Wednesday’s mini-report

October 11, 2006

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Mark Foley seemed to have a unique fondness for the pages’ dormitory, didn’t he?

* I promise to stop linking to Keith Olbermann’s must-see commentaries just as soon as they stop being so extraordinary. (thanks to reader C.K. for the reminder)

* In an entirely entertaining turn of events, John McCain wants us to know that he strongly disapproves of those “engaging in finger-pointing.” He mentioned this, of course, almost immediately after blaming Bill Clinton (falsely) for the North Korea crisis.

* When Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) insisted that he had “never” been lobbied by Jack Abramoff, he was telling the truth — just as long as you’re willing to overlook the two-dozen examples the AP found of Pombo getting lobbied by Jack Abramoff. Oops.

* After yesterday’s item on Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) and several news articles about his unreported stock options, I received a note from a blogger who works for Allen, who alerted me to two posts on the subject. While I disagree with the blogger about most issues, I also know him to be fair and honest, so I’m passing on the links for readers to review. I’d add, however, that Michael Froomkin found the defense unpersuasive. Frankly, with very little knowledge of disclosure rules and stock options, I’m left a little confused.

* Does the hot new polo shirt in Baghdad’s Green Zone actually say “Resistance Is Futile“? Are people trying to be stupid?

* It’s been days since we learned of a Republican lawmaker’s office coming under criminal investigation. Thankfully, Sen. Arlen Specter’s (R-Pa.) office came through — the FBI announced this week that a Specter aide may have illegally helped her spouse, who happens to be a lobbyist, secure almost $50 million in Pentagon spending for his clients.

* Local officials in New Orleans were pleased to announce this week that the city has safe drinking water for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. It only took more than a year.

* I don’t want to jump to any conclusions, but if a Democratic president had a Secretary of Defense who was a director of a company that helped set up light-water reactors for North Korea, I suspect Republicans might have something to say about it.

* Terry Jones, of Monty Python fame, has a very amusing column this week, extending an invitation to the president to join “the World League of Despots.” Here’s a snippet from the invitation (with British spelling): “[Y]our unstinting efforts to make torture an internationally accepted aspect of human life have surpassed everything we could have ever hoped for. I don’t think there is a single member of the league who could have imagined, six short years ago, that our activities in tormenting our fellow creatures would once again be recognised as acceptable, civilised behaviour, as it once was in the middle ages.”

* My friend Bob Poulsen passed along a terrific link that folks may want to bookmark: it’s the National Security Archive at George Washington University (my alma mater). It’s a great resource, with terrific news and materials available for review.

If none of these particular items are of interest, consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.

Does the hot new polo shirt in Baghdad’s Green Zone actually say “Resistance Is Futile”? Are people trying to be stupid?

How about Persistence is Futile.

Why yes they are trying to be stupid. People always emulate their leader! Too bad it’s not immolate.

Wow I really like this Mini-Report Feature.

Foley did like that dorm. He considered it a chickenhawk coop and he wanted the keys. When Cheney’s prominence caused people to call the Repubs the Party of Dick, Foley thought they meant to party with dick.

Yeah McCain is the recipient of a lot of (middle) fingers pointing.

Most of still don’t have safe drinking water in this country.

Okay I thought Terry Jones was one of Clinton’s chicks, but yay Monty Python. Bush thought the Spanish Inquisition was a how-to documentary. He even patterned his discursive style after it.

Here’s Bush explaining shock and awe, “Our chief weapon is surprise…surprise and fear…fear and surprise…. Our two weapons are fear and surprise…and ruthless efficiency…. Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency…and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope…. Our *four*…no… *Amongst* our weapons…. Amongst our weaponry…are such elements as fear, surprise…. I’ll come in again.:”

  • I stand by my claim in the comments. If Allen really said that the options were worthless before they expired he is flat out wrong. They may have been worth very little. Someone may have told him they were worthless. They may have later expired worthless. But they were not worthless.

    That is an easy mistake for a layman to make. But for a business lawyer who was on the Board of Directors of two high tech firms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Allen_(U.S._politician)), it is not a strech to call him an idiot. Unless of course he knew that they were not worthless. That would make him a liar.

  • Speaking of intern dormitories, I have to wonder if there are not other members with more pedestrian attractions that are going unreported at this time. I mean, we know it’s only perverted if it’s homosexual. There have to be red blooded congressmen interested in congress. Cuz we all know how worldly those smart 16 yr old gurlz are, maturing early and all cuz of them meat hormones an all!!!!

  • Rummy’s on the board? That might help explain this (from 2002):

    The US Government has announced that it will release $95m to North Korea as part of an agreement to replace the Stalinist country’s own nuclear programme, which the US suspected was being misused.

    Under the 1994 Agreed Framework an international consortium is building two proliferation-proof nuclear reactors and providing fuel oil for North Korea while the reactors are being built.

    In releasing the funding, President George W Bush waived the Framework’s requirement that North Korea allow inspectors to ensure it has not hidden away any weapons-grade plutonium from the original reactors.

  • While I love this feature of a daily warp-up which is a great place to vent.

    On Nov 7, 2006 most of us on here will have alot to celebrate. The emerging theme of this election has become never let the facts interfere with your bullshit. I don’t think i’ve seen one add touting the republicans record in congress just negative ads against unkown opponents. I find something curious about this picture. I always tried when applying for a job to tout my achievements not the faults of the others that were applying. I guess things have changed.

  • electoral-vote.com was one of many political sites that traumatized me in November 2004. I swore off all of them after that crushing disappointment; I’ve come crawling back to almost all of them. I guess addiction is like that.

  • This is only tangetially related to politics. There is a new demographic site with interactive census maps called Social Explore. I figure at least Ed Stephens might find it interesting and perhaps a few others as well.

  • The t-shirt doesn’t surprise me. I was around during Vietnam and remember the ones the troops wore there, including “Grab them by the balls and their hearts and minds will follow” and “Kill them all, God will recognize his own.” Typical bravado, plus a contempt for the locals, nothing new in wartime. (I wonder if they are referencing the Borg or the Daleks?)

    If you think Keith’s recent commentaries have been worth noting, tune in tonight. He’s interviewing David Kuo, a self-described Conservative Christian who was second in command at the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, and reveals what Bush, Meglman, and Rove REALLY thought about the religious right. Details are here
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15228489/

    A few key quotes:
    “He says some of the nation’s most prominent evangelical leaders were known in the office of presidential political strategist Karl Rove as “the nuts.”

    “National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as ‘ridiculous,’ ‘out of control,’ and just plain ‘goofy,’” Kuo writes.”

    In fact, when Bush asks Kuo how much money was being spent on “compassion” social programs, Kuo claims he discovered “we were actually spending about $20 million a year less on them than before he had taken office.”

    The money that was appropriated and disbursed, however, often served a political agenda, Kuo claims.

    “Many of the grant-winning organizations that rose to the top of the process were politically friendly to the administration,” he says.

    Forget majority, forget twenty or thirty seats. If this one gets enough play, we’re talking fifty or sixty. Nobody likes being made fools of. (And if they try and ‘take back the party’ in 2008, then we’ve got a Goldwater type landslide.)

  • Joe Cirincione (from CAP) smacks down McCain:

    “This is Bush’s Bomb. All the plutonium made for these bombs was made either during his presidency or his father’s. To blame his failure on Bill Clinton should not be allowed to stand. Senator McCain should be ashamed.”

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