By Michael J.W. Stickings
I don't have much to add tonight to THE SCANDAL KNOWN AS LARRY CRAIG SOLICITING LEWD CONDUCT IN A PUBLIC WASHROOM, but I did want to mention -- and you may have heard this already -- that the disgraced senator will announce his resignation Saturday morning.
Republicans have had enough of him and so it was just a matter of time, but I doubt his party, let alone its bigoted base, will learn anything from this episode. They will continue to target gays, gays in their party will continue to remain in their closets, tormented by self-hatred and the urge to lash out, and more and more lives will be ruined.
Larry Craig can go to hell, or Idaho, whichever comes first. His party deserves far worse.
Friday, August 31, 2007
They can't handle the truth
By Michael J.W. Stickings
"ThinkProgress is now banned from the U.S. military network in Baghdad," reports Think Progress, which, like it or not, always tells the truth about the way things are, whether it's Baghdad, Washington, or anywhere else, however unpleasant that truth may be.
Meanwhile, right-wing propaganda machines like Fox News are "still accessible," spewing partisan happy talk to those who are risking their lives on the front lines of a lost war for what was essentially a gross deception.
The U.S. military apparently can't handle the truth any better than the warmongers back home.
"ThinkProgress is now banned from the U.S. military network in Baghdad," reports Think Progress, which, like it or not, always tells the truth about the way things are, whether it's Baghdad, Washington, or anywhere else, however unpleasant that truth may be.
Meanwhile, right-wing propaganda machines like Fox News are "still accessible," spewing partisan happy talk to those who are risking their lives on the front lines of a lost war for what was essentially a gross deception.
The U.S. military apparently can't handle the truth any better than the warmongers back home.
The worst toilet in Minneapolis
By Capt. Fogg
Frankly, I had forgotten about Barney Frank, the Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts, until the few remaining Republican apologists willing to attempt the usual accusatory remission of the sins of their fellows, resurrected a twenty year old story about a gay friend of Frank who was found to be running an escort service out of Franks' apartment when he was not home. Upon investigation, the House Ethics Committee found no evidence that Frank had known of or been involved in this activity but he was censured in Congress for having associated with a male prostitute.
Frank is openly gay and usually wins re-election in Massachusetts's fourth congressional district by landslides of various magnitudes, but the comparison with Larry Craig, the man who made a career out of preaching family values, opposing civil rights for gay people and making remarks about "dirty, nasty" Bill Clinton; the man who was caught soliciting gay sex in a men's toilet, just smells worse than any public toilet in any third world country I've ever been in.
It's true that Republicans are tripping over their own wingtips while fleeing Craig's vicinity, but there are holdouts. Glenn McCoy, the political cartoonist whose scurrilous scribblings regularly appear in The New York Times, was quick to reply to the scandal by showing two donkeys, one telling the other, in response to the scandal to "make sure Barney Frank wasn't in the next stall."
Real humor always contains a nucleus of truth, otherwise it's just a smiling villain, ugliness with a foul grin. That's the kind of humor McCoy specializes in; the grotesque, perverted and dishonest humor designed for sewer dwelling troglodytes who would rather dredge something out of a cesspool and smear it on an undeserving victim rather than admit to any failing, any fault, any guilt, any shame or any hypocrisy.
(Cross-posted at Human Voices.)
Frankly, I had forgotten about Barney Frank, the Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts, until the few remaining Republican apologists willing to attempt the usual accusatory remission of the sins of their fellows, resurrected a twenty year old story about a gay friend of Frank who was found to be running an escort service out of Franks' apartment when he was not home. Upon investigation, the House Ethics Committee found no evidence that Frank had known of or been involved in this activity but he was censured in Congress for having associated with a male prostitute.
Frank is openly gay and usually wins re-election in Massachusetts's fourth congressional district by landslides of various magnitudes, but the comparison with Larry Craig, the man who made a career out of preaching family values, opposing civil rights for gay people and making remarks about "dirty, nasty" Bill Clinton; the man who was caught soliciting gay sex in a men's toilet, just smells worse than any public toilet in any third world country I've ever been in.
It's true that Republicans are tripping over their own wingtips while fleeing Craig's vicinity, but there are holdouts. Glenn McCoy, the political cartoonist whose scurrilous scribblings regularly appear in The New York Times, was quick to reply to the scandal by showing two donkeys, one telling the other, in response to the scandal to "make sure Barney Frank wasn't in the next stall."
Real humor always contains a nucleus of truth, otherwise it's just a smiling villain, ugliness with a foul grin. That's the kind of humor McCoy specializes in; the grotesque, perverted and dishonest humor designed for sewer dwelling troglodytes who would rather dredge something out of a cesspool and smear it on an undeserving victim rather than admit to any failing, any fault, any guilt, any shame or any hypocrisy.
(Cross-posted at Human Voices.)
Looking ahead to Congress in September
By Carol Gee
Members of the U.S. House and Senate, are out of town in August, Washington D.C. is hot and muggy, and July has come and gone. When the U.S. Congress returns to session, legislators will crave a period of success. But Public opinion about how Congress is doing is at another low point.
The blogosphere again has its opportunity to assist Congress to do a better job. But our task is increasingly difficult, given today's Senator Larry Craig headlines. Discouraged citizens tend to summarily dismiss politicians after such events, saying - "A pox on all your houses!" But - whether they watch the news or not - American's sense of well-being, of safety, or even of economic stability, is driven by one unyielding issue, the wars in the Middle East.
Much of the Congressional agenda on Iraq will be influenced by what Senators and Representatives learned during this few weeks away from the U.S. Capitol. Josephine Hearn, writing for Politico.com (8/25/07), feels that some of the lawmakers will shift their positions on what to do about the war, particularly after a visit to Iraq. To quote,
. . . perhaps it wasn’t a surprise when Rep. Brian Baird, a low-key Democrat from Washington State who has spent a career toiling away on local issues, suddenly came out in support of President Bush’s troop surge in Iraq.
. . . The waters are muddied for both parties. Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a bigger fish than either Mahoney or Baird, urged the president on Thursday to begin pulling troops out of Iraq by Christmas.
. . . This August, the future of U.S. troops in Iraq is a topic very much in flux. Even as the chambers of Congress stand silent, a debate rages throughout the country. Lawmakers have heard it as they pad the streets of their hometowns, as they attend Rotary Club meetings and mingle with picnickers and paradegoers.
Democrats in Congress have a difficult task ahead. What can they do to repair public opinion? Many will refine their positions; others will forge stubbornly ahead - oblivious. And the public sees it as gridlock. Ed Kilgore at The Democratic Strategist tackled the question on 8/1/07, with "Unlocking the Grid." To quote from the piece,
One of the most contentious issues dividing political observers at present is how to interpret the partisan implications of the public's exceptionally sour mood, which extends to the Democratic-controlled Congress as well as the Bush administration.
The reigning theme among Beltway pundits is that Americans are sick of gridlock and partisanship in Washington, and blame both parties equally. There's a variant of this theme that's popular in some precincts on the Left: that the Democratic Congress's support is collapsing because it has been insufficiently confrontational towards Bush, particularly on Iraq; according to this analysis, cutting off funds for the war, or perhaps even moving towards impeachment of Bush and Cheney, is the only way to save Democrats from complicity with a hated status quo.
The other side of the argument has been carefully presented in the latest Democracy Corps strategy memo by Stan Greenberg, James Carville, and Anna Iparraguirre. . . the DCorps trio concludes that the partisan conflict in Washington is not eroding, and may actually be enhancing, a strong Democratic advantage going into 2008.
August is ending and Congress is wrapping up its summer recess. I conclude this post with a couple of newsletter resources that I find helpful to staying in the news loop. Each time I open my e-mails I am left with a good sense of renewal of the fight to get Congress to do its job.
References:
- Congress News - Available via regular e-mails from Politico.com
- The Democratic Strategist - Managing Editor Ed Kilgore (and co-editors William Galston, Stan Greenberg and Ruy Teixeira) also will send the newsletter via periodic e-mails.
