Jack Bauer is so badass that in Season 3 of 24, heroin got addicted to him.
Discuss.
Archives for July 2007
Orders
Did you know that the president can order a private citizen to do things? It’s true.
WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Bush has ordered his former White House counsel, Harriet Miers, to defy a congressional subpoena and refuse to testify Thursday before a House panel investigating…
The outrage isn’t over yet. After he got off the phone with Harriet the prez called and ordered me to post this video. Apparently the demo software promotional clip in the beginning is part of the magic.
Another Empty Gesture
The Washington Post has discovered that – zut alors! – Mitch McConnell’s Party of No is basically filibustering any legislation that has do with Iraq. This isn’t really news for two reasons.
* One, president Bush has already made clear that he will veto any bill that contains Iraq language that he doesn’t like, regardless of the cost to the country. Overriding a veto takes 67 votes so any bill that can make it past the president’s veto will easily surmount a filibuster. Conversely, a bill that can’t beat McConnell’s obstructionism obviously cannot beat a veto.
* Two, Republicans these days filibuster everything that passes through the Senate. The filibuster the bills, they filibuster the conference committees and they filibuster procedural steps in between. This Senate has already had thirteen cloture votes, compared with four for the previous two Congressional sessions combined. There’s no reason why Republicans shouldn’t gum up Iraq legislation when they already filibuster everything else.
High-End Blender Company Tests The iPhone
Sweet. Via MacSlash, who wasn’t amused.
High-End Blender Company Tests The iPhonePost + Comments (48)
Pravda On the Potomac
Former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona told a Congressional panel Tuesday that top Bush administration officials repeatedly tried to weaken or suppress important public health reports because of political considerations.
The administration, Dr. Carmona said, would not allow him to speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education, or prison, mental and global health issues. Top officials delayed for years and tried to “water down” a landmark report on secondhand smoke, he said. Released last year, the report concluded that even brief exposure to cigarette smoke could cause immediate harm.
Dr. Carmona said he was ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches. He also said he was asked to make speeches to support Republican political candidates and to attend political briefings.
And administration officials even discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics because, he said, of that charitable organization’s longtime ties to a “prominent family” that he refused to name.
It is going to take years to undo the damage of these guys. There is simply no facet of government which has not been infected by these hacks.
News Bits
* Bush’s first Surgeon General: the White House constantly interfered with my office to promote its partisan agenda. Raise your hand if you’re surprised. [Update : talk about this story on John’s post above. Also, I fixed the Surgeon General’s title so that it no longer referred to John Ashcroft.]
* I’m with Kevin Drum about the Michael Moore movie – agitprop doesn’t get much better than that. More than that though, based on some anecdotes and my own intuition I have a sense that the less people like Michael Moore the more effective the movie will be. The main point, that we ought to be able to care for people at least as well as countries with a crappier economy than our own (France, England, we’ll talk later), should resonate especially well with the USA! USA! crowd.
* Someone named Sheehan has officially kicked off a futile primary challenge to Nancy Pelosi. I only mention this to head off the post that you know John is already writing.
* Woot. Dick Durbin followed through on his promise and cut Cheney’s Executive branch budget until he complies with classified information policies. Next month’s Onion headline: in a signing statement Bush reluctantly eliminates the Legislative branch.
This thread is, like, open.
God Does Not Love Me This Much
Please disregard the Palfrey-related rumors floating around Washington. They’re probably bogus. But if true, I cannot tell you what lengths I will go to avoid reading the Starr Report about it. Seriously. If Wolf Blitzer has a celebrity panel talking about distinguishing marks I might put a brick through my teevee.