Gee, Joe, ya think?

Joementum is shocked! shocked! that the White House might lie to him. Lieberman: White House hindering Katrina probe"

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House is dodging questions about Hurricane Katrina response and has instructed other agencies to join it in fending off investigators, Sen. Joseph Lieberman said on Tuesday. The White House denies the allegations.

Lieberman went so far as to suggest that the Department of Homeland Security is trying to kill the investigation.

"My staff believes that DHS has engaged in a conscious strategy of slow-walking our investigation in the hope that we would run out of time to follow the investigation's natural progression to where it leads," Lieberman said. "At this point, I cannot disagree."

I guess Joe never noticed all the other times chimpy and his minions have pulled this stunt.

Hope for the future

Via Watertiger, we see that at least some students are learning. Gonzales Dissed by Georgetown Students

At a Georgetown Law School Forum, Gonzales said the nation needs "to remember that ... it's imperative for national security reasons that we can detect reliably, immediately and without delay" any al-Qaida related communication entering or leaving the United States.

As he spoke, more than a dozen students stood silently with their backs turned to the attorney general. Outside the classroom where Gonzales was to speak, a pair of protesters held up a sheet that said, "Don't torture the Constitution."

Good for them. Now, if we can get the congressional dems to show some balls we'll really have something.

The Chair, the Chair

Go Harry, Go!! Hit 'em with the big chair! The Raw Story has the transcript, Reid Fires Back

Mr. Plushy is NOT amused

by the the vote in the judiciary committee.

Froomkin is back

Froomkin is back from his break. Huzzah! Bush Unplugged but unrevealing

He asks, "How can a president of the United States talk for almost two hours, unscripted, and be so fundamentally unrevealing?"

Well, that's easy. He's fundamentally incapable of saying anything meaningful. I'm not sure what disease the man's got, but it sure has fucked up his higher brain functions.

Rove's Early Warning

E.J. Dionne has some excellent advice for dems in his column today. Rove's Early Warning

What Democrats should have learned is that they cannot evade the security debate. They must challenge the terms under which Rove and Bush would conduct it. Imagine, for example, directly taking on that line about Sept. 11. Does having a "post-9/11 worldview" mean allowing Bush to do absolutely anything he wants, any time he wants, without having to answer to the courts, Congress or the public? Most Americans -- including a lot of libertarian-leaning Republicans -- reject such an anti-constitutional view of presidential power. If Democrats aren't willing to take on this issue, what's the point of being an opposition party?

Amen. Don't let them choose the venue of the fight. And don't cede an inch of ground to the bastards.

This day in Space- Scorpius Returns

NASA

Black Hole Puts Dent in Space-Time, via our friends at space.com.

A spinning black hole in the constellation Scorpius has created a stable dent in the fabric of spacetime, scientists say.

The dent is the sort of thing predicted by Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity. It affects the movement of matter falling into the black hole.

The spacetime-dent is invisible, but scientists deduced its existence after detecting two X-ray frequencies from the black hole that were identical to emissions noted nine years ago. The finding will allow scientists to calculate the black hole’s spin, a crucial measurement necessary for describing the object’s behavior.

Go read the whole thing. It's fascinating. And it solves the mystery of what happened to Scorpius after Farscape was canceled.

With Sympathy

Reuters/Andy Clark

My canadian friends have my sympathy this morning. I hope your country comes to its senses before the contagion spreads.

Open Letter to the Washington Post

Jane Hamsher and friends have started an Open Letter to the Washington Post blog, where they will chronicle stenography, chimpy worshipping and other nonsense.

Kind of an ombudsman to the ombudsman. Stop by and say hello.

Watertiger in the Caribbean!!

A preview of Watertiger on her caribbean vacation with her family.

Sleepy, sleepy Maxx

Living the plush life.

Space Mystery Monday

Via Space.com, galactic cannibalism or dark matter may be to blame for galaxies in Andromeda lining up on a single plane:

Strange Setup: Andromeda's Satellite Galaxies All Lined Up

An unusually high number of galaxies are aligned along a single plane running through the center of the giant Andromeda galaxy. Scientists don’t have a theory to explain why.

Galactic cannibalism or dark matter may be responsible, researchers say.

The Andromeda galaxy is located at a distance of 2.5 million light-years away and is the nearest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way. Like our own galaxy, Andromeda is surrounded by numerous dwarf galaxy satellites. Many of these satellites are within 1.3 million light-years or less of the galaxy’s main disk.

Galactic cannibalism!! I feel a movie plot coming on.

Catapult Time!

