It doesn’t get much uglier than this

Wisconsin State Journal: A controversial bill that would allow high-income parents to avoid paying tens of thousands of dollars a year in child support was written with the help of a wealthy donor to the bill’s author, Rep. Joel Kleefisch.

The Oconomowoc Republican acknowledged Friday that Michael Eisenga, a multi-millionaire business owner, and his attorney helped write the bill, which could pave the way for Eisenga to force the court to reopen his divorce settlement.

The lawmaker insisted in an interview that the measure, Assembly Bill 540, would not affect Eisenga’s case.

“I’m certain the bill would not affect Mr. Eisenga in any way because it’s not retroactive,” Kleefisch said. “He wanted it retroactive. It’s not retroactive.”

That claim is loaded with horseshit. According to WSJ, “the bill would require judges to lower child-support payments if they are 10 percent or more above the amount that would have been ordered using the new requirement. That requirement caps incomes subject to child-support payments at $150,000 a year.” So yeah, Eisenga would get off the hook for a large portion of the upkeep of his own children.

This is a shameful bill and the idea that it was bought and paid for makes it all that much worse. What’s it cost to get this sort of anti-family monstrosity written up? WSJ has a breakdown of the bill:

Eisenga, along with his former wife, gave at least $41,750 to Republican politicians since 2005, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign database.

Eisenga donated the maximum amount allowed under law six times to Kleefisch, the database shows, for a total of $3,500. He also gave $7,500 to Kleefisch’s wife, Rebecca, who is the lieutenant governor, and $15,000 to Gov. Scott Walker.

So pretty much more than you can afford, pleeb.

Scott Walker brags that he knows how to win blue state elections

In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker makes his case for the Republican 2016 nomination. See he knows how to win over Democratic voters. “Mr. Obama won Milwaukee County with 67.5% of the vote; I won with nearly 60%,” he writes.

I won’t subject you to more. I just want to point out that Scott Walker’s style of electioneering has resulted in fifteen felony charges for his staffers. And that was only in round one of investigations. Round two is just getting under way.

Having Scott Walker tell you how to win elections is like John Dillinger lecturing you on the subject of bank security.

[photo by Gage Skidmore]

Privatization turns AZ prison system into human rights nightmare

Salon: A new report alleges illegal and deadly mistreatment of Arizona inmates whose medical care the state contracted out to the country’s largest private prison health care provider.

The report, released last week by the American Friends Service Committee, a progressive Quaker group, comes as an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit against the Arizona Department of Corrections awaits an appeals court ruling over the state’s challenge to its class action status. The ACLU alleges “grossly inadequate” care that creates “grave danger” for inmates, including “critically ill” people who were told to “be patient” or “pray” for healing, or that “it’s all in your head.”

Shortly before that lawsuit was filed in March 2013, the state contracted with its current for-profit health provider, Corizon, to replace the departed company Wexford. But the AFSC charges that “Correspondence from prisoners; analysis of medical records, autopsy reports, and investigations; and interviews with anonymous prison staff and outside experts indicate that, if anything, things have gotten worse.” Among the allegations: “delays and denials of care, lack of timely emergency treatment, failure to provide medication and medical devices, low staffing levels, failure to provide care and protection from infectious disease, denial of specialty care and referrals, and insufficient health treatment…”

Asked about the report, Corizon sent a statement saying that since March, it has “increased the number and skill level of our healthcare staff with the goal of continually improving patient outcomes.” Corizon said that its facilities are accredited and subject to internal audits, and that “ADC inmate patients receive care that meets their healthcare needs and satisfies constitutional requirements.” It added that “As with any large healthcare provider, litigation does arise from time to time. However, the vast majority of lawsuits filed against Corizon are without merit and are dismissed or settled with no findings of wrongdoing.” The Arizona Governor’s office did not immediately respond to an early morning Wednesday inquiry.

