Right Wing Radicals Hijack Our Future

In Iraq, we worry that religious fundamentalists are going to drag down any chance that nation (supposedly) has to become a democracy. With their strict adherence to Sharia law and their singlemindedness, these people seem anathema to the concept of a modern, multicultural republic where the free flow of ideas is crucial.

At home, precisely the same thing is happening and it is just as much a threat to our Republic.

President Bush, with this nomination of Samuel Alito, has bowed to the most radical religious elements of our society, those that hide under under shroud of a simple carpenter to advance what amounts to a specious political agenda. They are the Mullahs of Mississippi and the Clerics of Kansas.

It is an extremely sad day for our nation, though I suppose we've had many opportunities to say that over the past five years. But today, the Emperor showed us just how little he cares for the fundamentals our nation was founded on and how much he loves the fundamentalists who got him elected.

We Finally Learn What the "I" Means

Scooter to me is Phil Rizzuto, not this White House hack. I want that on the record right away. But despite an apparent desire to hide his ethnicity by changing his name from Irv to I "Scooter" (this will let me pass at the country club won't it?) we just figured out that the Capitol I really stands instead for Indictment! Glad we cleared that up.

Louis Libby is an integral part of the Bush White House war machine, he just happens to be one of the parts that got mangled in the machinery of America first. It's at moment's like this that we remember; The system does work...mostly. The prediction her is that Irv's indictment won't be the last. Depending on how Fitzpatrick finagles the next stage of this case, Irv could certainly cut his losses by ratting out his brethren. During the trial phase, we could hear some very interesting testimony. Should be fun. It will be the next season's highest rated reality show by far.

Fitzpatick's presentation of the "facts of the case," as well as the press conference which followed, was a breath of fresh air. Unlike the studied obfuscation that we normally hear emanating from inside the Beltway, we got facts, reason, logic and a real dose of humanity. Mr. Fitzpatrick stood on his feet for two hours and handled ever press query with intelligence and aplomb. He was never rattled. He never sneered. Compare that to any press adventure our dear President has held.

Miers Retires Before She Starts

The strange tale of Harriet Miers is over for now. More will come out, eventually, as it always does. But right now, at this moment, we can bid her a fond farewell.

What was her nomination all about? My guess, and it is truly that, is that Rove and Cheney, both of whom are facing a serious legal imbrolgio, decided to let Little Boy Bush "have his way" for once....just to teach him a lesson. They both know their time is short in this administration, so why not? Karl and Dick won't be ruined of course, because no one ever is in U. S. politics. Besides, what does it matter? They're both wealthy, overstuffed white men who could move right back into the corporate comfy chair the day after they leave the White House.

The real fight begins now. To please The Wrong Reverend Dobson and his clones, Bush will have to find a legal scholar who has the Ten Commandments tatooed on his or her chest and who has studied the Bible with more fervor than they have the Constitution. We can expect a whack job fundie sort and expect it soon...as the "acceptable names" have been on the table ever since (and way before) Bush made his latest attempt to institutionalize croynism.

Bush Will Veto America's Honor

Senator John McCain spent years of privation in a Viet Cong POW camp. Geoge W. Bush spent years drinking and carousing with his fly boys in Texas, protecting us from the Mexican Menace. Who do you think knows more about how prisoners should be handled? Right.

But Bush is now poised to veto a bill (his first in five years, mind you) onto which John McCain wants to attach a rider. The wording would clearly and unequivicably explain to all our service men and women, and to the world at large, what the US will and will not do to its prisoners of war. But Bush won't have it.

If you want a single discouraging, depressing and dishonorable moment that defines the state of our union at this moment, perhaps this is it. I am tempted to rail on further, but it seems so pointless. If the President of the United States wants "wiggle room" when it comes to torture, then the wheels are truly off, and this ricketedy old horse cart of a nation is headed over the edge and down the swale into some very scary Class VI rapids....

SCOTUS, POTUS, SCHMOTUS!

Harriet Miers has the one qualification that any Bush appointee must have; she is a "loyal" Bush acolyte. Never been a judge? No sweat. I mean, Brownie didn't know squat about emergency management and look at what a "heck of a job" he did!

What I find utterly amazing is that the Democrats, including Harry Reid, are all smiles about this, as if Bush had nominated Ted Kennedy to the post. What the hell is wrong with them? Here they have Bush in a corner, the White House totally rattled by innumerable disasters, yet they will lay down for this nominee? I don't get it? Neither do a lot of other Democrats I speak with. They know, as do I, that there is a simple formula at work here; if Bush nominates someone, we shouldn't want them. While Miers has no judicial record to look back on, isn't it clear for all to see that ANYONE Bush nominates will hold firm to his insane, hyper-conservative, evangelical view of the world?

However, here is the really scary part. The GOP wants people to accept that the new crop of Justices won't "legislate from the bench." Really? Of course not. To their credit, this has been a very successfully promulgated load of horse dung that the public, particularly the "Rush told me so" minions believe. What the GOP wants, and is now getting without so much as a half-hearted battle from the Dems, is a Supreme Court that will legislate only for THEIR positions. I don't blame them entirely, but I sure wish that some Democrat, somewhere, would stand up and shout, "We're sick of this lying BS, and we're not going to take it anymore!"