Didn't I Tell You Guys

Like, a fucking year ago?

President Barack Hussein Obama proves prescient once again in a speech to Republicans a year ago:



The man thinks ahead. He looks ahead. He's not perfect by a long shot, and he's not my ideal candidate by a long shot. But he is, hands down, the most pragmatic President ever. His rhetoric is not overblown but precise, surgically precise.

I wonder if John Boehner is weeping into his whisky watching this, right now.

Details here.

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Frankenfood

ICHC

If you've ever worried about corporations putting weird stuff in your food, and who hasn't — or about how the media disinforms and misinforms consumers in our endless battle to ensure that we're not being used as guinea pigs to help corporations like Monsanto make megabucks off our bodies and our lives, look no further than this site for information on one of the leading offenders.

Yeah, you say, sure. Well, I don't watch Faux Noise. But I'll bet you have friends, relatives, neighbours who do, and when you're out there trying to convince your fellow citizens that they should get informed about this issue and stop feeding their children, or themselves, shit that will kill them, well. See, the link up there (like the video below) tells you how Fox News basically won a ruling from an appellate court that says they're free to lie or distort the truth, fire journalists who try to tell the truth, sue them for trying to tell the truth, and win.

Here are the journalists, in their own words.



Srsly, folks. This is beyond disgusting. We already know corporations have no problem killing us all to make a few dollars more of profit. Just look at what BP has done to the Gulf Coast. The tourist industry, the fishing industry, the beautiful beaches, the living things all along that coast are dying or dead. And BP says oil could continue to gush from that undersea volcano till December this year.

So do your friends, relatives, and neighbours a favour, and tell them to watch the video clip and read a few of these articles. They need to know what is in their food supply and we all need to work together to make sure it's clean. I really don't want trout genes in my tomatoes, thanks. And I don't want Monsanto charging poor farmers for seed.

oldamericancentury.org

Fuck you, Monsanto, can't you leave our goddamn food alone, you bastards? You already own everything and everyone else, body and soul, motherfucking asshole dipshits.

To do something about these outrageous developments, click here. The link takes you to the Center for Food Safety site, which is publicizing a letter being circulated in the Senate and the House by Senator Pat Leahy and Rep. DeFazio, asking the USDA to maintain the ban on genetically engineered alfalfa. Everytime you or your kid get a sandwich outside the house, chances are there will be alfalfa sprouts on it. Well, we don't need singing sprouts for fuck's sake. No new laws need be passed, the Center (and these two worthy Congresscritters) just want the USDA to maintain the existing policies.

More action to take: Let's stop the Enviropig while we're about it. Do you really want to eat swine that have been engineered to include mouse genes? Probably not. Go here to keep teh Enviropig off the market.

Christ, what the fuck next?

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Politics: Vampire Banks Part 2,000,000

Surprise, surprise. Via Yahoo Finance comes a piece from Rupert Murdick's Wall St. Journal announcing that the same banks that taxpayers generously (albeit unwillingly) bailed out last year at the instigation of the Bushies — will be hitting you with new fees and new "products" in an attempt to suck $50 billion out of your pockets.

What, the first $X billion they sucked out of us wasn't enough? Motherfuckers.

They will institute new checking account and credit card fees for the same old shit we've been robbed for all these years. And, to add insult to injury, they will be trying to slip all kinds of charges into your existing account before they're forced to comply with the Credit Card Act of 2009, which limits interest rate increases and keeps banks from raising your credit card rates until and unless you're more than 60 days late on your payments. And, as if that weren't enough, here's what else they plan to do:

Issuers are closing accounts, switching cards with fixed interest rates to variable rates and introducing cards that have an annual fee.

Check your credit card bills, statements, in fact anything those fucking arse-bandits send you. Jesus! These pigfuckers would screw their own grandmothers without even the courtesy of lube.

If you have a Victoria's Secret credit card, you should know that the issuer Gander Mountain plans to charge you a $1.00 "processing fee" for every transaction in which you use that card. And what is their bollocking excuse for this added fee?

"One requirement of the Credit Card Act of 2009 is that monthly billing statements will now have to include significantly more information pertaining to the cardholder's terms and conditions, thus increasing the amount of paper, production and postal expenses as well as having a greater environmental impact," the company said in a written statement.

You fucking lying sacks of shit. We gave you a shitload of money because you told us the whole fucking international financial market would collapse because you assholes had been taking unseemly risks with our money. You created credit default swaps and sold them to god and China. You created toxic securities. You packaged the shit paper with the triple A paper and created a sliced-and-diced instrument that no one could put a value on, and all throughout the decade or so that you were doing this, you paid yourselves huge bonuses and CEO salaries even as you jerked off in masturbatory frenzies every time working stiffs lost their jobs.