Part of the problem is that the prison-industrial complex is ripe for abuse. When you mention “people in prison,” people’s brains short circuit and they hear “people who deserve it.” For some reason, they imagine these sorts of things happening to rapists, murderers, or child molesters and forget that other, less terrifying people are in prison too.

The other part is that privatization is largely a scam. Prison health was the province of government for decades, with medical staff being employees of the Department of Corrections with the occasional visiting doctor from private practice.. The idea that corporations can do things cheaper than government is an offense to simple math, since government is non-profit and corporations are for-profit. Government can — and does — provide services at cost, while the private sector needs cost-plus-profit.

But that’s just your standard “everybody does it” level of government corruption, where you rip off taxpayers to send some easy business someone’s way and they help you out around election time. This is not that — or rather, it is that and much, much more. It’s not hyperbole to call this evil. People should go to the prisons they’ve turned into nightmares over this. The Justice Department should step in and shake out the prisons and the Arizona government and prosecute anyone and everyone remotely responsible for, or even aware of, this monstrosity. This isn’t some penny ante government corruption, this is a human rights abuse case.

Today in Wisconsin GOP corruption: handing out a half-million to cronies

Slate: As hunting and fishing have become less popular in the state, Wisconsin lawmakers have supported efforts to get young people more interested in outdoorsmanship. So earlier this month, the state Department of Natural Resources quietly decided to offer a $500,000 taxpayer-funded grant to a group that would advocate outdoor sports. The sole applicant and winner of the grant, the United Sportsmen of Wisconsin Foundation, has members with ties to national GOP groups, including former lobbyists for the National Rifle Association and Americans for Prosperity. For the record, the NRA donated more than $800,000 to Gov. Scott Walker’s 2012 recall campaign; AFP dropped $3 million.

The DNR announced the grant for hunting groups on its website but didn’t put out a press release about the application, leaving eligible groups unaware of its existence:

Reached last week, Don Kirby, executive director of the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association, said he had no knowledge of the grant.

"Our organization would have been interested to pursue this," Kirby said. "I’m more than a little disappointed to find out now."

Luke Hilgemann, the former chief of staff of the Wisconsin Assembly’s majority leader, is listed as an “educator” for United Sportsmen. Hilgemann recently joined the national office of Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers’ lobbying enterprise, after working for the group’s Wisconsin chapter. Also listed in United Sportsmen’s application is Darren LaSorte, a longtime NRA lobbyist in the state who is now based in Texas.

But at least United Sportsmen is the best, right? With a long history of experience in this sort of thing? Slate reports, “According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, United Sportsmen does not have much of a track record training sportsmen.”

So I guess that’s a no.

Handing out what amounts to no-bid contracts to reward political donors with a raid on taxpayers’ money? I believe this particular grift is known as the “Cheney/Halliburton reciprocal backscratch.” George W. Bush should sue for some sort of patent infringement.

You know what might actually get more people into the Wisconsin’s natural bounty and wouldn’t cost a half a million dollars? Not blowing that bounty up to make mines no one wants.

Nobody wants to go hunting on a slag heap or a parking lot, so maybe we should leave some sliver of nature undeveloped and as it is.

[image by 401(K) 2013]

GOP to Big Oil: Don't Worry, We'll Let You Keep Your Servant

Good news for oil companies, drillers, and Smokey Joe himself.

Talking Points Memo:

NRCC chairman Pete Sessions, whose job it is to increase GOP ranks in the House, says Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) will likely retain his post as the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee. Asked last night after a House vote if Barton may face further repercussions for apologizing to BP CEO Tony Hayward, Sessions told reporters that Barton's already paid his penance.

"I don't think that's the direction we're headed in," Sessions said. "...I believe that Joe has adequately addressed the issue."

Sessions noted numerous times that he was speaking as a member of the GOP leadership team (he is the fourth ranking Republican under Minority Leader John Boehner, Whip Eric Cantor, and Conference Chair Mike Pence ) and not as a rank and file member of the House. Boehner, Cantor and Pence organized last week's rapid response to the Barton flap, in which anonymous GOP leadership aides left the door open to further recriminations.