(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)
Corruption in Baghdad
By Michael J.W. Stickings
David Corn at The Nation:
Hardly surprising, and yet more evidence that the war/occupation has been a disaster, and largely a failure. Remember all that happy talk from the warmongers about democratic self-governance, about all the great and wonderful things that were going to happen once Saddam's regime was toppled and the Iraqi people were put in charge of their national destiny?
Yeah, well...
David Corn at The Nation:
As Congress prepares to receive reports on Iraq from General David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and readies for a debate on George W. Bush's latest funding request of $50 billion for the Iraq war, the performance of the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has become a central and contentious issue. But according to the working draft of a secret document prepared by the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, the Maliki government has failed in one significant area: corruption. Maliki's government is "not capable of even rudimentary enforcement of anticorruption laws," the report says, and, perhaps worse, the report notes that Maliki's office has impeded investigations of fraud and crime within the government.
Hardly surprising, and yet more evidence that the war/occupation has been a disaster, and largely a failure. Remember all that happy talk from the warmongers about democratic self-governance, about all the great and wonderful things that were going to happen once Saddam's regime was toppled and the Iraqi people were put in charge of their national destiny?
Yeah, well...
LEONA HELMSLEY'S LAST WILL & TESTAMENT
LEONA HELMSLEY'S LAST WILL PDF
TROUBLE the 12 million dollar dog seemly set for life, but how long is that? The millionaire Maltese mutt is 8 earth years and almost 60 dog tears old. It begs to wonder does TROUBLE have a will? Can dogs have wills? Whom will she leave all of her loot?
Thursday, August 30, 2007
The Stewart Cycle
By Michael J.W. Stickings
I'm now convinced, more than ever, that Jon Stewart is the most influential media figure in America, the one who really drives the news, who really makes things happen.
Everyone talks about the weekly news cycle, with bad news often breaking (or being leaked) on a Friday. This has been especially the case with the Bush presidency, so much bad news kept for the end of the week, buried over the weekend, popping up, for the junkies, on the Sunday-morning talk-show circuit.
But what of the Gonzales resignation and the Craig bathroom-sex scandal? The news of Gonzales's resignation, long overdue, came on Monday, four days ago, the news of Craig's lewd conduct the very same day, conveniently, two months after the fact. The Craig story may have been put out, at long last, to deflect attention away from the Gonzales story. That makes sense, does it not? Even for a Monday.
But could there be another explanation? What else is going on this week?
Right, Jon Stewart is on vacation, The Daily Show is in reruns. Coincidence? I think not.
Both the Gonzales resignation and the Craig bathroom-sex scandal are perfect Daily Show stories -- lead items, in fact, worthy of satire, irony, and every other comedic weapon at Stewart's disposal, worthy of extensive coverage, multiple correspondents, huge laughs, a montage. No one could have tackled those two stories more devastatingly, more truthfully, than Jon Stewart.
And, surely, the powers-that-be know that. Which is why the cycle that matters is The Stewart Cycle. When you have a really bad story to break, something embarrassing, wait until he's on vacation.
I miss Jon Stewart more than ever this week. He will likely address these stories upon his return, but, by then, they'll be rather stale, a bit dusty, old news -- still funny, perhaps, but, ultimately, tiresome, having been tackled into oblivion by so many others.
Enjoy your vacation, Jon. We need you back.
(And what are we to do in the meantime? There's always Olbermann, of course, and thank goodness for that.)
I'm now convinced, more than ever, that Jon Stewart is the most influential media figure in America, the one who really drives the news, who really makes things happen.
Everyone talks about the weekly news cycle, with bad news often breaking (or being leaked) on a Friday. This has been especially the case with the Bush presidency, so much bad news kept for the end of the week, buried over the weekend, popping up, for the junkies, on the Sunday-morning talk-show circuit.
But what of the Gonzales resignation and the Craig bathroom-sex scandal? The news of Gonzales's resignation, long overdue, came on Monday, four days ago, the news of Craig's lewd conduct the very same day, conveniently, two months after the fact. The Craig story may have been put out, at long last, to deflect attention away from the Gonzales story. That makes sense, does it not? Even for a Monday.
But could there be another explanation? What else is going on this week?
Right, Jon Stewart is on vacation, The Daily Show is in reruns. Coincidence? I think not.
Both the Gonzales resignation and the Craig bathroom-sex scandal are perfect Daily Show stories -- lead items, in fact, worthy of satire, irony, and every other comedic weapon at Stewart's disposal, worthy of extensive coverage, multiple correspondents, huge laughs, a montage. No one could have tackled those two stories more devastatingly, more truthfully, than Jon Stewart.
And, surely, the powers-that-be know that. Which is why the cycle that matters is The Stewart Cycle. When you have a really bad story to break, something embarrassing, wait until he's on vacation.
I miss Jon Stewart more than ever this week. He will likely address these stories upon his return, but, by then, they'll be rather stale, a bit dusty, old news -- still funny, perhaps, but, ultimately, tiresome, having been tackled into oblivion by so many others.
Enjoy your vacation, Jon. We need you back.
(And what are we to do in the meantime? There's always Olbermann, of course, and thank goodness for that.)
Monster Merkel
By Michael J.W. Stickings
The 10 most powerful women in the world, according to Forbes (via the BBC):
1. Angela Merkel (German chancellor)
2. Wu Yi (Chinese vice-premier)
3. Ho Ching (Temasek Holdings)
4. Condoleezza Rice (US Secretary of State)
5. Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo)
6. Sonia Ghandi (Indian National Congress Party)
7. Cynthia Carroll (Anglo American)
8. Patricia Wortz (Archer Daniels Midland)
9. Irene Rosenfeld (Kraft Foods)
10. Patricia Russo (Alcatel-Lucent)
Merkel? Okay. But where's Oprah? -- #21.
Here are some of the others:
23. Queen Elizabeth II
24. Melinda Gates
25. Hillary Clinton
26. Nancy Pelosi
55. Meredith Vieira
60. Laura Bush
62. Diane Sawyer
63. Katie Couric
74. Christiane Amanpour
What, no Madonna?
The 10 most powerful women in the world, according to Forbes (via the BBC):
1. Angela Merkel (German chancellor)
2. Wu Yi (Chinese vice-premier)
3. Ho Ching (Temasek Holdings)
4. Condoleezza Rice (US Secretary of State)
5. Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo)
6. Sonia Ghandi (Indian National Congress Party)
7. Cynthia Carroll (Anglo American)
8. Patricia Wortz (Archer Daniels Midland)
9. Irene Rosenfeld (Kraft Foods)
10. Patricia Russo (Alcatel-Lucent)
Merkel? Okay. But where's Oprah? -- #21.
Here are some of the others:
23. Queen Elizabeth II
24. Melinda Gates
25. Hillary Clinton
26. Nancy Pelosi
55. Meredith Vieira
60. Laura Bush
62. Diane Sawyer
63. Katie Couric
74. Christiane Amanpour
What, no Madonna?
An all-inclusive sham
By Creature
Thankfully, someone at the GAO [Government Accountability Office] leaked a draft of their dour Iraq report before the Bushies could mix in their hefty dose of spin. I'm thinking, maybe, if the Bush administration stopped watering down their reports and started watering down their drinks we could finally get a sober assessment of the surge.
Update: The cherry-picking continues
The White House counters the dour GAO draft report:
I guess Dana Perino neglected to read this from Sunday's Times [UK]:
The article above, which quotes the Islamic Army and their leader Ibrahim al-Shammari, also states that "the Islamic Army had signed a ceasefire with Al-Qaeda in Iraq." Funny, Ms. Perino didn't mention that bit of news today. I wonder why.
(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)
Thankfully, someone at the GAO [Government Accountability Office] leaked a draft of their dour Iraq report before the Bushies could mix in their hefty dose of spin. I'm thinking, maybe, if the Bush administration stopped watering down their reports and started watering down their drinks we could finally get a sober assessment of the surge.
Update: The cherry-picking continues
The White House counters the dour GAO draft report:
"A bar was set so high, that it was almost not to be able to be met," White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said. "On the other hand, one of the things it does not take into account, which is not on the benchmark list, is the cooperation of the Sunni tribes, who have decided to fight back against al-Qaida."
