Keith's on a much - earned vacation for the next couple of weeks, and while I'm on vacation, too, this week in addition to last week, I'm not on vacation from here! :D So, Lawrence O'Donnell is going to get more practice for his own upcoming MSNBC gig; let's give him our support!
Lawrence may or may not cover this story tonight, so since I'm a SCOTUS wonk, I'll bring it up anyway. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Elena Kagan's SCOTUS nomination tomorrow. I doubt I'll be able to watch it because I'll be with my Mom for her next treatment. Just for $hits & giggles, let me attempt a prediction on how the votes will come down. Her nomination will go onto the full Senate; here's my prediction for the vote total in the committee: Senator Leahy - yes; Senator Sessions (aka Racist Dick Moran) - no; Senator Kohl - yes; Senator Feinstein - yes; Senator Hatch - no; Senator Feingold - yes; Senator Grassley - no; Senator Specter - yes; Senator "The Unemployed are Bums" Kyl - no; Senator Schumer - yes; Senator Graham - after much deep consideration - yes; Senator Durbin - yes; Senator Cornhole Cornyn - no; Senator Cardin - yes; Senator "Doc Who Should Have His Medical License Revoked" Coburn - no; Senator Whitehouse - yes; Senator Klobuchar - yes; Senator Kaufman - yes; and, finally, Senator Franken - yes. So, that's 13 on the "yes" side and 6 on the "no" side. I base my "yes" for Senator Graham on listening to all of the confirmation process, the fact that he was less mean & nasty & downright hateful in his still - tough questioning of her, and his own JAG experience. Just don't ask me to predict yet how he'll vote for her nomination in the Senate; I could easily see him "go turn coat." ;D And, interestingly enough, in Senator Racist Dick Moran's little bio on the committee website, there's not word one about his EPIC FAIL judicial nomination process in front of the very committee on which he's now the ranking member. Golly! ;D So, if the schedule goes as planned, I'll be ready tomorrow evening for either your slings & arrows OR hearty handshakes, pats on the back, and the warm glow of victory.
One of our "this day in history" items relates to SCOTUS. On this date in 2005, President George W. Bush announced his choice of federal appeals court judge John Roberts to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. I have just one thing to say about that.
Most other "this day in history" items won't stimulate the retch response, so here we go. On July 19, 1941, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill launched his "V for Victory" campaign in Europe. Well...gee...I am confused.
Ya' mean Dick Nixon didn't start that whole "v" thing? Huh...learn something new every day. ;D
Former Senator, POTUS candidate, and all - around champion in not sparking up the world more than it already is George McGovern is 88 today. When Hunter S. Thompson committed suicide, Mr. McGovern wrote the following tribute.
Finally, Queen's Brian May is 63 today. I had NO IDEA he wrote the following song!
The best part of The Highlander was Queen's music in my most humble of opinion; Sean Connery must have needed the money BAD.
Let's Countdown!
