Beware The Man

…or whatever it is he thinks he is, courtesy of the Boston Globe.

He's basically declared himself exempt from around 750 laws he's signed, by virtue of his Constutional Authority.  This is a good explanation of how it works, courtesy Glenn Greenwald, who has been following the POTUS' declarations quite closely, and the Boston Globe.  Scroll down just a little.

Horrifying, when you consider how good his judgment has been so far, no?

…documented here by the lovely and brilliant Jane Hamsher.  Follow the links, and judge for yourself.

It's almost sort of sensational in a truly horrifying way that there is still doubt about whether the Dems will grab a House this fall. 

Lost a leg?  Sorry.  You only served 2/3 of your tour.  You owe the U.S. money, and we're coming to get it.

No shame, no shame…sourced to those wackos at ABC News.

Lets see the GOP try to keep THAT out of the news!

Surreal.  And let me just say, I don't care if the entire Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches engage in periodic Romanesque orgies.  Much like I didn't care about Clinton's blow jobs, only 2 out of 11 resulting in orgasm, according to the Messiah Ken Starr.

But selling off your government while you're doing it is where I draw the line.  Reported by those notorious lefties at the Wall Street Journal, FBI agents are fanning our far and wide interviewing "escort services" and various other (no doubt) high class ladies, and I hope for entertainment's sake, gentlemen of the oldest trade.

For those interested in a smart but non-lawyer explanation of the deal with respect to the whole thing but particularly Karl Rove's, a.k.a., "Bush's Brain" or "The Architect," (read the reviews and information) situation in the matter, Jane and ReddHedd and the folks at firedoglake.com are the best in the business.

And the best thing they do is show you how the mainstream media, those from whom most get their news spin, spins it.  If you take the time to follow the links, you'll really get it.

Anybody who doesn't think there was a concerted effort from the White House to out a CIA officer working on Iranian nukes, for purely political motives, is an idiot.

Jim V. is Washington Post; D. Shuster is MSNBC.

I would vote for Al.  I've read all of his books, I think, unless he's written any boring ones, and they are consistently smart and very funny. 

He's a good man.

He's the "liberal" voice of pundrity.  He's kind of balding with a beard, and he's a very smart guy.  You see him a lot on the talking-head shows on Sunday if you are prone to that kind of thing.  I personally like him. But about some things, he's completely fucking stupid, borderline insane.  (The beauty of blogging is that you can watch him say it.)

Anyway, his new book, for which he seems to be making BIG rounds on the talking-head shows to promote, is titled, "Politics Lost:  How American Democracy was Trivialized by People Who Think You're Stupid."  Here, buy it.

What it should have been themed AND titled is, "Politics Lost:  How American Democracy was Trivialized by People Who KNOW you're stupid." The political consultants are just like any other group, some good, some bad.  Picture a bell curve of overall quality.  They are smart and professional, and the Karl Rove's of the world are very good at it.  And they know, and have always known, that emotion works better than reason, politically speaking.  It has always been so.  Overused but how-can-you-claim-you-see-no-similarities-today money shot:

Göring "Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."

Gilbert: "There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."

Göring "Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

• In an interview with Gilbert in Göring's jail cell during the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials (18 April 1946)

That's why you've seen before and will again soon flag-burning, abortion, same sex marriage, Mexicans, et al be marched into the voting booths.  Though these "issues" have one/zillionth of the actual real world impact that say, war and gas prices and air/water/planet quality and balance of power and terrorism and energy and self-determination and religion v. politics and stable financial environments, they're the ones that get the votes.  They're SCARY, and the professional consultants know it.

The serious issues take time, and effort, and some degree of intelligence and civic responsibility.  And everyone knows that there are a huge number of political consultants on both sides (Dems ridiculously claimed "foul" on the Dubai ports deal, for example) who understand perfectly how to control the moron.  It's that darned bell curve again.  2 standard deviations from most lie both stupid and smart folks. 

If you order the first book, which I'm sure is often "correct" in facts but incorrect in premise and inference, be sure and read this one, which I personally haven't read yet but know from his blog is going to be brilliant. 

Joe Klein has pissed me off terminally.

…speaks out against the policies that have become a part of our national identity.  Colin Powell must really hate America for this guy to be his right-hand man.

If the Dems don't win a House this fall, count me as a rider on the End Times Express.

Your country is at stake.

I dare you.  While still ackowledging the editorial slant of the post.

Anyone who has been following this story knows that Jane (an attorney) at firedoglake.com has this story down to the details as well as any “mainstream” journalist, with apologies to David Shuster of MSNBC, who has to do it on TV, and is thereby limited in terms of what he can do.

You can go backwards from here if you need more detail, but Fitz (for whom I would cast my Presidential vote without knowing anything about his politics) has charged Libby with lying, which has nothing to do with the bullshit Team Libby is trying to produce.

And then you have to ask yourself, “Why would the VP’s right-hand man lie?”  Particularly if everything was on the up and up?