The Rule of Law. Respect.
- From anysia: George W (sort of) at the Jeff Foxworthy roast. Gawd, he's good.
- Joe Scarborough, former Florida congresscritter and MSNBC host, says he's embarrased to be a Republican.
The lack of leadership in Washington, D.C., is sickening. If you look at what Republicans did--promised to do in 1994, when they took control of Congress, and see, how they've been acting over the past three or four years, the biggest debt and deficit ever. They are irresponsible and reckless on so many levels.
- Susan (marmot63), leaving the office this afternoon in the Loop, ran into this 100,000 person protest march in the Loop. She said that the crowds were immense...
- Wow. Molly Ivins, kicking butts on 2008:
Every Democrat I talk to is appalled at the sheer gutlessness and spinelessness of the Democratic performance. The party is still cringing at the thought of being called, ooh-ooh, “unpatriotic” by a bunch of rightwingers. Take “unpatriotic” and shove it. How dare they do this to our country? “Unpatriotic”? These people have ruined the American military! Not to mention the economy, the middle class, and our reputation in the world. Everything they touch turns to dirt, including Medicare prescription drugs and hurricane relief. This is not a time for a candidate who will offend no one; it is time for a candidate who takes clear stands and kicks ass. Tip to filkertom for this.
- The White House domestic adviser and former nominee to the US Federal Circuit Court abruptly resigns, and is now being prosecuted by a local Maryland county for ripping a local Target off with fraudulent refunds - thousands of dollars worth of goods.
The system: Buy item A, take it home, come back with the receipt to the store, go back in and take another one off the shelf and claim *that* is the originally bought item, demanding a refund on it. Chewing gum, stereos, you name it. Guy was making as much as Karl Rove. See a WaPo article on this clown's past behavior, more about his extreme conservative past as Rove's domestic enforcer, and so on. Turns out he was also running the Katrina desk at the White House in the first few days.
Bush's statement on Allen's resignation: "Claude Allen has been a trusted advisor since 2001. As Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services, he worked hard to improve the health and welfare of all Americans. During the past year, he has served as my top domestic policy advisor at the White House and has helped develop policies that will strengthen our Nation's families, schools, and communities. Claude is a good and compassionate man, and he has my deep respect and my gratitude. I thank him for his many years of principled and dedicated service to our country. Laura and I wish Claude, Jann, and their family all the best."
- The Boston Archdiocese's Catholic Charities said Friday it would stop providing adoption services because state law allows gays and lesbians to adopt children.
- Sandra Day O'Connor gives a speech ripping the GOP leadership in the House and Senate, and decrying the 'beginnings of a dictatorship.' More here.
- My sympathies to the folks on my f-list who are mourning the death of Tom Fox.
Every just view that can be taken of this subject, admonishes the public of the necessity of a rigid adherence to the simple, the received, and the fundamental doctrine of the constitution, that the power to declare war, including the power of judging of the causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature; that the executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war; that the right of convening and informing congress, whenever such a question seems to call for a decision, is all the right which the constitution has deemed requisite or proper; and that for such, more than for any other contingency, this right was specially given to the executive.
-James Madison, one of the framers of the Constitution, in public letters on it in 1793.