Well, it is easy to tell it’s September.

BBQ smoke hangs thickly in the air, the rain is getting cooler than it usually is in the summertime, and the Mariners are securely in last place.

And it is also time to return to school. For the new voter about to enter (or return to) College, all the crazy living can make you forget about important things, like...oh, I don’t know...maybe an election or two.

To make sure this does not happen I’m going to put College and Politics together to create this year’s first...wait for it...synchronized Sarah Palin drinking game.

So start pairing up your shotglasses, find the Scotch tape, and when you get back I’ll tell you how it works.

No Associated Press content was harmed in the writing of this post

Beginning with his nomination for Attorney General I had reservations about Michael Mukasey, and he has consistently lived down to my worst expectations. I did not like the fact that the Senate seemingly had no opportunity to give advice on the selection (beyond what appears to be secret meetings with Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein), nor did I like his apparent equanimity about brutality. The best name I heard floated was Mike DeWine, the recently-defeated Republican Senator from Ohio. He is solidly Republican and consistently voted with the President (one of the reasons he lost) so it would have satisfied the "to the victor goes the spoils" nature of these things, but he was also a known quantity to the Senate. He had worked with almost everyone there and as far as I know was well regarded. But beneath the surface something I couldn't quite pin down was buzzing around like a mosquito, and it all fell into place last week while reading The Dark Side. Jane Mayer quotes an anonymous CIA officer on page 180 as he disparages Jose Rodriguez Jr, then-head of the CIA Counterterrorist Center (CTC): "[in the] administration, loyalty is the new competence."

Many words have been proffered regarding the FISA bill this week, and I was actually preparing an analysis of the events when, to my surprise, I received an email that made me alter my schedule completely.

I want to apologize in advance to Danny Medress, over at Democracy for America, for whom I was preparing the analysis; and all I can tell you, Danny, is that this was of such import that the schedule had to be slipped.

That said, presented here in its entirety is the memo I received …and having read it through, I have to say I feel much safer.

(Cross posted from Docudharma)
 
I came of age in the time of Nixon and Vietnam.  I learned then that our government was not to be trusted, that they lie to us whenever it’s convenient and that there is nothing pure about their motives.  I also learned to suspect that elements of our government played an active role in the assassination of John Kennedy and possibly others.  I’m not saying they did, just that I’ve pondered that possibility for most of my life and not without reason.  I still have to wonder.  The possibility that our government is that fucking evil shouldn’t seem like such a stretch to anybody these days.

(Cross posted from Docudharma)

We have come to a place unimagined even by Orwell who got so much right.  

What is this Country waiting for?

This is Our Government, those in Washington work for Us!

Little georgie likes to say "His Government", it ain't his, He Works For Us, as do everyone appointed and hired to federal jobs!

The Government we have isn't just Incompetent, It's Totally Corrupt!

Of all the Republicans I have discussed whose morals are severly compromised, I have to say, Ted Stevens of Alaska just might top the list. I already brought him up in the context of the VECO scandal that has crippled the Alaska Republican Party. But honestly, the VECO scandal is only the tip of the iceberg of corruption for Ted Stevens. Here are some excerpts from the "Ethics Questions" section of his Congressopedia entry...possibly the longest list of "Ethics Questions" in all of Congressopedia:

As the presidential campaign gains momentum in favor of change, it would appear that the neo-cons, the hierarchy of the status quo, remain curiously calm. The Democratic frontrunners and the National Committee would collectively commit a grave error by breathing any sigh of relief upon the departure of Karl Rove from his perch in the Oval Office.

(Partially excerpted from a recent blog at AbsolutArts.com)

By now, we've gotten used to hearing voices from lobbyists and politicians for the need to make government less costly and more efficient by outsourcing its services through awarding contracts to the private sector. All for the good of free market competitiveness, thus ensuring better services at cheaper costs - right?

Among many of the dark, sad and tragic tales and lessons that the Iraq War keeps serving us, if not actually reminding us of, there is one which offers us a glimpse into the future of for-profit corporation-provided governmental services and for-profit corporation direct influence, if not control, over our lives.

This future is dystopic and inhuman - frighteningly enough, this is not science-fiction but reality ... today.

The tragedy in Utah should open Americans' eyes. While one hesitates to bring up politics at the moment, there's overwhelming evidence that this disaster is a microcosm of how government works under the Republican worldview -- corrupt, hyperpoliticized, instinctively anti-regulatory, and "pro-business" to the extent of risking human life. Intellectual honesty requires we face facts even in unpleasant times. And so a little story, which I urge you to pass on -- especially to friends who aren't already on "our side" of the issues...

Remember Ohio, 2004?

The entire Republican state governement of Ohio was so corrupt that they were detroyed by scandal EVEN THOUGH THEY CONTROLED THE JUDICIARY and everything else! Same as on the national scale, where even though the GOP controlled the machinery of government, their corruption STILL brought down much of the leadership, and put much of the rest under a cloud.

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing


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