Bushies Hit Michael Moore with Subpoena

Living in the USSR - Or - Why Does Bush Hate 9/11 Rescue Workers?

Taking 9/11 heroes outside the country -- to Cuba -- for desperately needed health care can be dangerous to your own health. While he was backstage at the Jay Leno show last night, Michael Moore got hit with a subpoena from the Bushies.

This is just like living in the USSR. Leave the country without permission from your government and you can go to prison. Maybe I should rephrase that: leave the country without permission from your government while being a liberal . . .

Cross the Decider at your own peril:

Filmmaker Michael Moore revealed on Thursday's "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno that the Bush Administration had served him with a subpoena regarding his recent trip to Cuba made as part of his new film, Sicko.

Moore told the audience that he was notified of the subpoena backstage.

"I haven't even told my own family yet," Moore remarked. "I was just informed when I was back there with Jay that the Bush administration has now issued a subpoena for me."

Background story here.

What you can do to help the 9/11 Rescue Workers . . .

More at MichaelMoore.com

Michael Moore Bush 9/11 Rescue Workers Cuba Politics Corrupt Democracy News Universal Health Care Jay Leno Video

GOP Fears Liberal Bias of YouTube-ing Americans

YouTube Debate Too Scary for GOP

Only days after the Democratic YouTube debate in South Carolina, and there are already more than 400 questions uploaded to Youtube for the GOP debate.

But apparently, Guiliani is not going to show, and Romney says he's just not a fan of the people-centered CNN/YouTube debate format.

According to GOP party "functionary" Hugh Hewitt, the conservative white men are chickening out because YouTube and CNN have that famous liberal bias.

Over at TPM, a couple of other possibilities have been suggested:

"You realize why Rudy doesn't like the YouTube debate format, right? He doesn't want the NY fire fighter's to get a clean shot at him on national TV."

"The differences between the GOP base and the political mainstream can seem less extreme when asked by someone like Wolf Blitzer, but if presented from the standard GOP rank-and-file member of the base, it seemed like a great way to show how unhinged the GOP has become on some of these issues."

It's also true that some conservative white men are running scared about the certainty that they would find themselves on the receiving end of some hard questions from gays, immigrants, blacks, women, children, as well as folks from all the other groups the GOP so loves to hate.

According to Republican spokeswoman Erin VanSickle, the Florida debate is just too important to miss. "It’s an important debate in an important battleground state that just moved its primary to Jan. 29th. In other words, we have every confidence that they will attend. They can’t afford not to."

"They can't afford not to," unless all of the Republican candidates are already losers. So far, only losers John McCain and Ron Paul are signed on for the oooh scary people-centered debate.

Guiliani Romney Florida Presidential Politics Republican Debate News 2008 CNN YouTube Debate John McCain Politics News

DOJ Scandal and Impeachment Back-Talk #2 Video

Wake up America . . . before it's too late


Alberto Gonzales Bush Cheney Liars Politics Corrupt Democracy News DoJ Attorneygate Impeach

Clinton's Success

The Uphill Struggle
By David Brooks

The biggest story of this presidential campaign is the success of Hillary Clinton. Six months ago many people thought she was too brittle and calculating and that voters would never really bond with her. But now she seems to offer the perfect combination of experience and change.

She’s demonstrating that it really helps to have lived in the White House. She can draw on a range of experiences unmatched by her rivals. She’s dominated most of the debates. She’s transformed her position on Iraq without a ripple. Her measured, statistic-filled speeches rarely inspire passion, but always confidence. . .

The one thing Republicans had going for them was the head-to-heads. Bush, the war and the party could all be unpopular, but individual G.O.P. candidates beat Clinton because her negatives were so high. But she is changing that. People who’ve said they would never vote for her will take a second look once they see her campaign. . .

So as I travel around watching the Republican candidates, I’m looking for signs that they’re willing to try something unorthodox. Eighty percent of the time, what I see is the Dole campaign: Republican candidates uttering their normal principles — small government, military strength, strong families — and heading inexorably toward defeat.

Read more. .

Hillary Clinton Bush David Brooks Presidential Politics 2008 News Democrats

Stacking the Supreme Court with Liberal Women (We Can Do It!)

In today's NY Times, Jean Edward Smith tells us how to 'fix' the problems that currently sit on the Supreme Court. All we need is a Democratic President and a solidly Democratic Congress, and we can "correct" our Conservatives-Gone-Wild Supreme Court.

