I have absolutely no idea who, what, when, where, etc. was responsible for THIS glorious surprise, but I was shocked when I saw this last night; whoever had a hand in this "dasterdly deed," you take my breath away - thank you.
Don't forget the deadline to submit a new diary logo is THIS SUNDAY (March 14) by the time I go to bed! I know we've got talented people here; if your graphic skills are like mine, you KNOW someone talented that can design one, and you can still submit it! ;D Send your designs to me (email in my profile) in JPEG format with your Kos "name" & "Countdown Diary Logo" in the subject line. Submit early & often; I hope to have a couple rounds of voting with the design getting the most votes to be revealed Thursday, April 1 as part of the 2nd anniversary celebration!
On this date in 1917, the US Senate voted to limit filibusters by adopting the cloture rule. Yep, and there's not been a damn thing wrong with the Senate since {insert retching noise here}. *&^%$#@!
On this date in 2008, President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have banned the CIA from using simulated drowning and other coercive interrogation methods to gain information from suspected terrorists. Well, of course he did. And, DICK was standing by wearing THIS! ;D
On this date in 1999, baseball Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio died at age 84. I tried to find Paul Simon's great tribute to "Joltin' Joe" at Yankees Stadium after his passing but couldn't. Bummer, man.
So, since I couldn't find the Paul Simon video, y'all will have to settle for a gripping scene in a movie full of gripping scenes from Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner, Christoph Waltz - YEA!
I gotta say Mr. Waltz looks WAY better with the facial hair - not that I noticed THAT much. ;D
Let's Countdown!
Lawrence O’Donnell is in for Keith again tonight; I hope Keith’s Dad’s OK & continuing what appears to be a road to improvement!
#5 "The Final Push" AKA "If Not Now, When?" AKA "Better Than Nothing?" - I was & continue to be greatly disappointed that Congressman Dennis Kucinich voted against HCR in the House; despite the odious Stupak $hit in there, it was far & away the best bill in comparison to the stinky turd sandwich that came out of the Senate that it appears we will be stuck with for the most part – unless Speaker Pelosi has something up her sleeve. Rep. Kucinich is getting big – time pressure to just say "yes" this time around when truly & absolutely every vote counts. President Obama sure is good at that campaign – esque stumping stuff! Oh President Obama, you know what would be a sure – fire way to put a dent in health insurance industry profits? A PU...BL...IC...SPARKIN’...OPT...ION!! President Obama had a heck of a zinger for the GOP! Yea, they were in charge for years and years and years and years and YEARS, and they didn’t do a damn thing about HCR. They were too busy helping GWB & his ilk write blank checks for wars we couldn’t afford.
Cornhole Cornyn is publicly vowing that the GOP will do all they can to block & obstruct; if HCR passes, GOP candidates will run on repealing it on the campaign trail in the run up to November. Oh, please do that. Look someone in the eye who might lose their health insurance (if they have it!) and, with a straight face, tell them why the GOP continued to obstruct HCR!
Senator Chris Dodd is signer #37 to the public option reconciliation route. Call me a cynic, but I’m growing less & less enthused by these letter signers. I want some brave Senator to bring the public option as an amendment to be voted on in the damn Senate; I want Senators to go on the damn record concerning their attitudes about the public option. And, if memory serves, Senator Sherrod Brown claimed, at least on Rachel’s show, that he would do just that; we’ll see. Oh, there’s no way in hell Rep. Kucinich will vote for the Senate bill – no sparkin’ way. And, the White House has been getting Rep. Kucinich to change his vote when he voted against the better House bill? This plan sounds like one of Rahm’s brilliant ideas.
Rep. Kucinich thinks the Dems are already in deep doo – doo because of the employment numbers & the economy; he doesn’t seem to think that failure to pass HCR will hurt the Dems anymore. Oh Dennis, I beg to differ, dear – big time. Rep. Kucinich doesn’t even think passing this less – than – great bill can even be a basis for future improvement. Sam Stein’s in the house again; he called Rep. Kucinich a possible "Ralph Nader of HCR." If I were Dennis, I’d worry more about keeping his job come November – especially if HCR doesn’t pass. According to Sam Stein, Senator Sanders is behind this legislation & the path it may take. Anywhere between 4 to 11 to 13 votes could be lost in the House for HCR if Little Barty doesn’t get HIS abortion language back in the legislation. Little Barty needs to put up or shut up as far as naming names – or not naming names. Abortion language could also be a stand – alone amendment, but Bart doesn’t want that because he knows it would go down in flames. Mr. Stein’s just full of the lovely comparisons tonight; he called Little Barty "the Jim Bunning of HCR!" OUCH!
