You think? The allegations are even more credible given the fact that they’ve been admitted by the perpetrators on national TV, who then thumb their noses at your “strongly worded” letters and impotent threats.

Here’s the quote:

“Over the last seven plus years, there have been numerous credible allegations of serious misconduct by officials in the Bush Administration,” Conyers said in a news release. “At the same time, the administration has adopted what many would describe as a radical view of its own powers and authorities. As Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, I believe it is imperative that we pursue a comprehensive review commensurate to this constitutionally dangerous combination of circumstances. Next Friday’s hearings will be an important part of that ongoing effort.”

I applaud Congress’ effort to finally seriously consider doing its job in time for the next ice age. However, what kind of “comprehensive review” would be “commensurate” with this administrations crimes?

• Will Congress let 3000 civilians enter a room with a known ax-wielding mass murderer and claim to not have seen the memo about their impending death?
• Will Congress send 150,000 troops to invade the Senate on grounds that Trent Lott is a weapon of mass deception, only to find him actually smoking a doobie (which is still a heinous crime, so we’re cool, right?)?
• Will Congress randomly incarcerate, wiretap, and/or torture people to discover once and for all if Bush randomly wiretapped, incarcerated and/or tortured them?

Give them the donation, the Bush aide says, and they’ll take you seriously, earn a meeting with Cheney, Rice, and we’ll throw in some key US foreign policy supporting your corrupt regime and your desired return to power.

And why isn’t the US corporate media covering this smoking gun of a story? I’d guess because BushCo needs a day or so to throw this soon-to-be-former aide under the battleship.

It is all just business, say the farmers to the meat.

Here’s a handy timeline.

The question that had to be answered: how hard would it be to get the United States to privatize and deregulate key industries, milk them for all they were worth for as long as possible, and then stick the American public with stinking corpse of whatever was left?

Not very, it turns out, especially if you can infect both political parties with crooks and liars in high office.

It’s not a new game. But it’s never been done on such a large scale before. Those crooks and liars lead the way, idealistically (read: cynically) protesting how bad government regulation and control can be. Private enterprise can do better, they say. And it does — for its owners. Markets are happy as long as returns go up, and so they fail to provide the independent oversight required to keep capitalism free of those “externalities” (theft, war, avoidable environmental catastrophe) that undermine a sustainable economy.

Private enterprise with a guaranteed bailout always finds an incentive to cheat, hollow out the business until the inevitable shell remains, cut and run. The only thing that can stop that, as with ordinary criminals, are police. Because money is money, and criminals always find a way to get themselves to where the money flows.

Turns out, like Capitalism, Government sucks. But it beats the pants off the alternatives.

And like in the 1930s, people are all in favor of rabid Capitalism when times are good and problems unseen. But when it comes time to pay the piper, watch the Socialism soar.

The government, i.e., you, are now the proud owners of one giant hollow banking system, while the criminals flee the country with their billions.

Maybe this time around, we can say no, not again. Maybe this time we can take back our money, put the crooks in jail, and fix the system once and for all.

Phil Gramm, one of the farmers of the system, was actually right when he said we’re a nation of whiners. We’re content to whine about high gas prices and failing banks and still expect the farmers and sheep dogs to “fix it” for us.

Or how about we change the system?

7. Jessee Jackson, thinking he could dis Obama on Fox News and no one would notice:

6. Carly Fiorina, making the claim that Obama, not McCain, represents Bush’s third term:

5. William Kristol — is this man ever right about anything?

4. Bill O’Reilly - enough said. Really.

3. Brit Hume — is reported to have tied his own laces together on more than one occasion.

2. Glenn Beck — no doubt God got him is big break on radio to serve as an example to us all:

1. Glenn Beck just barely rises above Pastor Hagee in this clip. Hagee is the man who inadvertently declares himself “very much anti-Semitism” just moments after proving there is no such thing as a Christian anti-Semite — because Christians love everyone, unlike those damn Catholics and Protestants. Beck seems genuinely relieved that Obama is not the anti-Christ and so am I.

