does Bolton really think there is ever a wrong time to attack Iran?

"stunningly superficial" is about the best description i've heard since a boss once called the boss at the next layer up "deeply shallow."

btw, i don't think the illinois secretary of state has veto power over the governor's appointment. he does have to certify election winners, but not appointees.

Like Zbigniew Brzezinski, I've long believed that Joe Scarborough has "such a stunningly superficial knowledge" of current events that "it's almost embarrassing to listen" to him.

And Mica Brzezinski is the Robin Quivers to Scarborough's Howard Stern; the parrot to Joe's Captain Hook.

I'm beginning to think there really may be something wrong with that guy.

Prager keeps writing articles about how wives should please their husbands regardless of mood? Methinks the well has dried up at home. :)

CNN is now reporting that Obama agrees that Dems should block Burris' appointment. And even though today's statement says "Under these circumstances, anyone appointed by Gov. Blagojevich ... will not be seated by the Democratic Caucus". their earlier petition said, "we would be forced to exercise our Constitutional authority under Article I, Section 5, to determine whether such a person should be seated".

Article I. Section 5 is not a caucus rule.

For John Bolton anytime is the right time to attack Iran. Why do journalists continue to pay attention to him? The SOB is simply stark raving mad.

The Senate refused to seat my mother's great-uncle due to corruptions charges in 1926 (appointed) and again in 1927 (elected):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_L._Smith

Getting marital advice from Dennis Prager is like getting cooking lessons from Jeffrey Dahmer.

Obama reportedly has come out strong against the appointment of Burris.

Article I. Section 5 is not a caucus rule.

They don't have an Art. I, Sec. 5 power to refuse to seat a lawfully-appointed, Constitutionally-qualified Senator.

They can, however, refuse to seat whoever they want in the Democratic Caucus; OTOH, as long as Lieberman's there, refusing to let an actual Democrat in because you don't like the guy that appointed him looks pretty ridiculous, and in any case it doesn't acheive anything substantive.

John Bolton thinks eating a cheese sandwich
on Tuesdays is a good reason to bomb Iran.
He's the Dennis Prager of international
diplomacy, he just wants to f**k everyone else.

Okay, I'm not a man, so I need some male perspective here. Why would Dennis Prager want to keep advertising that his wife doesn't enjoy having sex with him? Is he really so unclear on the concept that this might reflect comically badly on his particular performance/technique, rather than being indicative of some gender-wide female failing?

Prager is an idiot. As a gay man in a committed relation of 17 years, if I'm not in the mood, my man doesn't force it. If he's not in the mood, I don't force it.

It's called consideration for your spouse, and common courtesy.

What an ass!

I love how John Bolton so confidently predicts how the Arab world will "be doing the equivalent of popping champagne corks" if we attack Iran. I just LOVE his confidence. I wish I could have that same sense of certainty if I had been wrong about everything in the last ten years.

How is this guy still listened to by anyone? For the love of God, Steve, why are they not talking to you? Hell, call me. My track record at prognostication in the Middle East is better than Bolton's, and I am nobody. Best guess is that because I have a functioning brain and a conscience, I was more likely to guess what other humans might do. John just has the Moustache of Ignorance.

Oh, as this is the open thread, I thought I would share this from Rolling Stone. At first glance it appears to be evolution in action, but I wonder if maybe these nutjobs are not doing some good:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/25020634/the_legend_of_master_legend

I know Steve is a comic fan. I also let Oliver Willis know about the article.

Take it FWIW.

Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members.

Why wouldn't the Senate have the authority to refuse to seat someone? Of course, the Dems can't as a caucus, but since the Dems make up a majority of the house, the caucus essentially represents the Senate as a whole unless there are major defections.

Perhaps legally Burris can assume the senate seat. But as Richard Wolfe just pointed out, the politics and message and ethics of this are all wrong for Burris to accept the same.

I agree. This just smells bad.

Burris is far too blinded and hungry for this spot (quite the opposite of Caroline Kennedy!), and this was quite apparent in his latest interview with Michelle Bernard at MSNBC this afternoon.

Roland Burris is the new Eugene Sawyer.*

*And a box of Maurice Lennel cookies and a can of Canfields Diet Fudge Soda to anyone who understands.

Wasn't Blagojevich cute with his well wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year--in Spanish, no less?

Shine: The almond ones? Pass 'em over.

