Year: 2006

On This Date – December 11

Jon Ponder
  • 2001 – The chairman of the militant Jewish Defense League, Irv Rubin, and an associate, Earl Krugel, were arrested on suspicion of plotting to blow up a Los Angeles mosque and the office of an Arab-American congressman. (Rubin died in November 2002, 10 days after what federal officials described as a suicide attempt in jail.) [Boston.com]
  • 2001 – Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, was charged with conspiring to murder thousands in the suicide hijackings. Moussaoui’s were the first terrorism charges after the September 11, 2001, attacks. In 2005, Moussaoui pleaded guilty to conspiracy [Boston.com]

Bubble Boy Bush: The Founders Expected Our Presidents to Be At Least Average

Jon Ponder
The Founders did not offer a long list of job requirements for the office of the presidency but I’m sure they intended it to be filled by men of at least adequate skills.

As the days of George W. Bush’s final term in office grind slowly onward, the president increasingly finds himself on the opposite side of issues from the American public. While a normal president might care about this — strong leaders usually position themselves at the head of the parade — Pres. Bush really doesn’t give a damn what “the people” think.

In an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times yesterday, Jonathan Chait that Bush’s juvenile behavior reminds him of an episode from the “Twilight Zone” about a young boy who is given super powers that he is too immature to use wisely:

Through the misuse of his powers, the little boy has ruined the lives of everybody in the town — for instance, teleporting them into a cornfield, or summoning a snowstorm that destroys their crops. Because anyone who thinks an unhappy thought will be banished, the adults around him can do nothing but cheerfully praise his decisions while they try to nudge him in a less destructive direction.

Chait says he was reminded of the “Twilight Zone” episode when he read an account in Time Magazine of the behind-the-scenes coddling required to get Bush onboard the formation of the Iraq Study Group last spring. Three people involved in organizing the group approached Sec. of State Condoleeza Rice first:

“As the trio departed, a Rice aide asked one of her suitors not to inform anyone at the Pentagon that chairmen had been chosen and the study group was moving forward. If Rumsfeld was alerted to the study group’s potential impact, the aide said, he would quickly tell Cheney, who could, with a few words, scuttle the whole thing. Rice got through to Bush the next day, arguing that the thing was going to happen anyway, so he might as well get on board. To his credit, the President agreed.”

The article treats this exchange in a matter-of-fact way, but, what it suggests is completely horrifying. Rice apparently believed that Bush would simply follow the advice of whoever he spoke with. Therefore the one factor determining whether Bush would support the commission was whether Cheney or Rice managed to get to him first.

The Founders did not offer a list of job requirements for the office of the presidency but I’m sure they intended it to be filled by men of at least adequate skills. Maybe it sounds over the top, but I really do worry that the United States may not survive the next two years intact.

We Should Have Stopped Him

Buck Banks

Mea culpa: Jon, Trish and I consider ourselves, and are actually considered by several others, as being relatively intelligent, if a bit socially inept. So we should have seen this coming. We could have stopped him, but we didn’t. And I can’t tell you why we didn’t see it coming.

We believe in a society built on three First Principles: Order, Justice and Freedom. These principles are the three legs of the stool upon which our society rests.

Tom DeLay has started his own weblog. If only we had secured the www.tomdelay.com domain, this wouldn’t have happened.

Here’s some of the crap you can find on Tom’s wingnut blog:

We are conservatives. We believe that our government is limited and our freedoms are guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. We believe in a society built on three First Principles: Order, Justice and Freedom. These principles are the three legs of the stool upon which our society rests. With anyone of these legs removed the stool, and our society, topples. We recognize the right and the responsibility of every citizen to engage in the political processes of our republic and we commit ourselves to protect the principles we hold dear.

Stool, indeed. A whole pile of it. Here’s how DeLay describes the purpose of his “blog”:

This weblog is one small way for us help create the conditions for positive action. We will foster discussion and debate, by boldly putting forth conservative belief and principle. We all must recognize, however, that while we create an environment for thoughtful conservative dialogue, there is an even deeper need for bold conservative action as we struggle to return our government to its First Principles. It is my hope that TomDelay.com can provide us with some of the fuel we will need to sustain our real world movement. Toward that end we have established a grassroots action and information network (GAIN) that will seek members in every congressional district across the country to which we will take grassroots action to advance our cause.

