Who ARE these people?

WASHINGTON — Public approval of the job President Bush is doing now matches its all-time low, an AP-Ipsos poll says. The survey, released Thursday, reflects widespread discontent over how Bush is handling the war in Iraq, efforts against terrorism and domestic issues. It also underscores challenges Republican presidential and congressional candidates will confront next year when they face voters who seem to be clamoring for change. Only 32 percent said they were satisfied with how Bush is handling his job overall, the same low point AP-Ipsos polling measured last January and a drop of 3 percentage points since May.

I have two questions. Who are those 32-percenters, and how can I get to play poker with them?

Meanwhile, back in Frostbite Falls...

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Hundreds of Turkish soldiers crossed into northern Iraq on Wednesday pursuing Kurdish guerrillas who stage attacks on Turkey from hideouts there, Turkish security officials and an Iraqi Kurd official said.

One recalls the words of the prophet Hosea, who said "For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind."

Looks like it's reaping time. Windy today, isn't it?

SHE ran a national campaign? And she is a "law professor?"

Susan Estrich, the "mastermind" of that great Dukakis campaign, and a professor of law, wrote that

The only problem here is that there was no underlying crime.

Susan, pardon me (pun intended), but you are a "professor" of criminal law. This involved testimony to a GRAND JURY. What do GRAND JURIES do? They INVESTIGATE. They decided not to indict a primary violation under a crappy statute, but a large part of the problem in that failure to indict involved the Scooter lies.

So Susan, it is OK to lie to a grand jury as long as the INVESTIGATIVE JURY does not indict???

Fish fish fish!

From The Shawshank Redemption, where Red bets on the first to crack:

That tall drink of water with the silver spoon up his ass.

So now when you crack--they let you out to MANSION arrest.

That crazy activist judge!

Here's the wacko that sentenced Scooter

Judge Reggie B. Walton assumed his position as a United States District Judge for the District of Columbia on October 29, 2001, after being nominated to the position by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate. In May 2007, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Judge Walton to serve as a Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which is a 7-year appointment...Former Chief Justice Rehnquist appointed Judge Walton to the federal judiciary's Criminal Law Committee, effective October 1, 2005. Judge Walton previously served as an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia from 1981 to 1989 and 1991 to 2001, having been appointed to that position by Presidents Ronald Reagan in 1981 and George H. W. Bush in 1991 (link).

Looks like Scooter found a real conservative judge, one who doesn't like people who lie in the process.

Who spends more time in jail?

With today's developments, does Scooter see the inside of a cell for longer than Paris?

If you don't stop building nukes, we'll nuke you!

So, we're watching the GOP debate tonight (the Cubs game hasn't started yet), and Wolf is asking the candidates about whether they would use a tactical nuclear weapon to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon of their own. Their answer, of course, is yes. Yes - we're so opposed to you having the same weapons we have that we will use them on you.

Whee!

Alex, may I have "Triangulation" for $1000, please?

Dear Senator Clinton:

In response to the question, "do you agree with Senator Edwards that this war on terror is nothing more than a bumper sticker; at least the way it's been described" you responded:

No, I do not. I am a senator from New York. I have lived with the aftermath of 9/11, and I have seen firsthand the terrible damage that can be inflicted on our country by a small band of terrorists who are intent upon foisting their way of life and using suicide bombers and suicidal people to carry out their agenda. And I believe we are safer than we were. We are not yet safe enough.

You lived with the aftermath of 9/11. So? What connection does that have with your answer? Thank you for parroting a right-wing talking point equating responding to a particular incident to a "war on terror." And in what possible sense are we "safer?" The military has been crippled perhaps for generations, millions across the world hate us with a new-found passion, National Guard equipment has been destroyed, first responders have not yet been provided for, the budget teeters on the precipice of disaster, etc. etc. Please, Sen. Clinton--STOP.

30 months, aaah...

We'll be Scooter-free for 2 1/2 years! Let's just hope the judge has the guts to send him away pending appeal (more).

The Lasting Bush Damage

Yes, he has destroyed the constitution and made the world hate us, but some damage can be undone with a Democratic president and Congress. This however, can not be undone, the damage to the federal judiciary, with LIFETIME appointements. Check out Leddbetter v. Goodyear, where the Bush-appointed freaks fundamentally changed discrimination law.

This case appears simplistic on its surface because it was effectively decided on procedural grounds. It did not address the substantive question of pay equity. Rather, it dealt ONLY with the procedural aspect of WHEN the statute's 180-day limitation period began to run.

The case was clearly wrongly decided. You basically have 180 days to act after a discriminatory "event." That is reasonable with such discrete events as not getting hired, not being promoted, getting fired, etc. You KNOW when one of those things happens to you. How is anyone supposed to know they have been subjected to pay discrimination? Was she, without reason to suspect a problem, supposed to file interrogatories every six months just to be sure? THAT would make you popular! It basically guts the statute, as it limits any liability for the immediate six months before they got caught.