Heh heh. Catapulting propaganda is hard work!

What 4th Amendment?

The White House rolled of General Michael V. Hayden to defend the warrantless wiretaps. White House Begins New Effort to Defend Surveillance Program which might not have been such a great idea:

The standard laid out by General Hayden - a "reasonable basis to believe" - is lower than "probable cause," the standard used by the special court created by Congress to handle surveillance involving foreign intelligence.

~snip~

When asked what level of certainty was needed in determining that someone was connected to Al Qaeda before a warrantless wiretap was conducted, General Hayden acknowledged that the decision involved "both art and science." But he compared it to intelligence given to the military for battlefield decisions.

In case you were wondering, here's both the art and the science involved.

They Write Letters

From today's Daily Texan (the student newspaper at the University of Texas):

There is little or no comparison between the wiretapping of the Bush administration and the Nixon administration. Nixon acted in his own political interest under complete secrecy. Bush's actions, right or wrong, have been in the interest of national security.

So I guess if he's doing it "for our own good that makes it okay.

There has been no real evidence that the wiretaps involved anything other than calls placed internationally including at least on party suspected of terrorism.

So why didn't they get a warrent? And since it's classified, how would we know?

Maybe we should follow the actions of the great hereo of the left, Franklin Roosevelt. He pushed a law making it illegal for the press to divulge information that the enemy would like to know. I'd be quite happy not having this discussion.

Tony Mc#########
Young Conservatives of Texas.

Named redacted to protect the stupid. Ladies and gentlemen, I present Stupid Wingers, The Next Generation.

ROOOOOAAAAARRRR

Reuters/Ali Jareki

I certainly hope Watertiger will be in a better mood when she gets back from vacation, don't you?

Journamalism

Atrios posts about the media's practice of quoting accurately republican spin that they know to be untrue. Link: Journamalism Atrios says:

When a reporter puts the byline on something they own it. I understand that it is actually news when a senior administration official says something, no matter what it is, but it's even bigger news if they're, you know, lying.

Just once, I'd like to see a story where one of chimpy's minions is quoted saying one of their bullshit spin stories and the copy following it notes:

"The source is lying out of their ass. Again."

Humanity would rejoice.

Give me liberty

Molly Ivins has an excellent column up with a simple message. "Get a spine, you wimpy ass democrats!"

The recent death of Gene McCarthy reminded me of a lesson I spent a long time unlearning, so now I have to relearn it. It's about political courage and heroes, and when a country is desperate for leadership. There are times when regular politics will not do, and this is one of those times.

We are at a dangerous crossroads that is every bit as perilous as the one our nation faced during the revolution. This is not the time for think-tanks, or focus groups, or for wimpy ass strategizing by useless democratic consultants. This is a time for leadership.

When our forefathers wrote the Declaration of Independence, they didn't monkey around. They didn't say, "excuse me your highness... would you please, pretty please, maybe consider our grievances? we don't wanna make you mad or anything but can you quit being mean to us?" No, they said, "you are a tyrant and we're cutting your ass off, and if you don't like it, bring it."

Okay, I paraphrase. But you get the point. In the face of overwhelming and terrifying odds, they stood up. They stood up because it was the right thing to do.

Pay attention democratic pols. Quit worrying about the republican machine, the media or what Karl thinks. Start speaking plainly and forcefully about policies that you know are right for america. Molly is right. The vast percentage of people are with us on these things. We are the center. But that's not what's important to me.

What's important is doing what's right. It's the right thing to do to support civil liberties, women's reproductive rights, universal healthcare, and peace. Who gives a fuck whether it's popular or not? It's right. Do it because it's right.

When Patrick Henry said, "Give me liberty or give me death," he wasn't fucking around. We shoudn't be either. There is too much at stake. We are not going to get a do-over on this. If America slides into religious despotism, there isn't going to be any way back.

It's time for you guys to stand up. Do that, and people will follow.

Kerry Rocks!!

So says Maxx. Congrats to Kerry for getting under the RNC's skin. What a bunch of whiny ass titty babies.

Update: I'm referring to this quote from Kerry on this morning's This Week.

KERRY: You know, Osama bin Laden is going to die of kidney failure before he’s killed by Karl Rove and his crowd. And all he does is divide America over this issue and exploit it. And what he’s trying to pretend is somehow Democrats don’t want to eavesdrop appropriately to protect the country. That’s a lie.

That's the kick ass type of language I want to hear. Everyday.

Trifid!!

From Space.com. The site has a series of stunning images that you can download as wall paper. Gorgeous. This is the Trifid Nebula.