Archive for May, 2006

2006.05.12

Dat’s Da Way Outta Da Funk

I said to the Pork Chop, “You are stinky and wise. Guide me outta da funk.”

The Pork Chop said to me, “Do some mindless creativity.”

So I did. Here are the lyrics.

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2006.05.09

All Hail the King

Unbelievable. It’s coming to light that President Bush really wants to be King and he’s getting there with his Signing Statements.

Bush is the first president in modern history who has never vetoed a bill, giving Congress no chance to override his judgments. Instead, he has signed every bill that reached his desk, often inviting the legislation’s sponsors to signing ceremonies at which he lavishes praise upon their work.

Then, after the media and the lawmakers have left the White House, Bush quietly files ”signing statements” — official documents in which a president lays out his legal interpretation of a bill for the federal bureaucracy to follow when implementing the new law. The statements are recorded in the federal register.

These signing statements include assertions that torture is allowable, Congressional oversight of the Executive branch can be ignored, and more (at least 750 more). So much for Constitutionally mandated separation of powers. So much for checks and balances. So much even for impeachment since the Republicans are too afraid to stand up to their “Republican” President. All hail the King!

I am shocked. I am appalled. I never like President Bush. I can think of two occassions where I was willing to cut him some slack. The first was shortly after the September 11th, 2001 attacks. That ended when Congress passed and he signed the USA Patriot Act. The second was after seeing him and his “twin” at the recent White House Correspondent’s dinner. It was actually funny.

Now, though, I’m wishing this had come to light so Stephen Colbert could have woven it into his lambasting of George W. Bush.

2006.05.09

Head Dunking

How many teen movies have you seen where the high school geek gets his head dunked in the toilet? Probably a lot. I know I’ve seen it many times all through my life.

Has anyone ever actually known someone who got their head dunked, though?

2006.05.06

So You Want to be President?

Here’s a message to any candidate that wants to win the Presidential election next cycle:

Promise to bring Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi down. Promise to get revenge on them. Be prepared to deliver on that revenge. Tell us it doesn’t end there and that you have a focused multi-pronged plan to pursue and shut down various financial opportunities for terrorist funding and pursuing other known terrorists. Make a Most Wanted list and promise keep us informed of progress.

You’ll win the election.

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2006.05.05

Mexinicity

It’s the fifth of May. Happy Cinco de Mayo for those of you celebrating your Mexinicity!

2006.05.02

Weird

For all the blogtalk revolving around Stephen Colbert roasting President Bush (videos linked here) I’m kind of surprised Hotline’s Blogometer hasn’t mentioned it. Not once.

I read the Blogometer because they provide a pretty comprehensive (if somewhat elitist) view of political blogs, left and right. Right now the big topic seems to be immigration. I like the Blogometer’s coverage because they don’t assume anyone is a wingnut extremist and present a wide variety of views and opinions.

I don’t know, maybe Colbert actually calling the President out on numerous failings isn’t news. I mean, I understand why the MSM isn’t picking it up because the MSM is too cowardly, but Colbert has been discussed by both sides of the political spectrum. Though The Moderate Voice has a nice summary it would be nice to hear how the Blogometer handles this.

BTW, I actually thought Bush’s schtick was pretty funny.

2006.05.01

More on the Common Good

Unlike most liberals and progressives I know, I actually like reading (some) conservative sites and getting their opinion on the world. Something many forget in this stupidly partisan America is that we’re all in this boat together and if we want to get anything done ultimately we have to try and understand each other, even if we disagree.

One of the conservative blogs I read is RedState. Like any partisan site it does its occassional flaming of the other side, but on the whole they are readable and have interesting perspectives. Previously I had linked to and talked about by Michael Tomasky that talked about an overall philosophy for liberals/progressives/Democrats. RedState has posted their opinion of the article which is basically an agreement with some specific criticisms. Even the comments are (currently) lacking in the flaming I often read and have great information. For example I’d never even heard of the Davis-Bacon Act and need to learn more about it so I can understand why conservatives dislike it.

Meanwhile, there’s a great article by Frank Cocozzelli about the common good in relation to Robert F. Kennedy’s legacy. Good reading. I really don’t know much about RFK and it sounds like I should.