In Dodd We Trust

I just want to give a shout out to Senator Dodd from Connecticut. It's about time someone took a stand for the Constitution. Isn't that what all Senators and Representatives(not to mention the President) promised to defend when they took office? There is no reason for companies to be granted immunity for willfully violating the law, whether the President asks you to or not. I am glad he's willing to filibuster the FISA bill. I am heartened as well to see Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Biden promise to join him. I am greatly disappointed in the top three presidential candidates. Obama put out a tepid statement saying it was a bad bill. That's not good enough!! I am greatly disappointed in John Edwards. He should have said something long before now. There has been no word from Hillary Clinton. Frankly, it doesn't suprise me at all. It's too bad she won't take the opportunity to be a leader. If the Constitution is not important enough for her, what is?

The Conscience of a Liberal

Paul Krugman had a post yesterday on his new-ish NYT sponsored blog about his upcoming book tour. He said when he did his last tour, four years ago, that it was like an old time revival. People were just happy someone was speaking out against the Bushies. He says he has no idea what it will be like this time. It will make that tour seem like a Sunday pancake breakfast fundraiser at the local firehouse.

Is there anybody out there??

The events of the past few days make me wonder. Has the Republican party become so corrupted that it has outlived its usefulness? What brings this to mind is the saga of the Frost family of Baltimore. They have been attacked by elements of the Republican party for using S-Chip to pay the health insurance bills of their children. Why do I call them elements of the Republican party? Because the White House supports them. They host conferences for these fear and hate mongers. They've had people like Rush Limbaugh to the White House to make sure Limbaugh is up to the minute on the latest talking points. So what do you call it when Michelle Malkin sits in for Bill O'Reilly? And has Malkin ever stepped in it lately! She's been going around like a stalker trying to dig up dirt on the Frost family. Needless to say, it is obvious that she doesn't believe in Jesus, because he'd be disgusted by her actions too.

Joe Klein

I have to admit, I liked his Woody Guthrie biography. I don't understand what has happened to him ever since he decided to become a DC pundit. Glenn Greenwald and Atrios both make good points. Does Klein read about any of the topics before be comments on them? Do any of the DC punditry have a clue(Don't answer, it's a rhetorical question)? Its like they've got to the point of reflexively supporting whatever the government does. It's a very sad state of affairs.

The Republicans are killing irony

See that? I want to know who was in charge of approving this. And people were thinking that once the Democrats retook Congress that there would be less material for Stewart and Colbert. I think this is one of many instances that proves that theory wrong.

Sing it, Ezra!!

Ezra Klein makes a great point. Go read it.

Adam Smith

Yes, that Adam Smith! Glenn Greeenwald had a great post today about the Beltway Establishment and how Smith pegged them 130 years before hand. It's a great read. How Smith was able to forsee Tweety's(that is Chris Matthews for anyone that doesn't know) obsession with Aqua Velva and Fred Thompson(or his other obsession, with the Clenis), I don't know. Or Teh Big Punkin's(Tim Russert) smarmy sanctimoniousness. Or the insane drivel of a Charles Krauthammer(aka Charles Kraphammer). These people have been wrong time and time again, yet haven't been banished to Siberia. Why? They aren't trustworthy. They are a festering sore upon the body politic.

Ron Paul fever. Catch it!!

I heard some interesting news today. Ron Paul out raised John "Walnuts" McCain last quarter. I am not a big fan of Paul's. The one good thing I can say about him is that he stands by his principles, unlike almost any other politician in Washington, D.C. I was suprised to see Charlie Gibson even mention him on the nightly ABC news. Can we finally bury the Straight Talk Express once and for all? I wish Paul all the success in the world. I hope he can outraise most of the field. It would make the Republican primary even more interesting than it already is(Just imagine if Newt had joined the field!!). The fun in this case is like watching Abbott & Costello, not because you'll get any debate on any of the candidates positions(except Paul).

Wait till next year

I don't have much to say tonight. The Mets lost today, so they'll be playing golf tomorrow. It hurts. How they could have blown the lead, I'll never know. Hopefully the GM will make some changes. I hope they have some good arms down on the farm that they can give a chance to. They need to get younger in the starting rotation and get a better bullpen.

Getting all political ..

I have not been reading Atrios long enough to know how much of a Springsteen fan he is, but this isn't anything new. Springsteen has been speaking out for a while. He's been speaking out since at least 1980(I hope the clip of him the night after Ray-gun's election is on YouTube. If it is, i'll post the link later). He spoke out during The Rising tour. He even did a number of shows on the Vote for Change tour(that included Pearl Jam and Dave Matthews among a host of others). He won't let any one silence his voice. It's one of the many reasons his fans like him, and his peers respect him.

Novakula ...

Digby has this great post over at her place today about Bob Novak and his critical comments on General Wesley Clark when we were trying to clean up the Balkans. It is another example of the Republicans hypocrisy in the whole MoveOn flap. They have been criticizing the military when it suites there ends. The traditional media is so bad, they can't use Teh Google to refute the Faux Noise brigade. I have stopped wondering when the traditional media will get their act together. They'll go bankrupt before they do.

Trouble at Shea ..

I don't pretend to know everything about sports. I am a fan like most everyone else, and as Pete Franklin(who was one of the original hosts when WFAN went to all sports) said, "Fan is short for fanatic". It means we are passionate about the teams we root for. We talk losses hard and celebrate important wins(including ones over hated rivals no matter when they occur). That said, I wish I knew what is going through Willie Randolph's head. While the offense is doing well, the bullpen is imploding. They can't hold a lead to save their life. Does he trust anyone in the pen besides Billy Wagner? Is there a reason why, at this late date, he's using six or seven guys on a regular basis when not one of them is getting the job done? I hope for his sake that he gets in the playoffs, otherwise the fans in New York will be screaming for blood. Losing a seven game lead with three weeks to play is not something that happens all the time. Whether it is fair or not, the manager is going to take the heat if they fail to make the playoffs.