I guess Dana Perino neglected to read this from Sunday's Times [UK]:
The Islamic Army has also noted President George Bush’s comments about the success of the surge. “Bush foolishly announced to the world that all the Sunnis in Iraq were fighting Al-Qaeda so he could claim to have achieved a great victory,” Shammari said. “It’s nonsense.”
The article above, which quotes the Islamic Army and their leader Ibrahim al-Shammari, also states that "the Islamic Army had signed a ceasefire with Al-Qaeda in Iraq." Funny, Ms. Perino didn't mention that bit of news today. I wonder why.
(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)
LEGGY SUPER MODEL ELLE MACPHERSON
MY FAVORITE MODEL OF ALL TIME AND STILL COMPLETELY HOT WELL INTO HER 40'S
BRITISH COMEDY "THE AGA SAG WOMEN"
I LOVE BRITISH COMEDY, WITH AN EXPLANATION OF WHY THIS IS FUNNY YOU CAN TOO.
YOU SEE RICH PEOPLE OFTEN EMPLOY DOMESTIC HELP TO RAISE THEIR CHILDREN IN THE UK. THE CHILDREN OFTEN DEVELOP A BOND WITH THEIR "NANNY" THIS SKIT FROM THE CATHERINE TATE SHOW, EXPLORES THE BOUNDARIES OF COMIC POSSIBILITIES WHEN THE CHILDREN'S NORMAL "NANNY" IS REPLACED BY A SUBSTITUTE NANNY WHO COMES FROM A MORE RURAL REGION OF ENGLAND, WHERE THEIR LANGUAGE IS A COLORFUL COLLOQUIAL ENGLISH. ENJOY !
YOU SEE RICH PEOPLE OFTEN EMPLOY DOMESTIC HELP TO RAISE THEIR CHILDREN IN THE UK. THE CHILDREN OFTEN DEVELOP A BOND WITH THEIR "NANNY" THIS SKIT FROM THE CATHERINE TATE SHOW, EXPLORES THE BOUNDARIES OF COMIC POSSIBILITIES WHEN THE CHILDREN'S NORMAL "NANNY" IS REPLACED BY A SUBSTITUTE NANNY WHO COMES FROM A MORE RURAL REGION OF ENGLAND, WHERE THEIR LANGUAGE IS A COLORFUL COLLOQUIAL ENGLISH. ENJOY !
KARL ROVE GETS WRAPPED AT THE WHITEHOUSE
Washington - Karl Rove, your car is ready.
White House pranksters covered Rove's Jaguar in plastic wrap on the private driveway next to the West Wing. Rove's car was adorned with an "I love Barack Obama" bumper sticker and twin stuffed-animal eagles on the trunk. Oh, and there was a stuffed-animal elephant on the hood.
Rove, the top White House political strategist who recently announced his resignation, had left his car on the driveway while visiting Texas and traveling with President Bush.
He got back to the White House early Wednesday evening, ventured out to the driveway and - with a big smile - began unwrapping the car. Rove got some help from a few eager children who had come by the White House to watch Bush arrive on the South Lawn in the Marine One helicopter.
Rove seemed to assign blame for the prank to Al Hubbard, the chairman of Bush's National Economic Council. Rove playfully pointed the finger at Hubbard while the kids ripped off the plastic wrap.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Sadr's gambit
By Michael J.W. Stickings
In Iraq, I can now say with confidence, peace is at hand. I didn't think it would come, ever, but I was wrong. The U.S.-led war and occupation seemed hopelessly incompetent, if not downright ignorant, but all is now well, or soon will be. The surge has worked, Petraeus is a god, Bush was right all along, all that was needed was time, patience, fortitude, all for the greater glory of the warmongering neocons.
What could possibly have driven me to this conclusion? Consider this:
Okay, there are still the Sunni insurgents, and al Qaeda, or what calls itself al Qaeda, and various other Shia militias, and much of the Iraqi security apparatus is pro-Sadr, pro-Shia, anti-American, and more than 50 people were killed in Karbala on Tuesday, and the killing continues, mass killing, day after bloody day, and the government in Baghdad is weak and ineffectual and very much in league with Sadr and the Shia militias, and the sectarian violence is civil war, more or less, and... well, there's also this:
So -- crap! -- can I take back that opening paragraph? For a moment there I caught a fleeting glimpse of what it must be like deep inside The Bush Bubble of Righteous Delusion.
In Iraq, I can now say with confidence, peace is at hand. I didn't think it would come, ever, but I was wrong. The U.S.-led war and occupation seemed hopelessly incompetent, if not downright ignorant, but all is now well, or soon will be. The surge has worked, Petraeus is a god, Bush was right all along, all that was needed was time, patience, fortitude, all for the greater glory of the warmongering neocons.
What could possibly have driven me to this conclusion? Consider this:
Radical Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr says he is freezing the activities of his Mehdi Army militia for up to six months in order to re-organise it.
He has also called on all its offices to co-operate with the security forces and exercise "self-control".
Okay, there are still the Sunni insurgents, and al Qaeda, or what calls itself al Qaeda, and various other Shia militias, and much of the Iraqi security apparatus is pro-Sadr, pro-Shia, anti-American, and more than 50 people were killed in Karbala on Tuesday, and the killing continues, mass killing, day after bloody day, and the government in Baghdad is weak and ineffectual and very much in league with Sadr and the Shia militias, and the sectarian violence is civil war, more or less, and... well, there's also this:
Analysts see the move as an attempt by Moqtada Sadr to regain control over his increasingly divided militia.
So -- crap! -- can I take back that opening paragraph? For a moment there I caught a fleeting glimpse of what it must be like deep inside The Bush Bubble of Righteous Delusion.
Headline of the Day (climate change edition)
By Michael J.W. Stickings
Here it is:
Wait... the deniers are right?! Damn all!
Did we get it wrong? The flooding won't be as bad as we thought it would be? It's all tree-hugging propaganda and hype?
Well, no. It'll be worse:
Great.
The deniers still deny, still think they're right, still think it's all tree-hugging nonsense, still get it wrong, while projections of our common future just get worse and worse and worse, and nothing much gets done to deal with the most pressing crisis of our time, perhaps of all time.
Here it is:
Wait... the deniers are right?! Damn all!
Did we get it wrong? The flooding won't be as bad as we thought it would be? It's all tree-hugging propaganda and hype?
Well, no. It'll be worse:
Climate change may carry a higher risk of flooding than was previously thought, the journal Nature reports. [italics added]
Researchers say efforts to calculate flooding risk from climate change do not take into account the effect carbon dioxide (CO2) has on vegetation.
Higher atmospheric levels of this greenhouse gas reduce the ability of plants to suck water out of the ground and "breathe" out the excess.
Plants expel excess water through tiny pores, or stomata, in their leaves.
Their reduced ability to release water back into the atmosphere will result in the ground becoming saturated.
Great.
The deniers still deny, still think they're right, still think it's all tree-hugging nonsense, still get it wrong, while projections of our common future just get worse and worse and worse, and nothing much gets done to deal with the most pressing crisis of our time, perhaps of all time.
Loveless Larry
By Michael J.W. Stickings
Can't get enough Larry Craig? (We've posted on the latest Republican sex scandal here, here, here, and here.)
Well, his own party -- you know, the one that doesn't much care for homosexuality, nor for those who practise it -- certainly has had enough of him:
A) The Senate Republican leadership has forced Craig to "step down" (he agreed), if only "temporarily" (until he resigns, that is), from his committee assignments, notably on the Veterans Affairs Committee.
B) Two Republican senators, John McCain of Arizona and Norm Coleman of Minnesota, have called for Craig to resign. McCain: "I believe that he -- that he pled guilty and he had the opportunity to plead innocent. So I think he should resign." Coleman: "Senator Craig pled guilty to a crime involving conduct unbecoming a senator." At the other end of Capitol Hill, Peter Hoekstra, a Republican Congressman from Michigan, has also called for Craig's resignation: Craig "represents the Republican party, and I believe he should step down, as his conduct throughout this matter has been inappropriate for a U.S. senator."
