As I mentioned last night, the Countdown diary is taking a long weekend so said Countdown diary diarist & her Hubby can enjoy a long weekend in Chicago to celebrate our 7th anniversary. So, no diary tomorrow night (July 10) or Monday night (July 13), but I'll be back {insert my best Guvernator impersonation here} Tuesday night, July 14!
Chicago actually figures into one of today's "this day in history" items! On this date in 1995, the Grateful Dead played their last concert, at Soldier Field in Chicago. Lead guitarist Jerry Garcia died the following month. I'll be seeing Soldier Field both up close & personal this weekend & from a hefty distance from the top of the Sears Tower; yes, I'm going out on one of the glass ledges, and I CAN'T WAIT! Hubby's too chicken to go up with me, so I'll be doing that part of the trip solo. ;D We're also going to the Science & Industry Museum, the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, & the Art Institute where I'll get to see some Jackson Pollock & Lee Krassner works!
OK, I'm sorry to say [well, sort of sorry ;D] there are a slew of birthdays today deserving of THE cake, but I'll be nice & just put in one picture of it. Let it not be said I'm not capable of self - control!
Donald Rumsfeld is 77 today, O.J. Simpson is 62 today, Senator Lindsey Graham (R - SC) is 54 today, and, in a mention where I may get flamed, Courtney Love is 45 today; sorry, she got her fame when Kurt Cobain decided to kill himself. I'll just give her a little piece. ;D For the rest of you "gentlemen," for destroying so many lives, dive right into that sucker with the invitation to GO CHENEY YOURSELVES!
Let's Countdown!
#5 "Backtrackings of Leon" AKA "Ignorance is Bliss" AKA "Truthless People" - Some in the GOP are still insisting the CIA never mislead, lied to, fibbed to, whatever Congress even though Director Panetta admits Congress was mislead. We still don’t know the subject of the big secret. "Small Price to Pay" Boehner is one of the CIA believers. Speaker Pelosi indicates that Congress may not be finished with the misleading/lying/fibbing CIA. But, like I asked last night, what can they REALLY do? And, if something CAN be done, is there the political will to do it? Rep. Rush Holt was one of the signers of the letter to Director Panetta asking him to edit his earlier comment that the CIA didn’t lie or withhold information from Congress. Poor Rep. Holt got momentarily kicked off! That CIA is fast! If y’all haven’t seen The Good Shepherd about the beginnings of the CIA, it’s pretty damn good. It was directed by Robert DiNiro, and you’ll never look at Matt Damon the same way again! Apparently, some CIA program was stopped by Mr. Panetta the day after he began his job. The GOP is claiming all this fuss is being made because of the intelligence bill currently before Congress. How would y’all like to play 20 Questions with a CIA agent? EEEEKKK! Howard Fineman thinks Speaker Pelosi has been vindicated. OK, but I’m still not crazy about her. We might have a new scandal to look forward to? Oh goody... Ain’t it always about the money in DC?!
#4 "As the Story Crumbles" AKA "SarahPac of Lies" - I know y’all will have to pick yourselves off the floor with this revelation, but St. Sarah from Wasilla (aka Grandma Gov. TurkeyLover) was not entirely honest in explaining her decision to quit being Governor of Alaska. {insert appropriate length of time to pick yourselves off the floor here} She said she is saving Alaska taxpayers millions of dollars spent on ethics investigations by resigning. Except, people in the Governor’s office are now admitting the money would’ve been & will be spent anyway because it was already budgeted. Oh, and she hasn’t beaten the rap in all the ethics complaints, either. TrooperGate is still alive. And, the appropriate committee did find that St. Sarah abused her power as Governor. Margaret Carlson even claimed, through a conversation with the gentleman who began St. Sarah’s legal defense fund, that most of the private legal bills that piggy – backed the state investigations were PAID FOR BY THE LEGAL FUND. It would appear that Alaska’s "First Family" may have fibbed about how much of their own money they’ve had to spend, too. Waders for Keith?! HA! How many of y’all would like to see Keith in waders???!!!
** The bulls are running in Spain – GO BULLS! A guy in Germany stole a tractor to get away from the cops. Now, I know from personal experience that tractors can go faster than 12 mph; this dude just wasn’t trying hard enough! ;D A 2 – year old in PA hid really well in a game of hide & seek. Rep. Steve King doesn’t want to acknowledge the roll slaves played in the building of the Capitol & other buildings in DC. TurdBlossom wrote another op – ed & actually had the gall to write,
...This fits a pattern. The administration consistently pledges unrealistic results that it later distances itself from.
TurdBlossom memory, folks – TurdBlossom memory at work again! **
#3 "Sonia Sotomayor" AKA "Judging Sotomayor" - The GOP now claims that defense of liberty is extremism & is going after Judge Sotomayor for her ties to a Puerto Rican defense fund. There’s SENATOR Franken meeting with her – YEA!! SUCK ON IT, BILLO! Senator Sessions is the lead griper, of course. According to some leg work from Senator Leahy, Judge Sotomayor reversed only 2% of criminal convictions & agreed with Republican – appointed judges 97% of the time in 400 criminal cases. OK, if an ex – FBI director is fine with Judge Sotomayor, then any *itching should pretty much end. The GOP are supposed to be the "law & order" group, yes? Frank Ricci, the New Haven firefighter at the center of the recent SCOTUS decision, will testify against her in front of the Judiciary Committee. The ABA gave her their highest rating; Clarence Thomas only garnered a "qualified" from them. Jeff Sessions was denied a US attorney post because it was deemed his views were too anti – civil rights issues? And, he was rejected by the GOP 23 years ago?! OK, game over, as far as I’m concerned.
WPITW – The president of a swim club in PA is denying African – American kids the right to swim there. The News of the World has had to pay a bunch of legal fees & settlements for spying on celebrities’ cell phone activities. CoulterGeist wrote this latest batch of ilk:
The peculiarly venomous hatred of Palin is driven by women of the left and their whipped consorts. All that needs to happen is for a feminist to overhear two Nation readers saying ‘I hate to admit it, but Palin is kind of hot’ and...
OK, I ain’t typing the rest of it – SORRY!
#1 "Defining the GOP" AKA "Figures of Speech" - Did y’all see NoNo in the lower right – hand corner?! YEA! "Pullin’ a Palin" is now in the urban dictionary & defined as quitting a job before it’s done & quitting for bizarre inexplicable reasons. "Serious Sin" is associated with Senator "Diaper" Vitter "Wide Stance" is associated with...OK, do we REALLY need a reminder of the genesis of THAT phrase?! :D HEY! They spelled "terlet" like I spell "terlet"! More freaky coincidences!! "Falling Short of God’s Standards" came from Newt Gingrich when he admitted to an affair at the same time he was trying to kick President Clinton out of office for, essentially, AN AFFAIR! "Writing an Ensign" is a terribly written letter describing an affair with a married staffer. "Hiking the Old Appalachian Trail" is... once again, do we need a reminder of who THAT’s in honor of??!! It’s leaving your job to "get some" with your mistress in a South American country. "Sparking" – HEY! HERE’S "SPARKING," TOO! And, they came up with pretty much the same conclusion as I did! HA! I’ve gotten the "approval" of Countdown! LOVE IT!! "Quitter" now means "fighter." "Refrigerator Magnets" means new lead campaign advisor! HA! Senator Ensign’s parents gave "the other woman" & her family $90K! Hell, I wouldn’t even have the chutzpah to ASK my parents for that kind of coin for ANYTHING – much less to shut up someone I’d cheated with! "Patterns of generosity" now means "payoffs!" This segment was too damn funny!