There's nothing crazy about Dennis Prager. He's executing the Party strategy: laying down clear, bright markers to shift the ideological window of the conservative movement *substantially* to the right. The goal is to turn out a large (possibly mythical) cohort of people who have never voted (or not since 1980 (or 1964)), because they are well to the right of anything that has ever been on offer. It all depends on whether they're actually out there. I think they are -- the standard bet is a nickel -- though the thought crawls my spine. Here's what to watch out for: a sudden "change of heart" by the Republican Party to simplify voter registration or even abolish it altogether in favor of a "purple finger" system. If the new Republican voters do exist, they are probably largely undocumented citizens who only participate in the underground economy.

If Burris is the new Sawyer, who is the new Daley?

Well, there we run into trouble, DJ, because the bench is mighty shallow.

Talbots, a major women's retailer has changed their return policy dramatically.

They were well known for accepting returns anytime, no matter how much time had passed since purchase.

They have a loyal upper-middle class middle age patronage who relished the no time limit return policy.

Since Sept. 1, they now insist on a 90-day return for any purchases made from Sept.1 on. After 90 days, only store credit will be issued. And they are closing some of their stores altogether.

Just yet another sign of things to come.

Why wouldn't the Senate have the authority to refuse to seat someone?

Because the issue has already gone to the Supreme Court, and each house's ability to judge elections and qualifications extends only to determining whether the person was lawfully elected (in the case of a Senate appointment, by a writ of election issued by the executive authority of the state) and whether or not they meet the Constitutional qualifications for the office.

It does not extend to excluding candidates arbitrarily or for reasons other than failure of Constitutional qualifications or failure to be legally elected. Particularly, it does not extend to excluding members because you don't like the people that elected them.

Perhaps legally Burris can assume the senate seat. But as Richard Wolfe just pointed out, the politics and message and ethics of this are all wrong for Burris to accept the same.

Unless he has personally done something improper to secure the appointment, there is no improper message or ethics in accepting the position.

If Illinois wanted a federal indictment of a sitting governor to crete as an incapacity to continue in office, it should have adopted that in its laws. As it is, Blagojevich is the lawful governor, the appointment is a lawful act, and accepting it, if one has done nothing wrong to secure it and intends to serve faithfully in the office, is nothing but proper.

Is that picture of Bush 41 and 43 fishing in the New Orleans floodwaters real?

Did he chuck rocks at floating bodies as well?

Shine, if you posted on Kos (the theory that Chicago alderman Dick Mell [Blago's father-in-law and party bigwig] is using Burris as a placeholder for someone else, the theory is mistaken. Mell doesn't have that kind of clout anymore.

Shortstop: Personally, I liked the pinwheels, but my mother usually bought the assorted box, so it's all good.

I took the Burris-Sawyer comparison a little differently (here, I mean; didn't see the Kos post). Mell's not very strong these days. But I'm getting the impression that Blago's as deluded about the limits of his own power as he is about everything else. It's not what he can do that's the issue so much as what he may think he can do. At least that's what I'm focusing on when I try to figure out what the hell's going through his head.

While watching Chris Mathews and his top moments of the 2008 election, Chris didn’t mention his award winning rerun for several weeks, which ran the McCain question answer secession, that famous tape that ranted “What do we do with that Bitch Now�? Meaning Hillary.

This lady in the small meeting was as corrosive and polarizing as a Republican core can be. You mean they did not make assumption and deals off record maybe on tape that would make Blagojevich telephone talks look silly?

As a matter of fact perhaps all general tapes should be reviewed including famous Vice President Cheney’s “Go Fuck Yourself�? Or any other video that presents possible collusion with inferred complicity in deals to be made by or accused that many Americans see in one region of the Country but do not see in another. This can be a lot of fun for some but not for the Republicans because they are loaded with blow back that is in melt down right now. All this stuff is related to the current election. For me is a gold mine of real good stuff.

Actually all my favorite tapes have a great deal to show what a hypocrite Mathews is. Or McCain saying “That Guy over there� McCain definitely made a racist slur. Please McCain just implying they all look alike and got away with it.

The newest thing, by the FCC will required on video should be at least time and date stamped on all political video’s because of content to be used in legal persecution instead of those banner across the bottom of the screen that claim bias and corruption.

I would wager there in enough scum out there that Fritz will fade off into the sunset. Please some of the stuff the Republican videos ran in the election are loaded with deals. Are they real?

Who is on the crime spree... Fritz the patrick.

In the "open vein" thread (or "open thread vein", if you insist), ten best/worst hits from rightwing blogs:
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2008/12/the_top_10_righ.php

PS English may be my second language but I have to pat myself for a good ear even when it (rather than Polish) is being used. I can tell it's Megalomania, 10 times out of 10, and always within the first paragraph...