Because, really, who better to represent the Republican Party on the Energy and Commerce Committee -- which deals with oil companies -- than an obsequious little slaveboy to Big Oil? Putting the fox in charge of the henhouse is the GOP way, after all.

Surprise! Judge Who Blocked Offshore Drilling Moratorium is Invested in Offshore Drilling

Associated Press has a bit of bad news for people who think that we ought to hold off on offshore drilling until we at least know the rigs aren't as screwed up as Deepwater Horizon.

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects imposed after the massive Gulf oil spill.

The White House promised an immediate appeal. President Barack Obama's administration had halted approval of any new permits for deepwater drilling and suspended drilling of 33 exploratory wells in the Gulf.

[...]

Several companies that ferry people and supplies and provide other services to offshore drilling rigs asked U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans to overturn the moratorium, arguing it was arbitrarily imposed.

Feldman agreed, saying in his ruling the Interior Department assumed that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger.

"The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is an unprecedented, sad, ugly and inhuman disaster," Feldman wrote in his decision. "What seems clear is that the federal government has been pressed by what happened on the Deepwater Horizon into an otherwise sweeping confirmation that all Gulf deepwater drilling activities put us all in a universal threat of irreparable harm." Despite all evidence that all deepwater drilling is as fucked up as Deepwater Horizon, it would be irresponsible to assume it to be true. The responsible reaction here is "Drill baby, drill!"

So who is Judge Martin Feldman? He's a Reagan appointee and great big fan of investing in the oil industry. "Feldman, 'a true blue outcome-oriented judicial activist who led the law where he wanted it to go' in Katrina litigation, definitely knows where he's going with the decision he will make in this case," reported local Louisiana Mississippi blog Slabbed. "Anyone doubting the outcome need only to look at his Financial Disclosure Report..."

And that financial report is a doozy. It's peppered with investments in energy, pipeline, and drilling companies -- including Transocean and Halliburton. And don't expect this to be an isolated incident:

ProPublica:

Since BP’s ruptured well began spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico, more than 150 lawsuits have been filed in federal courts seeking damages for the harm that the environmental disaster has dealt to the livelihood of coastal fishermen and business owners. But finding judges to hear these spill-related lawsuits against BP, Halliburton and Transocean may be a challenge. More than half of the “64 active or senior judges in key Gulf Coast districts in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida” have ties to industry, according to The Associated Press.

Some judges own stocks or bonds in the companies named in the lawsuits. Some are related to plaintiffs’ attorneys. Others even receive royalties from oil and gas companies. One judge, according to financial disclosure statements, is a member of Houston’s Petroleum Club,  an “exclusive, handsome club of, and for, men of the oil industry,” reported AP.

It appears that Judge Feldman is a member of that "exclusive, handsome club."

Same Day Liz Cheney Attacks Obama's 'Incompetence' Fighting Terrorism, Bernie Kerik Sentenced to 4 Years

Oh that Obama fella, he just sucks at fighting terrorism! So says big-time terrorism expert Liz Cheney, who introduced her dad to be urged to run for president at the big Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) -- AKA "Crazy People's Action Conference" -- today.

Huffington Post:

"There's no polite way to put this, but that kind of incompetence gets people killed," Cheney said, accusing the Obama administration of missing warnings from the intelligence community that Yemeni terrorists were plotting an attack.

"There is no doubt that the daily intelligence briefings that the president receives contained much more information on the threat from Yemen," she said, without a hint of irony at the failures of the Bush-Cheney years, bemoaning "incompetence, misjudgment and presidential neglect."

Here's something else fun that happened today:

New York Times:

Former New York City police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who was hailed as a hero alongside former Mayor Rudy Giuliani after the Sept. 11 terror attacks and nearly became chief of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was sentenced to four years behind bars Thursday for eight felonies.

Kerik admitted in November that he lied to the White House, filed false taxes and committed other crimes.

