daughter of a Clinton supporter, only to have Dumond rape and murder other victims. Apparently, pressure was placed on the Huckster to release Dumond - - and shame the Clintons - - by rabid anti-Clinton wingers, but the parole backfired when Dumond raped again. The Huckster is now using the "who, me?" defense, and attacking the messenger. Laughable.