From Think Progress:

After his plane was forced to take evasive maneuvers to avoid rocket-propelled grenades while taking off from Baghdad, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) said “he watched through the window as the grenades exploded near the plane. He said he felt the blasts.” Asked if he was frightened, Inhofe responded, “Not a bit. I was kind of excited.“

Not only is Inhofe the biggest partisan hack in the history of the U.S. government, but to him, almost getting shot down over Iraq is like riding Space Mountain at Disney World. It’s enough to give new meaning to the term, Fastpass.

News today that GOP Senator Larry Craig was arrested back on June 11th at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for lewd conduct complaints. Talking Points Memo reports that on Aug. 8, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct. He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence was stayed. He also was given one year of probation with the court that began on Aug. 8. I love this bit:

“A very quick check of Craig’s record on gay issues turns up the fact that he voted in favor of an Idaho Constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman, and also voted in favor of last year’s Federal Marriage Amendment doing the same thing. Though it should be noted that neither of those votes is directly at odds with engaging in lewd conduct in a public men’s rest room.”

I’m not sure which is worse… that we have yet another “family values” GOP hypocrite in our midst or that the Republican leadership hid the truth from the public (and his constituents) for over two full months. Either way, his behavior was bad enough for Mitt Romney to scrub all mention of Craig’s participation in his campaign from YouTube.

Anyone wanna take guesses about how long it will take Fox News to run a picture of him with a (D) next to his name instead of an (R)? I’m willing to bet you credits to navy beans it happens sometime tomorrow.

UPDATE: Fox News decided to go the subtle route and not display ANY indication of what party Craig belonged to in their miniscule coverage of the event. It’s quite clear that anyone who insists that Fox News is fair or balanced when it comes to how it treats liberals vs. conservatives is fooling themselves.

UPDATE II: Craig is history. Sens. Coleman and McCain have now called for Craig to resign. In addition, a new Idaho poll taken yesterday of 600 adults in the state says that 55% of those polled want Craig to go with just 34% saying he should stay in office.

UPDATE III: Republican Senator Larry Craig has resigned, effective Sept. 30th.

UPDATE IV: Looks like he spoke too soon. He’s now reversed his position and has decided to serve the remainder of his term, much to the dismay of the GOP leadership. Craig is the gift that just keeps on giving.

According to Salon, it turns out that when Rudy Giuliani said he spent as much, if not more time at ground zero than the rescue workers, what he really meant was he spent more time at Yankees games. I know what you’re thinking, it’s easy to get the two locations confused, but somehow Giuliani did. Reports Salon:

“By our count, Giuliani spent about 58 hours at Yankees games or flying to them in the 40 days between Sept. 25 and Nov. 4, roughly twice as long as he spent at ground zero in the 90 days between Sept. 17 and Dec. 16. By his own standard, Giuliani was one of the Yankees more than he was one of the rescue workers.”

It’s amazing how this inept excuse for a leader keeps inserting his foot squarely in his mouth, but there it is, once again. It probably doesn’t matter what he says however, since as I’ve written previously, some people think Giuliani and to a “lesser extent” Fred Thompson are “unbeatable”. Uh huh.

UPDATE: Not to be outdone by Rudy’s penchant for jack-assery, it seems that Freddo has seemingly violated FEC election laws by raising more money for his non-campaign that most of the other GOP front runners. At this rate, Frudy should be able to get a bead on his true electability VERY soon.

While on my trip, I found out via Twitter, that Bush’s Brain, aka Karl Rove, had resigned from the floundering administration. While I would much rather have seen him forced out, his departure is none-the-less a thing of beauty. Think Progress has put together a list of many of the major players who have either been “downsized” or “opted out” from what many call the worst Presidency in United States history:

– White House Senior Political Adviser Karl Rove
– White House Counselor Dan Bartlett
– White House Budget Director Rob Portman
– White House Counsel Harriet Miers
– White House Political Director Sara Taylor
– White House Director of Strategic Initiatives Pete Wehner
– White House Deputy National Security Adviser J.D. Crouch
– Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty
– Acting Associate Attorney General William Mercer
– Justice Department White House liaison Monica Goodling
– Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
– Army Secretary Francis Harvey
– Joint Chief of Staffs Chairman Peter Pace
– Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson
– U.N. Ambassador John Bolton
– USAID Director Randall Tobias

Just as a reminder, it is still a full year and a half before W’s term is up. I guess the grass really must be greener. Pretty soon it’ll be just King George and Barney ruling over his disgruntled subjects. Who needs lackeys anyway?

