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Unintended Irony
This from Time magazine (via Atrios);
Washington's power players have always bragged about being well-wired, but for disgraced former congressman Duke Cunningham, "wired" wasn't just a figure of speech. In a week when legislators are focused on the question of who else might be brought down by ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s cooperation with prosecutors as he seeks lenient sentencing over his two federal guilty pleas this week, sources tell TIME that in a separate investigation, ex-Rep. Cunningham wore a wire to help investigators gather evidence against others just before copping his own plea.
Sources familiar with the situation say Cunningham, a California Republican who pleaded guilty Nov. 28 to taking $2.4 million in bribes — including a yacht, a Rolls Royce and a 19th Century Louis-Philippe commode — from a defense contractor, wore a wire at some point during the short interval between the moment he began cooperating with the feds and the announcement of his guilty plea on Nov. 28.
The identity of those with whom the San Diego congressman met while wearing the wire remains unclear, and is the source of furious — and nervous — speculation by congressional Republicans. A Cunningham lawyer, K. Lee Blalack, refused to confirm or deny the story, and wouldn't say whether Cunningham will implicate any other members of Congress. The FBI is believed to be continuing its probe of defense contractors involved in the Cunningham case. An FBI spokesman declined comment. Asked whether Cunningham, an ace Navy fighter pilot decorated for his service in Vietnam, had worn a wire, the spokesman said the response from a higher-up was, "Like I'd tell you."
Let's recap: Congressional Republicans are "furious" because someone may have been listening in on what they thought were private conversations without their consent or a court warrant.
Amazing. It's like some people in Congress got their copy of the Constitution printed on paper, and others got their copy printed on Jello shots.
"Amazing. It's like some people in Congress got their copy of the Constitution printed on paper, and others got theirs printed on Jello shots."
Now *that*, Casey, is one helluvan evocative bit o' analogical imagery. WTG, dood.
shucky darns and shooters too,
otter
{P.S. -- just what the heck *is* a "Jello shot", anyways?)
"Amazing. It's like some people in Congress got their copy of the Constitution printed on paper, and others got theirs printed on Jello shots."
Posted by Casey Morris at January 6, 2006 05:30 PM
======================================
Bravo, Case!! LOL
Outstanding, Casey!!!! You go girl!!!
*** Project Alert ***
I’m working on a special project of support, gratitude, memories, and appreciation, which I will send to the Kerrys in January (in honor of the anniversary of their great win in the Iowa caucus). I’m collecting messages, cards, letters, campaign memorabilia, and photographs from friends and supporters of the Kerrys – these items will then be placed into a special scrapbook, which I will send to Teresa & John.
I would tremendously appreciate any messages, photos, etc., you are able to send!
I will be accepting items for the project until January 13, 2006!
Please send me your items ASAP!!!!
Thanks so much for your time and gracious assistance!
For further information, please visit:
http://hometown.aol.com/chells4681/teresaandjohn.html
THANKS!!!!
~ Michelle
Let's recap: Congressional Republicans are "furious" because someone may have been listening in on what they thought were private conversations without their consent or a court warrant.
Amazing. It's like some people in Congress got their copy of the Constitution printed on paper, and others got their copy printed on Jello shots.
Posted by Casey Morris at January 6, 2006 05:30 PM
Hmmm...one wonders what they think of NSA and FISA after this little snippet.
I want to echo all the previous sentiments - regarding Republicans getting furious over their own being wiretapped.
The culture of being above the law at the Republican Party must end. Otherwise, the US will never regain any credibility on the world stage.
And if we try to fight even more Republican wars to coerce others into thinking of us in better ways, we'll just become an even more of an outlaw state, right alongside Iran and Syria.
Aw, who cares what they think. After all, they're only Republicans, right? I mean, it's not like they're actual *people* or anything...
*fnord*,
Otter
Hmmm...one wonders what they think of NSA and FISA after this little snippet.
Posted by: sparrow at January 6, 2006 06:32 PM
---
Actually... one wonders what they think *at* NSA and FISA after this little snippet.
