Random Political Thoughts for a Wednesday Afternoon

It’s Wednesday and we all know what that means…no, not the second part of the year in review… (My trustworthy colleague has assured me that it is forthcoming) And no, not time to put up a new poll… (Oops… our bad…) No, it’s time for this week’s Random Political Thoughts for a Wednesday Afternoon…

Here we go…

Israel not dealing with Robertson. Israel will not do business with Pat “What-can-I-say-next-to-make-me-look-&-sound-like-an-absolute-idiot?” Robertson after the evangelical leader stated that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for the Gaza withdrawal. Robertson had been leading a group of evangelicals who pledged to raise $50 million in order to build a large Christian tourism center in Israel. Now, according to a spokesman for the Israeli Tourism Minister, the Christian Heritage Center project was now in question, though he left the door open to develop it with others. All I can say is; Karma baby!

The Trouble with Jack. Christian-Right tool Ralph Reed, a former presidential-campaign adviser who once was in charge of one of the U.S.'s largest Christian activist groups, is close to losing all his political ambitions in one fell swoop. Why? His dealings with Jack Abramoff, that’s why. There have been revelations that Reed was running an anti-gambling campaign that was being financed by casino-owning clients of Abramoff (now that is an excellent example of irony) This has damaged his ability to raise funds in his bid to become the Lt. Governor of Georgia, which he was hoping to use as a springboard to higher political office (Uh, sure) Again, all I have to say is; Karma baby!

NSA to Investigate Eavesdropping Program. The inspector general of the National Security Agency has opened an investigation into the eavesdropping without the ‘hassle” of warrants program. Good news, sure, but the fact that it’s the NSA and Bush-Media-Tool The Washington Post telling us, I’m gonna take it with a grain of salt… actually, I’m gonna take it with a pillar of salt.

Things getting testy in Alito hearing. Ok… now this is engrossing television. After exchanges that seemed like a kitten pawing around a ball of yarn, the hearing got a little heated today. More so when Senators Ten Kennedy (D-MA) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) had a bit of a roustabout. Can find a terrific link here, but all in all this is how it went down. Kennedy requested that Specter issue a subpoena to the Library of Congress for documents related to the right-wing group Concerned Alumni of Princeton, of which Alito was a member. Specter refused to rule on the request and claimed it’s the first time the request had even been made. Actually, Sen. Kennedy sent a letter on December 22 making the request, Specter replied that there is a big difference between “sending” a letter and someone “receiving” it. (essentailly, saying that he never saw the letter). The problem? The good senator from Massachusets has Specter’s reply… oops.

Take ‘em as you will…