Fast on the heels of reports that electronic voting machines in California are about as secure as Britney’s financial future, comes this unsurprising bit from the Buckeye state:

“In 56 of Ohio’s 88 counties, ballots and election records from 2004 have been “accidentally” destroyed, despite a federal order to preserve them — it was crucial evidence which would have revealed whether the election was stolen.”

Call me paranoid but election records just don’t go missing without someone ordering it. Anyone in a position to order the destruction of records in 56 counties is in the position to know better. Heads should roll for this, but of course, they probably won’t.

I’ve read on some local Greensboro blogs that GOP presidential hopefuls Rudy Giuliani and to a “lesser extent” Fred Thompson are pretty much unbeatable. Wow, evidently one of these two men will be the next President of the United States, no ifs, ands or buts about it. I guess us scamps on the left should just pack it in now, huh? I mean why wait a whole year wasting time raising funds, holding primaries and actually listening to people’s concerns when Fred and Rudy are guaranteed shoe-ins? And just imagine the political juggernaut they’d be if they combined forces into one, super-duper conservative über-candidate! No one would have to bother going to the voting booth again until at least 2020, or whenever their conjoined pacemaker finally gave out… whichever came first.

The funny part is however, someone might want to clue these two, old white men in on the assessment. The way the headlines have been flying lately, you’d think they were trying to sabotage the “irresistible force” that their respective campaigns represent. What with all the staff departures, questionable associations and lackluster fundraising going on, maybe the Democrats should just admit defeat now and save us all months of pain and suffering. Naaaaah! I say let’s find out just how unbeatable “Frudy” really is. Yeah, let’s.

UPDATE: Freddo’s so-called “campaign” is in worse shape than was originally thought. Seems as though there is a bit of confusion about who’s pulling the strings behind the scenes. Mr. Unbeatable himself, or his bewitching wife.

Today the White House released its “Initial Benchmark Assessment Report” regarding the situation in Iraq and whether or not progress is being made there. Unsurprisingly, Bush says things are going just great. Although less than half of the benchmarks were rated by Bush as “satisfactory”, they are touting it as a sign of real change in Iraq. Think Progress has the truth about these claims, if you care to read it.

In the meantime, one benchmark no one is talking about is the fact that Osama Bin Laden remains at large. Yes, the man who financed, planned, organized and who is ultimately responsible for the deaths of over 3,000 Americans on September 11th, remains free. America is without a doubt, the strongest, most capable nation on Earth, but apparently, the combined intelligence forces of the CIA, NSA and FBI can’t find this one guy hiding in a cave somewhere in Pakistan. Yep, a man who needs constant medical attention, and who releases videos more frequently than Lindsay Lohan, has somehow eluded capture for almost six years. I’d be pissed too.

Now come reports from Bush’s own government that al Qaeda has regained strength and just might be planning a summer attack. All this while brave men and women fight and die in a country that had nothing to do with Bin Laden’s monsterous attacks. As we move towards the sixth anniversary of 9/11, we should all keep in mind who has truly failed their oath to serve, protect, and defend America against its enemies. We need change. Soon.

This is a story about two men, one a former VP of the United States, and the other the current Vice President of the United States. Although their position of power gives them commonality, there are no two individuals in government who are so diametrically opposed than Al Gore and Dick Cheney. One fights to protect environment, the other fights to rape it. One realizes that it’s possible to work for change to make a better world for our children, the other can’t see beyond the narrow confines of the Middle East. In every way, these two men respectively represent the heart of the progressive and conservative movements, and I find it absolutely fascinating.

When Al Gore lost to George W. Bush in the 2000 election, many in Washington, and indeed around the country, wrote him off as just a footnote of the Clinton era. The man was perceived as a boring, know-it-all who was prone to wild claims. In contrast, Dick Cheney had been an intergral part of the first Bush administration and when W. came to power, Cheney was seen as the man who would help the administration compensate for Bush’s lack of foreign policy experience. Cheney lent Bush credibility, and many in the GOP thought he would be one of the most admired VP’s in American history.

Time changes all things.