It seems that there is an American tradition of changing the number of justices on the High Court, in order to achieve important goals. Both Democratic and Republican Administrations have followed this great American tradition.

I say, come 2008, we add at least two more seats to the High Court. It's crystal clear that Ruth Bader Ginsberg is sick and tired of being the token woman.


And while we're 'fixing' the High Court, something really needs to be done about the dismally conservative outfits Justice Ginsberg and her colleagues are forced to wear. See the cheery outfit worn by the Chief Justice of the Canadian Supreme Court in the photo above.

Yeah, the Chief Justice of Canada's Supreme Court is a woman. And there are three (!) more women on the Canadian High Court. I'll say it again: something stinks in the US of A. But when we get a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress, we can fix that.

Stacking the Court:

{T]here is nothing sacrosanct about having nine justices on the Supreme Court. Roosevelt’s 1937 chicanery has given court-packing a bad name, but it is a hallowed American political tradition participated in by Republicans and Democrats alike.

If the current five-man majority persists in thumbing its nose at popular values, the election of a Democratic president and Congress could provide a corrective. It requires only a majority vote in both houses to add a justice or two. Chief Justice John Roberts and his conservative colleagues might do well to bear in mind that the roll call of presidents who have used this option includes not just Roosevelt but also Adams, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln and Grant. [via]

Ruth Bader Ginsberg Canada Politics Liberal Supreme Court 2008 SCOTUS News Roberts Court Eleven Justices

Gonzales Caught Lying to Congress - Perjury Charges May Follow

If you haven't seen Lord Alberto Gonzales' latest doublespeaking performance before Congress, you can view some of the shameful highlights via Keith Olbermann's coverage.

People are required by law to answer questions when testifying before Congress just like in a Court of Law?

But Lord Aberto is too important to trouble himself with minor constitutional details. He is also too important to trouble himself with the nuisance of weaving lies into even a halfway credible narrative.

But if you are protected by the pResident, why not just tell your lies bold-faced and shamelessly?

My only question is: How much longer are Democrats going to sit back and watch the Bush Administration trample all over the Constitution before, finally, they get outraged enough to stand up and defend the Constitution???

Charging Gonzales with perjury and impeaching his ass would be a start.

USA Today:

Documents show that eight congressional leaders were briefed about the Bush administration’s terrorist surveillance program on the eve of its expiration in 2004, contradicting sworn Senate testimony this week by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The documents, obtained by The Associated Press, come as senators consider whether a perjury investigation should be opened into conflicting accounts about the program and a dramatic March 2004 confrontation leading up to its potentially illegal reauthorization. . A Gonzales spokesman maintained Wednesday that the attorney general stands by his testimony.

At a heated Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Gonzales repeatedly testified that the issue at hand was not about the terrorist surveillance program, which allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on suspects in the United States without receiving court approval. . . Instead, Gonzales said, the emergency meetings on March 10, 2004, focused on an intelligence program that he would not describe.

Alberto Gonzales Bush Senate Contempt Charges Politics Congress News DoJ Constitutional Crisis

Fred Thompson's Wife Blamed for Campaign Woes

CNN reports that at least some of Fred Thompson's campaign woes are due to Thompson's controlling wife:

Top Adviser Resigns After Butting Heads with Thompson’s Wife (video)

Jeri Kehn is said to have "her hand in every part of the campaign, from hiring to salaries to scheduling, and even down to the color of bumper stickers they make."

According to First Read:

Some sources describe the role of the presumed candidate's wife, Jeri, as vast and powerful. Sources say "she's integrally involved in every decision" and that Fred Thompson has "set it up so everything goes through her." Critically, that was cast as "running it like a congressional campaign" and from the "kitchen table."

Given Fred's reputation for laying back and letting other folks do the work, you have to wonder if Thompson would even have a campaign if not for his wife. Jeri Kehn should probably get credit for any and all successes too. Assuming there are any.

The campaign has also suffered yet another resignation:

J.T. Mastranadi was hired just a week and a half ago to be the campaign's director of research. He resigned this morning, a friend of his said. The friend said that Mastranadi was "fed up" with the "lack of structure" and was unclear about his role in the coming campaign.

And there's more bad news: Thompson's fundraising is said to be down "markedly" or "big time."

The new announcement date is said to be Sept. 4, but don't count on it.

Politics Fred Thompson News 2008 Republicans Jeri Kehn Tennessee Campaign Troubles

How the Gays Destroy Hetero Marriage (video)

It's cause the gays, their evil ways . . .