But if Obama thinks he can sail into the oval office just because John McCain is in a long-term “mental recession,” he should really count his chickens, hatched and otherwise. His strategy is easy to see. By having the “rabid left” criticize him so openly, he gains some credibility among everyone else for being a centrist, willing to stand up to both sides. But this wasn’t the issue on which to make that play. This issue was one of constitutional fortitude, if that’s not a tautology already (or perhaps an oxymoron in this case). He could have even picked an issue that would both make him look strong _and_ avoid the now-true charge of being a flip-flopper and political opportunist.

But instead, the Republicans will continue to charge that Democrats are weak on terrorism, same as before (no matter what they do, short of capturing Bin Laden, it won’t help — and even then they’d get slammed for only capturing him…). And if McCains camp does any serious damage, it’ll be over something incredibly stupid, like SwitfBoats, as they did with Kerry.

The bottom line is, this bill is unconstitutional. Congress shall not pass a law that overrides any ratified amendment, including the 4th. Any Senator who votes for such a clearly unconstitutional bill is, IMO, unfit for that office. And Obama certainly can’t claim he didn’t know better.

Unfortunately, if elected President, he’s also lost his ability to attack these provisions as unconstitutional, to have his AG help them die in court. He’s on record as supporting the dismantling of our protections against unreasonable search — the core democratic idea that there must be probable cause and a court order before the government can investigate you, and that if a crime is committed and admitted, it is at least investigated, if not tried. That’s gone now. And it’ll take someone with more constitutional fortitude than Obama to restore it.

Obama had the opportunity to do the right thing, even if we lost this vote in the near term. It would have made Bush and the Repubs look like they wanted to protect telecoms more than they did our nation. The Democratic rhetoric was clear and ready for sound bytes.

Obama failed, in epic fashion, to see what was right vs. convenient, and he even failed to get the political angle right. He won’t be getting any more money from me, not for a long time anyway.

I think it [the stunningly brilliant post] may have appeared and disappeared too fast even for Google and the Wayback Machine to catch it. Sorry. It was simply too stunningly brilliant to release on these internets. And I have personal reasons for changing my mind about publishing it in the first place, juicy gossipy reasons, all of which were spelled out in juicy gossipy detail in the now unpublished post itself, which was (did I mention?) stunningly brilliant, and now unpublished.

Alas, you’ll have to console yourself with the eternal blogging question: if a post is unpublished in the internets before anyone notices, did it ever really exist?

In the case of material by or about Violet Blue published and then later unpublished by Xeni Jardin on Boing Boing, I can recall that I did in fact read a few of those posts, back when I still read Boing Boing. [Nowadays, I get a 404 error when I even think about reading their "hugely unpopular" site -- mainly because Boing Boing never once linked to any of my stunningly brilliant posts here or at RealityPrime (which is thoroughly-thought-through (on occasion) and perhaps worth something to one or two people). And so I was mortally offended. Well, not really, but I'd be well within my rights if it were true. Actually, Cory did link to me once or twice for random things -- Keyhole and Crazy Taxi lawsuit, I think. But nowadays we don't chat much. Maybe I should unpublish him too... ]

So I did in fact read those Violet Blue posts before they were unpublished. I wonder… am I now morally obliged to unremember their contents? Should I return all of the products I bought after reading the ads on those pages? Better yet, can I get those moments of my life back, perhaps to apply to some other useless blog entry?

This is all very silly, it turns out. I’ve deleted lots of work of mine — sometimes I write it and then think “hey, people might not like this,” or “hey, if anyone sees this, I might not be able to get a job ever again,” or “hey, I might get shot by Dick Cheney,” and I reconsider. Sometimes, snappy RSS readers get to see them anyway. But mostly, I get away with it because no one really cares.

Look, if you want to pay my hosting fees, you can decide what stays and what goes.

In the case of Boing Boing, it’s pretty clear they would have been truer to their populist information-wants-to-have-desires roots by putting a disclaimer on each of the VB+BB posts saying something like: (channeling Xeni writing style) “hey, I don’t really like this man-chick anymore and I no longer endorse this message, but here it is as it was for historical purposes anyway, AND YOU WERE THERE.”

