Wake up!!
Mood:  cheeky
Now Playing: Angry Young Man -Styx
Today,
I am generally chipper. Not much in the news to iritate me. Well of course I always find something. Today's rant will be rather short as none of my viewing public has saw fit to egg me on. Chickens. Anyway. New topics, oh yeah!
The FEC is actually looking at banning this form of free speech or at least limiting it. They are about to decide that this is an in-kind political contribution and should be regulated.. Of course I double dog dare them to try and regulate me. I will voice my opinions regaurdless of their decisions. I am not aiming to be a poster boy for the first amendment but I will not be silenced either. The other big news of the day is the outing of "deep throat" while the historical significance of this is not lost on me I am much more concerned about the sources of Robert Novack. The Valerie Plame case took another turn last friday when no one was paying attention. A Judge has ruled that two of Novack's sources don't have to reveal their sources. That is as I understand it. I may have missed a few things but the general gist is correct. Typically I would agree with this decision as it falls under the freedom of the press issue however, A federal agent's identity was compromised. That is a federal crime. Worse yet it appears to have been done as retribution for criticism of this administrations vetting of Mr. Bush's State of the union speech where he advanced the fallacy of Iraq attempting to purchase uranium. Valerie Plame is married to Richard Clark the man who debunked this false intelligence. It sure seems like payback to me. We have been promised a thorough investigation by Mr. Bush. That was last summer. And still time marches on......

One more issue,
The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday defended the administrations handling of the John Bolton confirmation. Even agree with the administration that Senators have all the information that they need for the process. Apparently some Senators do not agree and want to look at the NSA records that Mr. Bolton has handled carelessly. I would think that such a blatant disregaurd for security protocol would be a relevent issue. The saying "loose lips sink ships' ring any bells. If this man can not be trusted to properly protect security of classified intelligence how can we rely on him in the corrupt united nations. Again I implore you to harass your representitives and senators. Till next time one of my favorite quotes.
"Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism" - Thomas Jefferson
TWR

A long week
Mood:  loud
Now Playing: Piss on the Wall
Topic: still pissed off
Today has been a busy day. Let's see all of the things you need to hear.

The delay of the confirmation of John Bolton as United Nations ambassador.
As I understand this the democrats are waiting for documentation showing the Mr. Bolton has misused intelligence. If these new allegations are true they pose a serious problem for Bolton. The republicans are already spinning this. They are saying that it is unbelievably partisan especially after the deal on the filibuster. Democrats are saying they are waiting on documents from the administration so they can determine how serious these allegations are. They accuse the administration of stonewalling. I tend to believe them because the administrations mouthpiece Scott McClellan has said "They have what they need." I think that if Senators want more information about how he has misused NSA information that would be relevant to the confirmation process. McClellan went on to spin "Just 72 hours after all the goodwill and bipartisanship, it is a shame to see the Democratic Senate Leadership resort back to such a partisan approach" What a hack. This man deserves a raise. He's doing the GOPS bidding. I hope that there is a special punishment in the afterlife for chumps like him. Once again this week I must applaud a republican. Senator George Voinovich from Ohio has gone on record as opposing Bolton's nomination. He is already paying the price. Karl Rove's minions have started running ads against him and word on the street is that the GOP is looking for someone to run against him in his primary challenge. I respect the man for speaking his mind despite great political pressure to just go with the flow. If this Administration really wants to improve our standing in the UN we might start by paying long over due dues.
In other developments one of Tom Delay's cronies for campaign finance abuses. These abuses are related to a political action committee that he founded, TRMPAC. This Pac solicited corporate donations from Phillip Morris, Bacardi, AT&T and Sears. The money raised from this PAC allowed the GOP to win more seats in the Texas house which eventually redrew congressional districts in the state. This practice, known as Gerrymandering, allowed the republicans to enjoy a larger majority in the federal house of Representatives. I am not sure how this will all play out. There are still criminal charges in Texas that have to be addressed. I would imagine that this will go all the way to Delay. Unless one of his supporters fall's on a sword for him. I guess that there might have been a need for the ethics panel investigation that stalled when he appointed more favorable congressmen that would bend the rules for him. Remember these are the people that scream personal responsibility until they are caught being irresponsible. No one is above the Law. As if he didn't have enough trouble, NBC took a shot at him in it's program Law and Order. It incensed him enough to send a snide letter to the show's creator Dick Wolfe. Why doesn't he save us all a lot of time and money and resign now.

And finally, when the social security act was signed into law back in 1935 there were assurance that this would not lead to a national id card system because some fascist regimes had used national id's to ferret out opposition. There were guarantee's that this new national program could not be abused in a similar fashion. There is a proposal in the US house of representatives to replace the old paper social security cards with plastic laminated cards equipped with magnetic strips and pictures. Proponents are claiming that this will reduce identity theft and solve the problem of illegal alien workers. I am skeptical and suggest that you write your representatives denouncing this plan.

As always I'm here to help. Please pass this on to your like minded friends or terrify those red staters with some overdue common sense.
TWR

Compromise my ass
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: Uncle Johns Band
Topic: surly
I have heard of the compromise on Mr. Bush's court nominee's. I first want to applaud Senator Reid. His is a thankless job. I hope the DNC rewards him well. He is the one of the few men in this country standing up for the little guy. I also think that John McCain is a stand up guy for contributing to the compromise. He obviously understands the need for minority rights in our system of government. What a statesman. He is also a sure bet to kick Bill Frist ass for the republican nomination. I just hope we can nominate a strong canidate to undo the damage the current administration has inflicted upon America. One last thought. Maybe W shouldn't be so quick to denounce federally funded stem cell research. It may provide him with a cure for terminal stupidity.

What has the president done for you
Mood:  incredulous
Now Playing: Billy Covington --the great divide
Topic: more specific grumpiness
Last night I heard cokie roberts advance her opinion of trust in the president. The compromise over the cry baby option makes a little sense. As a die hard yellow dog democrat I say save your bullets for the big battles. There will be a opening on the supreme court. Save your arrows. There are only so many in the quiver. We have other battles to focus on. The social security battle is just been declared. President Bush may have advanced his opinion that we need to adress the issue during his state of the Union but he just declared war weeks ago. The idea that social security ought to be means tested his the second front in his war to dismantle it. After declaring war, his means testing idea that he doesn't have the balls to put into a bill is an attempt to develop resentment for social security from the higher income brackets. The beauty of social security is that everyone contributes everyone benefits. While there may be some substance to arguements about the solvency of this program this is not the way to address it. The way to address it would to be as fiscally conservative as the platform he originally ran on. Yes there is a war on. yes we need to spend money on it. Do we need to spend it without congressional oversight. That is what he has asked us to do. We need to spend money on protecting our home land. Do we need to deny the workers of the homeland security department to work without the protection of collective bargaining. Does it really help america to deny ordinary citizens the ability to seek relief from their debts while letting corporate malfeasance run rampant. Who does america belong to? It's citizens or it's corporations. While your at it why don't you hamper our right to seek redress for grievence? Oh yeah you did. It was called tort reform. What I want to right is probably actionable under seditious terms. What I will say is have some common sense. Sign the petition to impeach.