''The fact that Mr. Kerik would use that event (9/11) for personal gain and aggrandizement is a dark place in the soul for me,'' said federal Judge Stephen Robinson.

Yeah, you guys really had that whole fighting terrorism thing buttoned down, didn't you? You can shut up now.

Cornyn Thinks Individual Donors are the Problem

I'm going to make the completely unfounded assumption that Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) would rather be called an idiot than a liar. After all, an idiot can't help saying something that's obviously not true, because he's too dumb to know the difference. On the other hand, a liar is someone who says something that's obviously not true, because he thinks you're too dumb to know the difference. One is immoral and unethical, the other is simply a tragedy of birth. So let's cut Cornyn a little slack and assume he's just an idiot.

Raw Story:

Sen. John Cornyn wants everyone to calm down about a Supreme Court decision that would allow corporations to pour an unlimited amount of cash into campaign advertisements. Cornyn believes the effect of the decision has been "overstated."

"I think [the impact has] been overstated," Cornyn (R-TX) told Fox News' Chris Wallace.

Apparently Cornyn thinks that contributions to campaigns by individual donors is more of a threat than unchecked money from large corporations. "Frankly, there has been an explosion of money into federal races for public office since, well, in the last ten years since campaign finance reform. It hasn't done anything to stop the flow of money in," he said.

Yes, the amount of money it takes to run for office is a problem, but it's not the problem that campaign finance reform was designed to address. The problem is that special interests were already able to exercise undue influence over candidates, in the form of huge contributions. It's basically legalized bribery and the Supreme Court has went and made it worse. That's the problem John. The idea was correct a corrupt system, not an expensive one. But we understand that you don't get that, because we've already gone ahead and assumed you're an idiot and these concepts are completely beyond your limited mental faculties.

Did I mention that John Cornyn's the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, that it's his job to raise sacks and sacks of money for Republican candidates, and that the Supreme Court just made his job one helluva lot easier?

I probably should've. I think I'm going to change my opinion on the "liar vs. idiot" question now...

Griper Blade: Not Much of a Cunning Plan

The word of the day seems to be "stupid." That's the general consensus regarding the corruption scandal of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, that he's an idiot. You'd think the first clue would've been his hair; he looks like he got stuck halfway in a morph between The Monkees' Mike Nesmith and Donald Trump. But, if the hair wasn't a giveaway, his actions sure were.

"Blagojevich, it seems, figured he was a Master of the Universe, immune from the scrutiny he should have known he was under," writes CNN's Gloria Borger. "Of course, the feds were listening. Sad for the governor, the wiretaps that prosecutors detailed reveal a stunning and disgusting portrayal of a pol trying to extract personal gain from almost anyone -- whether a potential Senate candidate, a children's hospital or a newspaper."

Why would the feds be listening? Because Blagojevich was already under investigation. And he knew it. The feds were hot on his trail and the governor acted as if everyone thinks he's a solid citizen. As I say, the word of the day is "stupid."... [CLICK TO READ FULL POST]

Griper Blade: Vote or be Dicked

Some endorsements mean more than others. For example, I don't know who Jay Leno is voting for and that's probably because I'm just like everyone else -- I don't care. Celebrity endorsements don't mean too much, because anyone who looks to celebrities for guidance is probably not going to vote. Other endorsements may help a little, because it bumps the candidate up in the news rotation. The more a candidate is mentioned in a positive light, the better.

But some endorsements can't possibly be seen positively. For example, John McCain scored the less than coveted al Qaeda endorsement. Turns out that having the US dumping money and blood down the drain in Iraq is pretty much exactly what the terrorists want. "Al-Qaeda will have to support McCain in the coming election," reads an internet posting from the organization. "[We] will push the Americans deliberately to vote for McCain so that he takes revenge for them against al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda then will succeed in exhausting America."

But it seems that Americans are done with giving a damn what terrorists want. Good on us. They're freakin' insane. We should've stopped making decisions based on what crazy people want or don't want a long time ago. Al Qaeda's endorsement probably didn't do much to change anyone's mind. In fact, most media sources reported it as a "News of the Weird" piece, if at all. It wasn't the sort of thing that anyone really took seriously...

