Incidental Introspection*

If bowling prowess is an indicator of Presidential ability, my bud Davey and I would make better Presidents than Barack Obama. That is so not the case.

-AF

*Title changed: 11/14/08

Vanity Fair Torture Blockbuster

Here.

Shorter version: even the lies were based on lies on top of lies.

I also would like to point out that, between Abu Ghraib Commander Colonel Janis Karpinski and Gitmo staff judge advocate Lt. Colonel Diane Beaver, the manly men of the Bush Administration fraternity ensured that women would be stuck holding the bag for their depraved indifference to human rights.

Assholes.

-AF

Mountain Dew And Clorox Are The New Condoms

Another Abstinence-Only Disaster... Atrios calls attention to Florida where some kids think "drinking a cap of bleach will prevent HIV and a shot of Mountain Dew will stop pregnancy."

-AF

More Racist Right Wing Drivel

McCain voted against MLK day in 1983. His home state of Arizona has a bad MLK Day history
-AF

Bring Back The Draft?

General Cody made some very broad hints to Congress. Will George and Dick listen to the generals now? Fuck no. This won’t make them start.

A broken Armed Forces has become part of their scorched-earth policy. It's feeds what I call The Great Republican Perpetual Power Ploy. The GOP has all but ceded the race to the Democrats. They just want to limit their losses. George, Dick and the Republicans want to leave their entire mess for the next President to try to clean up. That will include a draft.

Obstructed at every turn, our next President (D) will have a difficult time of it. He’ll be forced to make difficult and unpopluar decisions. All of the standard GOP bullshit about how Democrats are weak on security, foreign policy, the economy, etc., will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The MSM will buy into it and spread it. Presto Change-O. We have a one term Democratic Presidency followed by a new "Republican Revolution."

-AF

PS How long before General Cody is put out to pasture?

She Fired Her Because Jesus & Pat Robertson Told Her To

Looks like Monica Goodling singled out DOJ lawyer over "lesbian rumors." TPM tells the tale.

-AF

The Latest Congressional Oil Hearings

McClatchy sez Exxon-Mobil and friends came ready to rumble:

The oil industry denounced the hearing as "political theater" before it even started.

"Assaulting an American industry with punitive taxes, additional federal renewable fuel mandates that may have a negative impact on supply and actually increase greenhouse gas emissions, and the exploitation of its executives for just another Capitol Hill photo op is hardly a remedy that will produce the desired relief for consumers," said Charles Drevna, president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association...

Republicans and Democrats alike warned the executives that there would be a backlash against the companies and their record profits.

"The anger level is rising significantly," Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Missouri, told the executives. "Your approval ratings are lower than ours, and that's damn low."

Hello? There would be a backlash? The backlash is in full swing. Big Oil knows we hate them for how increased oil prices have raised the price of everything. I don't think they care what this has done to our economy. They know we'll continue to buy their product at incremental 8% price increases. Oil had nothing to lose by coming out swinging.

The longer they stall any action against them, the more cash they bring in. Like our government, the rationale for their actions morphs as required. Limited refinery capacity, Katrina, space slugs, leprechauns, blah blah blah, no longer cut it. McClatchy:

The oil companies stayed on the offensive, blaming high consumer gas prices on a myriad of factors, but mostly on speculation and the declining value of the U.S. dollar.

That's rich. A huge factor contributing to speculation and the declining value of the U.S. dollar would be the Iraq war. You know, the war where before we went in, our oil President "allowed" our Vice-President to have his little energy task force with Big Oil execs to carve up Iraq's underexploited oil reserves. Besides, if you don't think the oil companies flipped their dollars to euros some time ago, you are absolutely fucking nuts . That couldn't have helped the dollar any. Since last year Jay-Z has traded in his benjamins for bin Ladens (at least in his videos).More McClatchy:

Exxon, the world's most profitable publicly traded corporation, was most defensive about its profits, but took a hard line with the committee on legislation that would rescind an $18 billion tax break for the five biggest oil companies and use the money to encourage investment in renewable and alternative energy. In addition to Exxon, the committee heard from Shell, BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips.

Overall, though, the oil companies tried to put a friendly face on the amount of money they're spending on developing U.S. oil and gas resources as well as alternative fuels research. But they also warned that for the foreseeable future, the U.S. — and the world — will continue to depend on fossil fuels even as new technologies are developed.