#5 "Day 91" AKA "Cap and Delay" AKA "Leak House" - There is still no visible leakage from the location of the cap, but Admiral Thad Allen said there is SOME leaking, and there might be evidence of seepage from under the Gulf floor. *&^%$#@! Someone from the administration did tell the AP about the seepage a couple miles from the well head. Admiral Allen echoed BP/BS’s claim that said seepage is a natural outcome of these capping efforts. Gee, I’d be more comforted by that statement if BP/BS hadn’t liared – liared – pants on fired about so much else during this cluster spark! Pressure levels are slightly better than last reported but still pretty much smack dab between "ideal" and "Oh $hit!" Doug Suttles said over the weekend that the Deepwater Horizon well would stay capped "indefinitely." OK, did anyone else’s brain implode in the middle of Admiral Allen’s rather complicated answer to a seemingly – simple question? Let’s hope Bob Cavnar can explain this to us like we’re 4 – year – olds! ;D
All right, according to Mr. Cavnar, there are actually 2 more available production lines with the new capping system then there was before. And, again, I’m not exactly comforted by his opening "curiouser & curiouser" line about the line being fed to us by both the government & BP/BS. If Bob Cavnar doesn’t entirely understand what’s going on in this process, we are SPARKED! These continuing well integrity tests are putting the kibosh on efforts at actual crude collecting. Lawrence made a great point; 92 days ago & beyond, Admiral Allen probably knew jack $hit about the oil industry, off – shore drilling, etc. So, has he learned about all this on the fly? Is he getting his "education" from BP/BS? Is anyone in the government WITH oil experience helping him out? Mr. Cavnar thinks Admiral Allen has become more assertive over the last months. Mr. Cavnar brilliantly reminded us of what’s at stake for our nation as a whole & what’s at stake for BP/BS in regards to their stock holders in this mess. It is still absolutely not in BP/BS’s best interest for them or anyone else to go in & determine an exact oil flow rate because they can be held responsible for compensations from various entities (government & otherwise) based upon just how much oil has oozed. It is still possible to get a somewhat – accurate flow rate percentage of what was spewing out before based upon what’s spewing out now. Oh great, the connecting mechanism between the old blowout preventer & the new blowout preventer was not designed to handle the pressure it’s under now. Gee, where have I heard THAT before? *&^%$#@!
The lowest risk strategy, according to Mr. Cavnar, is to flow the well until the relief wells are done. Mr. Cavnar is concerned about the seeping that’s going on under the surface that’s the most close to the Deepwater Horizon site.
#4"Spy VS. Spy" - A report from the Washington Post indicates that our post – 9/11 "intelligence" system is so damn complicated & large there’s no way to determine its effectiveness or its actual scope. I’m sorry. While the Post did a decent job of putting specifics on this issue, file this information under "No $hit, Sherlock." This system is secretive and bloated and complicated BY DESIGN from ilk from the previous administration. It was much easier for them to just tell us that they were going to take care of everything, and they were going to keep us safe, and then we could be kept comfortably numb about what was truly going on behind closed doors like, oh, I don’t know, detainee torture & fun stuff like that. 50,000 reports that were never read were about just one aspect of intelligence gathering. 1271 government organizations exist for "counter terrorism" purposes, 1931 private contractors (such as your Halliburton, Blackwater, etc.) do the same service, and 263 separate totally new entities have been created to "root out extremism" – whatever the spark THAT means. That sounds like something Erik Prince would say. 854,000 Americans have top level security clearance. Gee, if it’s so damn easy to get, why can’t I have it?! ;D Ugh, never mind...I don’t think I really want that. The population of Washington DC is just under 600K. The official intelligence budget is $75 billion – that’s with a "B," boys & girls. 51 units over 15 cities track terror financing; all of the agencies are over – lapping in their functions. Wow, how ‘bout this quote from a "senior intelligence official"?
I’m not going to live long enough to be briefed on everything.
YIPPEE! Don’t y’all feel safer?! Robert Gibbs said some redundancy is a good thing; it sounds like there’s a hell of a lot more than "some redundancy!" Here’s Richard Clarke – an expert on actual INTELLIGENCE by nearly any definition you can think of. Wow, how Mr. Clarke began the segment bears repeating in full – backing up my DVR & everything.
There’s enormous bloat enormous waste, and this system has gotten totally out of control. We have now an intelligence – homeland security complex that rivals anything that Eisenhower might have talked about when he talked about the military industrial complex.
For those few here who might be a little rusty on their history...
Mr. Clarke didn’t really think we needed more resources after 9/11; getting senior leadership attention to authorize stuff & notify them of potential risks was the problem – like some hypothetical POTUS getting a briefing just a month before a hypothetical horrendous attack on our country just over a month before said horrendous attack, and said hypothetical POTUS telling the person who delivered the briefing that they’d now covered their a$$. Not like anything like that would EVER happen! Mr. Clarke thinks 2 agencies looking into similar activities is enough; much more beyond that gives the potential of people figuratively crawling all over each other after the same things & missing possibly vitally important issues to our safety. Mr. Clarke wants a BRAC for HHS – BRAC meaning "Base Re – Alignment and Closure" Commission back in the "good ‘ol days" when communities all over the country faced the potential of losing their military bases.
