Month: August 2005

Impeachment Charges Prepared against Tony Blair

Jon Ponder

A new website tracks efforts in Britain to impeach Prime Minister Tony Blair:

A group of MPs declared their intention to bring a motion of impeachment against the Prime Minister for High Crimes and Misdemeanours in relation to the invasion of Iraq. The charges are based on evidence presented in a report commissioned by Adam Price MP entitled A Case to Answer.

The report … presents evidence that the Prime Minister deliberately distorted the intelligence assessments available to him in order to deceive the public and Parliament over the case for war, and recommends that impeachment procedures are begun against the Prime Minister for this misconduct. In addition, the report maintains that the Prime Minister’s actions have destroyed the British government’s reputation for honesty around the world; it has damaged and discredited the intelligence services; it has undermined the constitution by weakening cabinet government and has made a mockery of Parliament as representative of the people.

Ohio Dems Consider Impeachment for Disgraced GOP Gov. Taft

Jon Ponder

Silly Democrats!! The governor just took a few illegal contributions. It’s not like he did something really egregious like lying about sex:

Ohio’s House Democrats are considering impeachment proceedings against Republican Gov. Bob Taft, who pleaded no contest last week to four ethics violations…

An article of impeachment would have to be approved by a majority of the 99-member House, something the Democrats — who hold 39 seats — couldn’t achieve without the votes of at least 11 Republicans. If passed, an impeachment trial would be held in the GOP-controlled Senate.

Senate President Bill Harris said Sunday that talk of impeachment is unwarranted.

“Unless some other types of charges develop, I don’t think there will be an attempt to impeach the governor,” said Harris, a Republican. “I think he’ll continue to do his best and continue to work hard.”

NB to Gov. Taft: Better avoid sexual activity until your term is over. Remember – the leaders of your party are watching you!!

Dementia on the Right: Pat Roberston Says U.S. Should Assassinate Venezuelan President

Jon Ponder

Yesterday, televangelist and wingnuttus emeritus Pat Robertson looked into a camera on the set of his faux news program “The 700 Club” and advised the Bush Administration to assassinate Hugo Chavez, the democratically elected as the president of Venezuela:

“You know, I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it,” Mr. Robertson said. “It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war . . . and I don’t think any oil shipments will stop.”

Robertson, the 75-year old leading light of the Christianist extremist movement in the United States, offered this rationale for murdering President Chavez:

“We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability… We don’t need another $200-billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator.

“It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.”

WWJD, indeed.

Bush’s Summer Reading List Is Part of His Propagandists’ Big Lie Playbook

Jon Ponder
The fake reading list fits into the context of the Bushite use of “the Big Lie” method of governance. In case you’re just tuning in, the Big Lie was first developed and deployed in the, er, Hitler Administration.

At the beginning of President Bush’s inappropriately long summer vacation, the White House message machine produced a list of books the president would be reading in his downtime.

The list included “Salt: A World History;” “Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar;” and “The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History.”

Yeah right. And if you believe that, send me an email – I’ve got a solid line on some oxycontin for your pal Rush.

Last week, we reported that a number of universities in Texas were vying to be the home of President Bush’s “liberry.” We know that Pensito Review has a mysterious but faithful reader from in the federal gubmint (Hi there!) but we’re not so full of oursevles that we think our ribbing the president because he his a lamebrain caused his flying monkeys to make up a fake reading list that same day.

President Bush isn’t reading anything this summer. To relax, he watches back episodes of MTV’s “Punk’d” series in which Ashton Kutcher pulls elaborate practical jokes on his Hollywood friends. Watching Justin Timberlake cry and call for his mommy when he’s “punk’d” into believing the IRS is repossessing his house is simply priceless. That’s something that would appeal to Bush’s inner fratboy. (And since he doesn’t read at all, he probably doesn’t know that his daughters, Jenna and Barbara, allegedly indulged in “underage drinking” and pot smoking and Kutcher’s home in Hollywood back in 2001.)

The reading list is a lie. There is no evidence to support the fact that a recalcitrant dunce like George W. Bush could wade through these books – or even the Cliff Notes versions thereof.

So who buys this crap?

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‘Flagship Tool of the Right’ Post Critical of Fox News Gets Past Censors

Jon Ponder

“I know I’m wasting my precious time writing you, but here goes: Funny how the question of Cindy Sheehan can generate such a large e-mail response (8/21), yet you can only find one in support of her activities. Funny how you can criticize her for being a tool of the Left when you have no problem being the flagship tool of the Right. Funny how you can be such positive cheerleaders for this Administration while it is obvious that the ship of state is sinking and it’s every man for himself.”