In addition, I don't think this trend of 5-4 decisions over heated dissents is good for the institutional integrity of the court--or what is left of it.

Back from wandering

I return from the desert to find that the Democrats, as feared, have no spines. Trying to stay rational, so I don't go nuts...

I can't fire them. I have no choice. W and his cronies of hate need to be stopped, and the Democrats, I'm sad to say, are the only possibility right now. We need to continue sending them the message, however, that this sort of behavior is simply unacceptable.

My note to Senator Durbin:

"With your recent vote on the Iraq supplemental bill, you have failed all of us. Be ashamed. Next Memorial Day, remember to think about the soldiers who died during the past year and your failure to do everything you could to save them. I have been a huge supporter of yours, but this is woeful. You have a year and a half to try to redeem yourself if you still want my support in the next election. If you cannot find it within yourself to help lead us out of Iraq, we'll just have to find someone else who can."

Iraq-No-Phobia

Still feeling that ol' Democrat disgust. I would especially like to take the junior senators from Illinois and New York out behind the woodshed. Way to triangulate until the last possible minute and not vote until the cause was lost, guys. Keep up the good work.

I just don't get it. You have a president who is less popular than open sores, his administration is reeling from the Scandal du Jour, and then he looks absolutely CRACKERS at his press conference, complete with bird poop--and the Democrats are terified of him.

Coast Guard, they're the boat guys right? Life jackets, no drinkin' on the boat?

Fearless Leader addressed the graduating class of the Coast Guard Academy.

Guess what--SEPTEMBER THE ELEVENTH!!

In this war, we face a brutal enemy that has already killed thousands in our midst

Gosh, I thought we were fighting native Iraqi resistance.

That means the best way to protect our people is to take the fight to the enemy.

OK, and the enemy is WHO?

in Afghanistan...25 million people have been liberated

Hmm, maybe we should tell them that they are just imagining the warlords, the re-emerging Taliban and Opium, Inc.

In Iraq, we removed a cruel dictator who harbored terrorists, paid the families of Palestinian suicide bombers

Hmm, George, Hussein was a latecomer to the payments thing, joining in with SAUDI ARABIA, the UAE, Qatar, etc.

I've often warned that if we fail in Iraq, the enemy will follow us home.

Yeah, they couldn't find the way here otherwise unless they followed the bread crumbs.

in January 2005, Osama bin Laden tasked the terrorist Zarqawi -- who was then al Qaeda's top leader in Iraq

Oh good God. He was a Jordanian thug that bin Laden had no use for and was the White House's "Iraqi Idol" until they needed to kill him.

The enemy in Vietnam had neither the intent nor the capability to strike our homeland. The enemy in Iraq does.

George, what would you know about Viet Nam? And a couple thousand foreign fighters in Iraq are going to "strike us?"

The question for our elected leaders is: Do we comprehend the danger of an al Qaeda victory in Iraq,

DO YOU??? There will be no "al Qaeda" "victory" in Iraq. It is a SHI'A country and the Shi'a DESPISE al Qaeda!

New and...Improved?

Stuff you can't make up:

Top U.S. commanders and diplomats in Iraq are completing a far-reaching campaign plan for a new U.S. strategy

Hey, look, a new strategy! it will help us win! Winning is good, especially the extra win-ny kind!

Amazing. After four years of botched nation-building and an occupation that makes even the most pro-western Iraqi hate us, they come up with a new strategy, one that unfortunately does not involve--LEAVING.

I belong to no organized political party

I'm (ashamed to be) a Democrat.

The cave on Iraq funding is so humiliating. The Democratic Congress was elected to stop the madness, and they cave in front of Chimpy's veto pen.

Hey Dems, here's a thought--You've sent hima bill, and he pulled out the veto crayon. ALL the leverage is YOURS. If NOTHING happens, the war funding stops. You had every advantage and you pissed it away. Disgusting.

E-mailed to the Speaker of the House...

Humbly submitted by your esteemed Zinfandelfan to Nancy Pelosi's website (www.speaker.gov):

It is being reported in conflicting fashion in several places (DailyKos, TalkingPointsMemo, Fox) that an agreement has been reached with the White House on Iraq war funding and that the funding would be provided without timetables, benchmarks or other caveats which could allegedly "hamper" the President's style.

As someone who went out in the last election cycle and not only contributed significantly for the first time in his life but also phone banked and canvassed, it would be a tremendous disappointment and a rebuke of all the time, effort and financial commitment of everyone who helped bring the Democratic Party to power in November.