#3 "Calling Them Out" - Today, President Obama finally took issue with the GOBP blocking unemployment benefits "until they’re paid for" even though (1) they’d routinely voted for these benefits to continue in the past and (2) they didn’t seem too awfully concerning about having other things "paid for" in the past like, oh, war and defense and a bloated "intelligence system." Actual unemployed Americans stood behind President Obama when he made his Rose Garden speech today. While I’m sure they enjoyed their White House trip, I’m sure they would’ve appreciated more their bills being paid for, food on the table, school supplies for their kids for the upcoming school year, "stuff" like that. The unemployment benefits tarrantinoing in the Senate just might come to an end tomorrow; the temporary replacement for the Senate seat so – long held by Robert Byrd will be sworn in. The GOBP is still touting the "Think of the children!" memo. Again, they didn’t voice too much concern for "the children" with tax cuts, fighting wars on the cheap, and putting those wars on a big ‘ol credit card like a drunken sailor. Some conservative group is taking issue with Senator Reid for not bringing ENOUGH stimulus coin to Nevada?! HA! That is rich. Here’s Chris Hayes & the appropriate props therein for those who need them. ;D
Holy crap! Back when GWB’s Daddy was POTUS, he decided to pay for unemployment benefits with new taxes?! Now, why isn’t his head on tea bagger posters with a Joker’s face on it or a bone through his nose??!! Oh yea, NOW I remember why; it’s because our current POTUS is {insert hushed tone here} not a white guy.
#2 "Re – Meet Alvin Greene" AKA "Greene V. DeMint" - Alvin Greene has made his first campaign speech in the SC Senate race. Mr. Greene spoke at an NAACP event. Now, boys and girls, you remember those racist NAACPers, yes? ;D I bet Mark Williams won’t ever forget them! HOLY $HIT! Mr. Greene either got a PR person or a tutor!! DAMN! OK, who is this guy, and where did the alien who replaced Alvin Greene put the REAL Alvin Greene? Or, is THIS GUY who spoke actually pretty damn eloquently about standardized test scores, unemployment, and high school drop – outs the real Alvin Greene? Mr. Greene talked methane as a source for alternative energy. Well, if he pulls off a miracle & defeats Jim DeMint, he’s headed to a place where there’s methane galore!!
#1 "Refudiate This" - If y’all didn’t visit Daily Kos or Keith’s Twit...er...uh...Tweet...er...Twitter page this weekend, Grandma ExGov TurkeyLover is all NOW all hot & bothered about the possibility of a mosque near the site of the World Trade Center & just twitted GALORE about it over the weekend. OK, I’ve really got a problem with who to "root" for or against in this story. "That woman" is...well..."THAT WOMAN!" But, Shakespeare is... AUGH! BAD GRAD SCHOOL FLASHBACK HERE!! {crawling under my futon here} All right, since when is Alaska "the heartland"? Isn’t Alaska supposed to be her home base? I thought "the heartland" was fly – over country (aka where I live); Alaska’s too damn far away to be fly – over country unless you’re heading to the North Pole or to Russia to make sure St. Sarah from Wasilla can see them from her house.
And, I’d be willing to bet a few dozen shiny new dimes that St. Sarah from Wasilla has never – NEVER – gotten through an entire play from "the Bard." I bet I’ve read more of that than she has; I sure as $hit didn’t enjoy it, but I KNOW I’ve read more of it. Mayor Michael Bloomberg told Grandma ExGov TurkeyLover to shut the spark up & let the grown – ups talk. We get Alex Wagoner again tonight. Ya’ know who a GREAT person to talk "Bard" would’ve been? Hell, I can think of a couple of people damn qualified to talk "Bard" – one of which I have on very good authority that we’ll be seeing back on the television machine this week!
I’d take this guy, too, if I had to.
There’s going to be a mosque in Anchorage, AK???!!! OK, that confirms it; the former first family of AK will be in the lower 48 officially damn soonest.