Dear Dennis: Please restrict your desperate, pathetic lobbying for sex to your actual wife. Who might reply:

I do not like to sleep with you;
I do not like it in a pew;
I would not, could not at Bob Jones U.
I do not like it any time;
So why not go on line and whine?

Bolton wants to now attack Iran!

It's plain and clear now, this is really all about OY-YO!!!!

Drum's interpretation of Katrina gives the American public more intellectual horsepower than it deserves. The simpler conclusion would be that America saw one thing with their eyes, and heard a bunch of Bush-shit with their ears. For once, reality couldn't be denied.

Israel should stop the airstrikes on Gaza.

When you look at the homes the Israelis have, looks like they are living in luxury. Yet, the Palestinians are living in slums.

**glad I stopped sending money to Pastor John Hagee (Texas) at his request to help Israel a few years ago.

It's sad, you see all the open land in Israel, yet, the Palestinians are living in crowded conditions.

Actually, it is reminiscent of "Schindler's List."

Recall the scene from "Schindler's List" where the evil Nazi commandant shots the poor Jew prisoner in the concentration camp.

Now imagine the amazingly EVIL Jews doing almost the same thing to the Gaza concentration camp prisoners,... EXCEPT WITH ONE TON BOMBS.

Imagine that,... the EVIL Jews are dropping ONE TON BOMBS on their prisoners.

The Blagojevich nomination clinches it. 2008 was the "Yeat of You Can't Make This Stuff Up." In honor of it, I am announcing -- and hoping Steve will adopt -- the "Dilly Dali" awards for the Most Surrealistic Happenings of the Year.

There will be several sub-awards as well as the grand prize winner. Feel free, in fact please make your own nominations and suggestions for categories -- twouldst be nuce if you kept to the theme if able, but that would elimante almost everyone more than ten years younger than myself. (Btw, "Don Jolla" was Phineas T.'s brother and only appeared in one sequence of the show. And please don't use the Princess -- for many boys my age she was our first definition of 'female beauty' -- and her tragic early death forever imprisoned her in that image.)

Okay here goes with the sub categories. (Do not name the same person for more than one sub-category, but you can nominate someone for a subcategory and the Grand Prize, for the same or different events.)

First: The "Phineas T." given for the Biggest Bluster of the Year.

I'd nominate Blago's nomination of Burris, which kicks out several other Blago nominations. But maybe you'd prefer Sarah Palin's response to Troppergate, or Rove's claims about Bush's reading habit. Or something else? Feel free to nominate your favorite.

The "Flub-a-Dub" for the biggest collection of mismatched parts assembled in one 'animal.' For me I don't see any competition for the McCain Campaign here, but if you have another selection...

The "Clarabelle" for being 'squirted by the Seltzer Bottle of Fate' Lots of candidates here, including the Four Pastors who found the spotlight not always showing off their 'good sides' (Wright, Hagee, Muthee and Warren), or Tim "at least my scandal was heterosexual' Mahoney. Client 9 might be another possible nominee, but my choice is Sherry "My son is marrying the Governor's Daughter and all I got was this lousy Felony Arrest" Johnston. Got your own candidate?

The "Don Jolla" for people who REALLY should have kept their mouth shut (Columnists, pundits and bloggers not eligible). If she'd lost, Michelle Bachman would have been a shoo-in. Since she managed to be re-elected, the field is wide open, including several Hillary advisors, Sarah Palin for the Couric interviews and -- had I not nominated him in another category -- John McCain for 'the fundamentals are sound' and other comments. But I have to go with that nut who accused Obama of being gay and smoking meth and even murder. Not for his idiocy, but for renting a space at the National Press Club, giving a speech, and promptly being arrested.

The "Thunderthud" for the loudest noise that fell the flattest. Our departing President seems an obvious choice for several ideas, and again, were I allowed to nominate him, McCain's 'campaign suspension' would be a suitable choice. But I'm giving it to Rudy "All I need is Florida and with all the New Yorkers there, I'm a shoo-in to win that" Giuliani.

Feel free to come upo with your own nominees, in fact please join in. And suggest other categories as well. Now you can nominate a sub-categoiry winner for the grand prize, but I'm giving my vote for the single most surreal moment of the year to Sarah Palin for:
"My unwed teenage daughter can't be the mother of my child because she's pregnant now and she wouldn't have had time to get pregnant if she HAD been the mother, and she's gonna marry the father and they're both leaving school, but I still support the PTA and abstinence-only sex education."

Nominees, anyone.

"Yet, the Palestinians are living in slums."

The Gaza CONCENTRATION CAMP is not slum.

It is a CONCENTRATION CAMP.

