After leading the United States Postal Service into 
Meanwhile, Jack Bauer shows up in the Senate: http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/3720#more-37293
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Back in 2007, while in the Senate, Barack Obama rebuked Bush's White House as "the most secretive in modern history," which aimed "to hide its abuse of our justice system." He said:
"By continuing to act as the most secretive White House in modern history, the Bush Administration has once again placed itself above the law in order to hide its abuse of our justice system from the American people. On the first day of an Obama Administration, we will launch the most sweeping ethics reform in history to shed sunlight on the decisions made by government and put the interests of the American people at the center of every decision that's made."
That was then and this is now.
President Obama, not George Bush, is seeking the delay of Rove's deposition: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_not_Bush_now_seeking_delay_0217.html
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Another letter to the editor at the Trib that should be published - h/t Dick
Senator Roland Burris, the man tapped by impeached former Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois to fill President Obama's vacant seat, has been asked to resign by a member of the Illinois legislature, under suspicion that Burris perjured himself before the impeachment committee...
"Anybody, like Rush Limbaugh, who would pull against Update: back in 2004, Sir Allen Stanford's company flew Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and an unidentified companion down to Antigua - home base for Stanford International Bank for three days of "financial services industry fact-finding."
It only gets better. The House Caribbean Caucus (no, I didn't know it existed either) takes an annual "fact-finding" trip down to the islands on Stanford's planes. As recently as 2005, the caucus was chaired by now-disgraced Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), who did jail time in the Abramoff scandal, and included such other Abramoff luminaries as Reps. Tom Feeney (R-FL) and John Sweeney (R-NY).
It also appears Cornyn's companion on the junket was identified back in 2006 as his wife.
Sir Allen Stanford helped kill a bill that would have cracked down on financial fraud.
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Beef is responsible for 78 percent of the emissions of meat consumption, even though it represents only 30 percent of the meat products.
A single kilogram of beef produces 16 kilograms carbon dioxide — four times higher than pork and more than ten times as much as a kilogram of poultry. Thus, a switch from beef to chicken would cut emissions by 70 percent.
Hamburgers are therefore the hummers of our diet.
For the full story, click here.
However, just because poultry and pork emit less pollution, don't think they're treated any better:
Will these staunch, law-abiding, Amurka-lovin' Republicans never learn?
Muzzammil Hassan had a great idea: he established a television station to run programming that would counter stereotypes about Muslims. That sounds like a fine plan…but then his wife asked for a divorce, and his response was to murder and decapitate her, which rather confirms a particularly nasty stereotype.
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If it's from the Rude Pundit, I gotta give a foul language alert
Time to Punish the Republicans: http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2009/02/time-to-punish-republicans-they-need-to.html
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GM says it may need $30 billion more in loans to survive this year - and they plan on laying off 47,000: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/17/general-motors-seeks-up-t_n_167729.html
I know. Let's give them more money so they can use it to build even more plants in Brazil. Or this new apocalypse machine, the Ford F650 XUV:
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Arkansas and five other states ban atheists from public service. Seriously.
Can it be constitutional to exclude from public service or service as a witness in a state court any and all atheists? [...] I was flabbergasted to find that Arkansas is one of a half-dozen states that does so. Read on and be flabbergasted (or not) yourself. But know in advance that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled illegal all such laws in 1961:
Hard to say what was more remarkable about the resolution that was read into the record and referred to committee Wednesday by a member of the 87th Arkansas General Assembly.
The resolution itself: HJR 1009: Amending the Arkansas constitution to repeal the prohibition against an atheist holding any office in the civil departments of the state of Arkansas or testifying as a witness in any court.
Or the fact that it was submitted by the Green Party's highest-ranking elected official in America, state Rep. Richard Carroll of North Little Rock, who was elected in November winning more than 80 percent of the vote in his district.
Arkansas is one of half a dozen states that still exclude non-believers from public office. Article 19 Section 1 of the 1874 Arkansas Constitution states that "No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any court.
It sounds like a great excuse to get out of jury duty. It also sounds like it's time for Jews and Christians to think about how many people they've killed vs how many atheists have killed worldwide - not to mention their lack of belief in science - and tell the truth about who really doesn't belong in public office.
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Digby has a thoughtful post up regarding Obama's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan.