**********
At TPM, David Kurtz calls this "a sign of how toxic the political environment is for Senate Republicans". It's also a sign of the regressive sexual politics of the Republican Party. (Make no mistake, it's the gay thing that matters here. Is what Craig did any worse than what, say, Newt Gingrich did?)
And Steve Benen predicts that "Craig may soon have to decide to spend more time with his family". (The question is, does his family want to spend more time with Craig?)
Once again, you can find a whole lot more over at Memeorandum.
(Check out Jon Swift's post on why conservatives seem so gay, as well as Joe Gandelman's post on how Republicans are putting a wide stance between themselves and Craig.)
Can't get enough Larry Craig? (We've posted on the latest Republican sex scandal here, here, here, and here.)
Well, his own party -- you know, the one that doesn't much care for homosexuality, nor for those who practise it -- certainly has had enough of him:
A) The Senate Republican leadership has forced Craig to "step down" (he agreed), if only "temporarily" (until he resigns, that is), from his committee assignments, notably on the Veterans Affairs Committee.
B) Two Republican senators, John McCain of Arizona and Norm Coleman of Minnesota, have called for Craig to resign. McCain: "I believe that he -- that he pled guilty and he had the opportunity to plead innocent. So I think he should resign." Coleman: "Senator Craig pled guilty to a crime involving conduct unbecoming a senator." At the other end of Capitol Hill, Peter Hoekstra, a Republican Congressman from Michigan, has also called for Craig's resignation: Craig "represents the Republican party, and I believe he should step down, as his conduct throughout this matter has been inappropriate for a U.S. senator."
**********
At TPM, David Kurtz calls this "a sign of how toxic the political environment is for Senate Republicans". It's also a sign of the regressive sexual politics of the Republican Party. (Make no mistake, it's the gay thing that matters here. Is what Craig did any worse than what, say, Newt Gingrich did?)
And Steve Benen predicts that "Craig may soon have to decide to spend more time with his family". (The question is, does his family want to spend more time with Craig?)
Once again, you can find a whole lot more over at Memeorandum.
(Check out Jon Swift's post on why conservatives seem so gay, as well as Joe Gandelman's post on how Republicans are putting a wide stance between themselves and Craig.)
Breaking News! Another bombshell -- Craig to enter rehab, cites suffering from "Restroom Leg Syndrome"
By J. Thomas Duffy
Beleaguered Republican Idaho Senator, Larry Craig, issued a statement this morning, following up on his "I am not gay" admission yesterday, indicating he will begin rehab treatment for "Restroom Leg Syndrome".
Craig did not divulge the rehab facility he will enter, nor state how long he has been inflicted with Restroom Leg Syndrome.
Nor was anything mentioned to the political future of Senator Craig, and how his treatment for Restroom Leg Syndrome would affect his ability to continue serving in office.
A spokesperson for Craig's Senate office needed to clarify, and confirm, for reporters that the Senator was not speaking on the more popular "Restless Leg Syndrome".
Restless legs syndrome (RLS, or Wittmaack-Ekbom's syndrome) "is a condition that is characterized by an irresistible urge to move one's legs. It is poorly understood [citation needed], often misdiagnosed, and believed to be a neurological disorder."
The Craig spokesperson hinted that the intense media attention over Senator Craig could be the cause, or trigger, of his RRLS.
In his statement, Craig stated that RRLS has "inflicted and burdened me, off-and-on, for years."
Neither Craig, nor his office, would respond to follow-up questions on how his "Restroom Leg Syndrome" differed, or was distinct from, "Restless Leg Syndrome".
Nor would anyone associated with Senator Craig respond to speculation that his "Restroom Leg Syndrome" came out of a conference call with the Republican Leadership, after they announced they were referring Craig's Minneapolis public restroom arrest to the Senate Ethics Committee.
There were reports circulating around Capitol Hill that former Tennessee Senator, Dr. Bill Frist, contacted Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, after viewing videotape of Craig's "I'm not gay" press conference, with the diagnosis.
"Frist was very certain," a source close to the Senate told The Garlic, "that is was very clear from the videotape Craig suffered from Restroom Leg Syndrome."
According to the source, Frist indicated that Craig "certainly seems to respond to the visual stimuli that characterizes Restroom Leg Syndrome."
Frist is said to have told the Republican Leadership that "having a wide stance" is also one of the symptoms associated with Restroom Leg Syndrome, but would need to see additional videotape to confirm that diagnosis.
The Garlic, in a search prior to posting this report, has yet to find a rehab facility that specializes in Restroom Leg Syndrome, and neither Craig's office, or the Senate Republican Leadership responded to inquires to identify such a rehab facility.
"I thought I had it under control," continued Craig, in his statement. "It's a bad disease ... A naughty disease ... It's a bad, nasty, naughty disease."
In a related matter, fellow Republican and Craig colleague, Senator David Vitters (R-LA), is expected to hold a news conference later today, to announce a change in his story, that he was too embarrassed to admit that he suffers from "Escort Service Leg Syndrome".
Bonus Restroom Leg Syndrome Links
Barry Crimmins: Today's Monolithic Headlines
The Sleuth - Mary Ann Akers: Senator Sang for Charity a Day After Arrest
It was announced today that Senator Larry Craig will enter rehab, for treatment on his "Restroom Leg Syndrome"
(Cross-posted at The Garlic.)
Beleaguered Republican Idaho Senator, Larry Craig, issued a statement this morning, following up on his "I am not gay" admission yesterday, indicating he will begin rehab treatment for "Restroom Leg Syndrome".
Craig did not divulge the rehab facility he will enter, nor state how long he has been inflicted with Restroom Leg Syndrome.
Nor was anything mentioned to the political future of Senator Craig, and how his treatment for Restroom Leg Syndrome would affect his ability to continue serving in office.
A spokesperson for Craig's Senate office needed to clarify, and confirm, for reporters that the Senator was not speaking on the more popular "Restless Leg Syndrome".
Restless legs syndrome (RLS, or Wittmaack-Ekbom's syndrome) "is a condition that is characterized by an irresistible urge to move one's legs. It is poorly understood [citation needed], often misdiagnosed, and believed to be a neurological disorder."
The Craig spokesperson hinted that the intense media attention over Senator Craig could be the cause, or trigger, of his RRLS.
In his statement, Craig stated that RRLS has "inflicted and burdened me, off-and-on, for years."
Neither Craig, nor his office, would respond to follow-up questions on how his "Restroom Leg Syndrome" differed, or was distinct from, "Restless Leg Syndrome".
Nor would anyone associated with Senator Craig respond to speculation that his "Restroom Leg Syndrome" came out of a conference call with the Republican Leadership, after they announced they were referring Craig's Minneapolis public restroom arrest to the Senate Ethics Committee.
There were reports circulating around Capitol Hill that former Tennessee Senator, Dr. Bill Frist, contacted Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, after viewing videotape of Craig's "I'm not gay" press conference, with the diagnosis.
"Frist was very certain," a source close to the Senate told The Garlic, "that is was very clear from the videotape Craig suffered from Restroom Leg Syndrome."
According to the source, Frist indicated that Craig "certainly seems to respond to the visual stimuli that characterizes Restroom Leg Syndrome."
Frist is said to have told the Republican Leadership that "having a wide stance" is also one of the symptoms associated with Restroom Leg Syndrome, but would need to see additional videotape to confirm that diagnosis.
The Garlic, in a search prior to posting this report, has yet to find a rehab facility that specializes in Restroom Leg Syndrome, and neither Craig's office, or the Senate Republican Leadership responded to inquires to identify such a rehab facility.
"I thought I had it under control," continued Craig, in his statement. "It's a bad disease ... A naughty disease ... It's a bad, nasty, naughty disease."
In a related matter, fellow Republican and Craig colleague, Senator David Vitters (R-LA), is expected to hold a news conference later today, to announce a change in his story, that he was too embarrassed to admit that he suffers from "Escort Service Leg Syndrome".
