Just Do The Right Thing

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Liberal bloggers always do it best! This week's hot blog posts: Molly Ivins remembered; takin' it to the streets (with pics); Bush attacks press corps with a tractor; McCain served his own 1993 words on toast; Cheney vs. Wolf; and Scooter may not skate after all. All this and much, much more. Enjoy!

In Memoriam

Molly Ivins passed away this week after a long battle with cancer. In her honor, Buzzflash has posted its 2003 interview with the brave columnist. Let's all take a moment today to remember Molly.

Takin' It To The Streets

From Digby:

Civil Freeper Counter-protesters

Still fighting Jane Fonda? Idiots. While we're on the subject of idiots...

Segways & Tractors & Bikes, Oh My!

Yes, you can now add big-assed tractors to the list of transport vehicles that George W. Bush can use to maim people. From The Gaggle blog:

Does President Bush have it in for the press corps? Touring a Caterpillar factory in Peoria, Ill., the Commander in Chief got behind the wheel of a giant tractor and played chicken with a few wayward reporters. Wearing a pair of stylish safety glasses--at least more stylish than most safety glasses--Bush got a mini-tour of the factory before delivering remarks on the economy. "I would suggest moving back," Bush said as he climbed into the cab of a massive D-10 tractor. "I'm about to crank this sucker up." As the engine roared to life, White House staffers tried to steer the press corps to safety, but when the tractor lurched forward, they too were forced to scramble for safety."Get out of the way!" a news photographer yelled. "I think he might run us over!" said another. White House aides tried to herd the reporters the right way without getting run over themselves. Even the Secret Service got involved, as one agent began yelling at reporters to get clear of the tractor. Watching the chaos below, Bush looked out the tractor's window and laughed, steering the massive machine into the spot where most of the press corps had been positioned. The episode lasted about a minute, and Bush was still laughing when he pulled to a stop. He gave reporters a thumbs-up. "If you've never driven a D-10, it's the coolest experience," Bush said afterward. Yeah, almost as much fun as seeing your life flash before your eyes.

Thank goodness Laura wasn't driving.

McCainiac Alert!

What did John McCain say about Clinton and troop deployments in 1993? From Glenn Greenwald:

And Sen. McCain in particular made arguments in favor of Congressionally-mandated withdraw that are patently applicable to Iraq today. And he specifically argued with regard to forcible troop withdrawal that "responsibilities for that lie with the Congress of the United States." The Constitution hasn't changed since 1993, so I wonder what has prompted such a fundamental shift in Republican views on the proper role of Congressional war powers.

Duh.

Hussein In The Membrane

Remember Jamil Hussein, the AP source whom the right-wing bloggernauts lied about and claimed didn't exist? In an update from Sadly No (who's been tops on this story), we learn that wingnuts are still going after Mr. Hussein. They won't rest until he's outed as a spy and hanged for talking to the press, will they? Human life must mean nothing to these people. Jeez.

Speaking of toe-suckers who just won't give up, Media Matters reports that Dick Morris is still claiming that the Clinton campaign planted the Obama smear story in Rev. Moon's Insight Magazine. I swear these idiots are like "Head-On" commercials.

On To Iraq Iran!

Hoffmania is keeping up with the (cough) evidence (cough) that Iran wants to attack us.

MSNBC is reporting that Iranian forces gunned down five American troops. That's what "intel" is saying.

Really? Pardon my cynicism. There is absolutely no reason for us to NOT believe that this is all a giant setup to start a war with Iran. Every ounce of "evidence" this White House has made every step of the way when it comes to military action in the Middle East was trumped up. Fake. Phoney. Failed to exist.

So this latest "outrage" rings utterly hollow. And unless they suddenly get the urge to use diplomacy instead of military force in Iran, we call bullshit. Complete bullshit.

And sending more US troops in to egg on Iranians smacks of all the attempts to goad Saddam Hussein into a war. If America has a brain left, we'll all call for complete and total hand-tying on these war mongers if they even LOOK at Iran funny.

Besides, Ahmadenijad's got his own people to worry about before he can deal with us. His economy is now in the toilet and his citizens are fed up with his hubris.

Kinda sounds familiar...stay tuned.

Will BushCo do it again? Can they be stopped? Only time will tell.

Air America Rescued

From The Huffington Post:

Air America Radio, in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings since October, will be rescued at the 11th hour by Manhattan real estate developer Stephen L. Green.

Al Franken, the best-known host of the liberal network, will announce his expected departure on his show later today, to explore a run for the U.S. Senate from Minnesota.

Green is the brother of Mark Green, the New York Democrat who served as the city's public advocate in the 90s and ran for mayor against Michael Bloomberg in 2001.

He has already signed a letter of intent, and plans to finalize a purchase agreement within the week.

Air America CEO Scott Elberg confirmed the sale.

Sit and spin, right-wing noise machine!

The "Private Benjamin" Military Recruiting Strategy

Remember when Judy Benjamin was promised a condo if she joined the army? From AMERICABlog:

Yes, we have a recruiting crisis in America because we're fighting too many wars at once, and the wars we are fighting are going terribly. That is no excuse for the Bush administration running TV commercials that try to convince kids to forget about college, and worse, that imply that recruits to the Army Reserves may not even see battle at all. This appeared on local TV in DC on January 23, 2007.