"The Dean" ..

In his column in today's Washington Post, Davd "The Dean" Broder finally gets his head out of his ass long enough to mumble about the Republicans who are standing with The Decider on his threatened veto of the S-CHIP bill. He goes off the track when calling Heather Wilson(R-NM) and Ray LaHood(R-IL) two of the smartest people in the House. It just goes to show that Broder regained sanity only temporarily. Either that, or someone wrote the column for him.

Can you feel the Newtmentum?

I should acknowledge that I lifted the subject line from Steven Benen of the Carpetbagger Report(A link to his blog will be at the end of this post). What the subject line relates to has me in absolute stitches. Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House and Representative from Georgia, has said that if people raise $30 million dollars for him that he'll run for President. I am not sure whether to laugh or cry. He was a horrible Speaker. He shut down the government twice over playing games of chicken with President Clinton. He tried to impeach President Clinton, who had approval ratings twice that of the current president, while simultaneously having an affair of his own. I could go on but needless to say, it wouldn't make Newt look any better. What happened to the Republicans savior of the moment(Follywood Fred Thompson)? Has he been that much of a dud that they are turning to Gingrich to save the day? My advice to Newt? Go for it. Turn the Republican primary into the Keystone Kops. McCain, Rudy, Romney, Fred Thompson and Newt. If that can't get the Republicans excited, what can?


http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/

What would FDR say?

Remember him? He was the president that said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. With that, I have to ask what Republicans are afraid of now. President Ahmadinejad of Iran is coming to visit the U.S. in the coming week. He wants to visit Ground Zero. I know McCain and Rudy hate him, but are they really that immature to stoop to his level? What happened to America acting like grown ups? Some said he wanted to celebrate the hijackers. That's a crock of shit. Ahmadinejad, as most of Iran, is Shia. The hijackers, most of whom came from Saudi Arabia, were Sunni. Despite the fact they all believe in Mohammed, they don't particularly like each other. The other complaint I hear deals with Ahmadinejad claiming the Holocaust never took place. That is a valid complaint. The problem I have with that is we have dealt with a lot of unsavory characters in the history of this country. Are we to preclude him? Isn't it better to talk to, and engage him, then to start a war? Are people afraid to debate him? He's supposed to appear at Columbia University and even take questions and the forum he is attending. Can people go and act like adults and ask him why he believes what he does? Who is hurt by having a dialog? He might change his opinions, and he might not. Besides, I thought this country believed in the First Amendment. All I have to say is that it can't hurt to ask him why he dislikes people of a different faith. If anything, he won't change his views by our bombing Iran. Engaging in dialogue does have a chance.

The Republicans and MoveOn.org

I can't say I was surprised. The knuckle dragger from Texas, Senator Cornyn, introduced a Sense of the Senate resolution criticizing MoveOn.org. Sadly, twenty two Democratic Senators voted for it. I also heard President Bush came out today and said he was dusgusted with the MoveOn.org. Was he disgusted when Saxby Chambliss ran ads comflating Max Cleland with OBL in 2004? Or the Swift Boats ads against Senator Kerry? Of course not. It's gotten to the point where it is beyond sad. The President is supposed to lead the country, not just one party. I notice he never speaks ill of his own party, but can't wait to jump on the opposition. I thought he was supposed to be the uniter. He lied about that like he's lied about everything else.

The Mets? Ugh!!!

What is up with the Mets? It's obvious something is missing. The bullpen sucks and can't hold a lead at all. I know Randolph is from the Joe Torre school of managing. Torre has a track record of success with the Yankees. Randolph can't match it. Not only that, but the Yankees are hard on the Red Sox heels while the Mets are pulling a choke like the Red Sox. Mets fans won't take too kindly to that. I know will won't pull a Lou Piniella type explosion but he better do something to right the ship. Now!!

New Morning

I have not posted in ages. A lot has happened since I last posted. Baseball has crowned a new champion. NFL Football is half way through another season. Mid-term elections were held.

It's good for the Cardinals that they won. Being a Mets fan, it was disappointing to lose in the NLCS. We were missing two of our better pitchers. Those are the breaks. It will be interesting to see what Minaya does in the offseason. Will the Mets go after Zito? That's to be determined.

The NFL season has seen its share of ups and downs. The Eagles have been very up and down. I reveled in Matt Bryant's sixty-two yard game winning field goal. I am not a Philadelphia area native, so I have no special love for the Eagles. Due to the lackluster NFC East, they are very much alive for the playoffs. Due to injuries, the NY Giants look like they might be in trouble. It all depends on how long Strahan is out.

The elections were the results a lot of us have finally been waiting for. The Democrats finally regained control of both houses of Congress. The one downer was Lieberman winning in Connecticut. I used to live there and know what kind of weasel he really is. I was rooting for Lamont. He would have made Connecticut proud. I hope Murtha wins the race for Majority Leader. He isn't the best choice, but given Murtha or Hoyer, I'll take Murtha each time. I can't wait for January. I want to see what investigations are opened. Goodness knows there are plenty of avenues they can go. Whether anyone will go to jail remains to be seen.

Bring 'em Home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK1g69iHu1Q

Jazz Fest in New Orleans

This video says it all, thanks to Bruce of course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYsSVNl8xmE