Gay Politics Discrimination News Heterosexism Video Gay Marriage Bush

Contempt Charges Against Miers and Bolton Go to Full House

It is the official view of the House Judiciary Committee that Harriet Miers and Josh Bolton should be charged with criminal contempt for thumbing their elite noses at the rule of law.

If the resolution should pass the full House, Miers and Bolton would face criminal proceedings, under normal circumstances.

But since Bush owns the Department of Justice, forget that.

"The Justice Department on Tuesday informed the committee that it would not pursue criminal contempt charges against White House officials when executive privilege is invoked."

Harriet Miers Bush Josh Bolton Contempt Charges Politics Congress News DoJ

Gender and the Democratic YouTube Debate

Rachel over at Real Women, Real Voices provides the gender breakdown of the YouTube questions chosen by CNN for the Democratic debate.

Prepare not to be surprised.

Even with a woman as the leading candidate, only 12 of the 39 videoes featured women questioners. Here's one of the questions that CNN did not chooose:

Jennifer Pozner of WMIN's Voices has more thoughts on the under-representation, as usual, of women's voices:

"The fact that YouTube and CNN would bill their debate as a bold new step for participatory democracy yet would so significantly underrepresent women’s participation is another indication that media accountability is needed even in this brave new world of online communication, despite the much-ballyhooed gender equity it was supposed to bring."

CNN Gender Presidential Politics Democratic Debate News 2008 CNN YouTube Debate Media ERA

Obama and Edwards on Gay Rights -- Democratic Debate

Barack Obama John Edwards Gay Marriage Politics Democratic Debate News 2008 CNN YouTube Debate Democrats Video

Democratic YouTube Debate: 'Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton' Question

One of Hillary Clinton's many outstanding moments and the best and biggest laugh of the night (at Commander Guy's expense):

Hillary Clinton Bush 2000 Presidential Politics Democratic Debate News 2008 CNN YouTube Debate Democrats Video

Democratic YouTube Debate Tonight

Don't miss the two hour Democratic YouTube debate, hosted by CNN's Anderson Cooper, tonight.

You can browse some of the submitted questions over at YouTube.


Presidential Politics Democratic Debate News 2008 CNN YouTube Debate Democrats

Why Fred Thompson Won't Run

Fred Thompson was going to announce his candidancy in early July.

Then the abortion rights lobbyist said he'd announce in late July instead.

Now the indecisive actor guy is thinking September.

The parady blog Newsgroper puts some impressively appropriate words into slow movin' Freddy's mouth:

"I am here today to say I am not running for President. I may walk for President, or even stroll, but Big Freddie does not run unless there is an angry boar’s horn six inches from his butt."

Politics Fred Thompson News 2008 Republicans Labor Day Announcement Tennessee

Fred Thompson, The Actor - In New York Magazine

New York Magazine has an interesting eight page feature about Fred Thompson, The Actor. It's not exactly what I would call a flattering portrait.

Author Stephen Rodrick notes that Thompson's "significant liabilities" are his "work ethic and authenticity."

The excerpt below suggests that the challenge of playing presidential to a national audience of grown-ups is far beyond the small time actor's ability:

On July 10, Thompson made a last-minute trip to suburban Atlanta for the omnipresent Sean Hannity’s Freedom Concert. . . Hannity opened the show with a Hillary imitator getting off gems like “My husband moved from the White House to Harlem. Of course, he read the map wrong and thought it said ‘Harem.’” The party faithful pounded their hands in approval but quieted for the pledge of allegiance.

After the Christian rock band Avalon performed, Thompson was introduced. He read a patriotic poem about the war, took his bows, then sat down in the audience and watched with rapt excitement as the comedian Larry the Cable Guy glided through a set. “My doctor told me I had to give up eggs,” said Larry, tugging at his trucker cap. “I said, ‘Why, because of my cholesterol?’ He said, ‘No, your farts are killing us.’”

The arena echoed with laughter. Over in his seat, Thompson slapped his thigh and gave an “It’s funny ’cause it’s true” full-body shake. He seemed to be having the time of his life. It is hard to imagine Rudy or Romney, Hillary or Barack, sitting through the set, much less soaking it all in.