[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]

Griper Blade: The Other Side of the Story

Let's take a look at the economic situation. Never mind the naysayers, the gloom-and-doomers, the glass-half-empty types, some of us are doing just fine. If you look hard enough and long enough, you can find good, simple, hard-working Americans who are managing to get along. Good people, with good, honest values, who know the value of a dollar because they've got a boatload of them:

Associated Press:

Riding record oil prices in the third quarter, Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday posted the biggest quarterly profit ever for a U.S. company: $14.83 billion, or about $112,000 a minute.

The results, amounting to $2.86 a share, beat the Irving, Texas, company's previous record and shattered analysts' average expectation of $2.38 a share, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

Consumer groups and politicians saw reason for anger in those numbers.

"Our economy is suffering from many factors, but one of them is the price of oil and our nation's dependence on it," said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

Markey said that "investments in renewable energy continue to lag with the world's most profitable company, and as an industry as a whole."

"Consumers got credit card debt and empty wallets, while Exxon got double-digit billions," says Judy Dugan of Consumer Watchdog. "Citizens deserve to be mad. They should demand that government get back in the business of protecting them from corporate greed."

Those simple country folk with their good ol' fashioned common sense and small town values continue to make more money than any company in history, quarter after quarter, year after year. Yay for them!...

[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]

Griper Blade: Vote McCain, Re-Elect Lobbyists

Sometimes I think I need to work on my headlines. I pretty much wait until I've finished the post, then wonder what the hell I'm going to call it. I went through and tagged some posts and articles last night about an op-ed written by the McCain-Palin team (or, as it's being marketed by that side, Palin-McCain) and signed off on by the candidates. Their title -- or maybe it's the headline the Wall Street Journal editorial staff gave it -- is "We'll Protect Taxpayers From More Bailouts." You kind of get the feeling that someone suggested an exclamation point, but that was voted down as being too much.

Think Progress has a better headline. In fact, it's so dead on that you almost don't have to read the post. "McCain Op-Ed: Lobbyists Like My Campaign Manager Are 'Primary Contributors' To Fannie-Freddie Crisis." I guess "I'll protect you from me" was still a little too vague.

Palin's name is on the op-ed mostly because she's become a crutch for McCain. She's not especially knowledgeable when it comes to the housing crisis. Speaking of headlines, Sam Stein explains the problem in a piece titled "Palin Makes Her First Gaffe":

Gov. Sarah Palin made her first potentially major gaffe during her time on the national scene while discussing the developments of the perilous housing market this past weekend.

Speaking before voters in Colorado Springs, the Republican vice presidential nominee claimed that lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers." The companies, as McClatchy reported, "aren't taxpayer funded but operate as private companies. The takeover may result in a taxpayer bailout during reorganization."

Economists and analysts pounced on the misstatement, which came before the government had spent funds bailing the two entities out, saying it demonstrated a lack of understanding about one of the key economic issues likely to face the next administration.

In this case, I've got the better headline, "Sarah Palin Doesn't Know Her Fannie Mae From A Hole In The Ground."...

[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]

John McCain, Friend of Monopolies

clipped from www.mcclatchydc.com John McCain broadcasts his affection for Theodore Roosevelt, but his opposition to regulating the local telephone industry suggests that he may not share the former president's passion for busting huge corporate trusts. Unlike Roosevelt, who railed against "malefactors of great wealth," McCain's positions frequently have echoed those of the giant regional Bell phone companies, now consolidated as AT&T, Verizon and Qwest, the big survivors of the telecommunications wars of the last quarter-century. McCain's opposition to the 1996 Telecommunications Competition and Deregulation Act, intended to spur competition by pressuring the Bells to lease their lines and switches to competitors cheaply, offers a window into how he might view regulation of other markets as president.