Bonus Restroom Leg Syndrome Links
Barry Crimmins: Today's Monolithic Headlines
The Sleuth - Mary Ann Akers: Senator Sang for Charity a Day After Arrest
It was announced today that Senator Larry Craig will enter rehab, for treatment on his "Restroom Leg Syndrome"
(Cross-posted at The Garlic.)
Revisiting NOLA
By Carol Gee
Today is the 2nd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina coming ashore in New Orleans, Louisiana. I dreaded writing this post and have avoided it for days. Why is it so hard to write about this? I am safe and dry, having been in my current home for years. I have no painful memories of living in Louisiana, I personally know no one who is now a member of the New Orleans Diaspora, nor do I plan to visit New Orleans any time soon. I feel ashamed that I complain about this simple difficulty. And my shame is perhaps the collective shame of a nation associated with what happened to our neighbors in New Orleans. I feel as if I know some of the people personally because KERA, our PBS station, broadcast a powerful story at 8:00 PM last night, that is still with me this morning. (See link. For scheduled rebroadcast times, click on last night's 8:00 program box.) The title is,
"Still Waiting: Life After Katrina - The story of a large New Orleans family's struggle to return home in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Today the President visits NOLA again - Our current president (OCP) will be making his predictable in-person visit. OCP has visited before. People are not impressed, because he has said lots of things about this in the past, according to Free Republic. They remain skeptical with good reason. To quote,
YOU SAID: "Out of New Orleans is going to come that great city again."
WHAT HAPPENED: Before Katrina, New Orleans had 128 public schools, only 83 have reopened. Before Katrina, the city had 13 public libraries, today it has nine. Fewer than two-thirds of pre-storm hospital beds are available. Just 98 out of the 276 child-care facilities have reopened. Only 60 percent of its pre-Katrina population of 455,000 reside in New Orleans today.
Local musicians -- the city's heart and soul -- are barely making it. Once numbering 3,000, musicians have dropped to 1,800 -- with many begging to be paid minimum wage. So desperate, a few dozen took to the streets Sunday protesting the cut-throat wages.
What remains in parts of New Orleans is a ghost of what was. Many homes are still in disrepair and unoccupied, their front stoops leading to piles of splintered two-by-fours and dangling wires.
What we're asking, Mr. President: How can New Orleans achieve greatness, when so many residents can't go home?
The private sector will not by itself be able to save New Orleans, though they were there early and have stayed long. An upbeat LA Times story was atypical of most of the big newspapers' articles. It optimistically headlined, "Old city revels in a new spirit of innovation." And according to the Boston Globe, Citizens are still trying hard to make it better. The quote from the Boston Globe story is about the Gentilly neighborhood,
Two years after their city was nearly annihilated by a massive levee failure, the residents of this New Orleans neighborhood acknowledged that their surroundings still look pretty bad. But they also insisted that things slowly are getting better. Just 31 percent of Gentilly's 16,000 addresses were reoccupied or renovated as of March, according to a survey by a Dartmouth College professor. But another 57 percent finally were being fixed up.
Private citizens, not the government, deserved the credit, they said -- a source of grim humor among those laboring to mend the neighborhood.
"Of course, we should also thank [President] George Bush, [Governor] Kathleen Blanco, and [Mayor C.] Ray Nagin," resident Robert Counce said sarcastically as the meeting wrapped up.
The renaissance in America's most beleaguered city, such that it is, is a complex, dynamic, and messy affair. Progress lives alongside stagnation; hope alongside despair.
"Where's the money?" CNN asks the question. Congress appropriated billions for hurricane relief and rebuilding. USA Today says that the pace of rebuilding depends on who pays. Much of New Orleans still resembles an abandoned war zone. And thousands of people living in other parts of the nation are still waiting for help to come home. To quote CNN,
Domestic Marshall Plan
Nobody expected the private sector to rebuild New Orleans by itself. It was assumed the federal government would step up, especially given that the worst of the damage was caused not by the hurricane but by flooding attributed to shoddy levee construction and maintenance by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
What seemed to make the most sense was a kind of domestic Marshall Plan, or at least the appointment of a politician with disaster experience who would be as empowered as Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover was when river flooding destroyed Greenville, Miss., in 1927.
What New Orleans got instead is Donald Powell, the former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Powell's title is federal coordinator of Gulf Coast rebuilding. His role is to be President Bush's ambassador to the disaster-stricken region, meaning his job is to deflect the considerable flak local residents send the feds' way.
Unlike Hoover in the 1920s, Powell has no real power, only a bully pulpit and an ability to play referee when local governments have a beef.
Hat tip to Wounded Bird for planning to attend this meeting: Rising Tide 2 Conference August 24-26, 2007. But, like many of us, she is having a lot of trouble writing about this Katrina Anniversary thing: "It's what happened to New Orleans that I can't write about," she laments. Read further at her blog.
cross-posted at South by Southwest
25 YEARS OF "TOP CELEBRITY SCANDALS" COUNTDOWN
PORNO FOR PEE-WEE
Sometimes even a kids'-show host needs to sit back, relax, loosen his bow tie...and take in a triple feature of porn. On July 26, 1991, Pee-wee's Playhouse host Paul Reubens had such a night out in Sarasota, Fla., leading to his arrest for indecent exposure. (He pled no contest and paid a fine.) Save a self-mocking MTV appearance two months later (''Heard any good jokes lately?''), Reubens laid low for the next decade.
CAREER IMPACT: MAJOR Reubens' comeback with 2001's Blow was overshadowed by a second arrest in '02, after photos of nude teens were found in his L.A. home. (He pled guilty to possession of obscenity, but maintained the photos were ''vintage erotica.'') This fall, Reubens has a recurring role on ABC's Pushing Daisies, and he's also written scripts for two more Pee-wee movies.
SEN LARRY CRAIG- "CLINTON IS A NAUGHTY BOY"
SEN LARRY"OUTHOUSE" CRAIG CALLS BILL CLINTON A NASTY NAUGHTY BOY IN 1999.
AMY WINEHOUSE - CARIBBEAN BIKINI PICS
Following a nervous breakdown which ultimately lead to a bloody slugfest with her hubby Blake Fielder Civil, British songbird Amy Winehouse enjoys some much needed R&R while on holiday in the Caribbean on Tuesday.Donning a barely-there bikini, the talented yet tortured soulstress proudly showed off her frail figure as she slowly begins her descent back to good health. I do however think a little time in rehab would be better for BOTH of them. But I suppose when you have that much money it takes a little longer to hit rock bottom.
RON JEREMY - RAPS "FREAK OF THE WEEK"
Perhaps crippled by the "been there, done that" ennui that so many people associate with their jobs, Jeremy decided to take a break from f***ing porn stars in 1996 to record a rap track with DJ Polo called "Freak of the Week." The video features cameos by Corey Feldman, John Bobbitt, Joey Buttafuoco, Grandpa Munster and a whole lot of women in thongs who hate their fathers.
WOW LOOK AT ALL THE STARS, I SAW LYNN REDGRAVE,HEDI FLIESS,SIR-MIX-ALOT,ICE-T,DR DRE,
ECT
WOW LOOK AT ALL THE STARS, I SAW LYNN REDGRAVE,HEDI FLIESS,SIR-MIX-ALOT,ICE-T,DR DRE,
ECT
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Wag the dog in desperation
By Michael J.W. Stickings
There will be war with Iran? Why? Because Bush needs it. Badly. And because the warmongering neocons need it. Badly. For Bush, it is a matter of popularity, legacy. For the neocons, it is a matter of credibility. The Iraq War has been bad for business, pretty much destroying everyone affiliated with it. And the destroyed now need to destroy. Something, anything -- and Iran is the obvious target.
And, what's worse, Bush and the warmongering neocons don't seem to have learned a thing from the Iraq War. They still think they're right about everything, Iran included.
**********
Here's the latest evidence of what is almost surely to come:
1) As the BBC is reporting, the U.S. has arrested seven Iranians in Baghdad, all with the Iranian Electricity Ministry. Iran claims they were there on business, an official visit, something about a power station. The U.S. military has refused to comment on the matter. (See also The New York Times.) The U.S. has for some time been trying to connect Iran to the violence in Iraq. Is this latest incident part of that campaign?