[…]

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

I can see how sincere, how compassionately proletarian a religious prophet may be, that is the fate which sooner or later befalls him in a competitive society — to be founder of an organization of fools, conducted by knaves for the benefit of wolves. That fate befell Buddha and Jesus, it befell Ignatius Loyola and Francis of Assisi, John Calvin and John Wesley.

— Upton Sinclair (1878-1968), American reformer, writer, muckracker

Miami Rep. Pushes Castro Killing in Video

Trish

Did she say it or didn’t she?

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Miami) claims a video of her saying she welcomed the assassination of Fidel Castro is sliced and diced. The makers of the British documentary, 638 Ways to Kill Castro, say it’s not.

…the Havana-born lawmaker, recently tapped to become the top Republican on the House International Relations Committee, says the filmmakers spliced clips together to make the sound bite.

“It’s twisted in a way that gives the viewer a totally wrong impression,” Ros-Lehtinen told the Miami Herald. “I’ve said the community has moved on, that those strategies are not being used today, but apparently the filmmakers think we’re still in a ’60s mentality.”

Still, she said, it was possible she has, at some point, mentioned Castro’s potential assassination.

“If someone were to do it, I wouldn’t be crying,” she said.

Oops, she did it again!

On This Date – December 10

Pensito Editors

Armand Hammer, CEO of Occidental Petroleum,a staunch supporter of presidents Nixon, Reagan and Bush — and long-suspected Soviet spy — died on December 10, 1990, in Los Angeles. He was 92 years old.

Hammer grew up in New York and received a medical degree from Columbia University, but never practiced medicine. Instead, in the 1920s, he went into the pharmaceuticals business in the newly formed Soviet Union.

His lifelong association with the Soviet government raised suspicions about his allegiance to the United States. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Hammer’s name was reportedly found in KGB files that described him as an agent vliyana, an “agent of influence” in the United States for the Soviet government. However (and not surprisingly), definitive proof that he was a Soviet spy has never been produced, and so his political legacy in international relations remains a riddle.

His record as an agent for the Republican Party is crystal clear, however. In 1976, Hammer was convicted on federal misdemeanor charges for funnelling hush money to the Watergate burglars during the Nixon years.

These convictions became problematic a decade later when Hammer embarked on a quixotic mission to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his private diplomacy with the Soviets. After being nominated, however, he was thwarted by the fact that no previous recipient had ever had a criminal record.

Hammer requested a pardon from then-Pres. Reagan, sweetening the deal with an offer to donate $1.3 million to Reagan’s presidential library, which was to be built in Simi Valley, Calif. On his application, Hammer listed the reason for the requested pardon as “innocence.” When the Reagan team looked into his convictions, however, they found that he had pleaded guilty to the charges in order to get a better deal, and was therefore ineligible for the pardon on the basis of innocence.

Because Pres. Reagan failed to deliver the pardon, Hammer rescinded the donation to the library. The library sued to get the money but was unsuccessful.

Hammer soon got his pardon from Reagan’s successor, George H.W. Bush, however. At the end of Bush’s successful campaign for president, Hammer gave $110,000 to the Republican National Commmittee to allay campaign costs. He updated his pardon application, changing the reason for the request from “innocence” to “compassion.” On August 14, 1989, eight months after Bush was elected, he issued a full pardon for Hammer.

It was all for naught, however. Hammer lost the 1989 Nobel Peace to the Dalai Lama.

Hammer was born on May 21, 1898.

[Wiki, Counterpunch]

James Baker Probably Regrets What He Did in 2000

Trish

James Baker has to be kicking himself right now. After all, it’s largely his fault this num-nuts is in power. Serving as co-chair of the Iraq Study Group, and having its recommendations likely dismissed by the Cretin in Chief, is just a small pay-back for cursing us with this idiot to begin with.

Climb into the Way Back Machine and go to the fall of 2000. Baker led the Bush team petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to void the decision by Florida’s high court which allowed a recount of suspicious ballots. Baker held a press conference to condemn the “activist” Florida justices and plea to set things right.

Baker in 2000: “Let the country step back for a minute and pause and think about what’s at stake here. This may be the last chance to do that. There is no reasonable end to this process if it slips away.”

The vote here in Florida was very close, but when it was counted Governor Bush was the winner.