I think there are two reasons McCain invokes Teddy Roosevelt. 1. Roosevelt wasn't a Republican in the modern sense, but a Republican in the original sense -- i.e., a progressive. McCain hopes to signal some that his "maverick" label actually means something.

2. Teddy Roosevelt is the one face on Mt. Rushmore that Americans know the least about.

In the end, I'd say it's more 2 than 1.

Obama Ad Links McCain, Abramoff

clipped from tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com Maybe there's some truth to the reports that Barack Obama is finally planning to get tough on John McCain. According to the Altanta Journal-Constitution, the Obama campaign will tomorrow release in Atlanta this ad, which links McCain to disgraced former Jack Abramoff crony Ralph Reed: The hard-hitting ad notes that when McCain led a Senate probe of Abramoff, he never called Reed to testify, then points out that Reed is currently helping to raise money for McCain's campaign. Reed, who during his unsuccessfully 2006 bid for Georgia Lieutenant Governor was dogged by questions about his Abramoff ties, did indeed send out an email to friends recently announcing his participation in an Atlanta fundraiser for McCain last week. After Reed's involvement raised eyebrows, he was a no-show at the event itself.

Pretty straight forward. It'll be hard for McCain to weasel out of this one -- although there won't be any shortage of media figures willing to help him along.

I'd like to see this followed up with McCain's ties to lobbyists and the way he swaps positions for campaign cash. Someone's got to cut that "straight talkin' maverick" BS out from under him.

Facing Impeachment, Musharraf Steps Down

clipped from www.voanews.com Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has announced his resignation, before his political opponents planned to begin impeachment proceedings against him. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from Islamabad, where Mr. Musharraf denied any wrongdoing and said he is stepping down for the good of the country. The president scoffed at the as-yet unspecified impeachment charges against him - calling them baseless.  However, he said that contesting them could further destabilize the country.   He says he is resigning for the good of Pakistan. Pakistan People's Party Senator Raza Rabbani called the Musharraf resignation a victory for democracy. "I think this is perhaps the first time in Pakistan's political history where you have the will of the people prevailing over establishment institutions," the senator said.

Hey Nancy! You see this?

Griper Blade: Occupation, Inc.

The number being reported is "at least $85 billion," but when talking about money and Iraq, the truth is always murky. In a war practically run by war profiteers, the number is likely to be higher. The upper estimate of the amount of public dollars we've paid private contractors in Iraq is more than $100 billion. Normally, erring on the side of caution would require you to assume the lower figure -- which is why that number is being used in the media. But when we consider the history of waste, corruption, and corporate malfeasance involved in the occupation of Iraq, the higher number seems the safer estimate.

The higher figure comes from Voice of America. In their story, the cite Peter Orszag of the Congressional Budget Office [CBO], who said, "The federal government has awarded $85 billion in contracts for work in [the] Iraq theater through 2007. If you included this year, the total would exceed $100 billion: roughly one of every $5 for the cost of the war in Iraq." The piece goes on:

Orszag says the use of private contractors in U.S. military engagements is not new. What is new, however, is the extent of the reliance on private firms. The Iraq war marks the first time in which the number of private personnel has equaled or exceeded the number of military personnel. By contrast, the CBO report notes that, during World War II, military personnel outnumbered private contractors by a ratio of seven-to-one.

Given what they're being paid and how much we're relying on them, you'd think that private contractors are doing just an astonishingly great job of whatever the hell it is we're hiring them to do.

Of course, you'd be wrong...

[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]

Griper Blade: McSellout

Take a presidential candidate, add a pinch of pandering, a dash of corruption, a whole lot of money, and you've got McCain

I've been writing about John McCain a lot lately, but let's face it, John McCain's not talking about John McCain and someone has to. Lately, when the media talks about John McCain, it's to repeat some attack McCain's made on Barack Obama. Lately, with the help of a media more concerned with sensationalism than substance, McCain has been able to be a serious candidate for president who doesn't seem to stand for a whole lot.