Today, Al Gore is the one who is widely admired and respected, not only in America, but around the globe. He started teaching, devoted himself to the problem of global warming, wrote a best-selling book and won an Oscar for his work on An Inconvenient Truth. Where ever he goes, he attracts huge crowds who draw strength and hope from this self-professed “geek with a slide show” and they secretly hope that he will decide to run for President again.

Dick Cheney has spent the last seven years in the Bush administration amid firestorms that he, himself helped to create. He has been deeply involved with some of the most egregious acts of government in recent memory, including the death of Habeas Corpus, illegal domestic wiretapping, leaking classified CIA identities and avoiding oversight whenever and however possible. Cheney’s popularity is even lower than that of the President himself, and now those in his own party seem to have had enough of him. Whispers of impeachment have resurfaced as well, although I doubt they will solidify.

This weekend, the Live Earth concerts were performed on all seven continents and drew the attention of over 2 billion people to the ever-growing problem of the climate crisis. Thanks to Gore’s involvement, this concert series was the greenest ever produced and involved dozens of artists performing for hundreds of thousands of people. Gore intends the Live Earth concerts to kick off a 3-5 year campaign to help fight global warming and judging by the enthusiasm that was generated online and in cities around the world, I’d say he’s off to an excellent start. People are ready to act, and Al has given them the rallying point they are so desperately searching for.

Al Gore and Dick Cheney have made decisions that effected all of our lives. Some say that Gore did not do enough while in office for the environment. I wasn’t paying attention to politics back in the 90’s, so I can’t speak to this criticism. I do pay attention now however, and what I see in Gore’s post-government service gives me hope for our country and our world. Watching Cheney makes me sorry for the conservative movement. His supporters believe that might always makes right, and liberty must be sacrificed for security. Terrorism is indeed one of the most pressing problems of this generation, but Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush’s reaction to it has made us less secure, globally isolated and exhausted our military and treasure. History will eventually write the final chapters for these two men, but I think many of us can already see who will be required reading, and who will be just another footnote.

Digg It!

Big news today that W. has commuted the sentence of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby to effectively cleanse him of any punishment regarding his obstruction of justice in the Valarie Plame affair. I’m not going to say much about this, since others have said it so well. But I do want to offer some particularly poignant historical quotes that we should all ruminate over as this episode plays through the summer:

“I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors.” – George H. W. Bush / 4.26.99

And then there is this gem right after the Plame investigation was opened:

“If there’s a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is . . . If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of.” – George W. Bush / 9.30.03

And from the President’s official statement made earlier today:

“The Constitution gives the President the power of clemency to be used when he deems it to be warranted. It is my judgment that a commutation of the prison term in Mr. Libby’s case is an appropriate exercise of this power.” – George W. Bush / 7.2.07

I have to say I pretty much called this back in March. My timing was off, and even though W. let the fine and sentence stand, there will be no real punishment. His fine will be paid from money raised by his friend Dick, along with a cushy position somewhere the Carlyle Group or other Bush related firm, I’m sure. So with this, Bush firmly cements his place as worst President ever, and more brave men and women will die in Iraq for a war that might have been avoided if Joe Wilson had been allowed to speak freely. So sad.

History will not be kind to Dick Cheney. The man is the single greatest force behind America’s plummeting international standing, the shredding of the U.S. Constitution and increasing insecurity at home and abroad. Many of us have suspected that his actions have come at a high price (the death of habeas corpus, illegal domestic wiretaps, leaking covert CIA agents’ names to the press, etc.), but recent findings have revealed what might be the height of Mr. Cheney’s hubris regarding the rule of law. Evidently the Vice President of the United States doesn’t consider himself or his office part of the Executive Branch.

Cheney’s penchant for über-secrecy has caused the Vice President’s office to claim they are exempt from Executive orders that pertain specifically to THEM. He doesn’t feel the need to comply with a law stating he must report his handling of classified information to an office created expressly for this very purpose. Yep, I’m not making this stuff up, Cheney is basically arguing that he can ignore whatever laws he wants, simply because it suits him. As Dana Milbank of MSNBC reports, Cheney holds to the dictatorial position of the “Unitary Executive Theory” which basically sates the Executive branch is unassailable and can do whatever it chooses. The founding fathers must be somersaulting in their graves.