...And its parent post too, since no doubt they've already read it and have been passing around & chortling over clandestine copies of it behind the watercoolers in Arlington for the last couple of hours by now, nu?
don't look back, something might be gaining on you,
Otter
I believe this link is completely in keeping with the title of the thread. I think you might find this interesting.
http://www.jbs.org/poll.php?vo=1
In light of tomorrows "out of Iraq" day, read this link from the NYT that discusses how many soldiers may have survived with better body armor.
http://tinyurl.com/csrjt
Otter...
You notice the tinyurl?
No teenage tigers around me interferring...
Posted by: oncall at January 6, 2006 08:56 PM
Irony? You betcha! Also the proverbial brick...Something tells me this is the brick for the Republicans and the NeoCons.
http://www.jbs.org/about/index.html
Waaa, waaa ;)
Republicans seek elections to replace DeLay
http://tinyurl.com/bz8kq (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - About two dozen Republicans have agreed to sign a petition calling for an election to permanently replace Rep. Tom DeLay as majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, aides said on Friday, dealing another blow to the indicted Texan and key White House ally.
Fifty signatures would be needed to require the 231-member House Republican conference to hold an election, which could come within weeks, they said.
"We have commitments for about 25 signatures. The letter calls for a leadership election for a permanent majority leader," said Matthew Specht, a spokesman for Rep. Jeff Flake, a conservative Arizona Republican...
aimzzz,
That's a huge development!
Remember...just last year they tried to sneak it past that he could be charged AND keep his position. And they tried to hide who voted for it.
This is big.
Oh yes, the rats are disembarking...
LOVE the jello shots, Ms. Morris...
And in an update from the belly of the beast:
Tonight was a large planning meeting for the World Can't Wait events. Some unfolding developments: ads on radio will begin next week; well-known voices will ask people to come to Washington February 4 for a massive gathering and joining of enraged voices at the White House.
Tomorrow we are going to the White House to honor the Christian Peacemakers who are fasting there all weekend (this is the same group that Tom Fox belongs to--he was kidnapped in Iraq, remember--still no word), and we are also going to support Eric, a pastor who is conducting a Christian exorcism at noon. Eric explained to me that someone did this at the White House when Nixon was President "and looked what happened."
Then it's back to Busboys and Poets for our Out-of-Iraq Town Meeting. I know madame defarge and ebgill are working on one, and sparrow is attending one with John Conyers. Anyone else?
Ours will have Kevin Zeese of DemocracyRising, Alan Lichtman, A.U. Professor, Lila Rajiva, author of Abu Ghraib and the Media, The Language of Empire, Cliff Kindy of the Christian Peacemakers, and moderated by the ubiquitous David Swanson of every progressive organization around. We are hoping for a lively back-and-forth.
Monday is also a big day--Alito hearings begin(and that will be greeted appropriately by local activists) and National Call-In Day on the House Resolutions.
What are you up to?
There's an interview by Lila Rajiva with 2 DCPers, Karen Bradley and Christine Yort.
Check it out!
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Jan06/Rajiva06.htm
Just got back from dinner with two of our three panelists for our event tomorrow here in Illinois - General Robert Gard & Prof. Ron Miller. Gen. Gard is everything you would want in a strong (military) leader: honest, open, intelligent, concerned, a true humanist... Here's a link to the paper he and a colleague wrote one month before Rep. Murtha made his statement against this administration's Iraqi policy... http://www.armscontrolcenter.org/archives/002173.php
(The paper was published online after Murtha made his statement, which is why the title says "Support Murtha Position.")
