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And today’s most blasphemous statement of the day goes to Darryn Lyons, the chairman of Big Pictures who said of the Pitt-Jolie baby: “It is the most anticipated baby since Jesus Christ.”
If ever there was cause for a good old-fashioned Yahweh-style smiting, this would be it.
Apparently gunshots were heard in the parking garage of the Rayburn House Office Building – and already the jokes are flying:
* Nothing to worry about, just Frist and Hastert shooting themselves in the foot again.
* Does anyone know where Dick Cheney is?
* ABC news is reporting that Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, since she is in the Rayburn building today, is “in the mix” as a potential culprit.
The Capitol Police are thinking it was probably a false alarm, but if Denny Hastert shows up in crutches we’ll know what really happened…
UPDATE: Capitol Police think that the noise was probably an air hammer. Me, I’m guessing it was the ghost of one of the Founding Fathers pounding his head on the wall in despair…
It looks like Norton Antivirus – a program that seems to do more damage to one’s system than most viruses – has a massive security flaw in it.
One of the biggest reasons I left the Windows world is because of crap like this. It’s not enough that you have to use a painfully obnoxious operating system, but you have to run a bunch of painfully annoying software to clean up all the accumulated crap that piles up. Norton Antivirus or another of its ilk, a firewall program that’s usually intrusive and irritating, spyware cleaners, popup blockers, etc. All of them slow down one’s system, usually keep dialing home for updates, and almost all of them are both ugly and irritating to use. Why people put up with this crap seems to me to be only attributable to some kind of digital Stockholm Syndrome.
But hey, I’m just one of those arrogant hipster Mac users… who doesn’t have to worry that some crappy antivirus program will hose his system…
As loathe as I am to defend Nancy Pelosi, her her decision to ask Rep. Jefferson to resign from the Ways and Means Committee was the right one, despite what the Congressional Black Caucus may say. Jefferson was caught red-handed taking a $100,000 bribe. This is a very clear-cut case, and if Jefferson had so much as an ounce of decency he would have fallen on his sword already. Then again, expecting decency from a politician these days seems to be too much to ask.
The Congressional Black Caucus carries a lot of weight with House Democrats:
The Jefferson scandal, which after more than a year of investigation blew open Saturday with an FBI raid at his congressional office, has brought into glaring public light long-standing resentments felt by black lawmakers toward the Democratic leadership in the House.
The CBC’s chairman, Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.), engaged in a heated argument with Pelosi on the House floor Tuesday afternoon after Watt heard reports that Pelosi was considering calling for Jefferson’s ouster, according to one witness.
Members of the CBC are expected to confront Pelosi today in a meeting that was previously scheduled to address separate concerns about Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.). That meeting is now likely to focus more on Jefferson, a Democratic aide said.
With 43 members, the CBC is a formidable force in the 202-member Democratic caucus and one Pelosi is unusually reluctant to antagonize. Should Democrats take the House, the CBC would control four, and possibly five, committee chairmanships.
This puts Pelosi in a bind – does she kowtow to the CBC or stand up for responsibility in government? Either way, she loses something.
Still, at least Pelosi was acting out of some form of principle – small as it may be. Jefferson has brought shame to the whole House of Representatives and should be treated as the corrupt scoundrel he is. The fact that the CBC is once again closing ranks around one of its own is unsurprising. What would be surprising is if Pelosi holds her ground and demands Jefferson’s resignation.
The Palestinian territories have been in a state of near anarchy over the last few weeks as Hamas and Fatah continue their sometimes violent in-fighting over which side should rule. It looks like Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is trying to force issues with Hamas by calling a referendum on a two-state solution in 10 days unless Hamas agrees to recognize Israel’s right to exist.
Hamas and Fatah are already perilously close to a real civil war as both sides have a legitimate presence in the Palestinian government and both control their own militant groups. Abbas is hoping that the referendum (which most think would pass) will resolve the issue, force Hamas to recognize Israel, and allow foreign aid to flow back into Palestine. It’s an extremely risky political gamble as while the majority of Palestinians would recognize Israel, especially within the 1967 borders, the terrorists who can destroy everything will never recognize Israel’s right to exist, and the Palestinian state is too weak and corrupt to stop them.
Any real peace in the region must begin with the Palestinians ending their support of terrorism. Unfortunately, neither Hamas nor Fatah has clean hands – both talk peace, but Hamas was a terrorist organization long before they were a political force, and the Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade remains attached to Fatah. Abbas’ referendum would at least make it clear that the rejectionists are a minority in Palestinian society, but it’s still going to require the Palestinian Authority to make a real crackdown on terrorism – an event which could tear all of Palestinian society apart.
At the very least, this is a very tentative step in the right direction, and Abbas does seem willing to negotiate. However, the Palestinians can’t hope for a peaceable negotiated settlement until the campaign of terrorism is ended, or at least brought under control. The Israelis can’t compromise their own security for peace, and until the Palestinians can come to the negotiating table as full and honest partners, the Israelis will continue to unilaterally protect themselves from terrorism.
The trial of Enron heads Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling have ended with guilty verdicts for both on multiple counts – Professor Bainbridge has plenty of reactions on the decision.
Apparently there was this thing called “American Idol” on TV last night, which I hadn’t heard of due to a complete lack of any press coverage of the thing.* More Americans voted for their pop Idol than did for their President which makes we wonder if Kelly Clarkson might not yet occupy the Oval Office. (On the other hand, I’d like to see Simon Cowell as Secretary of Defense. I can just imagine it now — “That was the worst act of terrorism I have ever seen. Really, crashing planes into buildings? That’s so 2001. Utterly pathetic.”)
Of course, Alexis de Tocqueville is rotating in his grave fast enough to power a small city. I mean, c’mon, why on Earth did the 63+ million American Idol voters end up voting for a man who could be the President of the Leo Laporte Lookalikes Club? Then again, it’s nice to know he has a career after leaving TechTV.
All this does give me an idea – why not just turn politics into it’s own pop-star talent search schlockfest? I mean really, could we do much worse? Let’s face it, who’s going to be the tougher moderator, boring Bob Schieffer or Simon Cowell? You know damn well that both Bush and Kerry wouldn’t have stood a chance. Let’s face it, American Idol is already turning into another political contest as it is, why not just combine the two and get it all out of the way? At least we’d get more civic participation if we forced John McCain and Hillary Clinton to perform a duet of I Got You Babe – and it would also be hilarious.
When politics has already become a form of mass entertainment, one might as well just go with the flow. When The Daily Show is the most respected news source in the country and political parties inspire the same kind of blind loyalism usually reserved for the hometown football team, the idea that American democracy is somehow above the machinations of wannabe pop stars already flew out the window long ago. Given the choice between the Soul Patrol and MoveOn.org, I’d choose the former any day.
* For the sarcasm impaired, yes, that is sarcasm.