Now, three days later, the vote in Florida has been recounted. Over two-thirds of the state election supervisors overseeing that recount are Democrats. At the end of this recount, Governor Bush is still the winner, subject only to counting the overseas ballots, which traditionally have favored the Republican candidates. No evidence of vote fraud, either in the original vote or in the recount, has been presented…

Let the country step back for a minute and pause and think about what’s at stake here. This may be the last chance to do that. There is no reasonable end to this process if it slips away.

…For the good of the country, and for the sake of our standing in the world, the campaigning should end and the business of an orderly transition should begin.

Where to start? Palm Beach County’s Democratic Elections Supervisor, Theresa LaPore, was later forced to resign in disgrace. Vote fraud, in both the original election and the Katherine Harris-supervised recount, was presented and proven. And as for this country’s standing in the world…

But Baker was also right. There was a lot at stake, and it was our last chance to avoid the horrible consequences. I’m not happy that it looks like Bush is rejecting the ISG’s work because we need to figure out how to make the killing in Iraq stop. But there is, as my cousin Jon likes to say, a certain schadenfreude in all this. How do you like your president now, James Baker?

Florida’s New Governor Flip-Flops Again

Trish

In what is probably a harbinger of his new administration, Florida Republican Governor-Elect Charlie Crist has again caved to public pressure and reversed himself. He is cancelling his inaugural ball, planned as the most extravagant in the state’s history, and bought and paid for by developers, Big Sugar, military contractors, and other greedy bastards who want to own a piece of the new governor.

No wonder columnist Mark O’Brien is asking Santa for a backbone for “Charlie Crist (R-All Things to All People)” this year.

Amid mounting criticism from the public and media, Gov.-elect Charlie Crist on Saturday abruptly canceled plans for a pricey inaugural ball, saying he should not have approved the solicitation of donations of as much as $500,000 to pay for events…

Crist’s sudden reversal came on a day when the Times and several other newspapers in Florida carried columns, editorials and cartoons critical of the party plans.

A Tampa Tribune editorial Saturday said “Crist’s solicitations don’t set the right tone for the new day he has promised in Tallahassee.”

In an editorial headlined “The lobbyists’ governor,” the Palm Beach Post said the $500,000 solicitations mean that Crist’s nickname, “Chain Gang Charlie,” should be changed to “Ka-Ching Charlie.”

In the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, cartoonist Ed Gamble’s cartoon Saturday showed a cigar-chomping lobbyist telling two average-looking guests at the ball: “You don’t have to worry about the $2.5-million cost! We covered it!”

Crist’s handlers want his decision/chickening-out to be seen as listening and responding to the will of the people. Throughout his campaign, Crist certainly did that.

He began by introducing himself as Jeb II, promising to continue the previous governor’s policies and initiatives, including using the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test as the only measure of success in public schools. When his opponent moved up in polls by claiming that the test is eroding, not improving, our educational system, Charlie allowed as how he might make some changes. When his opponent said he would require insurers to offer property coverage if they were permitted to offer more profitable auto coverage in the state, Charlie signed on. Twisting and turning, he waffled his way into the governor’s mansion.

Floridians can probably expect more of the same, with Charlie saying one thing one day and something else the next, depending. They don’t call him “Crist-Crossing Charlie” for nothing.

No wonder columnist Mark O’Brien is asking Santa for a backbone for “Charlie Crist (R-All Things to All People)” this year.

Truly Unethical: GOP Engaged in a Conspiracy of Silence about Foley’s Chickenhawking

Jon Ponder

The House Ethics Committee released its report on Friday at the eleventh hour of the last day of the 109th Congress. Aside from stern words directed at House members, especially former Rep. Foley, the report basically gave everyone a pass, saying it found that no rules had been broken.

Apparently, there is no specific rule that forbids House members from diddling the pages.

And yet hidden in plain sight in the report is a matter-of-fact description of a conspiracy of silence around Foley’s improper behavior. His colleagues and their staff members told investigators that they knew about Foley’s interaction with 16-year-old pages but did not turn him in because they were reluctant to out him as a gay man:

“Some may have been concerned that raising the issue too aggressively might have risked exposing Rep. Foley’s homosexuality…. There is some evidence that political considerations played a role in decisions that were made by persons in both parties.”

The report fails to connect the dots on this issue: The truly unethical behavior was how, in service to Foley’s secret sexuality, members of Congress tolerated his predation of teenaged boys.