Here's his impressive bio: http://www.vvaf.org/about/staff-bios/robert-g-gard-jr.html
Prof. Miller is equally impressive and wonderful. He has a great perspective on how we need to do a better job at mending fences in the world in order to achieve peace, from an interfaith point of view. Here's his bio: http://www.lakeforest.edu/academics/faculty/rmiller/
It was truly an honor to meet these gentlemen. Will report tomorrow about our panel discussion. It's going to be incrediably interesting. We've got one more great panelist: David Cortright http://www.fourthfreedom.org/Applications/cms.php?page_id=147
Madame,
I am sure it will be a well attended and excellent panel discussion. Unfortunately the Beaper Gods will have their way with me. Yep, that's right, I am literally on call.
Republicans .. I heard them on the radio all the way home ("Marketplace" - NPR). Most were constituents of Ney of Ohio and to a person, they did not approve of the corruption and would not vote for the man again if he is guilty. Also heard a Repub Congressman from Arizona and he talked about the need for major reform - not just in lobbying but among Congress itself.
There is a good panel discussion here tomorrow r/t After Downing Street. Should be able to report back.
It's kind of ironic .. I collect boy dolls & had some of them arranged in a box with longneck beers, just sort of a centerpiece .. Howard Dean, MC Hammer, Saddam Hussein & Michael Jackson are still there but Bin Laden has gone missing.
Wierd.
Posted by Casey Morris at January 6, 2006 05:30 PM
Good one!!! :-) Second time today I've laughed until tears ran down my face! I do love irony, satire, and other karmic consequences that seem to be happening to neoCons today. (The other thing that made me laugh myself silly was Mark Morford's column.)
May the Karmic Goddesses give the neoCons everything they so richly deserve....
BUSH BYPASSES SENATE TO APPOINT UNDER-QUALIFIED DHS DISASTER CHIEF
http://tinyurl.com/asqtm
Posted by: Otter at January 6, 2006 03:31 PM
The Cretin certainly is fond of these "recess appointments" for unqualified people! I thought recess appointments were only supposed to occur if there was a crisis of some sort, or emergency. True, I know The Cretin is doing all of this 'cuz he's repaying his cronies and supporters, but he's also going overboard and getting too ridiculous about getting his own way in everything. One would think he's a two-year-old throwing a temper tantrum and just being the evil bad seed he was born.... While I don't advocate physical punishment, in Georgie's case I'll make an exception. He needs a spanking...!
Gee, I wonder what the irreverent and irrelevant Pat Robertson will have to say about why his god sent a house of worship up in flames....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060106/ts_nm/life_church_dc
Fire engulfs Chicago church where gospel music born
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Fire destroyed Chicago's 116-year-old Pilgrim Baptist Church on Friday, a historic structure that was built as a synagogue and became known as the birthplace of American gospel music.
Cindy Sheehan | The Opposite of Good Is Apathy
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010606Q.shtml
Cindy Sheehan: Hold your vigils and marches in relevant places, such as war-mongering, local congressional offices. So many senators and congresspeople come to mind. Or, in front of a recruiting station. Or federal buildings. Or military bases. Then, instead of going home and cracking open a beer or uncorking a bottle of wine, sit down and say, "We aren't leaving until you call for an immediate end to the occupation of Iraq." Put your butt on the line for humanity. Change will not happen until we make it happen. We can't make change happen by wishing or praying that it will happen. We actually have to do something.
THIS is what ZPG (Zero Population Growth) was all about when my generation was young and of childbearing age, and one of the reasons we advocated limiting the number of children we had.
Booming Population 'Threat to Climate Change Fight'
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/010606EA.shtml
Environmental problems such as global warming can be tackled only if the international community addresses the problem of population growth, a leading scientist warned today.
If corporations are wondering why senior citizens and disabled people who qualify for Medicare are not signing up for their convoluted (and downright crazily confusing) programs that will only put more money in the hands of medical corporations (insurance and pharmaceutical companies), it's because they are already raking in big bucks....
I'm increasingly of the opinion that if corporations can advertise on TV, they can do without my money to increase their profits to pay for more commercial time on TV. Additionally, pharmaceutical companies can cease advertising and divert those monies to R & D, thus eliminating the need to raise drug prices to pay to advertise on TV, in magazines or newspapers... etc.
