Bush's Face On Sale

At one time a picture with you and George Bush would have cost $25,000. When it came time to decide whether to buy that new car or to hang something obscene above your fireplace, a serious family meeting had to take place. Well things are looking good for Republican families these days, because the White House is having a sale. That very same picture is now 80 percent off!

From Newsweek:

Gas prices may be up, but there's something that's apparently a little cheaper these days: A photo with President Bush. Yesterday, Bush headlined a fundraiser for the New Jersey state GOP, where donors could pay $5,000 to pose for a photo with the Commander in Chief. Expensive photo op, right? Well, that's actually cheaper that what donors paid just a year ago for a grip and grin with Bush. Last summer, GOP officials around the country charged at least $10,000 a pop for presidential photo op, a bargain compared to the $25,000-a-flash Bush commanded during some Republican National Committee fund-raisers back in 2000 and 2004. Maybe it's just a Jersey thing. Although Bush's poll numbers are low nationally, the president is particularly unpopular in New Jersey, where his approval rating is just 25 percent according to one recent poll. In fact, Bush hadn't campaigned in the state since 2005. Last summer, the GOP relied instead on other administration emissaries like Karl Rove, Vice President Dick Cheney and former President George H.W. Bush. They all campaigned for Tom Kean Jr., who ran for (and ultimately lost) New Jersey's U.S. Senate seat. For the record, a photo with Rove cost donors $1,000, while pictures with Cheney and Bush's dad were priced at $5,000. But that's peanuts. In June 2006, donors at a Kean fundraiser paid $10,000 a piece for a photo op with First Lady Laura Bush. At least President Bush can feel good about one thing: Wednesday's event took in about $675,000 for New Jersey Republicans, not a bad haul in a state where most people would rather get a souvenir pic of the president walking out the door.

I don't think that is a New Jersey thing, its an economic thing. Supply and demand comes into play here because as the amount of people that can stand taking a picture with The Decider dwindles, the product ultimately becomes cheaper. I thought Republicans were supposed to understand these things. Oh wait, they completely screwed up the nation's economy in the last six years or so....nevermind.

Conservative Pundits Make A Good Point About The Supreme Court

Although I completely disagree politically with the people talking below, I do believe they make a good point about the Court and who our next President is. The 44th President has a chance to replace a few Justices and it is crucial that the right person is selected for the job.

Al Franken Knows We Need Publicly Financed Elections

People who are sick of how much money is involved in politics know we need a drastic change to the way campaigns operate. Except for field operations and dealing with the media, the great majority of "time" resources is dedicated to calling for money, meeting people for money and doing whatever it takes to finance the campaign. Al Franken lamented on this process today at the Huffington Post. Who would know more about it than a candidate running for office?

From The Huffington Post:

As a candidate for the U.S. Senate here in Minnesota, I've become painfully aware of the role money plays in politics.

For instance, according to my staff, I'm not supposed to write anything without mentioning that our grassroots campaign needs the support of great progressives like YOU and asking you to click here and chip in a few bucks so I can take on the Republican attack machine.

See? That kind of thing totally distracts the reader from my point, which is this: If you ever wonder whether we really need public financing of elections in this country, try running for office. You might think I spend most of my time kissing babies or shaking hands or having serious policy debates in which my sparkling wit and superior knowledge of the issues combine to sweep audiences off their feet.

Read the rest of the diary to get more of Al's wit and wisdom, including another link to send him a few bucks in his race against Coleman. Who knows, if we get enough people like Franken elected to the Senate we might have a chance to enact real change when it comes to money and politics.

The Case Against Joe Bruno

A Federal Grand Jury has been reviewing the evidence against Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno for quite some time now. This weekend information was leaked out that prosecutors have determined that they could charge Bruno with depriving the public of the "honest services" of its government. Or to put it succinctly, for being a corrupt bastard.

The Times Union has the goods:

The investigation appears to focus on horse racing, an industry Bruno has staunchly supported and in which he has a deep personal interest. It comes at a time when New York's storied racing industry has been mired in allegations of mismanagement by its longtime operator, the New York Racing Association.

NYRA's contract to run the state's three thoroughbred tracks expires at the end of the year and is imperiled by a heated takeover bid from several competing racing consortiums, including some whose investors have strong ties to Bruno and other elected officials.

In addition, the federal subpoenas have targeted records from the senator's private consulting business; a series of state grants awarded to a Troy nanotechnology company that is financially backed by Bruno's close friend; and people involved with the senator's private horse breeding efforts.