2) As Think Progress is reporting, Bush said in a speech to the American Legion today that "technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust". Just as Iraq was supposedly an imminent nuclear threat before the Iraq War, so is Iran now supposedly an imminent nuclear threat. Bush and his fellow warmongers got it wrong then, badly wrong. They are wrong now, and similarly irresponsible in ratcheting up the blood-curdling rhetoric. It was Bush today, but it's been Cheney in the recent past.
3) As The Raw Story is reporting, a new study (pdf) by two British security and arms experts "concludes that the US has made military preparations to destroy Iran's WMD, nuclear energy, regime, armed forces, state apparatus and economic infrastructure within days if not hours of President George W. Bush giving the order... Any attack is likely to be on a massive multi-front scale but avoiding a ground invasion."
**********
One war has been lost (Iraq), one war has been forgotten (Afghanistan), and now there may soon be a third. The record speaks for itself, but the man who launched those two wars still has the power to launch another one. War with Iran would be a terrible idea under any circumstances -- a last resort, if that. It is especially terrible given the motivating forces: desperation, personal and political alike, and righteous ideological delusion.
As the Fred Thompson character, Admiral Josh Painter, puts it so bluntly in The Hunt for Red October: "This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it."
The war, the Iran War, will be waged over there, massively, but the ramifications will be felt around the world.
If you didn't think the Bush presidency could get any worse, think again.
There will be war with Iran? Why? Because Bush needs it. Badly. And because the warmongering neocons need it. Badly. For Bush, it is a matter of popularity, legacy. For the neocons, it is a matter of credibility. The Iraq War has been bad for business, pretty much destroying everyone affiliated with it. And the destroyed now need to destroy. Something, anything -- and Iran is the obvious target.
And, what's worse, Bush and the warmongering neocons don't seem to have learned a thing from the Iraq War. They still think they're right about everything, Iran included.
**********
Here's the latest evidence of what is almost surely to come:
1) As the BBC is reporting, the U.S. has arrested seven Iranians in Baghdad, all with the Iranian Electricity Ministry. Iran claims they were there on business, an official visit, something about a power station. The U.S. military has refused to comment on the matter. (See also The New York Times.) The U.S. has for some time been trying to connect Iran to the violence in Iraq. Is this latest incident part of that campaign?
2) As Think Progress is reporting, Bush said in a speech to the American Legion today that "technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust". Just as Iraq was supposedly an imminent nuclear threat before the Iraq War, so is Iran now supposedly an imminent nuclear threat. Bush and his fellow warmongers got it wrong then, badly wrong. They are wrong now, and similarly irresponsible in ratcheting up the blood-curdling rhetoric. It was Bush today, but it's been Cheney in the recent past.
3) As The Raw Story is reporting, a new study (pdf) by two British security and arms experts "concludes that the US has made military preparations to destroy Iran's WMD, nuclear energy, regime, armed forces, state apparatus and economic infrastructure within days if not hours of President George W. Bush giving the order... Any attack is likely to be on a massive multi-front scale but avoiding a ground invasion."
**********
One war has been lost (Iraq), one war has been forgotten (Afghanistan), and now there may soon be a third. The record speaks for itself, but the man who launched those two wars still has the power to launch another one. War with Iran would be a terrible idea under any circumstances -- a last resort, if that. It is especially terrible given the motivating forces: desperation, personal and political alike, and righteous ideological delusion.
As the Fred Thompson character, Admiral Josh Painter, puts it so bluntly in The Hunt for Red October: "This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it."
The war, the Iran War, will be waged over there, massively, but the ramifications will be felt around the world.
If you didn't think the Bush presidency could get any worse, think again.
"Let me be clear: I am not gay and never have been."
By Michael J.W. Stickings
In response to THE SCANDAL, Senator Larry "Lewd Conduct" Craig basically had two options:
1) DENIAL ("I didn't do anything wrong.")
2) REPENTANCE ("I'm sorry for everything I did wrong.")
It should come as no surprise that he went with #1. He wasn't looking for sex, gay sex, in that Minnesota airport restroom. Far from it. It was all a big, huge, massive misunderstanding.
You can read his statement here (and C&L has the video here). And you can find the blogospheric reaction here.
Here's the gist of Craig's denial: He's sorry. He apologizes. He pled guilty, and one would think that was enough, but that guilty plea has brought sadness to the people he cares about, presumably people he wasn't thinking about in that washroom, tapping his foot, looking for action. He "made a poor decision" -- no, there was no lewd conduct, and he wasn't looking for any, in fact, ever. No, the "poor decision" was "to plead guilty to a lesser charge in the hope of making it go away". Which is an odd sort of mea culpa, when you think about it: Why plead guilty if you didn't do anything wrong? Was he motivated by panic? Perhaps -- but unlikely. And why not even seek counsel? Was he afraid a lawyer would spill the beans?
Anyway, yadda yadda yadda.
There's an enemy, of course -- this is what rightists do, and always have done. They don't do anything wrong, it's their enemies who do. This time it's the Idaho Statesman, which "had been relentlessly and viciously harass[ing]" Craig and his family -- yes, poor Craig family! -- for a good long time before the restroom incident.
And: "Let me be clear: I am not gay and never have been."
There's the deeper denial. All-too-predictable, of course.
He's not gay, or so he claims, AND he's a great guy, a fine heterosexual. All-too-predictable again: "I love my wife, family, friends, staff, and Idaho. I love serving Idaho in Congress. Over the years, I have accomplished a lot for Idaho, and I hope Idahoans will allow me to continue to do that." He may or may not seek re-election, and he understands that his actions "have brought a cloud over Idaho" (the guilty plea, not the lewd conduct, of which there wasn't any)," and he "ask[s] the people of Idaho for their forgiveness".
And he won't talk about it anymore. Period. It's a legal matter.
Now, look, I'm not a big fan of lewd conduct -- er, sexual activity -- in public restrooms, be it homo, hetero, or any other prefix. That some people like it and seek it out, well, that's their business, and police business. Good liberal that I am, I would prefer such conduct, such activity, to remain private. And so, really, what Craig does in private is his business, too.
The problem here is that his explanation, his excuse, is simply not credible. He may call it a big misunderstanding, he may claim that he did nothing wrong, aside from the weird guilty plea, that attempt to keep it all secret, but it's his word against the word of a police officer, a plainclothesman who seems to know a thing or two about lewd conduct in public restrooms. Who is more credible -- a police officer doing his job or a conservative politician desperate not to have a gay sex scandal destroy his image and career?
Let me be clear about something, too: I find nothing wrong with gay sex. I find nothing wrong with what Craig was looking for, beyond the obvious concerns regarding anonymous sex. What I find wrong here is that what Craig was doing is illegal, that he has insulted us (including his constituents) with a lame excuse that includes the requisite scapegoat, and that, more seriously, he is a conservative Republican bigot with respect to homosexuality. He is a reprehensible man -- not because he's gay (and he may or may not be: looking for gay sex, having gay sex, and even enjoying gay sex do not make one gay -- sexuality is far more complicated than that), but because he's a hypocrite and a bigot, because he loiters in washrooms looking for some cock action even as he talks up "family values" and bangs the drum against gay rights.
And I do not at all feel sorry for him that he lives with such self-denial, self-loathing, self-hatred. It must be a nightmarish closet that he inhabits, but he deserves it.
In response to THE SCANDAL, Senator Larry "Lewd Conduct" Craig basically had two options:1) DENIAL ("I didn't do anything wrong.")
2) REPENTANCE ("I'm sorry for everything I did wrong.")
It should come as no surprise that he went with #1. He wasn't looking for sex, gay sex, in that Minnesota airport restroom. Far from it. It was all a big, huge, massive misunderstanding.
You can read his statement here (and C&L has the video here). And you can find the blogospheric reaction here.
