Enron Wants Joe Too...

Molly Ivins on Lamont over Lieberman.

Wow. How little we realized that the fate of a single senator - especially such a whiny and sanctimonious one - meant everything to Osama bin. Must've pulled off his turban and danced around his cave when he got the news. The whole Al Qaeda bunch stayed up just to hear the late returns from Darien, Conn.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, The Hill newspaper reports that an Enron lobbyist (former aide to Joe Lieberman and money-raiser for him and convicted Republican Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, whom he describes as being "like-minded guys") is demanding that Democratic senators not campaign against Lieberman. When asking other professional influence-peddlers to contribute, he tells them to come back for Lieberman, saying, "Who knows what Lamont would be like?"

For example, Lamont might use his power to make sure the Enron investigation gets serious - a task that Lieberman, ranking Democrat on the Government Affairs Committee, has avoided. No surprise that the lobbyists and insiders want to keep their guy.

I'm sure the Enron investigation, if allowed to proceed, would end up going through the filing cabinets in both Cheney's and the Oval Offices.

November. Subpœna power. Impeachment. Jail.

Smart Dirty Money On Dems In November

WaPo

Washington lobbying firms, trade associations and corporate offices are moving to hire more well-connected Democrats in response to rising prospects that the opposition party will wrest control of at least one chamber of Congress from Republicans in the November elections.

The prospect of partisan change in Congress has also altered the way lawmakers and their aides are thinking about jobs on K Street. Some Democrats who had been looking for work "downtown" have postponed their switch, thinking that they might want to experience being in the majority for a change, according to Eric Vautour, who leads the Washington office of Russell Reynolds Associates Inc., an executive search firm.

In addition, Vautour said, a sizable pool of Republicans -- including two lawmakers seeking reelection whom he declined to identify -- "are willing to talk about becoming a lobbyist or an association head" even before Election Day.

I think this news from the money men who dictate legislation makes a Dem victory official.

National Republican Party Officially Endorses Lieberman for Senate

Sirota

Joe Lieberman is no longer the De Facto Republican nominee - he is officially the Republican Party-endorsed candidate for Senate in Connecticut. The GOP's motivation is obvious - they not only are rewarding Lieberman for regurgitating GOP talking points that attack Democrats as terrorist sympathizers, but should he win, they are making a move to get him to support a Republican for Senate leader. In the event that the Senate is very closely split after the 2006 election, a Lieberman vote for the GOP leader could keep control of the Senate in GOP hands.

From The Politicker:

This morning, a source at the National Republican Senatorial Committee confirmed in a phone interview that the party will not help Schlesinger or any other potential Republican candidate in Connecticut, and it now favors a Lieberman victory in November.

"We did a poll and there is no way any Republican we put out there can win, so we are just going to leave that one alone," said the NRSC source.

Instead, the NRSC is pulling for Lieberman over Ned Lamont, who rode an anti-war message to a victory in the Aug 8 primary.

"Most Republicans would agree that he'd clearly be a better choice than Lamont," said the source.

Fake Democrat Lieberman is acknowledged at last to have crawled up the elephant's ass - and Dumbo likes it! Lieberman is now officially a favored Repuglican butt-plug!

Damn, it's hard to type when I'm rolling around on the floor laughing! My side hurts.

Court strikes down warrantless wiretaps

Raw Story

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor today ruled that the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretap program is unconstitutional, RAW STORY has learned.

The court has ruled that the program violates the rights to privacy, as well as free speech, and has ordered an immediate halt.

DEVELOPING...

I think there might soon be some dervish-like spinning about Al Qaeda-supporting activist Federal judges. Stay tuned.

News Flash

Al-Qaeda has won the 'War on Terror'. Our pal Jo Fish sums it up nicely:

... Bin Laden and his bestest friend and protector, Mullah Omar have to be sitting back laughing their asses off over exploding hair gel and the utter paranoia they've induced in the West...

I mean, that's the goal of terror, isn't it? To turn a population into cowering chickenshits? Well, Osama can say 'mission accomplished'. Bush, Cheney, and the neocon cabal should be tried as accomplices and accessories.

Heh ...

Wanna hear Gord's sphincter tighten? Click here.

