Wednesday, June 27, 2007

I Just Love Me Some Cheney!

Yet another story about our cuddly VP's hilarious hi jinks. What will that crazy madcap rascal think of next? He's such a card... I just want to hug him. - Maltok 5

'A Different Understanding With the President'

By Barton Gellman and Jo Becker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, June 24, 2007; Page A01

Just past the Oval Office, in the private dining room overlooking the South Lawn, Vice President Cheney joined President Bush at a round parquet table they shared once a week. Cheney brought a four-page text, written in strict secrecy by his lawyer. He carried it back out with him after lunch.

In less than an hour, the document traversed a West Wing circuit that gave its words the power of command. It changed hands four times, according to witnesses, with emphatic instructions to bypass staff review. When it returned to the Oval Office, in a blue portfolio embossed with the presidential seal, Bush pulled a felt-tip pen from his pocket and signed without sitting down. Almost no one else had seen the text.

Cheney's proposal had become a military order from the commander in chief. Foreign terrorism suspects held by the United States were stripped of access to any court -- civilian or military, domestic or foreign. They could be confined indefinitely without charges and would be tried, if at all, in closed "military commissions."

"What the hell just happened?" Secretary of State Colin L. Powell demanded, [more]

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

A Most Profitable Farce

From our good friend Chris Nelder. He crunches the numbers and worries late at night... so you don't have to! - maltok 5

Chris Nelder2007-06-15
By Chris Nelder

I hope you’re watching the debate right now over the sprawling S.1419/H.R.6,12 ball of energy legislation in Congress, because if you aren’t, you’re missing some real comedy.

You can almost figure out which state a Congressman is from just by reading what he or she is saying.

Bashing wind power? Clearly from a coal state. Probably Illinois or West Virginia.

Bashing coal? Clearly from a solar state. Probably California or Nevada.

And so on. Those bills are already encumbered by some 20 amendments, and the debate only started Tuesday. It’s real-life comedy in earnest.

We’ll get to the “profit” part in a minute. But first we need “broad satire and improbable situations” to make it a true farce.

We don’t have to look too hard for that.

Take the battle over CAFE standards. They haven’t been updated since 1983, leaving America still grinding away with 210 million inefficient guzzlers. We set standards of 27.5 mpg for cars and 24 mpg for light trucks, and wound up with a fleet that gets about 20.4 mpg on average, while European cars are getting an average 40+ mpg and Japanese cars 45 mpg. [more]

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Now Here Are Some Real Amurcans!

Happy Birthday, Habeas Corpus!!


Today, June 15th, marks the 792nd anniversary
of the writ of habeas corpus.*


There’s rarely been more at stake for our friend
Habeas Corpus than there is this year. So we’re
taking a moment to celebrate him and show him
we care. And you can be a part of the celebration.