They are counting on it. Led by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Congressman Ed Markey the committee did their best not to let Big Oil off the hook. Bloomberg:

The hearing probed the industry's fight against the House proposal for new taxes to promote alternative energy. Though Markey's committee has no authority to advance bills, it is laying the groundwork for legislation that would cut planet- warming emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil-fuel use.

Taxes should be fair, stable and pro-competitive, principles these proposals violate,'' Exxon's Simon said.

Markey took Simon to task for investing $100 million on renewable energy, while raking in $40 billion in profit last year.

``You can't have it both ways,'' Markey said. ``You can't on the one hand be nickel and diming renewables at Exxon Mobil and at the same time be recording $40 billion in profits.''

``Putting more money into something does not necessarily equal progress,'' Simon said.

We are painfully aware of that Mr. Simon (see Iraq War).

With the greatest profit in the history of this industry, it flips my lid that Big Oil has done so little to develop alternative energy sources. British Petroleum may be leading the way but I hardly call natural gas an "alternative technology." It too is a finite resource.

Like global warming deniers (almost all of which are subsidized by Big Oil or are just bat shit crazy stupid), they are seriously shortsighted. They must know we're past peak oil, right? Take the "Oil" outta "Big Oil" and you have Big Nothing.

Maybe this generation of oil execs still counts on access to Iraq's vast oil reserves to postpone the massive investment of capital needed to change their business model. Or perhaps they sleep sound in the knowledge that whenever that day comes, they will have enough euros to buy a new model.

-AF

McCain's Lobbyist Connections

Media Matters Action has a handy-dandy chart showing John McCain and the lobbyists he's surrounded himself with. Click on the individual lobbyist to find what he or she has lobbied for.

-AF

+Update: Thinkprogress gets specific.

Where's Sully?

Andrew Sullivan takes "a week or so off". Sane, thoughtful, less self-absorbed people everywhere rejoice.

-AF

Bush Prosecuted Mississippi Democratic Judge

It's a Raw Story.

The cast of characters includes some familiar faces. with from former Democratic Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman's case: Karl Rove, Republican "consultant" William Canary, Bill's wife US Attorney Leura Canary, current Republican Alabama Republican Governor Bob Riley, etc., plus Justice Antonin Scalia and the Choctaws (Doesn't Antonin Scalia and the Choctaws sound like a cheesy Jersey bar band from the early '70s?)

This story also details something I've been interested in since last year: How the US Chamber of Commerce became an implement of Republican power. The Chamber is our country's largest trade organization. In the past decade since Republican BBF Tom Donohue took charge, has spent $369,914,680 topping opensecrets' lobbyist spending chart. The organization also spent $60 million during the last presidential election.

Three months ago The LA Times took a closer look after Donohue pledged to "punish" populist "ani-business" candidates:

Under Donohue, the organization has also frequently aligned itself with GOP priorities.

Since he took over the chamber, contributions by businesses have soared, often to pay for political advertising known as "issue ads," which are exempt from many of the Federal Election Commission limits.

Under a system Donohue pioneered, corporations contribute money to the chamber, which then finances attack ads targeting individual candidates without revealing the name of the businesses involved in the ads.

In 2000, drug companies paid the chamber to run advertisements in Michigan to help elect then-Republican Sen. Spencer Abraham. Pharmaceutical companies that year gave the chamber additional millions to run issue ads attacking mostly Democratic House candidates. And large corporations paid $1 million or more to support advertising campaigns against judges deemed too friendly to plaintiffs.

There has been pressure from lawsuits and government activist groups to require the chamber to reveal the source of its political funds and more details on its spending.

Donohue is not inclined to do so.

"I will disclose any funds I am legally required to disclose -- and not disclose any others," Donohue said. "We are exercising our constitutional right to petition the government and we will continue to do so."

If by "petitioning the government" Donohue means accepting big money from big business to run blind "issue" ads attacking primarily Democratic candidates, then he's stretching the definition pretty damn far. More proof that we'll never have "free" elections in this country until we get meaningful election reform.

Workers make less due to inflation, health care and cost of living increases. Big business makes more and more money. Big business spreads some of that profit around under the radar to the Tom Donohues to keep things headed in this "right" direction. As it stands right now, this game is fixed.

-AF