Corruption is a rampant disease in New York's state government. Cleaning up this particular mess depends on Glenn Suddaby, the U.S. Attorney for the northern district of New York. As a Bush appointee that hasn't been fired yet, I'm wary that he will make the ultimate decision of charging Bruno, especially since the grand jury has had the information for so long and Bruno's confidence seems to be more than putting up a facade.

See Any Similarities?

Plenty of people have seen the comparisons of Gollum and James Carville, but check out this cat down below. Which one has the closest similarity?



Gollum....or the cat?

What's A Spear-Chucker Mr. Hume?

Republicans try to craft their words as carefully as they can when it comes to getting their message across. Though sometimes they stumble and let their true feelings out. Remember Tony Snow's little gaffe? Well current Fox News anchor Brit Hume had a slip of his own today when talking about Fred Thompson and another former Senator and astronaut John Glenn.

From Crooks and Liars:

Hume: …he had a mixed record in the Senate and he's a man who always seems somewhat frustrated and bored by the Senate…I particularly remember an investigation that occurred after the Clinton/Dole campaign. We were new here at FOX news and we carried a lot of the hearings live. It was in the campaign finance alleged irregularities with monies supposedly seeping into the American political campaign of Bill Clinton from Chinese sources and so on—it was pretty juicy stuff it looked like a very big deal.

Fred Thompson was the chairman of the Investigating committee and it went absolutely nowhere. he was effectively buffaloed in that investigation by none other than John Glenn—who was a wonderful man, but not somebody normally you would think capable of being a real partisan..ahh…ahh.. spearchucker, who could, who could undo an investigation. So it didn't go very well and I think Fred Thompson has acknowledged since then that it wasn't his finest hour…

Well Brit that investigation didn't go anywhere because there was nothing to it. The matter was one of the many childish attempts at trying to bring down Bill Clinton. But wait just a moment. What is a spearchucker? If I was an innocent four year old I would conclude the definition to be a person that chucks or throws spears. But Brit isn't four years old and neither am I.

Urban Dictionary calls it "A derogatory phrase for a black male used in reference to his primitive abilities to hunt animals with a long sharpened object." Now why would you associate that garbage with John Glenn, let any person regardless of party affiliation. That type of racist garbage has no place in our society and definitely not on television by someone who attempts to look like a civilized human being.

Down And Dirty Debate #2

In the first Democratic debate in South Carolina, all of the candidates were mostly friendly to each other except for Mike Gravel. Gravel's incendiary comments got him the press he wanted and was generally considered to be a good move. But now that we have moved beyond the introductions of the first go around, tensions rose even up in front-runner land.

From RawStory:

"You're about 4 1/2 years late in leadership on this issue," Senator Barack Obama of Illinois said to John Edwards, the former North Carolina Senator who is running third in the polls among Democratic candidates for the party's nomination.

Obama was responding to a remark that Edwards had made about the decision by Senators Obama and Hillary Clinton of New York, the front-runner in the race, to vote against the recent funding bill for the Iraq War.

"There is a difference between leadership and legislating," Edwards said, accusing Obama and Clinton of quietly voting their opposition to funding the war.

Although Obama had a nice soundbite response to John Edwards' charge, what matters is the here and now. The facts are that Hillary and Barack were mostly quiet about their opposition to the Iraq supplemental bill that essentially caved to Bush's demands. We need real leadership in the White House, not voting for or against a bill depending on the health of one's campaign.

To Obama's credit he has been against the war throughout the last five years. Yet that makes it even more infuriating that he didn't speak out as loudly as Edwards and Christopher Dodd. We already know Hillary's motives (win, win, win) so her actions surrounding the legislation was to be expected.

The debate heavily focused on the war, but other issues surfaced as well. Health care, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the energy crisis and education were also discussed. All of these are pressing matters of course, but Iraq dominated the debate just as it does throughout the country these days.

South Korea Versus Vietnam

President Bush may want to compare Iraq to South Korea now instead of Vietnam but neither look good for him. If Bush gets his way, Iraq will look like a combination of the two. Staying in Iraq for decades is just as bad as being there now from a day-to-day perspective. Meaning that on any given day, we are going to see the deaths of our soldiers. Over the long term Iraq will become bloodier for all of us.

Term Limits Create Permanent Campaigning In NYC

The campaign business is booming here in the city with a plethora of candidates gearing up for a shot at the Mayoral, Comptroller, Public Advocate and many other races to represent New Yorkers in some fashion. Term limits are forcing dozens of officials out of their jobs in 2009 and their potential replacements are working hard for the chance to take their place.

Many of them are already serving New York City in some fashion. Council members are running for city wide positions and a whole new crop will aspire to be in the 51 member City Council. Familiar names in your own neighborhood are raising money at record levels in order to be known city-wide. Thirty months before the election, candidates have raised almost $7 million dollars combined. That is an increase of $5 million in just two election cycles.