Now Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) is fighting back. He is in the process of introducing an amendment to the the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill to cut funding for Cheney’s office. Says Emanuel of Mr. Cheney’s extraordinary claim:

“The Vice President has a choice to make. If he believes his legal case, his office has no business being funded as part of the executive branch. However, if he demands executive branch funding he cannot ignore executive branch rules.”

Yep, that sounds about right. Should also help clarify if Cheney’s office really enjoys the protection of Executive Privilege that he so tightly clings to. Either he has it and must comply with Executive branch rules, or he doesn’t and we get to see his meeting notes for all those White House energy meetings. So, which is it gonna be, Dick?

UPDATE: Why am I not surprised that the only person on Fox News Sunday’s weekly panel to take Cheney’s side was Weekly Standard editor, William (the Bloody) Crystal? Thank God Juan Williams laid the smack down on him for Fox’s viewer-ship. Even Britt Hume knows what Cheney is doing is nonsense, and that is saying something. Watch the video at Think Progress

My friend and resident toy freak, Talos, sent me a link today that I just had to share. Seems as though Super Rad Toys, Inc. is getting ready to produce a new set of “Kuberi-esque” collectables containing some seemingly notorious “Axis of Evil” dictators. Now you can have cute and posable plastic versions of Kim Jong-il, Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden, right there on your desktop! But wait, according to Super Rad Toys, your collection of the world’s most notorious men wouldn’t be complete without George W. Bush and Tony Blair!

Now, I’m no fan of our current president, nor of his ever-present lackey, but it does seem that these toys cross a fine line into the realm of bad taste. I can just picture how the marketing pitch for this one went…

“Kuberik versions of Hussein, Jong-il and Bin Laden, this is SO COOL!”

“Yep, but we need more eyeballs.”

“Yeah, what can we do… what can we do?”

“Dude! Bush and Blair!”

“Fucking-A! Sweeeet!”

The idea behind Plasticgod’s Axis of Evil 5 Figure Pack seems clever on the surface. Many people do have a tendency to collect counter-culture merchandise just for the hell of it. There is also no doubt they’ll sell out the entire 500 piece run before the set even hits the shelves. But there is a big chunk of my brain that just can’t stand to see George W. posed next to the man responsible for 9/11, even if it’s just in tiny plastic. I might be a liberal who loves toys, but this is one I could never bring myself to play with.

If there is one person in government who continues to surprise and impress me, it would have to be Colin Powell. In addition to his commendable service as National Security Adviser (1987-1989) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–1993), he was the first African American to serve as the United States Secretary of State. During his tenure with George W. Bush, he often was the lone voice of reason in the administration. On several occasions he attempted to temper Bush and Cheney’s call for rash and dangerous action in regards to foreign relations and how this country deals with its enemies. He initially resisted the idea of a military invasion of Iraq, instead favoring the proven policy of sanctions and was a chief advocate of working with the U.N. to diplomatically solve the Hussein problem.

Unfortunately, history will most likely remember him for the case he made at the U.N. on February 5th, 2003 to garner support for the coming U.S. invasion. Built on mountains of false and manipulated intelligence, Powell now says about his speech: “It will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It’s painful now.” Personally, I still have a sour spot for his participation in Bush’s drum beat to war, but in hindsight I cannot place blame. I’m sure he thought he was acting in the best interests of the country and in his position, he was doing what the President asked him to do.

Free of his Bush ties since November of 2004, Powell has only increased his role as a voice of reason in the political landscape. He often presents viewpoints that run counter to the conservative thought process and has consistently argued from a position of common sense and logic. He did so again today with an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press where he discussed the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, saying:

“If it was up to me, I would close Guantanamo — not tomorrow, this afternoon. We have shaken the belief that the world had in America’s justice system by keeping a place like Guantanamo open… We don’t need it, and it’s causing us far more damage than any good we get for it.”

Why will no one in this current administration listen to him and others like him? If the United States is so sure of the guilt of those held at Guantanamo, then why are we afraid to prosecute them accordingly? Give them access to due process, determine their guilt (or innocence), and let the country regain the moral high ground regarding its treatment of prisoners. The death of Habeus Corpus was one of the lowest moments in our country’s history. There are now calls to reverse this un-American position, and as far as I’m concerned they cannot come soon enough.

Some progressives would never, ever, vote for a “Republican”. I am proud to say that if Colin Powell ran for office, I would gladly vote for him. His actions and words since leaving Bush behind help to restore my faith in government. Many on the left would do well to get past his U.N. speech and see him for what he has become. This country needs public servants able to see the big picture if we are to rescue America’s standing in the world. We need more people of reason. People like Colin Powell.

