Random Political Thoughts for a Wednesday Afternoon

Wednesday is known as many things… ‘Hump Day,’ ‘Mid-week,’… well that’s about it.

But now you can add RPTFAWA (Random Political Thoughts for a Wednesday Afternoon) to the list of aliases for Wednesday.

And now… without further ado…

I Spy. Attorney General Alberto “I-Love-the-Smell-of-Wiretaps-in-the-Morning” Gonzalez decided to teach a history class on Tuesday in an attempt to spin the Administration’s ‘Domestic Spying Program’… (wait, we just got a memo in the TBWA office, it’s now being called the ‘Terrorist Spying Program’… wait, another memo just came in… it should now be called the ‘Screwing the Nation with their pants on Program’… wait, here’s another memo… ah forget it…) Gonzalez used the axioms of past presidents George Washington and Franklin Roosevelt while defending the program’s usage. Let me give you a clue here Al, George and Frank are rolling over in their graves at what your administration is doing.

On the floor. As expected, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the SCOTUS nomination of Samuel Alito on Tuesday in a vote that went strictly down party-lines. As the debate turns to the Senate floor, Democrats are refusing to rule out a filibuster in order to block the confirmation. Alito has the commitment of 51 senators, but still lags behind and under the 60-vote threshold that is needed to guarantee a full-floor vote and prevent a filibuster. BTW, the Chicago Tribune, usually a bastion of Republican-love, has an editorial in today’s edition that DOES NOT ENDORSE Samuel Alito and says he should NOT be a SC Justice. It’s worth a look.

White House not cooperating. It seems that the Bush administration knew what Hurricane Katrina would do to New Orleans in the days leading up to landfall and either dragged their feet or simply didn’t act on the news. (Karma, baby!) Now they’re being accused of dragging their feet on complying with the Senate probe. To make matters more pathetic, the White House is now citing the confidentiality of executive branch communications, the White House disclosed on Tuesday that it does not plan to turn over certain documents about the hurricane. The administration also will not make any senior White House officials available for sworn testimony before two Congressional committees investigating the storm response. Nice… it seems the administration is using the standard ‘Ignore it and it will go away’ game plan. As I’ve said in this blog many times, and in earlier in this random thought… ‘Karma, baby!’

Ryan Trial Continues in Illinois. Former Gov. George Ryan’s son-in-law, Michael Fairman, testified Monday that Ryan's co-defendant, Larry Warner, once lent him $5,000 a few months before Fairman declared bankruptcy due to a gambling addiction, and doesn’t remember paying Warner back. The son-in-law also disclosed that he received $55,000 in Ryan campaign funds in 1996 and 1997 while admitting he didn't do any political work for the money. Once again, all together now: ‘Karma, baby!’

Running for Re-election. Is there something in the water in DC that makes people clueless? Undaunted by speculation (within his own party) that he may have to give up his seat in Congress because of a corruption probe (Name’s Abramoff, Jack Abramoff) Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) announced on Wednesday that he will run for re-election this year. While support in his home district has not ebbed, the Chairman of the Ohio Republican party stated last week that Ney should resign if he is indicted. Not surprisingly, Ney didn't catch the subtle hint of 'leave now and don't ever come back...'

Bush to visit India & Pakistan. President Bush announced yesterday that he will travel to India and Pakistan in March. The central topics for the visits will likely involve discussions about terrorism, democratic governance (yeah, like this administration has any clue what THAT is) and the recent U.S. airstrikes in Pakistani territory. The ‘recent’ airstrikes… discussions in March… nothing like striking while the iron is hot there Bush-boys.

Vapor-lock, beltway style. Efforts to resolve House and Senate differences over a revised USA Patriot Act have stalled (now do you catch the vapor-lock references?) rising from privacy issues. The main disagreement centers on provisions that would allow FBI agents to get records on terrorism suspects, who have very limited options for challenging such searches.

Senator seeking information on subpoena of Google. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee asked AG Alberto “Torture Master” Gonzales what steps are being taken to protect Americans' privacy rights as the Justice Department demands information about Internet searches, specifically the JD’s request from Google. Leahy was asking about which types of information was being sought, how the department intends to use the information while protecting individual privacy rights and civil liberties and whether it will issue any additional subpoenas. Well, I would tell you more, but the less waves I make online, the better off I’ll be when the administration gets to me.

U.S. has Military Options Against Iran. Even while they say that they are working on diplomatic efforts to head off an Iranian nuclear bomb threat, it’s been learned that the United States has military options in place against Iran should the need arise. Ok, let’s review… battling in Afghanistan, battling in Iraq, yeah, I think we could spread the military out even thinner… that’s a good plan. But, having said that…

Military Not Overextended says Rumsfeld. Secretary of Defense Donald “I-love-the-smell-of-torture-in-the-morning’ Rumsfeld on Wednesday disputed Associated Press reports that suggested the U.S. military is stretched thin and close to a snapping point due to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. (The article went on to say that the military may not be able to recruit and keep enough troops that would allow for a defeat of the Iraqi insurgency) Rumsfeld stated, “This armed force is enormously capable.” Sure, we’re trying to believe you Don, we really are, but those of us who passed 1st grade arithmetic are having trouble seeing the math behind the rhetoric.

Take ‘em as you will…