Politics Fred Thompson News 2008 Republicans Tennessee Sean Hannity Freedom Concert Atlanta

The French Connections

U.S. Web Lag
by Paul Krugman

There was a time when everyone thought that the Europeans and the Japanese were better at business than we were. In the early 1990s airport bookstores were full of volumes with samurai warriors on their covers, promising to teach you the secrets of Japanese business success. Lester Thurow’s 1992 book, “Head to Head: The Coming Economic Battle Among Japan, Europe and America,” which spent more than six months on the Times best-seller list, predicted that Europe would win.

Then it all changed, and American despondency turned into triumphalism. Partly this was because the Clinton boom contrasted so sharply with Europe’s slow growth and Japan’s decade-long slump. Above all, however, our new confidence reflected the rise of the Internet. Jacques Chirac complained that the Internet was an “Anglo-Saxon network,” and he had a point — France, like most of Europe except Scandinavia, lagged far behind the U.S. when it came to getting online.

What most Americans probably don’t know is that over the last few years the situation has totally reversed. As the Internet has evolved — in particular, as dial-up has given way to broadband connections using DSL, cable and other high-speed links — it’s the United States that has fallen behind. . .

Even more striking is the fact that our “high speed” connections are painfully slow by other countries’ standards. . . [H]ealth care isn’t the only area in which the French, who can take a pragmatic approach because they aren’t prisoners of free-market ideology, simply do things better.

Read more. .

Paul Krugman France Internet Politics Free Market News Bush Republican Incompetence

The Real Mitt Romney

Here's wannabe president Mitt Romney grinning like a fool and holding up a sign comparing Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden. How presidential is that? Will the MSM cover Romney's dirty politics?

via TMZ

Mitt Romney Hillary Clinton Barack Obama Politics 2008 News Osama bin Laden Sign South Carolina

A Woman Who’s Man Enough

Gender Anomalies
By MAUREEN DOWD

Things are getting confusing out there in Genderville.

We have the ordinarily poker-faced secretary of defense crying over young Americans killed in Iraq. We have The Washington Post reporting that Hillary Clinton came to the floor of the Senate in a top that put “cleavage on display Wednesday afternoon on C-SPAN2.”

We have Mitt Romney spending $300 for makeup appointments at Hidden Beauty, a mobile men’s grooming spa, before the California debate, even though NBC would surely have powdered his nose for free.

We have Elizabeth Edwards on a tear of being more assertive than her husband. She argued that John Edwards is a better advocate for women than Hillary, explaining that her own experience as a lawyer taught her that “sometimes you feel you have to behave as a man and not talk about women’s issues.”

We have Bill Clinton, who says he’d want to be known as First Laddie, defending his woman by saying, “I don’t think she’s trying to be a man.”

Read more . .

Maureen Dowd Hillary Clinton Gender Politics 2008 News Bush Robert Gates

I Did Have Sexual Relations With That Woman

Summer of Love
By FRANK RICH

IT’S not just the resurgence of Al Qaeda that is taking us back full circle to the fateful first summer of the Bush presidency. It’s the hot sweat emanating from Washington. Once again the capital is titillated by a scandal featuring a member of Congress, a woman who is not his wife and a rumor of crime. Gary Condit, the former Democratic congressman from California, has passed the torch of below-the-Beltway sleaziness to David Vitter, an incumbent (as of Friday) Republican senator from Louisiana.

Mr. Vitter briefly faced the press to explain his “very serious sin,” accompanied by a wife who might double for the former Mrs. Jim McGreevey. He had no choice once snoops hired by the avenging pornographer Larry Flynt unearthed his number in the voluminous phone records of the so-called D.C. Madam, now the subject of a still-young criminal investigation. Newspapers back home also linked the senator to a defunct New Orleans brothel, a charge Mr. Vitter denies. That brothel’s former madam, while insisting he had been a client, was one of his few defenders last week. “Just because people visit a whorehouse doesn’t make them a bad person,” she helpfully told the Baton Rouge paper, The Advocate.

Mr. Vitter is not known for being so forgiving a soul when it comes to others’ transgressions. . .

Read more . .

Frank Rich Sex Scandal Senator David Vitter GOP News Politics DC Madam Louisiana Republican Hypocrite

Vitter Limerick of the Day

There once was a man named Vitter

Who vowed that he wasn’t a quitter

But with stories of women

And all of his sinnin’

He knows his career’s in the -- oh, never mind.

-- Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), quoted by The Hill, on Republican Sen. David Vitter’s sex scandal.

via Political Wire

Sex Scandal Senator David Vitter John Kerry News Politics DC Madam Louisiana Republican Hypocrite