It has armed guards, it has guard towers with heavy machine guns, it has prison walls and fences, electric fences. It has mine fields close to the prison walls and fences.

This makes it a CONCENTRATION CAMP, not a Ghetto.

The Jews run the world's largest CONCENTRATION CAMPS; the Gaza Concentration Camp and the West Bank Concentration Camps.

JEWS = NAZIS

BLA-GO! BLA-GO! BLA-GO!

I love people like Blagojevich. Because seriously. Screw everybody! It's a legal appointment. Suck it.

Getting marital advice from Dennis Prager is like getting cooking lessons from Jeffrey Dahmer.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

boiled hands, genitals, and hearts..... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.........

pan fried biceps... a tough cut, but tasty and chewey.....

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Angel,

You've said it all! Wow, I'm not mad at ya.

Rep. Rush is as much a racist as the more famous Rush is. A senate seat should be decided by race. Blacks are OWED a senate seat, especially since it belonged to a man he insists is black. Luckily he represents an older viewpoint among Blacks. Who are still locked into the power-structure of slavery. And who maintain the viewpoint that one drop of African blood taints you and puts you into a separate catagories. IIRC 2/3 of Afro-Americans have no trace of identifiable white genes.
But 1/3 are bi-racial or with Indian ancestors multi-racial.
Many of Obama's close supporters represent a newer generation. I believe that voters were able to transcend Obama's racial background because he was able to transcend it. In a way Rush cannot begin to understand.

Angel,
You've said it all! Wow, I'm not mad at ya.
Posted by: annjell on December 30, 2008 at 10:02 PM

I know that our healthcare system stinks but schizophrenia *can* be controlled and, these days, it can be controlled with medicine (drugs); you no longer have to suffer through the electric shocks. Talk to your doctor/doctors about the dosage.

Whoah. Dude. I read Prager's article. Thanks for the link. NoT. reinds e of the SNL skit with Heather Locklear and the stoner calling in asking if she really just said that. Seems to have messed up my firefox too. Just like the phones in the SNL thing. o man.

war is always
a failure of diplomacy
nothing to be proud of
on the contrary
it only brings shame
to the participants
and needless suffering
to the innocents
never rejoice in it

"be doing the equivalent of popping champagne corks"

Why wouldn't they just use the roses and chocolates left over from when we invaded Iraq?

Tanks, Exlibra

that's exactly what I needed, a online psyche eval!! Is there a fee for your services?

Exlibra,

One question you didn't ask me on the new patient form - Yes, I am an ex-Republican - I have been rehabilitated and now a Dem?

re Bolton: who ever thought Fox had anything to do with journalism?; and it's far too boring to talk to people who actually know what they are talking about and give knowledgeable and considered opinions rather than gunslingers like Bolton, Kristol, et al.

Why the f@#* do you think that the rest of the world looks at Bush and his administration and sees nothing but yahoos?

re Shoes: If you were responsible for killing several hundred thousand and displacing 20% of my fellow countrymen and you then decided to hold a grinning press conference about it in my own back yard and all I did was throw my shoes at you, you think that deserves 15 years?!

Iraq is in danger of following that old-time US tradition of applying laws in favor of the priviliged.

The Prager bit was hilarious.

Translation: my wife has realized that she can't stand me and I ain't getting any.

Advice to men - women have sex with men they LIKE. If she doesn't like you, she won't be interested.

Notthere,

Hey, be careful of being to politically uncorrect. Exlibra the washingtonmonthly online bully may start to do an online psych evaluation.

Oh, wait, maybe she's from my high school days that held a grudge or something against me.

Hell, I don't know! As far as I'm concerned she's a stranger to me. But, I'm supposed to get in a catfight with her. Go figure!

I believe that voters were able to transcend Obama's racial background because he was a JEW.

Yes, Obama is a Jew.

Here is a picture of Obama's Jew Momma:

http://cleveland.indymedia.org/uploads/2008/12/obamasjewmomma.jpg

Here is a picture of Obama's wife's cousin. The rabbi Capers C. Funnye:

http://cleveland.indymedia.org/uploads/2008/12/obamaswifescousinisrabbi.jpg

Okay, Steve Colbert is a Jew also. He pronounces the name is if it were French.

But, we have no problems with either - they are still both Americans. America is a melting pot, tank goodness!

15 years?
For shoes?

Sure it's a major insult. The equivalent of throwing feces here, but it's a non-lethal, almost harmless attack.

6 months max and only for teh sake of deterrence of routine disruption of government regardless of its competence. Such disruptions won't help in producing GOOD government so you can't let the guy off scot free.