Here's the gist of Craig's denial: He's sorry. He apologizes. He pled guilty, and one would think that was enough, but that guilty plea has brought sadness to the people he cares about, presumably people he wasn't thinking about in that washroom, tapping his foot, looking for action. He "made a poor decision" -- no, there was no lewd conduct, and he wasn't looking for any, in fact, ever. No, the "poor decision" was "to plead guilty to a lesser charge in the hope of making it go away". Which is an odd sort of mea culpa, when you think about it: Why plead guilty if you didn't do anything wrong? Was he motivated by panic? Perhaps -- but unlikely. And why not even seek counsel? Was he afraid a lawyer would spill the beans?
Anyway, yadda yadda yadda.
There's an enemy, of course -- this is what rightists do, and always have done. They don't do anything wrong, it's their enemies who do. This time it's the Idaho Statesman, which "had been relentlessly and viciously harass[ing]" Craig and his family -- yes, poor Craig family! -- for a good long time before the restroom incident.
And: "Let me be clear: I am not gay and never have been."
There's the deeper denial. All-too-predictable, of course.
He's not gay, or so he claims, AND he's a great guy, a fine heterosexual. All-too-predictable again: "I love my wife, family, friends, staff, and Idaho. I love serving Idaho in Congress. Over the years, I have accomplished a lot for Idaho, and I hope Idahoans will allow me to continue to do that." He may or may not seek re-election, and he understands that his actions "have brought a cloud over Idaho" (the guilty plea, not the lewd conduct, of which there wasn't any)," and he "ask[s] the people of Idaho for their forgiveness".
And he won't talk about it anymore. Period. It's a legal matter.
Now, look, I'm not a big fan of lewd conduct -- er, sexual activity -- in public restrooms, be it homo, hetero, or any other prefix. That some people like it and seek it out, well, that's their business, and police business. Good liberal that I am, I would prefer such conduct, such activity, to remain private. And so, really, what Craig does in private is his business, too.
The problem here is that his explanation, his excuse, is simply not credible. He may call it a big misunderstanding, he may claim that he did nothing wrong, aside from the weird guilty plea, that attempt to keep it all secret, but it's his word against the word of a police officer, a plainclothesman who seems to know a thing or two about lewd conduct in public restrooms. Who is more credible -- a police officer doing his job or a conservative politician desperate not to have a gay sex scandal destroy his image and career?
Let me be clear about something, too: I find nothing wrong with gay sex. I find nothing wrong with what Craig was looking for, beyond the obvious concerns regarding anonymous sex. What I find wrong here is that what Craig was doing is illegal, that he has insulted us (including his constituents) with a lame excuse that includes the requisite scapegoat, and that, more seriously, he is a conservative Republican bigot with respect to homosexuality. He is a reprehensible man -- not because he's gay (and he may or may not be: looking for gay sex, having gay sex, and even enjoying gay sex do not make one gay -- sexuality is far more complicated than that), but because he's a hypocrite and a bigot, because he loiters in washrooms looking for some cock action even as he talks up "family values" and bangs the drum against gay rights.
And I do not at all feel sorry for him that he lives with such self-denial, self-loathing, self-hatred. It must be a nightmarish closet that he inhabits, but he deserves it.
Top Ten Cloves: Things about admitting you have a wide stance
By J. Thomas Duffy
News Item: Craig Arrested, Pleads Guilty Following Incident in Airport Restroom
10. Nothing like an airport's public restroom that makes you want to stretch out and widen your stance
9. When visiting Minneapolis, the "Twin Cities", you like to widen your stance just a little bit more
8. Bouts of irritation when breaking in a new pair of leather pants
7. Causes you to, uncontrollably, tap your foot in the public restroom stall next to you
6. Teasing from your colleagues, how they are going to have to renovate the Senate aisles to accommodate your wide stance
5. Difficulty fitting into average American public restroom stall
4. Once admitting you have a wide stance, confuses your constituents when an issue comes up and you say you're taking a stance on it
3. The need of a really snappy line, when you whip out your business card ... Something like “What do you think about that?”
2. Gives you self-doubts, like, instead of a wide stance, maybe you'd be better off just going with a massage and some crystal meth
1. Makes it easier to spot pieces of paper on a public restroom floor
Bonus Larry Craig Links
Idaho Statesman: Men's room arrest reopens questions about Sen. Larry Craig
Barry Crimmins: Wide footprints to fill
(Cross-posted at The Garlic)
News Item: Craig Arrested, Pleads Guilty Following Incident in Airport Restroom
10. Nothing like an airport's public restroom that makes you want to stretch out and widen your stance
9. When visiting Minneapolis, the "Twin Cities", you like to widen your stance just a little bit more
8. Bouts of irritation when breaking in a new pair of leather pants
7. Causes you to, uncontrollably, tap your foot in the public restroom stall next to you
6. Teasing from your colleagues, how they are going to have to renovate the Senate aisles to accommodate your wide stance
5. Difficulty fitting into average American public restroom stall
4. Once admitting you have a wide stance, confuses your constituents when an issue comes up and you say you're taking a stance on it
3. The need of a really snappy line, when you whip out your business card ... Something like “What do you think about that?”
2. Gives you self-doubts, like, instead of a wide stance, maybe you'd be better off just going with a massage and some crystal meth
1. Makes it easier to spot pieces of paper on a public restroom floor
Bonus Larry Craig Links
Idaho Statesman: Men's room arrest reopens questions about Sen. Larry Craig
Barry Crimmins: Wide footprints to fill
(Cross-posted at The Garlic)
Defective
By Capt. Fogg
said Representative Rick Larsen, a Democrat from Washington State.
Larson and Representative Mark Kirk (R-IL) are in China this week as co-chairs of the U.S.-China Working Group. Kirk, who had been pushing hard for more trade with China, recently introduced a bill in congress that would increase fines for defective Chinese products by one hundred times.
China has been cracking down on toy manufacturers, according to China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and to a degree that will likely never be seen in the US where unscrupulous or careless business practices do not earn the death penalty and sometimes result in government appointments. I don't think anyone at Mattel will go to jail.
It's been less than a week since a defective Boeing 737 owned by China Airlines blew up on the tarmac in Okinawa. You can't get more personal than that for the Chinese, I would imagine; considering the discomfort and inconvenience of being burned alive. I'm sure that before long, some heads will roll at Boeing so that China does not have to embargo any more dangerous and shoddy American goods as they do with American beef, or begin to demand massive fines of the US Government for what Boeing does and so that some Lou Dobbs equivalent at the Xinhua News agency doesn't become apoplectic about The Americans trying to kill them all.
(Cross-posted at The Impolitic.)
"You can't get more personal than that for Americans, and so it does need to be addressed,"
said Representative Rick Larsen, a Democrat from Washington State.
"It's about your child and it's about your pet and it's about food on the table."
Larson and Representative Mark Kirk (R-IL) are in China this week as co-chairs of the U.S.-China Working Group. Kirk, who had been pushing hard for more trade with China, recently introduced a bill in congress that would increase fines for defective Chinese products by one hundred times.
China has been cracking down on toy manufacturers, according to China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and to a degree that will likely never be seen in the US where unscrupulous or careless business practices do not earn the death penalty and sometimes result in government appointments. I don't think anyone at Mattel will go to jail.
It's been less than a week since a defective Boeing 737 owned by China Airlines blew up on the tarmac in Okinawa. You can't get more personal than that for the Chinese, I would imagine; considering the discomfort and inconvenience of being burned alive. I'm sure that before long, some heads will roll at Boeing so that China does not have to embargo any more dangerous and shoddy American goods as they do with American beef, or begin to demand massive fines of the US Government for what Boeing does and so that some Lou Dobbs equivalent at the Xinhua News agency doesn't become apoplectic about The Americans trying to kill them all.
(Cross-posted at The Impolitic.)
"He aggressively and successfully pursued public corruption..."
By J. Thomas Duffy
Darn it!
I was all set to write an analogy of the Crony General's resignation using a baseball motif:
I intended to point out how, as he fleeced the city of Arlington, Texas, for a new baseball stadium, The Uniter Guy, in his oil man/baseball owner days, should have spent more time learning the game.