Daily Dave

In our Daily Dave post today, an unexpected pleasure. I got an email from Dave Mejias' Press Secretary, Gabby Adler, this afternoon.

The first is to introduce myself as Dave Mejias's Press Secretary; I officially came on staff yesterday and wanted to make sure you have my contact information. I greatly appreciate your offer to help the campaign and to inform your readers about Dave and his candidacy. I will add you to my contact list and I will send you press releases and other announcements. Please feel free to contact me at any time.

Her second reason for contacting me is to give some detail on the AFL-CIO endorsement at their convention Monday. Something I didn't know:

This is the first time the AFL-CIO has ever endorsed [Rep. Peter]King's (R-Bush Crony) opposition.*

About time they got the fact the Repukes ain't no friends of organized labor. We're pleased at the Brain to help Dave Mejias' campaign any way we can. How about you?

Volunteer and donate @ Dave for America.

Contribute via ActBlue.

Let's make Long Island completely blue.

*Press Release posted Below the Fold.

Camoose in Crawford

MoDo via Free Democracy:

Strangely enough, we find two famous men reading Albert Camus's "The Stranger" this summer.

One is Jean Girard, the villainous gay French race car driver hilariously played by Sacha Baron Cohen (a k a Ali G and Borat) - the sinuous rival to Will Ferrell's stocky Ricky Bobby in "Talladega Nights."

Girard, a jazz-loving, white-silk-scarf-wearing, America-disdaining Formula Un driver sponsored by Perrier, is so smooth he can sip macchiato from a china cup, smoke Gitanes and read "L'Etranger" behind the wheel and still lead the Nascar pack.

Frenchie contemptuously informs "cowboy" Bobby that America merely gave the world George Bush, Cheerios and the ThighMaster while France invented democracy, existentialism and the ménage à trois.

Mr. Bush's life has been premised on his confidence that he will always be insulated from the consequences and the cruelties of existence, unlike Meursault. W. or his people always work to change fate, whether it's an election or the Middle East.

"The Stranger" is about the emotionally detached Meursault, who makes a lot of bad decisions and pre-emptively kills an Arab in the sand. Get it? Camus's protagonist moves through an opaque, obscure and violent world that is indifferent to his beliefs and desires. Get it?

If there was ever a moment when this president could regard the unanticipated consequences of his actions, behold the world littered with the very opposite of what he intended for it and appreciate the gritty stoicism of the philosophy of absurdism, this is it. Iraq in civil war. Al Qaeda metastasizing and plotting. Hezbollah, Iran and Syria knitting closer, celebrating a "victory" in standing up to Israel, the U.S. and Britain, and mocking W.'s plan for a "new Middle East." The North Koreans luxuriating in their nuclear capability. Chávez becoming the new Castro on a global scale.

Maybe next the president should pick up Camus's other classic, "The Myth of Sisyphus." Was there ever a national enterprise more Sisyphean than the war in Iraq?

If there was ever a confirmation of Camus's sense of the absurdity of life, it's that the president is reading him.

Kinda beatnik shit for this dumbass ol' country fuck, but I think I "get it".

Consumer Prices Up, Factory Output Slows

LATimes

WASHINGTON - Consumer inflation accelerated in July, reflecting a big jump in gasoline and other energy prices. In evidence that the economy is slowing, industrial output in July slipped to just half the June pace.

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its closely watched Consumer Price Index rose by 0.4 percent last month, double the 0.2 percent increase in June. While energy costs had fallen in June, they rose by 2.9 percent last month, the biggest increase in three months.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve reported that output at the nation's factories, mines and utilities increased by 0.4 percent last month, just half of the 0.8 percent gain in June.

Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, slowed in July, rising by just 0.2 percent after four straight months of 0.3 percent gains. This slowdown, which was helped by a 1.2 percent drop in clothing prices, was likely to encourage officials at the Federal Reserve, who are counting on a slowing economy to reduce inflation pressures.

Gee, I'm glad to see that the bag of T-shirts I bought last month helped things out.

The rise in industrial production was the slowest since no gain at all in May. Output at manufacturing industries edged up a tiny 0.1 percent, but this weakness was offset by stronger gains in other sectors of the economy.

