Elizabeth Edwards on Ann Coulter
Because decent people objected....
« May 2007 | Main | July 2007 »
June 29, 2007
McDermott calls for articles of impeachment
Yesterday on the floor of the House, Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA) called for the impeachment of Dick Cheney. He became the tenth co-sponsor of of H.RES.333, a bill from Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) that introduces 3 Articles of Impeachment against the...
Peter Pace Gets All Touchy Feely on Iraq
Rule number one in project management is to identify measurable goals. You know, things you can see and track. Results! Without them you wander around forever guessing as to whether you're succeeding and making up strategies without knowing their...
Bush Looks to Next Two Years, World Shutters
I love that these two headlines accompany each other on CNN's homepage: U.N. shuts down Iraq WMD unit Focus turns to Bush's final 2 years in office Yes, after four and a half years of war, over 3,500 US troops...
Another call for Cheney impeachment
In a recent op-ed piece on Slate, Bruce Fein - the former Reagan Associate Deputy Attorney General - gets right to the point: The House judiciary committee should commence an impeachment inquiry. As Alexander Hamilton advised in the Federalist Papers,...
Who's Been Doing Bong Hits for Jesus?
So, if you haven't heard by now, the majority-Republican-appointee Supreme Court of the United States recently ruled that a high school student had no right to display a banner that read, "Bong Hits for Jesus" at his high school....
June 28, 2007
Whitman: Another lying Republican
In the final Washington Post expose on Cheney, we learned that Christine Todd Whitman, Bush's first EPA administrator, was lying when she said she was resigning to spend more time with her family. It turns out, it was because of...
Coulter Loses Her Shit on MSNBC
Like GLONO founder Jake Brown, I hate that she gets as much attention as she does but like it or not, Ann Coulter is a major player in conservative politics and to ignore her here would be ignoring an extremely...
Meet Prisoner 28301-016
He's not yet in custody, but Scooter Libby is in the system....
More funding for Amtrak
An editorial in the Grand Rapids Press endorses more funding and support for Amtrak as part of the solution to our energy and global warming crisis. I couldn't agree more. According to the editorial, ridership on the Grand Rapids-Chicago line...
Obama in Q2: 138,000 more donors
While they're not yet saying how much money they've raised in the second quarter, the Obama campaign says they've accumulated 138,000 more donors so far. They hope to move that number up to 150,000 by the end of the quarter...
Dems: Investigate the salmon killer
In a Cheney-related post yesterday, I wondered if anything would come of the WashPo expose on Cheney. Probably around the same time I was writing that, 36 House Democrats - most from the West Coast - called for a hearing...
June 27, 2007
American Idiot
Ann Coulter gets the smackdown. You're watching haaaaaardball....
Dick Cheney kills 77,000 salmon
The final piece in the Washington Post's four part series on Cheney came out today. It is, in some ways, the most damning of the four. But maybe that's just my perspective. As the other pieces did, this one chronicles...
Tearing Down the Wall
Since the earliest days of the United States of America, the idea that religion should be separate from the state has been a cornerstone of American society. Indeed, it is what allows true freedom of religion; that is, the freedom...
June 26, 2007
Ex-Interior official gets 10 months
Steven Giles, who used to be the Deputy Secretary of the Interior under Gale Norton, was sentenced to 10 months in prison today. He admitted to lying to the Senate about his relationship with Jack Abramoff, and is now the...
Rudy Playing to the Dummies
Among the many, many troubling habits in the Bush administration's culture of mediocrity is its preference to employ less than the best and brightest among us. I don't know if it's a product of our C student CEO-in-Chief, or what,...
Can despair sleep? Daily Show on Cheney
It's a Cheney lovefest here at POLJUNK today. Here's some more Cheney related goodness:...
Dick Cheney is evil, part III
The third part of the Washington Post expose on Cheney is out today. This one focuses on his role in domestic policy, particularly on his important role in pushing through the sickening tax cuts for the rich this administration championed....
NYT: "Three Bad Rulings" by the Supremes
The New York Times editorial board made some staffing changes in early January 2007, and it shows. The editorials they've been producing since then are insightful, to the point, and they don't pull punches - especially as far as the...
Don't cut down that tree!
