Here in Putin-stan

"Emperor-Mayor" Bloomberg is a most appropriate title.

Finally!

Some good news. John Dingell is out of his powerful obstructionist position in the House. As a representative of the Big Three car makers, Dingell has worked tirelessly to protect his masters from higher gas milage requirements, safer cars, alternative fuels, and so on... and may be said as a result to have helped lead the fools to the edge of destruction they now teeter on. Dingellberries to you, dinosaur!

Henry Waxman will be taking his job on Energy & Commerce.

Change 0, Recycled Clintonism 6

So where’s the change? Appointments of “NAFTA” Emanuel and Eric Holder are re-cycling the disasters of Clintonism. More agents of that disaster, Larry Summers and Robert Rubin, key players in the stripping of regulation from the financial markets, making them responsible for both the radically anti-democratic wealth gap and our economic meltdown, are still being touted as Treasury Secretary. That’s putting the looters in charge of the loot. Meanwhile, Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State would virtually ensure the continued destruction of Palestine, and thus endless war in Israel. And what does support for Joe Lieberman, admittedly tactical, tell us about accountability?

Sayonara, Ted Stevens

Incredible that the Alaska Senate race took so long to sort out. Who the fuck votes for a felon? A walking dead one, at that. Oops! It's the same voters who voted in Sarah Palin as governatrix, that’s who. Big strong independent Alaskans living on the great frontier, roughin’ it courtesy of the massive Federal sugar tit and their annual oil check. Sheesh! Little wonder that Senator-elect Begich is already in the pocket of the oil barons, and ready to despoil ANWR.

Figures

Lieberman's safe, with only 13 Democratic Senators voting against the turncoat in today's secret ballot on his future as chair of the important Homeland Security Committee . Much talk of unity, blah blah blah, but, of course, as we speak, the GOP is sharpening its knives, ready to carve up unity, togetherness, and other chimeras from the get-go. Lieberman's kinda-sorta mea culpa was the usual mush-mouthed bullshit: some of the things I'm quoted as saying I didn't say; some of them were misquoted; some I said, true, but while I was in the heat of the moment when I have no control over my mouth when I'm only one Karl Rove away from being a VP candidate again, only for the GOP this time. Blah blah blah. He's in the Senate for another four years. Sigh.

Say goodbye to Joe

Senator Joe Lieberman’s chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security committee is coming up for a secret vote, with Senators like Schumer and Durbin working to ax him from the job because of his support for McPalin, and Bill Clinton making calls to save his bacon. Now, that sounds ironic, since Lieberman came to fame with his moralizing speech taking Clinton to task during the Monica mess, but I always thought that smelled funny. The pious old fraud’s hit was probably sanctioned by Bill & Hill, and now Clinton is returning the favor. (This may foretell Bill’s ability to interfere with the new progressive majority’s desire for change; does the Great Triangulator still have the mojo to steer us rightward?)

Lieberman’s been liberal on some social issues, but his core constituency is made up of Connecticut’s insurance industry, and the likudniks and other Israel-firsters determined to abort any viable Palestinian state. He also claims that people without superstitious belief in an invisible sky god can’t be moral. Fuck that theocratic nonsense! He’s got nothing the new America needs. Throw him out of the Democratic caucus, and strip him of his chairmanship, already.

No to Summers

Well, the honeymoon's over. That first kick in the head in bed from your new spouse....

First Rahm "Nafta" Emanuel and now predatory capitalism pin-up Larry Summers? Please, no. Emanuel, at least, might function as Obama's whip, moving the many conservative Democrats in the House into line, but what does Summers have to recommend for himself? Nothing. He's part of the problem. He's part of the responsibility for the ruin we are in. He represents what we want to change. You can remind yourself of Summer's shitty career here and sign a petition against him here.

Sayonara Sarah

Admittedly, the gutter-fighters of the right have long knives, but the revelations coming out about Sarah Palin from McCain insiders are pretty amazing even for those of us who watched the Disaster from Alaska unfold. Palin didn’t know that Africa was a continent. Didn’t know what countries were involved in NAFTA. Refused to prep for the deer-in-headlights interviews. Had rages and tantrums. Greeted McCain campaign people in her towel (it’s ok, Dude Todd was in the room.) Went way off the reservation. Spent well over the 150,000 GOP sawbucks first reported on clothes….

Sigh. Just another GOP grifter, different only that she was a youngish woman and better looking than the usual gargoyles (male & female). But rather stunningly amateurish, too. Future career options don’t include much more than being a FOX network barker. Of course, no amount of revelation will diminish her standing among “the base” (in Arabic, that’s what “al Qaeda” means). Her façade of family, god, and guns trumps all reality among the lunatic fringe.

McCain & Co. are obviously trying to blame her for their defeat. But since McCain picked her, the buck stops there.

No on Prop 8/No on hate

I am sending out good vibes to the West Coast, where Prop 8, a fundamentalist plea for discrimination, is going to be a tough fight. The mullahs of the Catholic, Mormon, and right-wing Protestant churches have spent big-time for their dream of theocracy, so every thinking Californian has to get out and vote no on this piece of hate.

O bama, O mama!