They destroyed the evidence of the stolen election

We all know that they stole 2000 but I've been trying so hard to give them the benefit of the doubt on 2004. Circumstantial evidence suggests that they stole Ohio and now they've destroyed the hard evidence. This should be investigated by Congress. Now.




ITMFA

Intelligence for profit

70% of the intelligence budget goes to private contractors. Is there nothing that they won't do to enrich their friends? At the end of the day, have they no shame?

California's thinking about the electoral college

Or, at least a Republican assemblyman or two is thinking about it. They've introduced legislation to award California's presidential electoral votes by Congressional district. Yeah, as the article suggests, that has the effect of spotting the GOP about 15 or so votes.

But is it unfair? Hardly. The president is not elected by popular vote. In many ways, the Founders expected the president to serve as a head of government and only nominally as a head of state. It's up to the California legislature and, ultimately, the California voters and, as much as I dislike the idea of giving the GOP a leg up, this ain't wrong.

Bad day for NASA

Drunken astronauts and sabotaged computers. Most amusing is the notion that they "hope" to repair a cut wire in time for launch two weeks from now. Gosh. Are they going to have to send away for the electrical tape???

Always check the source

The nuclear power industry wants us to know that biomass, solar, and wind are just awful. They're right about biomass. Any space devoted to growing crops for fuel is space taken away from food production or is former forest or grasslands.

Why don't people like to talk about solar-from-space?

The mistakes we make when we *know* we're right

Cognitive biases. Add this to your set of self-analytical check points.

Why we won't leave Iraq

A cogent look at the Democratic candidates and what they're saying about leaving Iraq.

The President declares himself dictator

In this Executive Order, the president has declared that he has the power to seize the assets of anybody he chooses. Read it and tell me that it doesn't say that. No court orders. No nothing. Anybody that he determines to have destabilized Iraq or to have helped somebody destabilize Iraq.

Why are we sitting still? Why are we not screaming? Our Congressmen and Senators take an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. If they don't start impeachment proceedings tomorrow, they are in violation of their oath.


Impeach the motherfuck now.

Today is shaping up as a science day

A new subspecies of chimpanzee. And they continue to make it harder and harder to say what the difference is between us and them. Damn chimps.

Most of the time optical illusions fall apart when you're told what to look for

But not in the case of this same color illusion. Fascinating.

The imperial presidency -- again

Now the administration is saying that executive privilege trumps all. I cannot say this often enough: WE DO NOT HAVE THREE EQUAL BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT. The Constitution doesn't say that. The Founders didn't intend that.

The Congress is supreme as it reflects the will of the people. It is the only branch that is elected by the people. In the end, Congress can impeach and convict everybody in the executive branch and all federal judges and there is fuckall that anybody, except the voters, can do about it.

There is no executive privilege.

Oh, and that last paragraphs deserves quoting:

"[Mark] Rozell, the George Mason professor and authority on executive privilege, said the administration's stance "is almost Nixonian in its scope and breadth of interpreting its power. Congress has no recourse at all, in the president's view. . . . It's allowing the executive to define the scope and limits of its own powers."

Almost Nixonian? This is far and away worse than any shit that Nixon tried to pull. Remember that Nixon wanted to cover up his crimes. This administration brags about them and calls you too stupid to know they're in the wrong.

Impeach the motherfuckers already. And remove them from office and prosecute them and convict them and send them to prison.

Bush is bat-shit insane

And any American who will look at the situation with a clear head will see that is the case. He believes that because God has set him on this path, there can be no argument against it. He makes foreign policy decisions on the basis of his religious beliefs. Let that really, really sink in a minute and you'll know that he must go.



ITMFA

I can only sputter with indignation

Has there ever been an administration that so loathed being criticized? The Bush Defense Department will brook no suggestion that some planning should take place.

I did think it was pretty damned funny that it was worded as "perceived" abandonment of allies in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia. This is that "reality"-based stuff again. We didn't really abandon our allies. No no no. That's just a Democratic "perception." How could Republican administrations have abandoned allies? Everybody knows that it's Democrats who want to cut and run.

The rank hypocrisy of these people almost chokes me.

"Philosophically" the president says, "Screw sick children."

It seems that the president believes that letting children in the US go without health insurance is the best way to take care of them. And he has the brass to claim that it's a philosophical position: if you expand a children's health insurance program, well, people might take advantage of it because it would probably be cheaper than private insurance and if people don't buy private insurance then the president's cronies aren't enriched and this administration is about nothing if it's not about enriching cronies.