#4 "Massa Mess" AKA "Massa Disasta" - OK, this segment will be my first opportunity at clarification on what the spark’s going on with this guy; I’m guessing he’s not the most "stable" of individuals? Oh good grief, another New York politician in the soup? Is there a New York politician NOT in the soup?! THAT, my friends, would be bigger news. ;D Rep. Massa sexually harassed a male staffer? Did he make a pass at him or something? And, he said yesterday that Dems are trying to get rid of him to help pass HCR? Is he or was he one of Little Barty’s buddies in the abortion game? Oh dear, he DID vote "no" on HCR in the House, too! Well, if the White House & other Dems are trying to get rid of Dems who voted "no" & will probably continue to vote "no," Dennis better watch his hind quarters! What the hell?! Rep. Massa’s a BSG fan?! Well, he’s got 1 redeeming quality then! ;D
So, Rep. Massa talked dirty to some drunk staffer, and that constitutes sexual harassment? At least listening to the "honorable" Rep. Massa, it sounds like he was proverbially sparking around with someone who’d had 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 dozen too many! OK, and it sounds like he walked in on a fellow Navy person uh...well...gee...pulling a Prejean? Rep. Massa called Rahm Emanuel "the devil’s spawn"?! OK! Make that 2 redeeming qualities the honorable Rep. has – HA! Rep. Massa is visiting Lonesome Rhodes tomorrow night. Well, that’ll do WONDERS for the Rep’s credibility – NOT! Here’s Chris Hayes; if he pulls a Prejean, I’m not quite sure what I’d do. ;D Poor Chris looks a little befuddled. Rep. Massa resigned today while complaining he was being forced out. O...K...maybe he’ll go work for Governor Patterson now? Hell, Governor Patterson may not be Governor if things keep developing for him like they have been these days. Chris doesn’t have glowing remarks about Rep. Charlie Rangel, either. I’m tellin’ y’all; there’s something in that New York political water. To paraphrase Peter Segal from NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, Illinois should be able to get Gov. Potty Mouth Blago back so IL can get THEIR creds back as the most mucked up political crony state in the union – HA! Now, THAT would be fun.
#3 "Keep America Scared" AKA "Liz’s Lemon" AKA "Starr Witness" - Ken Starr is coming out against what DICK’s spawn had to say about DOJ lawyers being terrorist sympathizers. Ken...Sparkin’...Starr! Lawrence better watch out; Mr. Starr may ask about his bj history! Keith even came out today – probably to Countdown staff or MSNBC – to agree with Ken Starr. Gadzooks! Ken Starr & others have written a little love note to DICK’s spawn:
...The past several days have seen a shameful series of attacks...We consider these attacks both unjust to the individuals in question and destructive of any attempt to build lasting mechanisms for counterterrorism adjudications. ...Such attacks also undermine the justice system more broadly... Whatever systems America develops to handle difficult detention questions will rely, at least some of the time, on an aggressive defense bar; those who take up that function do a service to the system.
Well, if anyone knows "shameful series of attacks," it’s Ken Starr! Just ask the Clinton family. And, here’s Mr. Starr. Who the heck hired HIM to be Dean of the law school at Pepperdine? Did someone want a live - in demonstration of how to NOT do law stuff? Once again, if anyone knows taking on unpopular causes, it’s Ken Starr! Ugh...I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it through this segment or not. Let’s all keep in mind that Ken Starr is trying to hold up Prop 8 in California, too! I’d love to ask Mr. Starr if the Mormon Church & other "friends" of Prop 8 are an "unpopular cause" to be defended. OK...officially bailing out now...sorry... *&^%$#@!
#2 "And the Winner Is..." - I watched the Oscars until about 10:00 EST; I got to see "my guy" Christoph Waltz win Best Supporting Actor; that was good enough for me! YAHOO! And, it’s just a damn damn DAMN shame that Avatar went home with basically nothing. Glitz, it would appear, will only get you so far. OK, to partially defend the leaving out of Bea Arthur & Farah Fawcett in the memorial portion of the Oscars, that remembrance is for primarily film/movie people. Although, someone did drop the ball BIG TIME for not including Henry Gibson! Woman roared last night. ;D And, "the Dude" is now an Academy Award winner!
#1 "Bordering on Insanity" - Grandma ExGov TurkeyLover & the other Clampets would frequently cross the border into Canada for their great health care; she admitted as such in a speech in Calgary this past weekend! OK, she can officially STFU on HCR & innumerable other issues now, thank you very much!
But when St. Sarah from Wasilla was still Governor back in 2007, her brother with the burned leg went to Juneau for health care. So many fibs...someone of her mental "prowess" ain’t NEVER gonna be able to keep track of them all. ;D BORDERING on insanity?! People, she got in that insanity train long LONG ago. Oh, and God wrote on His hand, so it’s OK for her to as well also. ;D Well, she’s not THAT up on her religious & Biblical history! Mel Brooks clearly demonstrated that God’s choice of medium was stone tablets – 3 to be exact until "Moses" busted one, dammit. ;D David Weigel gets to report on the freak show again – lucky him! Lawrence hit "that woman’s" shtick PERFECTLY; a "normal" person would make 1 self – deprecating remark about something boneheaded they did (a la jotting crib notes on your hand with a Sharpie), then they’d drop it. Even if all this "attention" about her Alaskan Palm Pilot IS getting to her, she will keep bringing up, the media will keep "attacking her" for it, then she gets to keep talking about the mean ‘ol media.