Medicare Officials' Attendance at Lavish Contractor Meetings Probed
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/010606HA.shtml
Medicare officials responsible for overseeing $300 million awarded annually to private contractors regularly attended conferences sponsored by these groups. In a letter sent Wednesday to the head of the agency that runs Medicare, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee wrote that one such Florida conference "appeared to be more of a party than a diligent working meeting."
Robert Kuttner | Our Medicare Misery
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/010606HB.shtml
Robert Kuttner discusses the Bush administration's new Medicare Plan. He says the new plan's political purpose was never to deliver good benefits. One administration goal, running the program through the private insurance industry, conflicted with the imperative of a clear, cost-effective plan. The second administration goal, fattening the drug industry, led to a provision explicitly prohibiting the government from negotiating bulk price discounts from drug companies.
Nick Turse | What Year Is This Anyway?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010606C.shtml
Nick Turse takes us back in history and shines a new light on the Bush administration's cult of presidential power. "The administration has launched nothing short of a bid to invalidate the guiding precepts of what the US government acknowledges to be the document that inspired and provided precedent for America's founders to issue their Declaration of Independence in 1776: the Magna Carta."
I am so VERY tired of fanaticism and fascism and wingnuts who advocate war, war, and more war. If these overgrown immature boys want to take their pissing contest to see who has the biggest wanger and who can pee the farthest to some abandoned desert island where they can fight only each other and NOT involve (or pee on) the rest of us who would just like to get along amiably with our neighbors, the day will not come soon enough for me.... I'm too tired of testosterone stupidity to care very much what they do as long as they don't have the power to hurt the rest of us (which is why I think they should take their idiocy away from civilized society where they can't hurt the rest of us).
Norman Solomon: Axis of Fanatics
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010606Y.shtml
Iran. Israel. The United States. Each country has the very real potential to move in a better direction - away from lethal righteousness. As tensions mount and pressures intensify, the White House might end up acceding to an Israeli air attack on Iran. Or the Bush administration may prefer to launch its own air strike against Iran.
What is a jello shot?
Put booze in jello? The idea being that it melts right away and has no longevity? Preferred by college students? Maybe I wll try this instead of hot white Russian.
Jello shots are probably one of the easiest type of shot to make, and a hell of a lot more tasty. There are tonnes of flavors, but here's a good one nonetheless.
1 package watermelon jello
1 cup boiling water
1 cup Malibu® coconut rum
Mix hot water and jello. Add rum. Pour into 2 ounce cups. Serve after the jello has set.
Serve in:
Shot Glass
Posted by: DiAnne at January 7, 2006 08:12 AM
They're not as easy on a system as the recipe and name imply.
No drinking and driving, and if you have more than one or two, well, you will realize there's a reason hospitals don't serve this type of jello to their patients.
Good morning everyone.
I'm getting ready to leave for my Out of Iraq forum. I hope lots of people show up.
Madame and Ellen,
Thank you for the work you both did in arranging yours. I'm sure it will be terrific!
More doubts raised by non-partisan Congressional Research Service about the administration's rationale for eavesdropping...
Basis for Spying in U.S. Is Doubted
--snip--
Thomas H. Kean, a Republican who was chairman of the Sept. 11 commission, weighed in for the first time in the debate. Mr. Kean said he counted himself among those who doubted the legality of the program. He said in an interview that the administration did not inform his commission about the program and that he wished it had.
--snip--
One reason the administration has cited for not seeking to change the intelligence law and obtain specific approvals for eavesdropping was that it might "tip off" terrorists to the program. The Congressional research service found that unconvincing.
"No legal precedent appears to have been presented," the study said, "that would support the president's authority to bypass the statutory route when legislation is required" simply because of secrecy.
From today's NYT: http://tinyurl.com/7l6gy
I am curious jello.
yes we have no bananas,
Otter
Okay, so if you weren't around in 1969, then my previous post makes absolutely no sense to you.
So indict me already.
it's time for another strawberry statement,
Otter
new thread--great story...