There are many progressives that the right simply cannot help but abhor. Al Gore is chief amongst them. I think deep down, many Republican’s resent the fact that he won the popular vote in 2000 and has gone from being a boring nerd with a slide rule to a modern day voice of authority on climate change. Critics never miss a chance to pile on whenever they can as February’s specious reports of his personal energy use have demonstrated.

So when I saw the above image by TIME photographer Steve Pyke of Gore at work at home, I can’t help getting the sinking feeling that critics will attack again. The man is, after all, looking at three 30″ Apple Cinema Displays. Not only that, but he’s also got a flat panel TV going on the wall opposite him. Three computer monitors AND a TV… IMAGINE THAT? How much energy does this consume? How much CO2 does this wasteful use of our fossil fuels pump into our atmosphere? How can Gore be such a hypocrite?

Of course the answer for anyone not blinded by partisan politics is that Gore isn’t a hypocrite. He and his family purchase power from Green Power Switch that sells “clean” electricity to portions of the Tennessee valley from renewable sources such as solar, wind and methane. The Gore home also makes use of solar panels that help generate approximately 30% of the home’s energy needs. So you see, Al can sit there in front of his 3 30″ cinema displays and his flat panel TV and do his work knowing that he’s not contributing, at least not significantly, to the world’s greenhouse gasses.

None of this matters however. If the past is any indication, I fully expect to see an “exclusive” post on Drudge about Gore’s energy use as early as tomorrow. The right will do its usual hit pieces to try and discredit him. Every time they do so is just one more clue to the American people that they are in the pocket of big oil. They try to proclaim the “nutroots left” are out to ruin the U.S. economy and that there is no concensus for global warming. They are wrong on both counts and running scared. I can feel it.

Polls show the American people are tiring of people in power’s obvious disregard for the facts. They are ready for their President to take the environment just as seriously as they do. Exploding sales of hybrid cars and the ever increasing successes of “green” companies demonstrates this trend all too clearly. Even if Al’s Mac setup sucked down fossil fuels like a Hummer H3, I’d still take Gore over Bush any day of the week. Who would you trust to run the country? A man who can multitask, surrounds himself with books and serves on the Apple Board of Directors, or someone who boasted he doesn’t even read newspapers?

I’ve always admired political cartoonists. They take utterly serious situations and depict them with humor and insight. My friend Anthony Piraino draws political cartoons for the News & Record and I always enjoy seeing what he’s up to from week to week. I wish Anthony would be able to turn his attention towards national events, but his gig with the paper restricts him to local politics only. Here are some political cartoons I’ve come across that speak volumes about recent national events.

Etta Hulme

Steve Sack

Jack Ohman

More here from Bob Geiger…

In case you missed them, here are three political nuggets to chew on from recent news reports. The thread that ties these three disparate stories together? Why, Iraq of course.

Memorial Honoring Fallen Soldiers Runs Out of Room – It seems as though the brilliant hawks who thought up the Iraq war didn’t plan on it being as long and bloody as it has been. The “Wall of the Fallen” memorial, set up by Republicans in June is almost full. The current configuration of the wall can hold only 130 more names, but since the last soldier was added back on November 2nd, at least 506 more have been killed in combat. The sad part is that many of us agree that the memorial will need A LOT more space before it’s all over. More…

South Dakota Demands Pull of MPEACHW License Plate – Heather Moriah of Rapid City South Dakota let her feelings about President Bush be known via her personalized vanity plate that read MPEACHW and is now facing a legal battle for free speech. All it took was a single person to complain about the license plate for the state to try and revoke it, but since the plate is not inherently offensive or obscene, I think South Dakota might have a hard time proving its case. More…

Iraq War Leaves Kansas Unprepared – Kathleen Sebelius, the Governor of Kansas, has been forced to put out a call for aid and equipment to help in her state’s rescue and rebuilding efforts following devastating tornados this past weekend. Normally these efforts would be handled by the state’s National Guard, but many of those units AND their equipment are currently serving in the middle east. This disaster is going to serve as a wake-up call for the rest of the nation as we head into what could become one of the worst hurricane seasons on record. Do we really want to be unprepared to deal with tragedies at home? More…