Output at the nation's utilities shot up by 2 percent in July, reflecting higher production at electric utilities in response to warmer-than-normal temperatures. Output at the nation's mines, a category that also includes oil and gas production, rose 0.8 percent in July, reflecting increased demand for domestic energy supplies.

Gains for the oil companies? Go figure. Global warming been bery, bery good to dem. Thanks, Chimp, and to the big Dick on your shoulder as well. Thanks for everything. You bastards.

"Gibson's in rehab and Youkilis is at first base!"

Go see this video of Dennis Leary as guest announcer at a Red Sox game. This may be the funniest thing you see all day! Larger image at Deadspin and Bad Idea Blue Jeans.

So, Osama walks into a bar...

Greg Palast

So, Osama Walks into This Bar, See? and Bush says, "Whad'l'ya have, pardner?" and Osama says...

But wait a minute. I'd better shut my mouth. The sign here in the airport says, "Security is no joking matter." But if security's no joking matter, why does this guy dressed in a high-school marching band outfit tell me to dump my Frappuccino and take off my shoes? All I can say is, Thank the Lord the "shoe bomber" didn't carry Semtex in his underpants.

I'm going to tell you something which is straight-up heresy: America is not under attack by terrorists. There is no WAR on terror because, except for one day five years ago, al Qaeda has pretty much left us alone.

That's because Osama got what he wanted. There's no mystery about what Al Qaeda was after. Like everyone from the Girl Scouts to Bono, Osama put his wish on his web site. He had a single demand: "Crusaders out of the land of the two Holy Places." To translate: get US troops out of Saudi Arabia.

And George Bush gave it to him. On April 29, 2003, two days before landing on the aircraft carrier Lincoln, our self-described "War President" quietly put out a notice that he was withdrawing our troops from Saudi soil. In other words, our cowering cowboy gave in whimpering to Osama's demand.

The press took no note. They were all wiggie over Bush's waddling around the carrier deck in a disco-aged jump suit announcing, "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED." But it wasn't America's mission that was accomplished, it was Osama's.

War on Terror is class war by other means -- to keep you from asking for real protection from true menace, the landlords of our nation give you fake protection from manufactured dangers. And they remind you to be afraid every time you fly to see Aunt Millie and have to give up your hemorrhoid ointment to the underpaid guy in the bell-hop suit with a security badge.

Oh, hey, you never got the punch line.

So, Osama Walks into This Bar, See? and Bush says, "Whad'l'ya have, pardner?" and Osama says, "Well, George, what are you serving today?" and Bush says, "Fear," and Osama shouts, "Fear for everybody!" and George pours it on for the crowd. Then the presidential bartender says, "Hey, who's buying?" and Osama points a thumb at the crowd sucking down their brew. "They are," he says. And the two of them share a quiet laugh.

I have no comment.

How they win ...

Of course, the Rethugs can't win on the issues, not after 6 years of incompetence and corruption. This is how they hedge their bets*:

After votes were suppressed in Florida and Ohio during the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, Salon warns that four additional states could see voters prevented from casting ballots, with the greatest impact felt by Democratic candidates.

...

And when all else fails, leave us not forget about the ace in the hole.

*Tip o' the Brain to Blondie.

Coolness

Big time.

Thanks to Avedon Carol.

Keepin us safer

Gord posted on this the other day. Seems they've been diverting more funds than originally thought:

...

Cathleen A. Berrick, director of the Government Accountability Office's homeland security and justice division, told a Senate committee in February 2005 that the Transportation Security Administration, part of the federal Department of Homeland Security, redirected more than half of the $110 million it had for research and development in 2003 to pay for the personnel costs of screeners, delaying research in areas including detecting liquid explosives. It has continued to redirect some research and development money, she said today. [my em]

...

Where it's due.

Is accountability the new black? Probably not, but it's nice to see it in action.

Goin' to the ...

Impurity Ball* ... creepy wingnuts.

*Apologies to Uriah Heep, Three Dog Night, et. al.

Dell to Issue Battery Recall

LATimes

Dell Inc., the world's largest computer maker, acknowledged Monday that it would recall 4.1 million notebook computer batteries because they can overheat and sometimes catch fire. It would be the largest recall in the history of the consumer electronics industry.