3 months and a 6 months community service. They need to know that jailing every minor offender hasn't worked out that great for us.

Prup -

Phineas T - "It'll be over by Feb 5" - Hillary
Flub-a-dub - Charlie Rangel, who apparently doesn't understand the tax laws he writes. Mary Houghtaling, the Republican organizer who cried about the loss of jobs at DHL in Ohio, then criticized Obama for "putting us in this sort of position to look like the sad little Wilmington people."
Clarabell - (may be wrong category, but...) The Canadian "Zarkosy" radio comics who called Palin.
Don Jolla - McCain - "I'll have my staff get back to you," when asked how many homes he owned.
Thunderthud - Fred Thompson "Can I get a round of applause here?" Zawahiri's condemnation of Obama.
New Categories - Clint Howard (15 minutes of fame, again and again and again) - Joe the plumber. Michael Izikof, MSNBC's new expert on Chicago politics.
Tonto (sidekick, whose name is synonymous with "dumb") Cindy McCain for "I've always been proud", her plagiarized recipes, and sex kitten Vanity Fair layout.
Surreal moment - when McCain told Joe Scarorough he would have vetoed the Wall Street bailout a day after voting for it.

The Frank Smith case is interesting, cuz it speaks directly to the issue that Obama and Reid are raising, that the Senate "can not accept" a Senator lawfully chosen by the state of Illinois.

There is a Constitutional conflict between the right of the people of any state to choose for themselves whoever they want for the Senate and the Constitution's authority for the Senate to "expel" a Senator they don't like.

The Smith case was considered, and rejected as a precedent when the Supremes decided Powell. In the Powell case, both the majority and Douglas' concurring opinion insisted that the ONLY factors in Congress' Constitutional authority to judge the qualifications of a member, are the ones laid out in the Constitution -- age, citizenship, residency among those represented. Douglas concurrence nailed it -- the Constitution makes certain rules for becoming a member of the House or Senate, so the only way to ADD a new requirement is to amend the Constitution.

But there is still a conflict. The current Constitutional state is that there is a direct SCOTUS precedent that says Congress has no authority to exclude, and a more distant (yet even more direct) Senate precedent that the Senate can exclude AND expel.

Stevens would probably have been a better test of the Smith rule than Burris. Stevens was elected in 2002, and convicted of felonies before his term expired. The Senate could have expelled him -- but if Alaska had re-elected him in 2008, the Powell decision clearly shows they would have no authority to EXCLUDE him from the Senate in 2009. Whether they would have had the authority to expel him in 2009 after he'd been re-elected in 2008, is a more open question than the language of the Constitution suggests.

The theoretical test to resolve the conflict would be if, after the Senate expelled somebody, the state re-elected him: which prevails, the authority of the people of a state to choose their representative, RECOGNIZED by the Constitution; or the authority of the Senate, CREATED by the Constitution, to expel Senators it doesn't like?

There are two things about the Smith case which may make its traction a bit slippery: first, in the Smith case the new Senator was the guy accepting cash, while Reid has made it clear with Blagojevich and Burris that the Senate's problem is with the one making the appointment, not the one appointed.

That's problematic, cuz while (arguably) the Senate can over-rule a state in who it expels, they don't get to choose who is governor of Illinois.

Second, Smith happened before the Powell decision, in which the Supremes did not accept it as precedent. I don't believe the Smith example was ever tested in court, so until something changes, Powell has to be accepted as the applicable Constitutional law.

Presumably, the steps will be that Burris shows up in the Senate, which refuses to swear him in. The first judge would, barring any idiosyncrasy of Illinois law, direct the Senate to swear him in, citing Powell. The Senate probably has authority, pending a SCOTUS action, to refuse -- they can cite the Smith case.

I dunno what happens if the Supremes refuse to hear it. I suppose, if the Senate is defying the courts and SCOTUS doesn't grant cert, the legislative branch prevails.

Re: Bolton
Mr. Bolton, we just got a call from Iran. They say, "You and what army?"

Re: Prager
Sure something's wrong with him, but this article's pretty small potatoes. He's endorsing mercy shtupping. Hope it works... for all of us. For the hackneyed wise acres out there, are you suggesting a superb lover could make ANY woman want it three times a week?

prup-

La Baroness de Rothchild also deserves a nomination for the Clint Howard award, because she and her husband held a fund raiser for McCain in England, she supported Hillary, denounced Obama as an elitist for calling "rednecks" bitter, then endorsed McCain again. OK, I could see putting her in the flub-a-dub category as well.

For the hackneyed wise acres out there, are you suggesting a superb lover could make ANY woman want it three times a week?

Yes.