Scooter Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former Chief of Staff, was convicted earlier this year of perjery and obstruction of justice in stemming from the revelation of Valeria Plame’s identity as a covert CIA agent. Today, Scooter Libby will be sentenced. Twenty months. That’s my guess. ETA: And I was wrong! It was thirty months!Continue reading “On Scooter Libby's Sentence”
Category Archives: Politics
On an Ironic Bush Statement
Said President Bush while on vacation at his Crawford, Texas ranch: “And they ought to get the job done of passing legislation, as opposed to figuring out how to be actors on the political theater stage.” They, being Congress. Political theater, being investigating Alberto Gonzales and providing oversight of the Justice Department. Hmm, is theContinue reading “On an Ironic Bush Statement”
On Cracks in the Republican Facade
The day was coming. Yesterday, eleven Republican Congressmen went to the White House bearing a message for President Bush. Their message for the President? He’s lost credibility on Iraq. The President’s approval rating is south of thirty percent. That Republican Congressmen will start to peel from the monolithic bloc in support of the President’s failedContinue reading “On Cracks in the Republican Facade”
On Karl Rove's Atheism
I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this–Christopher Hitchens, author of the new book God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, outed senior Bush administration advisor Karl Rove as an atheist. Hitchens said in an interview with New York Magazine: I know something which is known to few but is not a secret.Continue reading “On Karl Rove's Atheism”
On Rescinding the President's War Powers
Senators Hillary Clinton of New York and Robert Byrd of West Virginia will be introducing legislation to rescind the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), the legislation that allowed the invasion of Iraq, in October 2007 on the fifth anniversary of the AUMF’s initial passage. From Senator Clinton’s speech on the SenateContinue reading “On Rescinding the President's War Powers”
On the Bush Dyslexicon
I’m sorry, this is one I can’t let pass. President Bush referred to himself today as, and let me make sure I’ve got this exactly right, “the commander guy.” Referring to the Baker-Hamilton report Bush said: By the way, in the report it said, it is — the government may have to put in moreContinue reading “On the Bush Dyslexicon”
On Mission Accomplished, Plus Four Years
Said President George W. Bush on May 1st, 2003: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country. Wrote I in September 2006, for the Star Trek: Constellations annotations: On May 1,Continue reading “On Mission Accomplished, Plus Four Years”
On Looking Back Four Years
I like to read Tom Tomorrow’s cartoons. He’s a political cartoonist, and his weekly cartoon–entitled This Modern World–are usually carried in the alt-weeklies. In Raleigh I read them in The Independant. Here in Baltimore I find them in City Paper. If you have an alt-weekly, chances are you can read Tom Tomorrow. Alternatively, you canContinue reading “On Looking Back Four Years”
On the Absent Liddy Dole
When I lived in North Carolina my two senators were Liddy Dole and Bob Burr. I’d write letters to both, pester them about supporting non-Republican causes (which was, itself, a non-starter as both are loyal Republicans). Burr, at least, would write back. Dole, except for one letter on a proposal to raise the Minimum Wage,Continue reading “On the Absent Liddy Dole”
More on Alberto Gonzales
I love the NPR news quizshow Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. They offered the best explanation yet for Alberto Gonzales’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. (And I’m paraphrasing from memory here.) “Alberto Gonzales blacks out. His body is taken over by an evil spirit who fires US Attorneys, lies before Congress andContinue reading “More on Alberto Gonzales”