How Lesbian Culture Can Explain BushCo

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane & My Left Wing click to enlarge And no, I am not talking about THAT kinda bush. The premium cable channel Showtime has a show called The L Word, and one character, Alice, has developed a chart to explain the sexual and emotional relationships of the characters on the show. Well, it just so happens that Alice's chart is a great tool to illustrate who is screwing who over in the Bush Administration. After close examination of this chart, it really does explain my chaffing.

Segregation Now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane & My Left Wing click to enlarge If the Scooter commutation shows anything, it shows if you are not a Republican, you are a second class citizen. We fought for the last 40 years to wipe segregation from the map and here we have the new segregation within a week of the overturning of Brown Vs. Board of Education. As BushCo wiped away the separation of powers, they built a separation of ideology. My way or the highway, us against them. If you are not for us, you are against us. Wake up folks, this is what fascism looks like. We The People now get to drink from the piss bucket. Ummm minty!

Bush gives Libby "Get Out of Jail Free" card

Howard Dean's statement: Bush Gives Scooter Libby A Get Out of Jail Free Card “Once again President Bush and the GOP have undermined a core American value: equal justice under the law for every American. By commuting this sentence, President Bush is sending a clear message that the rules don’t apply to the Bush White House or loyal Republican cronies. After promising that anyone who violated the law would be 'taken care of,' President Bush instead handed Scooter Libby a get out of jail free card. Though Libby was convicted by a jury of lying about a matter of national security, President Bush is sparing him the consequences ordinary Americans would face. This conviction was the first moment of justice in a Bush Administration void of accountability. It’s a sad day for America when the President once again puts protecting his friends ahead of equal justice under the law.”

How Scooter saved Halloween

One of the letters to the judge who was going to sentence Scooter Libby was sent by Mary Matalin, but also signed by her husband Skeletor. I mean Gollum. Oh, you know the one--the Democratic "pundit" who wanted Howard Dean ousted as chair of the DNC as punishment for the 2006 midterm elections. Anyway, Matalin and her main ghoul wanted the judge to know what a swell guy Scooter is. By way of illustration, she told the touching story of one time when the Scooter saved Halloween for the Cheney grandchildren at an "undisclosed location". In a truly nausea-inducing segment of the letter, Matalin makes this case for the convicted felon who outed a CIA agent: My lifelong view, which has only been validated in adulthood, is that kids are the most honest and true evaluators of people. Watching my children with Scooter, and all children with him, you'd think he hung the moon. He is gentle and caring. He is genuinely interested in others well being and still inspires me to this day. He is a compelling teacher and extraordinary role model for integrity and humility. I have seen what this trial has done to my own kids, just their reading about it. I cannot imagine the toll on Scooter and Harriet's young ones. Setting aside the pain of the Libby family, my girls just don't understand. They are old enough to intellectually comprehend the facts of the case but associating these "facts" with "Mr. Scooter" remains a complete disconnect to them. My family is praying the wisdom and mercy you bring to bear in determining Scooter's future will include a consideration of his family, the price they have already paid and what further justice would be served by additional devastation to them and the many other children who love Scooter. I was going to comment on that, but at the moment I'm speechless. But I'm sure some of you can think of something to say, so I'll just open up the floor for comment on all of this.

three reasons to give three cheers to blogtopia! and yes! we coined that phrase!

cross-posted at skippy and a veritable cornucopia of other community blogs. we have noticed, as of late, a disheartening trend in various comments and blog posts around blogtopia (y!wctp!). several writers have seemingly fallen into the dumps because things are not progressing as progressively as progressives would like. they cite the dems' refusal to discuss impeachment, the iraq defunding which looks to be dead in the water, and the general tendency of those in charge to ignore the common citizens they are supposedly hired by to run things. however, we here at skippy international are feeling pretty good about things, and we wish that the rest of you in blogtopia (y!wctp!) would join us. after all, there are several major accomplishments that have come to fruition recently, all of which were done, if not completely, then certainly with major efforts, by the netroots. to start with, blogs and bloggers really came into their own as true-to-life journalists with the libby trial. thanks to the kids at firedoglake, and to marcy wheeler (also known as "emptywheel"...and maybe some day she'll explain what the hell that screen name means), as well as swopa of medianeedle, jerlayn merritt of talkleft and margie burns for bradblog (plus others we have surely missed, and our apologies if we have), the idea of blogs as actual journalism came into existence. where before blogs were seen mainly as an outlet for cranky powerless people to whine, suddenly it was proven that they could be used as an outlet for cranky powerless people to disseminate information on a national level at a level far deeper and wider in scope than any electronic media, and most dead trees media. dan froomkin, and admitted fan of blogs, said on a washpost.com q&a: i think what firedoglake.com did with this trial was not just impressive, it was transformative. by offering the public live-blogging of this very important trial, you not only put the msm to shame, but actually became a must-read for journalists who couldn't attend the trial, but wanted to get a better and faster sense of what was going on than they could from their own colleagues. i'm not saying that the msm should emulate everything bloggers do -- far from it -- but the blogosphere's enthusiasm for this story was something to behold, and admire. now, we here at skippy international had little to do with the libby coverage, short of a recurring photoshop, but just the very fact that several blogs made history by making journalism with this story should be an inspiration to everyone in blogtopia (y!wctp!). this post is far too long to take up any more room here at iba. you can find two more reasons to give three cheers, as well as tons of pithy analysis, available at skippy.

Why being unable to blog during the day sucks

It's not that I wish I were home all day to be able to write something brilliant when Big News Breaks, because that would mean that I was unemployed. And if it's a choice between designing return address logos and reformatting user and design specifications or being home to blog but living in constant gnawing fear about being able to pay the bills, well, that's a no-brainer. But still, when I see the big GUILTY show up and I can't write about it, it's frustrating as hell. I'm not under any delusions that the conviction of Scooter Libby on four out of five counts (which came as a surprise to me, given how long the jury was out and the Administration's track record of strongarming the justice system) means a hill of beans. Far from being chastened, the Usual Suspects not only don't care about the unholy marriage of this Administration and its lackeys in the mainstream media that were revealed during this trial, they are sticking to their own delusions that Joseph Wilson is a liar, that Valerie Plame was not NOC, and perhaps the couple's biggest crime -- that they are Democrats. As to whether Libby will ever spend a day in jail, well, it's a certainty that he'll be pardoned, despite the limp and pathetic entreaties of Harry Reid. Meanwhile, the fact that the Iraq war was based on total fabrications, the fact that the worst kind of lies were told by Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, will continue to go unpunished. The Bush/Cheney legacy will be a dark one, to be sure, but one without consequences. Patrick Fitzgerald has said that he is done, that he is not going to go after Cheney. And perhaps this is the correct decision, if Cheney has covered his tracks sufficiently well so that conviction is impossible. As to the political ramifications, they are unimportant where Dick Cheney is concerned, especially if you assume that this bunch will leave office in 2009 -- something of which I am not yet convinced. Cheney isn't going to run for president. In theory his years in power will be over, unless some future Republican president loses his mind -- or more likely, the public loses its memory -- and decides his "experience" is an asset. Perhaps this is the reason for shoveling such huge amounts of cash into Halliburton's coffers from so many projects, not just the Iraq war -- it's Dick Cheney's retirement plan. So while it's tempting to rejoice at the idea that someone in the Bush Administration is actually going to have to accept some consequences for the lies and corruption that are this bunch's hallmark, the reality is that the only person who may suffer consequences is Tim Russert, who is likely to find himself outside in the cold, his nose pressed against the window, where access to this administration is concerned. (cross-posted at Brilliant at Breakfast)