One of the worst aspects of this whole thing is that no one's looking at the fact that McCain doesn't stand for a whole lot. Mr. Leadership generally leads by following. His opinions go where the votes are or the money is. McCain is a candidate openly for sale.

An example; in June, John McCain opposed a Constitutional amendment to make same sex marriage illegal. He didn't support marriage equality, but he took what would've once been the default Republican opinion on issues like this and said it was up to the states to decide.

But, as I said, that was once the default. That was before Bush's 2004 campaign that highlighted the Homosexual Menaces' Threat to America. McCain was behind the times; the new default was to panic over same sex marriage, foretell the destruction of the family and, with it, the end of America. Under Bush, the GOP has become the party of fear and if your reaction to an issue isn't to try to get everyone to wet their pants over it, then you aren't a real Republican.

So John McCain made a trip to see the Apostles of Republican Jesus, that they might impart their wisdom upon him and anoint him a True Republican. And, lo, so it was done...

[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]

Griper Blade: Senate GOP Going Down the Series of Tubes

Yesterday turned out to be a bad day for Republicans in Washington. Alaska Senator Ted Stevens found himself into a little trouble. Stevens, who'd made himself famous with a bridge to nowhere and his assertion that the internet is "not a big truck. It's a series of tubes," was indicted on seven felony counts of concealing $250,000 in gifts and services given to him by an oil company.

"This is very bad for the party," a retiring GOP Senator told Politico. "The timing on this couldn’t be worse." According to Politico's piece, "Now, there’s an arrest warrant out for the 84-year-old senator. He’s been stripped of his top committee rankings. His iconic career is crumbling. His hopes for reelection are in serious doubt.

"And Senate Republicans have no idea what to do about it. "

Of course, the "what to do about it" question isn't so much about pulling Stevens' fat out of the fire, it's about their own political careers. Republicans, never ones to embrace the "we're all in this together" mindset, have adopted as their motto "every man for himself!"

The indictment pretty much pounds the final nail in the coffin containing Stevens' reelection prospects. He was nine points down in polling against rival Mark Begich, Mayor of Anchorage, before the indictment. To give you an idea of how far Ted has fallen in public opinion, Stevens was reelected six years ago with a nearly unheard of 78%...

[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]

AK Sen. Ted Stevens Indicted

clipped from thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com A federal grand jury has indicted longtime Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, on corruption charges after more than a year’s investigation, a federal law enforcement official has confirmed to The Times’s David Johnston. Just a year ago, federal agents raided Mr. Stevens’ home following questions about renovations at the home. A few months before that, an Alaska businessman Bill J. Allen admitted to bribery, and in court papers acknowledged making $243,000 in possibly illegal payments to a state lawmaker identified only as “Senator B.” That abbreviation referred to Senator Ted Stevens’s son, Ben Stevens. The 84-year-old senator is up for re-election this year while under investigative scrutiny, a matter that had not gone unmentioned by Democrats. His opponent, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, has been campaigning hard against the longest-sitting Republican member of the Senate, and Democrats were hopeful that Mr. Begich would be a serious contender.

Who will remind us that the internet is "not a big truck. It's a series of tubes" now?

Electrical Hazards Plague Troops in Iraq

clipped from www.nytimes.com Shoddy electrical work by private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespread and dangerous, causing more deaths and injuries from fires and shocks than the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to internal Army documents. During just one six-month period — August 2006 through January 2007 — at least 283 electrical fires destroyed or damaged American military facilities in Iraq, including the military’s largest dining hall in the country, documents obtained by The New York Times show. Two soldiers died in an electrical fire at their base near Tikrit in 2006, the records note, while another was injured while jumping from a burning guard tower in May 2007. Electrical problems were the most urgent noncombat safety hazard for soldiers in Iraq, according to an Army survey issued in February 2007.

Good thing we went with no-bid contracts, huh? Otherwise, totally disreputable contractors might be burning down buildings and electrocuting people in showers, instead of Kellog, Brown, and Root who coincidentally are big buds of the White House.

This way, we only get the very finest quality electrical hazards, fires, and deaths.