No matter what you think of the money, advocates of the term limits may not have achieved the equality of candidates they had dreamt of. State and Federal legislators have a definite advantage over their local NYC counterparts. They have no limit on their current office, allowing them substantial flexibility. It'll be interesting to see how this develops over the next two and half years. This might make New Yorkers crazy with a long race while we still have a national election to look forward to next year, but you won't hear any campaign staff complaining.

Forget Iran, Let's Shock And Awe Guyana And Trinidad

There's a lot of talk and singing about bombing Iran but President Bush should be gearing up to blow up other countries. Now that our law enforcement agencies have foiled a plot to attack JFK International Airport, we know who the attackers are and they aren't Iranian. The evil masterminds (that didn't get past the planning stages) hail from such Caribbean-area nations as Guyana and Trinidad-Tobago. Clearly, these countries are enemies of peace loving people all over the world, freedom and America. So let's go ahead and bomb them.

Despite the fact that the war on terrorism is killing dozens of our troops every month and draining our treasury, it is definitely time to invade two more countries. We need to shock and awe these two nations because if we don't, the terrorists win. Isn't that right George?

Now for all the treasonous America-haters out there, you might be thinking about how the hell we would pay for these endeavors, how would the world see our actions and the most important question...what the f**k are you thinking Josh Ing? This ridiculous idea sounds like it comes from the brilliant mind of George Bush and the neo-cons who think for him.

Well people, I would have to say you are right. Going after Guyana and Trindad is completely insane. Now how does that differ from going into Iran, Iraq and nearly every other country out there. We need to focus on ourselves, let law enforcement take care of the terrorists so our military can stop terrorizing everybody else.

Al Gore On C-SPAN

Harry Smith interviewed Al Gore the other day about his new book and the current situation with the environment. Al slams George Bush's policies relating to fixing our planet, saying that coal is one of the worst ways to go green. Fossil fuels are the wrong way to go, renewable is the only way to truly clean up our environment.

Right-Wing Terrorists

Generally the wingers in our country terrorize us with their ideas and politicians they get elected, but there are even scarier types then them. There are actual terrorists in our midst. They tend to call themselves militias that try to enforce their radical ideas through violence. One of the most infamous moments was when Timothy McVeigh blew up the Oklahoma City Federal building over ten years ago. These groups have been laying low now for a while, particularly after George Bush got elected.

A logical hypothesis is that if the Democrats take back the Presidency and fight against their goals of breaking down gun control and the government itself. This isn't a conspiracy theory by any means. In fact there have been six underreported incidents in the last year alone attributed to these whackos.

From Rick Perlstein:

Stop it, stop it right now. Stop pretending Islamicists - or environmentalists or animal rights activists (which are, ridiculously, federal law enforcement and non-governmental terrorism-watchers' next most obsessive concern) - are the only imminent terrorist threats to our nation. We now know that students at Liberty University were ready to napalm protesters at Jerry Falwell's funeral. One of the suspects is a soldier at Fort Benning. [UPDATE: Falwell gave the kid a scholarship.]

If the media does not start connecting some dots, they will have abdicated their citizenship duties. How many times has the nation potentially come within a hair's breadth of suffering a right-wing terrorist attack this spring? As of today, three, or possibly six times - at least that we know about.

• Late in April, 150 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers carried out simultaneous raids in four Alabama counties in a sweep that yielded 130 grenades, a rocket launcher, and 2,500 rounds of ammunition.. In the town of Trussville, it took a U-haul truck to cart away all the materiel. At the Collinsville camper belonging to militia "major" Taymond Dillard, agents first had to defuse trip-wires rigged to explode hand grenades to kill intruders.

• Right-wing vigilantes arrested in a scuffle at one of the May 1 immigration marches, in Washington D.C., was found to have a stash of automatic weapons and explosives in his home.

• Now this, the violence allegedly thwarted at Falwell's funeral. One of the suspects is a soldier at Fort Benning - yes, he traveled all the way from Georgia with his munitions. Another was a high school student.

Sure the media has made note of the examples above, but as Perlstein said, no one is connecting the dots at CNN, the New York Times or any other major media outlet. Our fourth estate is not doing their job here and with many other societal movements going on in this country. For the most part, cable news and print journalism simply spits out press releases without any analysis or original thought.

These homegrown terrorists are a real problem and can potentially do serious damage when their radicalism mixes with heavy munitions. Honestly, do we really have to wait for another Timothy McVeigh, with dozens or hundreds killed and wounded? President Bush may want to bring the fight to the enemy in Iraq so we don't have to fight them here....but what about the enemy in our own backyard?