According to an NPR piece this morning, "one-fifth of all greenhouse gases comes from forests that are cut down and burned to make way for crops or pasture." That's not good - 20% of the world's carbon emissions come from...
June 25, 2007
The Cheney way: just don't call it torture
Believe it or not, I was listening to Rush's Caress of Steel as I was reading the second piece in the Washington Post series on Cheney. There's a song on that record called Necromancer, and it's actually a fitting description...
No Bong Hits 4 Jesus, after all
'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' case limits student rights. Boo. The justices ruled 6-3 that Frederick's free speech rights were not violated by his suspension over what the majority's written opinion called a "sophomoric" banner. "It was reasonable for (the principal)...
Princeton professors' climate change game
NPR ran a piece on Morning Edition this morning about a climate change game that starkly lays out the challenges we face over the next 50 years. But there's a positive spin - part of the goal is to show...
June 24, 2007
More calls for change to farm policy
There are a few editorials out there this weekend that call for big changes to the farm bill that will be voted on this year. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which calls out the fact that there are about $22 billion...
Friedman: Senate energy bill is weak
In Sunday's New York Times, Thomas Friedman calls last week's Senate energy bill a baby that "only a lobbyist could love." True, it's the first energy bill to raise fuel efficiency standards in twenty years, but it's still too little,...
Cheney and his bad behavior
It wasn't that long ago that Dick Cheney was chastising Speaker of the House Pelosi for her supposed "bad behavior." But frankly, Cheney is at the top of the heap when it comes to bad behavior in Washington. Pelosi has...
June 23, 2007
LA Times: Cheney arguments scary, specious, ludicrous
The big news in Washington the past couple of days has been Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that his office is, in fact, a unique fourth branch of government, not subject to the rules and laws that govern either the...
June 22, 2007
NYT Ad: Impeach the bastards
In today's New York Times, there is a full page ad on page A9 that leads with the following headline: 2008 IS TOO LATE Too late for what? Too late for getting Bush and Cheney out of office. So it's...
Conyers: Respond to subpoenas, or face contempt
Yesterday, Representative John Conyers (D-MI) let the White House know that they will face contempt of Congress charges if they don't respond to subpoenas related to the U.S. attorney purge case by June 28th. Specifically, Chief of Staff Josh Bolten,...
June 21, 2007
Trent Lott on electric fences
Could it be true? Is Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) reading POLJUNK again? Based on a statement he made about electric fences, I'm afraid he may be taking my satirical suggestion that we electrify fences on the border a bit too...
You may know Arabic, but you're too gay for us...
According to this article, the U.S. military has dismissed at least 59 Arabic linguists in recent years because they are gay. Which is shocking and infuriating, given the limited number of U.S. Arabic linguists in the military and their importance...
Canon tops climate scorecard, Amazon and Apple at the bottom
An organization called Climate Counts does an annual scorecard of how corporations are doing (or not doing) in the battle against global warming. They use 22 different criteria for the scoring. I'm not clear on how they pick the companies...
June 20, 2007
New Wyoming Senator not Lynne Cheney
Good news! Lynne Cheney - wife of the Dark Lord himself - is not in the running to replace recently deceased Wyoming Senator Craig Thomas. Rumor had it that she might throw her name into the ring, and as I...
Fences are stupid, part deux
Many in South Texas are up in arms about proposed border fencing. And rightly so. As currently conceived by the federal government, the fence will put part of the UT Brownsville campus on the "Mexican side" of the fence and...
Bush to veto stem cell bill
The president again demonstrates his contempt for science with a planned veto of another stem cell bill. It plays well with his base - which would like to return us to pre-Enlightenment days - but 70% of Americans want more...
A Tragic Legacy
There's a great Glenn Greenwald piece up on Salon right now detailing how Bush's moral certitude has left the United States, and upon which everything this country was founded, in a shambles. A Tragic Legacy Excerpt: One of the principal...
Giuliani S.C. Campaign chair indicted on cocaine charges
As George Bush might say, politics is hard work. So it's no wonder that South Carolina State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel appears to have a serious cocaine problem. He has been accused of "buying less than 500 grams of the drug...
June 19, 2007
Bloomberg ditches the G.O.P.