While I realize that negotiations are "on-going" with the White House, despite the heat that members of the caucus may be feeling, it is important that we continue to do what the majority of Americans have called for in *every* poll and that is to bring the troops home and to not give the President a blank check with no restrictions or conditions.

No matter how many people continue to be paraded before the podium and the war keeps being packaged as a, "No, really, THIS time it will work;" the fact is that the Administration has lost all credibility and, further, the right to unquestioned fealty in their decision making process.

Do not concede, do not waver, do not yield. Bring our men and women home soon to rest, recover and reconstitute our fighting forces to fight the "Global War on Terror," not play arbiters between factions linked to unstoppable bloodshed.

In much the fashion that contributor Schmidlap put in his message to his guy, I don't think that we can let our elected representatives who were swept to power on a platform that includes doing something different about the war, think that giving der Chimpenfuehrer everything he wants is a "compromise". Somebody once defined compromise (or perhaps it was 'negotiation') as neither party getting everything they want but both parties being satisfied.

Unfortunately for The Decider, his definition of compromise is getting everything he wants and screw everybody else. Well, it is high time that Congress ceases to be the pet of the Executive Branch and that if he gets a bill that gives him all of his money with those "strings" that he threatens to veto, every radio, television, newspaper, billboard and MP3 player should ring with the very clear point that it is THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WHO IS PLAYING POLITICS WITH THE TROOPS AND NOT THE CONGRESS.

The man from Plains

In November 1976, at the ATO house in Greencastle, Indiana, Tom Garrison invited me and my new girlfriend (I wonder what ever happened to her? She was really cute. By the way, selfless shilling, you may wish us a happy 25th next Tuesday) to watch the election returns, where the Georgia governor defeated the incumbent president.

30-plus years later, that Georgia governor said that "I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history."

Please tell me where he was wrong.

On teaching--and Iraq

I took my 13-year old for one of his regularly-scheduled cheap haircuts. In the line in front of me was a young man, military cut and lean and mean. he was talking things military with his barber, and then he turned around. Immediately, he said "Professor Peter!" I hesitated at first because (as Doc would know, I was a humble instructor, not a "professor") and I did not recognize this lean taut young man. Then I saw and recognized the face--he was a really bright student who I taught at the local community college and yes, I inspired him to go into teaching (that's my one!). I thought I had demoralized him when I saw him in another part-time job when I said I'd given up teaching for the money but he remembered me and said he had given up his teaching job for an officer's commission in the Army--and Iraq. God bless you.

I would question his judgment (as I would for looking up to me in the first place!) for doing so, but please return safely.

Places to go, pictures to take

So tomorrow morning I'm off for a week or so in sunny middle of frackin' nowhere New Mexico. City of Rocks State Park, to be exact. One might realistically ask why I'll be headed there, to sleep in a tent, try to avoid rattlesnakes and scorpions, stay up til 2 or 3 every night, miss mrsdrmagoo terribly, and try to demonstrate some semblance of sanity. The answer, of course - work! We've organized a travel course on Astrophotography, and this is one of the darkest public sites in the country. There will be 5 professors (two of whom are teaching the course, two of us who are doing a little teaching, but are mostly learning how to do this stuff and to assist, and one who is coming along because he can) and 17 students. We'll be doing all sorts of late-night activities - well, the sort that involves a camera, a telescope, a computer, and looking up - and a bunch during the day - trips to historic towns, petroglyph sites, the VLA (where we can stand in the footsteps of Jodie Foster - and many brilliant scientists), and assorted natural wonders. Have fun whilst I'm gone, and don't burn down any important buildings (unless you can trap certain politicians).

Oh, and IMPEACH!

And in this corner...

From today's letters to the editor:

When will we admit that, if and when we abandon Iraq, we are still at war? How foolish to alert the enemy of our withdrawal when we are in a lifetime struggle against a foe that will never go away. We have got to toe the mark and convince other nations that if America loses, they are goners too.

We now struggle alone.

The threat of global dominance requires global resistance, not just one nation fighting Goliath. David slew the giant with help from his God. America seems to have forgotten our past, when we honored our creator. Many a battle is fought and won on one's knees.

Elizabeth Pearson
Elmhurst

Wow, this one is a stunner First of all, Lizzie, we are not "AT WAR." The "war" ended about 20 days after it began. Now we are just slogging through a botched occupation that will end badly, sooner or later. Global dominance? Wild-eyed fanatics in caves with box ciutters and backpack bombs. Please, be serious. I can show you global dominance if you want. Pull out your map and take a long look at that REALLY big country called China.

And God? Yeah, I'm sure the supreme being, creator of the universe has a vested interest in the outcome of the misguided imperial delusions of a drunken failure with daddy issues. Lizzy, please, on your way back to Elmhurst,