– Scott from Richmond, Virginia, posting on Brian Wilson’s FOXNews.com blog

Poll: Bush’s Approval Drops Again

Jon Ponder

American Research Group:

George W. Bush’s overall job approval ratings have dropped from a month ago even as Americans who approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president are turning more optimistic about their personal financial situations according to the latest survey from the American Research Group. Among all Americans, 36% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 58% disapprove. When it comes to Bush’s handling of the economy, 33% approve and 62% disapprove.

Among Americans registered to vote, 38% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 56% disapprove, and 36% approve of the way Bush is handling the economy and 60% disapprove.

BuyBlue.org Tells Where Companies Put Their Greenbacks

Buck Banks

The impetus behind the creation of a new Web site, BuyBlue.org is that those of us who vote blue should support companies that support blue candidates and causes. The idea is to encourage left-leaning folk to spend their money with companies whose executives donate to liberal and progressive causes and candidates:

You may have voted blue, but every day you unknowingly help dump millions of dollars into the conservative war chest. By purchasing products and services from companies that donate heavily to conservatives, we have been compromising our own interests as liberals and progressives.

BuyBlue.org is a concerted effort to lift the veil of corporate patronage, so consumers can make informed buying decisions that coincide with their principles.

On the site’s handy color-coded list of companies and how they spend, bluest of the blue (100% to liberal/progressive) includes Barnes & Noble, Benihana, Google Onc., Starbuck’s and Tom’s of Maine. In the 90% range are 7-Eleven, Apple Computer, Gateway, Costco and LL Bean.

The reddest of the red ($0 to liberal/progressive) include Ace Hardware, BestBuy, Citgo, Domino’s, Fruit of the Loom, Lowe’s Corp., PetSMART, RE-MAX, Exxon, Geico and McDonald’s.

In politics, it pays to know where your money goes. Buy blue!

German Pagans Organize Against Pope’s Youth Day

Buck Banks

In Cologne, Germany, the Committee for Pagan Fun, has been formed in opposition to the Roman Catholic Church’s World Youth Day, and has called for the creation of “religion-free zones.”

Cologne was flooded last week by hundreds of thousands of young Roman Catholics from all over the world, who came to take part in World Youth Day activities that began Tuesday and included a visit by Pope Benedict XVI.

The Committee, which is made up of artists, psychologists, philosophers, pacifists, atheists and people who do not identify with any religion, organised marches against World Youth Day, which officially ended Sunday.

The Committee also complained that one denomination — Catholicism — had temporarily taken over Cologne, and, to a lesser extent, nearby Düsseldorf and Bonn.
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The Angry Right – They Can’t Accept That They Are Wrong

Jon Ponder

“What I really want to know is why conservatives are so angry. Always snarling and snapping about evil liberals. Heck, they control everything. If something’s wrong, it’s their fault. Not the powerless Democrats snipping at their heels.

“If Democrats had the trifecta I’d be in heaven. It’d be bliss. Every day would be a party. Confetti, good beer, and party hats, all around.

“But not them. They’re still angry.

“Of course, now that I think about it, if Democrats had the trifecta and they fucked shit up as bad as these jokers have, then I suppose I’d be angry. It must be hard seeing the real world make a mockery of everything you stand for.”

– Kos

Has the ‘Tipping Point’ on Iraq Been Reached?

Buck Banks

Jim Lobe, writing for the Inter Press News Service, offers some trenchant analysis of the current state of the anti-war movement, the Bush administration’s mishandling of the Iraq war and the growing groundswell of sentiment against the war.

Has the U.S. public lost so much confidence in the George W. Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq war that its current strategy — to the extent one actually exists — is unsustainable?

With Pres. Bush himself besieged by anti-war protesters on his seemingly endless and ill-timed vacation at his Texas ranch, that appears to be The Big Question, just two weeks before the resumption of official business back in Washington.

Both Republican lawmakers, who face mid-term elections in 15 months from now, and the military itself, which, as a result of the Vietnam debacle, has taken as an article of faith that the loss of civilian support must be avoided at all costs, appear increasingly restive and unhappy with the course of events.

“There are more and more voices within the party and military who are beginning to acknowledge that the situation in Iraq is not only not improving, but is actually getting worse,” said Jim Cason of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), a lobby group that opposed the war.

“The administration is under more and more pressure from within — especially from the Pentagon and influential Republicans on Capitol Hill — and it clearly hasn’t figured out what to do about it.”
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