Earlier today, I said Michael Bloomberg was my favorite Republican - one of the two I have any admiration for. That was pretty short lived. Bloomberg announced today that he is leaving the GOP. Independent run for the presidency, anyone?...
Scalia Defends Jack bauer on Torture
The argument for placing conservatives on the Supreme Court has always been that they would interpret the Constitution in the strictest manner—that is, they would apply the law as it is written and not find unwritten meaning to suit a...
White House Blames Clinton for Emails
So, not only did White House aides (including Karl Rove) use Republican National Committee and Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign emails for official business—which in itself is against the law—and not only did they later destroy emails from certain staffer—also against the...
The Clintons vs. The Sopranos
The Hillary Clinton campaign takes on the talk of the town with a sorta funny send-up of the Sopranos finale. Concept: B+ Execution: C Acting: Bill (D); Hillary (F)...
Bloomberg: The U.S. is "really in trouble"
During an appearance at Google headquarters in Mountain View, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg pulled no punches in his assessment of Washington, D.C., and the state of the union. According to Bloomberg, the reputation of the U.S. "has been hurt very...
Maine caps emissions, Florida pretends they have enough water
In state news, Maine has passed a bill that will cap carbon emissions at 5.9 million tons in 2009, and reduce them by 10% by 2019. Maine is the third state to pass such a law, and Maine is also...
June 18, 2007
Southern Baptists question global warming
Last week at their annual convention, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution that questions the human impact on global warming, and calls for no government limits on greenhouse gas emissions. The resolution urges Southern Baptists to "proceed cautiously in...
June 14, 2007
Chicago considers "congestion fee"?
Also on Wednesday, a Chicago alderman - Edward Burke - introduced a resolution that calls for hearings on the concept of a "congestion fee". The idea is to charge a fee to drivers in downtown Chicago. Said Burke: Can it...
House passes gun control measure
On Wednesday, the House voted to pass a bill that will provide grant money to states to update the national database that gun dealers use for background checks. If the Senate follows suit - and they are likely to do...
June 12, 2007
Instant Karma: Save Darfur
Today, Amnesty International released a collection of John Lennon covers by the likes of U2, Black Eyed Peas, and even Christina Aguilera, the goal of which is to bring more attention to the genocide going on in Darfur and fund...
Let's drop the bomb. The gay bomb, that is...
Yes, it's true. The Pentagon actually considered trying to develop a non-lethal bomb that would turn enemy troops into drooling, foaming at the mouth, sex obsessed.... gay boys. Back in 1994, a research lab in Ohio (where else?) sought $7.5...
June 11, 2007
That's What I Say!
Bush at a press conference on Saturday: Q: And on the deadline [for Kosovo independence]? Bush: In terms of the deadline, there needs to be one. This needs to come — this needs to happen. Now it's time, in our...
Appeals Court Stomps Bush Case for Illegal Dentions
"In the United States, the military cannot seize and imprison civilians -- let alone imprison them indefinitely." -- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. That we needed an appeals court to remind us of this is a...
Connecticut may legalize medical marijuana
On June 1st, the Connecticut State Senate voted to pass a law legalizing medical use of marijuana for certain debilitating medical conditions, 23 to 13. The State House voted in favor of the same bill on May 23, 89 to...
50 MPG by 2017
Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) - one of about 30 Democratic Senators making a bid for the presidency - has the boldest plan for addressing global warming. And he knows it. Among other things, it calls for all automobiles to get...
June 09, 2007
No-confidence vote on Monday
In their latest move against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Senate Democrats will introduce a no-confidence measure against him on Monday. It's unlikely to achieve 60 votes, and even if it did, it's still primarily a gesture. But it also forces...
June 08, 2007
Pace out as Joint Chiefs Chair
Earlier today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Pace was out as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And Navy Admiral Mike Mullen is in. This is a typical Rovian maneuver to bury important news - quietly announce it on...
For first time, Virgin runs on biodiesel
On Thursday, the first train in Europe powered by biodiesel (at least in part) had its maiden voyage. Virgin Trains, part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, has modified a train to run on 20% biodiesel as a part of a...
Friday video fun with Dick and Don
Frontline has been running a lot of web ads, at least on the news sites I frequent, for a Frontline piece about Dick Cheney called The Dark Side. You can watch the whole thing online. I found a particularly juicy...