But even that would have engendered controversy among the controversially engendered. So let’s just say there’s no way to win, and if the goal is to not get any attention, then don’t.

Just don’t.

First, here’s a job listing from their very own job page (scroll down the linked page to view). I’ll paste the relevant bit:

Freelance Fact Writer

New York

Requirements/Responsibility:

FOX News Channel, a fast-paced 24-hour television news operation in New York City, is seeking a Freelance Fact Writer for its information center.

Responsibilities include writing on-air facts and press conference quotes for daytime programming. Individuals must have strong writing skills, be able to handle multiple assignments and deadlines, and work well in a team atmosphere. Excellent communication and writing skills are also required.

A successful candidate will:

• Possess a strong interest in news and be well-informed about current events
• Be detail oriented and pay close attention to spelling, grammar, syntax
• Have ability to write in a concise, conversational and colorful style at an extremely fast pace

Must be willing to work on a flexible schedule including weekend shifts.

This is a high-pressure position where your work product gets national exposure on a daily basis.

A bachelor’s degree is required.

That last bit takes the cake. Yes, we’d like someone who is college educated to make up our facts for us. Maybe they should ask for an M.F.A instead? I understand the quality of the fiction is much higher.

And while they’re at it, perhaps they can advertise for a few more caricature artists to make their perceived enemies look like Neanderthals. The current bunch hasn’t quite mastered the photoshop it so no one notices it’s photoshopped tutorial stage.

This morning on Fox & Friends, co-hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade called Jacques Steinberg’s June 28 New York Times article on Fox News’s declining ratings a “hit piece,” adding that Steinberg and Times editor Steven Reddicliffe are “attack dogs.” During the segment, Fox aired blatantly distorted photos of Steinberg and Reddicliffe with their teeth yellowed, eyes blackened, and facial features exaggerated:

It turns out, they’re trying to make the Librals all look like Karl Rove and Richard Nixon. Why dat?

Hi there. This is Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite, and I have the great honor to represent Florida’s 5th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Watching gas prices rise from $2.32 a gallon in January 2007 to $4.08 this week, I am firmly convinced that Americans today face a new hostage crisis. Instead of a 1970s style OPEC embargo, however, American families and the United States economy are being held hostage by a Democrat Congress that refuses to explore for more oil and natural gas. Sadly out of step with the wishes of the American public, the Majority does not get it; two new polls this week show that a clear majority of the American people wants to explore for oil, but Democrats have so far said nothing but “No, No, No.”

I am just as frustrated as you are about the rapid increase in gas prices the country is experiencing. Whether it is $4 gas, or cereal boxes that are shrinking in size because of the dramatic increase in grain prices, we all face financial challenges because of increased energy costs.

My Republican colleagues and I have not stood idle, though. We understand the pain working-class families are feeling, and we are committed to delivering the energy policies that they want and deserve. Our plan is simple. We want to drill on every coast, in every fishery, and in every national park and wildlife refuge, because that’s where the oil is. We’re sure of it. We’ve looked everywhere else.

And our plan for getting this newfound oil to you, the consumer, will be equally simple. We’ll mail it to you.

That’s right. We realize that oil companies have been closing their refineries, leaving their existing land use rights untapped, because of the natural laws of supply and demand (that is: they restrict supply, and we demand more of the same). We understand that any new oil exploration rights we grant will not actually supply the American consumer soon, if at all, but will instead be used to let speculators bid the price of oil higher.

We understand what you’re going through, and our plan will provide you with all of the crude oil you could ever use, at a price none of us can afford not to miss out on.

My fellow Floridians will have an added bonus, which I’m proud to announce. Since we’ll be drilling right off your coasts and scenic preserves, we’ll simply “float” the oil to you instead — right on the water — straight into the beach towns and wetlands for you to scoop up as much as you need. Official Florida “Scoop It for America(tm)” plastic tubs will be distributed to every coastal community, with the bill going to someone else. How’s that for Government-in-action?

This is Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite, and I thank you for listening.