I hear a lot of people talking about how more troops are necessary because, until now, airstrikes have papered over the lack of boots on the ground and led to an uncomfortable increase in the civilian death toll, which is unsustainable. The first response to this is that 17,000 extra troops and personnel in a country the size of Texas isn't likely to change that, especially when the airstrike targets are often in inaccessible areas. The second is to look back at recent history. We "surged" in Iraq with an increase in forces and airstrikes surged, mainly to protect the new influx of boots on the ground, which American policymakers see as more precious resources than Afghans or Iraqis. It is not consistent to suggest that more troops=less airstrikes. That never happens. Escalation is escalation.
Digby forgot to mention the ability to resupply. You cannot keep up the tempo of operations if your troops ain't fed and they got no bullets or gasoline. And as you know, our main supply route through Pakistan is vulnerable to attack and disruption. Also, it seems the Kyrgyzstan government is throwing us out of the base we have there, so now we're in negotiations with the Russians to use bases in Russia to stage in and out of.
So now we're putting more troops into a place where our supply line is tenuous. On one end, it's susceptible to destruction, on the other, we'll be wasting more money than we have to (for security and bribes), a lot more.
To quote Digby, Afghanistan is 'The Graveyard Of Empires.'
Once this new round of troops sets foot in the Hindu Kush, you own this war, Mr. Obama. Regardless of the neglect and contempt George Bush showed for it, anything that goes wrong over there now will be hung around your neck. I'm glad you're lowering expectations but you still own every casualty, every civilian and combat death from here on out. You'll be thinking about that as we make our exit in a similar fashion to the Soviets and the British.
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TIME Magazine employs Mark Halperin, and yet their list of the year's 25 best blogs does not include a single wingnut. It's almost as if TIME recognizes that rightwing blogs are a self-contradicting construct in a party/mentality better suited to the I-talk-you-obey format of talk radio.
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[S]he opposes the stimulus because we're "running out of rich people in this country."
Ahhh. I guess she had all her investments with Allen Stanford and/or Bernie Madoff. Still, this was a tough choice to make. However, her only competition was -- herself. Take a sample of some of her other comments:
* ACORN is "under federal indictment for voter fraud," but the stimulus bill nevertheless gives ACORN "$5 billion." [Not true, by the way -- ACORN isn't under any federal indictment and doesn't get a dime under the Stimulus bill.][M]any members of Congress have "a real aversion to capitalism." [Because the Communist Party controls Congress, naturally.]
Poor Michele. It's tough to be the most moronic Republican in Congress, but I think she has the title belt nailed to her waist for the foreseeable future.
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Hey, California! How's that recall election working out for you?http://brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.com/2009/02/hey-california-hows-that-recall.html
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Louisiana is facing a $2 billion budget shortfall, and is being hit hard by unemployment, but their governor (and presidential hopeful) Bobby Jindal said he may turn down the roughly $3.8 billion for the state in the economy recovery package, which is expected to create 50,000 jobs:
We'll have to review each program, each new dollar to make sure that we understand what are the conditions, what are the strings and see whether it's beneficial for Louisiana to use those dollars," Jindal said.
If he doesn't take the money, I hope there's a pitchfork brigade of 50,000 people that could have had jobs following him around.
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Since spring 2007, 3.5 million Americans have lost their health benefits and are now uninsured. And while the stimulus begins to address the skyrocketing health costs and lack of access to coverage, the ranks of the uninsured will only grow as the recession persists. In fact, according to a forthcoming analysis by The Wonk Room's James Kvaal and Ben Furnas, approximately 14,000 people a day are losing their health coverage:
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Opposition to big liberal spending puts GOP back on track!
A new Gallup poll has Congress' approval rating at 31%, and hey, that's not bad! Although the teevee kept saying that Obama and the Democrats had failed miserably during the stimulus debate while the Republicans found new life, the country "loves" Democrats now, and hates Republicans even more. NEED MORE ERIC CANTOR. [Gallup]
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"I get so angry when people suggest the rebooblican party deserves any blame for the massive out-of-control budget and banking crises perpetrated under our watch for the past eight years," said the apropos-ly-named Sen. Crapo of Rectum, Idaho.
"We're being unfairly blamed for rubberstamping everything Karl put on our desks -- and for the current administration to keep bringing up the economy when the economy is doing so badly is just plain wrong," he added, whining.
Jerkoff.
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