Not that the Crony General wasn't pitching a perfect game ... Perfectly abysmal, that is.
The Commander Guy might have picked up that you don't leave your starting pitcher in there, when he's being hit like it's batting practice.
But, then I went and read "President Bush Discusses Resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales" (h/t Barry Crimmins) and one line jumped out;
"He aggressively and successfully pursued public corruption..."
Boy, did he... with flying colors!
Take your pick... His bedpan voyeurism of badgering the sick, doped-up Kaiser Ashcroft... Torture... Wiretapping... The firing of the U.S. Attorneys... Painting the walls of the Injustice Department RNC Red and personally altering -- like Nathan Detroit and a racetrack tote board -- the work-placement averages of the Pat Robertson Law School...
And there was the other angle, of the Bush Grindhouse continuing to stagger like a freshman nerd taking his first swigs out of the brown-bottled GIQ.
Firing, excuse me, "reluctantly accepted his resignation", the Crony General on the Monday before the Labor Day weekend?
Anybody left in the Grindhouse that knows how to read a calendar?
A Friday Dump on this one, man, the havoc that would have caused ... MSNBC probably wouldn't have it until Tuesday, not wanting to muck with their mega-holiday-Doc-Blocs.
So, why would they pull the plug on the Crony General on a Monday?
As we did when the Blossom Turd pulled his smear-laden tent up and left town, what needed to be buried this week ...
Two things will dominate the news this week:
The Crony General, from the scandals, to the swappin' spit-brotherly love stories of him and The Decider Guy.
And, who will replace the Crony General... Who will be Crony General No. 2?
While it is fanciful to talk about "putting standards" on the nominee, and how the next Crony General will have to "uphold the rule-of- law first", let's get real.
With the list of potentially-indictable crimes hanging over their heads, the next one will be lamer that Gonzales.
I just have a gut feeling about it.
"Mr. Chertoff... They're cueing you ... "
Bonus Crony General Links
Andrew Cohen: Good Riddance
Bush Loyalist Helped Shape Signature Anti-Terror Policies
Top Ten Cloves: How It Would Be Different If Alberto Gonzales Was The Head of March Madness
Alberto Gonzales Sings 'Justice For Sale'
(Cross-posted at The Garlic)
Darn it!
I was all set to write an analogy of the Crony General's resignation using a baseball motif:
"Tell them I'm through, for love of the game"
-- Billy Chapel, from the movie For The Love of the Game
I intended to point out how, as he fleeced the city of Arlington, Texas, for a new baseball stadium, The Uniter Guy, in his oil man/baseball owner days, should have spent more time learning the game.
Not that the Crony General wasn't pitching a perfect game ... Perfectly abysmal, that is.
The Commander Guy might have picked up that you don't leave your starting pitcher in there, when he's being hit like it's batting practice.
But, then I went and read "President Bush Discusses Resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales" (h/t Barry Crimmins) and one line jumped out;
"He aggressively and successfully pursued public corruption..."
Boy, did he... with flying colors!
Take your pick... His bedpan voyeurism of badgering the sick, doped-up Kaiser Ashcroft... Torture... Wiretapping... The firing of the U.S. Attorneys... Painting the walls of the Injustice Department RNC Red and personally altering -- like Nathan Detroit and a racetrack tote board -- the work-placement averages of the Pat Robertson Law School...
And there was the other angle, of the Bush Grindhouse continuing to stagger like a freshman nerd taking his first swigs out of the brown-bottled GIQ.
Firing, excuse me, "reluctantly accepted his resignation", the Crony General on the Monday before the Labor Day weekend?
Anybody left in the Grindhouse that knows how to read a calendar?
A Friday Dump on this one, man, the havoc that would have caused ... MSNBC probably wouldn't have it until Tuesday, not wanting to muck with their mega-holiday-Doc-Blocs.
So, why would they pull the plug on the Crony General on a Monday?
As we did when the Blossom Turd pulled his smear-laden tent up and left town, what needed to be buried this week ...
- The pre-coronation of Ayad Allawi, with the big assist from Grindhouse-soaked Barbour Griffith and Rogers
- A little distance from the Friar's Roast of Terrorists/Lessons of Vietnam speech last week
- The continually-deflating impact of the Petraeus Report
Two things will dominate the news this week:
The Crony General, from the scandals, to the swappin' spit-brotherly love stories of him and The Decider Guy.
And, who will replace the Crony General... Who will be Crony General No. 2?
While it is fanciful to talk about "putting standards" on the nominee, and how the next Crony General will have to "uphold the rule-of- law first", let's get real.
With the list of potentially-indictable crimes hanging over their heads, the next one will be lamer that Gonzales.
I just have a gut feeling about it.
"Mr. Chertoff... They're cueing you ... "
Bonus Crony General Links
Andrew Cohen: Good Riddance
Bush Loyalist Helped Shape Signature Anti-Terror Policies
Top Ten Cloves: How It Would Be Different If Alberto Gonzales Was The Head of March Madness
Alberto Gonzales Sings 'Justice For Sale'
(Cross-posted at The Garlic)
25 YEARS OF "TOP CELEBRITY SCANDALS" COUNTDOWN
MADONNA PUSHES HER OWN BUTTONS
Her Madgesty's hyphenate could easily read ''singer/actress/pisser-offer of the powers that be.'' And on the massively successful Blond Ambition tour in 1990, Madonna's antic — including simulated masturbation on stage — angered Pope John Paul II and the Vatican, who publicly condemned the singer's unholy performance. On the Canadian leg of the tour, Toronto police even threatened to arrest the Material Girl for indecency. In response, she cheerfully included ''the fascist state of Toronto'' in her preshow prayers (as captured in the 1991 tour doc Truth or Dare) — and refused to alter a thing.
CAREER IMPACT: POSITIVE The papal disapprobation only enhanced her taboo-taunting persona. The same year, she released a greatest-hits collection, as well as a little single called ''Vogue.''
RARE BLOOD RED MOON TONIGHT ! ! !
More RARE than a blue moon, the moon is set to turn blood red tonight in a free night spectacular.
CHECK OUT NASA'S BREAKDOWN OF THE ECLIPSE
The moon eclipse will be visible in Melbourne from 6.52pm tonight, with the total eclipse from 7.52pm to 9.22pm.
In the first such occurrence since 2000, the Earth will block the sun's light shining on the moon, allowing only scattered sunlight to illuminate the planet's biggest satellite.
Stargazers can expect the moon to shift between shades of red, orange and yellow, as the atmosphere filters out most of the blue light.
The colours will depend on the extent of volcanic gas and dust in the atmosphere filtering the light.
Senior weather forecaster James Taylor said today the best views of the astronomical event would be in Melbourne's northern and north-western suburbs.
"There is some moisture moving in so there is likely to be some low level cloud out tonight, but there's no need to throw in the towel, because there is reasonable chance that there will be breaks in the cover," Mr Taylor said.
The lunar eclipse is visible at full moon when the sun, Earth and moon are perfectly aligned.
The last total eclipse was on July 16, 2000, according to Perry Vlahos from the Astronomical Society of Victoria.
"This is a lucky occurrence, especially because it's happening at a good time for kids and grown-ups alike to be able to enjoy," Mr Vlahos said.
He said those who wished to see the eclipse did not need any special equipment.
``All you need to do is walk outside and make sure you have an uninterrupted view of the eastern horizon,'' Mr Vlahos said.
The Astronomical Society of Victoria has invited the public to view the eclipse through telescopes, which will be set up from the top deck of the Ikea car park in Richmond from 6pm.
Dr Tania Hill, a Melbourne Planetarium astronomer, said it was completely safe to watch a lunar eclipse.
Ancient Chinese astronomers believed the eclipse showed the moon being consumed by celestial dragons.
Astrologers believe the full moon eclipse represent the time of endings, often in which we are forced to release attachments or relationships that are diverting us from our destiny.
The eclipse will be visible across the Pacific rim from Australia's east coast to the west coast of the American continent.
If you miss this one, the next total eclipse will not occur until 2011.
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