Dell's action will affect batteries in its notebooks sold between April 2004 and July 18, 2006. That includes 2.7 million battery packs sold in the U.S. and 1.4 million abroad.

The following notebook computers shipped between April 2004 and last month: Dell Latitude D410, D500, D505, D510, D520, D600, D610, D620, D800, D810.

Dell Inspiron 500m, 510m, 600m, 700m, 710m, 6000, 6400, 8500, 8600, 9100, 9200, 9300, 9400, E1505, E1705.

Dell Precision M20, M60, M70, M90.

XPS, XPS Gen2, XPS M170 and XPS M1710.

The batteries also were sold separately for $60 to $180, including to customers on service calls. Dell said the notebooks could be safely used on an AC adapter if the battery is removed first.

I have one of the affected units, lucky me. I knew about the recall, but not the details, a coupla days ago, but I chanced across Dell's recall website this morning, and ordered a replacement. It only took a coupla minutes. Here it is:

https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/Default.aspx

If you think you've got one, go to the site and check. Do it now. There's enough of these things out there that they might run short of replacement batteries about ten minutes after less eagle-eyed folks than me, if there are any, find out about this.

Liberal Jihad

This Modern World.

Defeatism and attacks on the Commander-in-Chief during a time of war

Read the quotes, then go see Glenn Greenwald. You ain't gonna believe who's sayin' that shit! Heehee!

So, it turns out the lofty anti-terrorism rhetoric of Bush was little more than what some speech writer wrote to be read from a screen. . . . The man has looked over his head for much of his second term. Now, it's becoming more clear just how far. This will embolden the opposition in Iraq and could lead ultimately to the destruction of Israel.

Our war President has turned out to be a disgrace. At this point in world history, the Islamofascists look like they deserve to win. In fact, they might.

Over at NRO's corner, John Podhoretz contends that this would mean the end of the Olmert government. I'm tempted to suggest that our government, having seemingly lost its will to oppose (or even to let others oppose) our deadliest enemies, deserves the same fate.

What happened was one of the biggest failures of leadership in Presidential history. Bush supporters will claim that Bush was done in by a liberal media and the ferocious hatred of liberals and leftwingers, but that is one of the things true leadership is all about: Managing and overcoming opposition in order to achieve the necessary goals - in this case, the destruction of world Islamist terrorism and the regimes that support it.

Bush turned out to be singularly ill-equipped for this task, both by skill and by temperament. His public relations management was curiously hesitant and badly timed, and, of course, his inabilty to speak effectively in public was a gigantic handicap. His temperament, it eventually became clear, was hesitant, overly calculating, timid, and "compassionate."

Compassion has its place, but not in warfighting. The Bush we know would not have pulled the trigger on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He abdicated the hard decisions in favor of political maneuvering and meaningless gestures.

These are the assholes that actually liked Bush! They are certainly quick to turn on him when he proves (to them) that he's a weak little chickenshit. The rest of us have known that for years. It's fun to see 'em sayin' it in print!

Hey, you neocon pussies - Think you can do better a better job? Well, go draw a pack and rifle and get the fuck to it! We'll neither miss you nor mourn you.

No stomach for that? I didn't think so. Wanta really get back at Bush for lettin' you down?

Vote Democratic in November, bitches. It'll be all the rage.

Update:

I forgot to say that these batshit crazy morons have come to the correct conclusions for all the wrong reasons, but that's better than if they didn't at all. The Chimp fell for their bullshit because that's what got him installed in office. They should have known that he's never succeeded at anything in life and never will, even with his name, his money, and lotsa help. The only thing he's inadvertently accomplished, if it can be called that, is the beginning and middle of the ruination of the United States. Bush is basically a fuckin' loser and he's taking us all down with him, damn his eyes. The neocons and Bush will get what's coming to them both if there's any justice in the world at all. It won't be very pleasant for them, but I'll dig the shit out of it.

Reasons why both Israel and Hezbollah have declared victory.

Go see this video at The Young Turks. Makes as much sense as any of that Middle East shit, and more than what our Bungler-in-Chief is saying.