When will people realize that health care (and health insurance) for profit is a sin? It's vile. It's wicked. You don't have any money, therefore, being sick is you own damned fault and why the hell should my hard earned tax dollars go toward making sure you get better? Fuck you.



By the way, this is my 600th post!

The concept of sovereignty is not that hard to grasp

But, it seems that it means nothing to the Bush administration. Unless our "ally," Pakistan, violates its own laws and does something about terrorists based in the "Federal Tribal Provinces," we're going to take care of it for them.

I'm conflicted. If we had overthrown Musharraf when we found out that Pakistani intelligence had acted as the paymasters for the 9-11 terrorists, I probably wouldn't have complained too much about Pakistani sovereignty. But, as it is...

Something I don't understand

Why is it that it's always the staunch defenders of family values that get caught with prostitutes? Let me make it clear that I do not think that Sen. Vitter's liaison with a prostitute disqualifies him from sitting in the US Senate. I think Sen. Vitter's sex life is his own business.

Unless.

He has made political hay by calling Bill Clinton immoral and have campaigned on "family values" and opposes gay marriage. Then he becomes hypocritical scum and not only should he be hounded from the Senate, he should be held up to public ridicule at all opportunities.

I feel sorry for the hell that his wife and children will catch but it he'd kept his fucking mouth shut beforehand, I would be screaming for his critics to get the hell away from him and leave his family alone.

This is a matter of goose sauce.

A short story that I would like to read

They found an Inca skeleton in Norway. How did he get there?

Short story? I'd read a whole novel about him.

Well, stipulating that it was decently written.

We're some damned smart chimps

And it looks like we can help those that are as smart get better. Curing a form of mental retardation is simply wonderful news. But it's a very science-y story so it won't make the mainstream press. Sigh.

This what we all need to do

Well, maybe we don't all need to run for Congress but we certainly need to do everything we can to deny the Democratic nomination to our Congresspersons who won't stand up and file articles of impeachment.

These people are criminals. The war with Iraq was a violation of international law. The wiretapping program is illegal search and seizure. The signing statements are declarations that the executive branch is above the law. The refusal of the vice-president to comply with records release legislation is illgal. The lies about the reasons for the war are certainly a good reason. A little investigation will reveal that both Bush and Cheney have suborned perjury, don't you imagine? What more do they need?




Impeach the motherfuckers, remove them from office, prosecute them, try them, convict them and imprison them.

Poisoning our pets

Disclaimer: I am an animal lover. I will go into a burning building to save my pets. I would probably go into a burning building to save your pets. Between shooting a stranger and shooting my dog, may I suggest that you not be a stranger.

It seems that the pet food industry is mostly unregulated. And we all know that in a capitalist society, unregulated translates into dangerously filthy or corrupt or some other form of unsafe in someway.

As you may be able to tell from my disclaimer, I'm the sort of person that is dismissed by non-pet people as a nut. I suspect that the pet food industry is dominated by non-pet people. It just makes a sort of Darwinian sense: people who care about animals will want to provide quality food products for them; that undoubtedly is more expensive than ignoring quality and safety. Therefore, non-pet oriented people will make larger profits in the pet food industry and will be able to survive better in our free trade economy.

I suggest that if you have a pet, you investigate non-commercial pet foods. Search the web.

Pollution-related deaths in China

It seems that the Chinese pressured the World Bank to alter a report on pollution-related deaths. Seems that 750, 000 Chinese died from bad air or water or whatnot.

Is that a lot? I've bumped a few numbers around on the calculator and I still don't know. The population of China is about 1 1/3 billion. So 750,000 is about .06% of the population. Seems like a lot. The population of the US is just a little over 300 million. That rate would translate to 170, 500 or so. Is that a lot? We had 42, 636 road fatalities in 2005. We had 17, 011 AIDS deaths the same year. And 16, 692 murders.

Finding data about air pollution deaths in the US isn't easy. Emphysema, lung cancer, heart disease. We don't like to talk about what the causes of those sorts of things are.

I'm just sayin'.

We shouldn't let Fred Thompson get a free ride

The crusading Watergate staffer was a rat. Just another reason that the public came to see government as all crooked after Watergate. Well, it would have been a reason if we'd known about it.

Does the NYPD have an Irony Division?

It seems that it is illegal, in New York, to recite the First Amendment to the US Constitution through a non-electric bullhorn.

I find this guy's schtick very appealing. I wish I had thought of it. Or had a job that would let me go down to the Federal Courthouse everyday and preach the Constitution. I'd do it as one of those whooping, Pentecostalist-types. I've got the spirit for the Word of Madison! And of Franklin! And of Hamilton and of Jay and even of dear old John Dickinson!!

I've got to give this serious consideration.