America, America!

Sigh.

The State Of The... Uh... State Of The Nation...

You know, that annual speech thing that Bush can't seem to remember the name of? From Tom Paine:

He called for balancing the federal budget within the next five years, but offered no details about how he would do that, except to say that "we can do so without raising taxes." That is, of course, if you don't count a plan that he brought up a few moments later to offer a health insurance tax deduction of $7,5000 for individuals and $15,000 for families - and to tax the value of health insurance workers receive from their employers above those limits. Read his lips: a new tax, and one that does not change the paradigm of a broken health care system.

What a speech! It was so exciting that John McCain fell asleep.

Cheney & The Wolf

Pensito Review:

Cheney Refuses to Defend Gay Daughter Against Rightwing Attacks
Posted by Jon Ponder | Jan. 25, 2007, 9:35 am

Despicable: Vice Pres. Dick Cheney is apparently deeply ashamed of his gay daughter, Mary. In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer yesterday, the vice president refused to defend Mary against Christian extremist smears directed at her pregnancy. Instead, Cheney resorted to attacking Blitzer for asking the question:

BLITZER: You know, we’re out of time, but a couple of issues I want to raise with you: your daughter, Mary. She's pregnant. All of us are happy she's going to have a baby. You're going to have another grandchild. Some of the - some critics are suggesting - for example, a statement from someone representing Focus on the Family, "Mary Cheney's pregnancy raises the question of what's best for children. Just because it's possible to conceive a child outside of the relationship of a married mother and father doesn't mean that it's best for the child." Do you want to respond to that?

CHENEY: No.

BLITZER: She's, obviously, a good daughter -

CHENEY: I’m delighted I'm about to have a sixth grandchild, Wolf. And obviously I think the world of both my daughters and all of my grandchildren. And I think, frankly, you're out of line with that question.

(snip)

What a horrendous man Dick Cheney is. There are any number of ways he could have fielded this question - a gentle punt, for example, "We're all entitled to our opinions, Wolf. I just respectfully disagree with the criticism" - but instead he chose a political tactic: Attack the messenger, Blizter, a representative of the purported liberal media, which will play well with his troglodyte base.

Later, White House spokesman Tony Snow had this outrageous reaction:

"People should not be trying to draw family members in," Snow said on Fox News Channel. "I think that family members ought to be off the limits."

Unless the "people" drawing family members in are Republicans, and the families in question belong to Democrats such as Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

Thank A DUer!

Thanks to Radfringe for keeping us posted on the Scooter Libby updates and for linking us to Firedoglake's live blogging trial posts.

To maxrandb for noting Limbaugh's current fixation on the word "halfrican" to describe US Senator Barak Obama.

To Proud2BLib, for posting great pics of the DC March, including this one:


And to Alhena, for posting this Giuliani quote:

Giuliani: "I've been on 91 foreign troops in the last 5 years."

Of course, Alhena adds: "Not that there's anything wrong with that."

Cut & Paste Trolling

Yep, they're out there. We've all encountered them, but Atrios has captured one.

The C&P Troll

The most pathetic troll of all.

- Atrios 12:33 AM

Busy little sucker.

Rumor Has It...

From Crooks and Liars: Tricky Dick Cheney is out, and Condi is in in 2007. Yikes!

Here's A fact, Jack!

You can't make this one up. From Think Progress:

The new White House pastry chef, William Yosses, actually co-authored this book:

I have it on the best authority that Yosses can't even bake level gingerbread sheets (for constructing the White House gingerbread house) and he piped royal icing (raw egg whites. Yum!) on the Christmas cookies way too early last December. Salmonella, anyone?

Meanwhile, Back At The Scooter Courtroom...

Editor & Publisher has some sweet, non-poisonous play-by-play action after each witness testifies. Here's a snippet:

Miller's testimony had kicked off this morning after everyone filed into the court by 9:30 a.m. The morning opened with a juror being excused, apparently because his or her employer didn't want to pay for several weeks of no work.

Then a very important debate picked up from late yesterday: the question of whether defense attorneys could query Miller about sources other than Libby she had talked to about former Ambassador Joe Wilson and/or his wife Valerie Plame Wilson. This, of course, would open an incredible can of worms, especially since Miller had agreed to testify and leave jail partly because the prosecutor had promised to limit the questioning.

Miller had said these conversations happened but she could not recall names. Still, the defense wants to press her and get her to identify one or more. The judge seems willing to let them go part way, anyway.

When testimony began a few minutes later, the defense attorney, William Jeffress, immediately asked about other names of reputedly "senior administration officials." Miller again said she could not recall those who had specifically talked about Wilson and not "broader" issues. Defense pressed on, to no avail (so far), and then switched to her decision to go to jail -- partly to avoid these kinds of questions about other sources. Also: Was she aware that Matt Cooper and others had testified and about what?

Broader issues, indeed.

Thanks to all of you for your tips, links and great blog posts. Keep fighting the right, and keep encouraging our elected Democrats to just do the right thing! And keep on blogging, y'all!