You schlepped around on your private jets and you had the gall to use OUR FUCKING BAILOUT MONEY which was supposed to rescue your flabby pathetic saggy white asses from the fires of hell, to buy brand new jets and award yourselves even bigger bonuses, fueling the whole trip down the tubes to the toilet with hookers, champagne, and lavish spending that hasn't been seen since the days of the robber barons. And throughout this entire fiasco, you stuffed our money up your tight arseholes and shoved redwood trees up there to keep it secure and out of circulation so that small businesses cannot even get a fucking loan — which was the whole idea of handing that money over to you, you greedy fucking bloodthirsty sharks, to keep commercial paper moving.

And now you want us all to bend over and drop trou and hold our breaths in anticipation of your next arse-fucking? I think not, you motherfuckers.

Your not-so-friendly credit card company might well start instituting fees on your inactive accounts, so now would probably be a good time to close those, unless you want to keep paying these vampires to rape you on a regular basis.

On the plus side, the government will crack down on overdraft fees and the like. In the meantime, you might want to pay off as many of your high interest cards as you can, close any account you don't use, and keep a close eye on the industry over at LowCards. Remember that the Federal Reserve has now made it mandatory for banks to ask you before they can charge you an overdraft fee. So if they suddenly start charging you, call them up and give them hell, and don't sign anything until you're clear about what it means. Call your bank and demand to speak to a customer rep and write them a letter (keep a copy on file) memorializing exactly what the customer rep said to you.

It'll be helpful in resolving the inevitable disputes that will arise because these bloodsucking bandits will be trying to gouge you for all they can get. And don't start feeling all good about using debit cards instead of credit cards, unless you have no fiscal discipline whatsoever. Because when you use a credit card to make a purchase, you're essentially taking an interest-free loan, if you pay the card off at the end of the time period. You're using the issuer's money to make your purchase.

When you use a debit card, it's your own money you're using. Banks make a lot more money from debit cards than they do from credit cards. So if you plan to pay off everything when it comes due, use the credit card instead. If you have a low interest rate, figure out how much it'll cost you to pay off the purchase in a reasonable period if you need liquidity for other reasons. In the event, these days, using a credit card, or a bank at all, requires some money smarts and a little work.

In the meantime, if you're sick and tired of being screwed by the banks, here's an idea that's gaining a little momentum: Move Your Money.

The big banks — JP Morgan/Chase, Wells Fargo, Citibank, BofA — got bailed out. Local community banks are struggling. Well, you can make the difference. Pull your money out of those big banks and put it in your small local bank. Check out the link and decide for yourself. This is something we can do as consumers that will allow us some measure of control over our money and the nation's banking situation. Congress ain't doing shit for us. We have to do it ourselves.

Pass it on. The FDIC insures your money regardless of where it's deposited. So take the step now. Move Your Money has a search function that will let you find the closest community bank to your home/office. If enough of us move our money, we can change the banking industry in this nation to something useful that gives back to the community and encourages growth and development. Instead of this giant parasitic leech that is sucking the fucking life and soul out of us all.

Check out the video on YouTube.
Join the group on Facebook.
Pass the news along.

It's time.

Bonus cute kitteh pitcher:

ICHC

Keeps teh blood pressure down.

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Health Care: The Man Is On FIAH!

Your President Needs YOU

To fight for health care!

Listening to our President addressing Minnesotans in a health care town hall. It's all good, people, it's all fantastic. He's laying it out for the people and they are going WILD! He just announced that the same people in Congress who are yawping about how Medicare will be killed, chilled, spilled, spat on, shat on, are the same people who have been trying to kill Medicare for years.

President Obama reiterated that he was willing to listen to anyone who had workable ideas for health care, regardless of their political affiliation. But, in a new move, he also stated,

"I will not waste time with people who think it's just good politics to kill health care. [...] I'm not going to let people misrepresent what's in my plan. I will not accept the status quo. Not this time. Not now."

He talked about how members of Congress have been fucking around regarding this legislation. He also said that there was agreement about 80 per cent of health care reform. The remaining 20 per cent needs to be nailed down, but he did say we are closer than we have ever been to achieving health care reform.

"This is the hard part. This is when the special interests, the insurance companies, the people who think this is a good way to bring Obama down -- this is when they spread wild rumours."

He talked about "pundits" in Washington who have said, "Maybe you're trying to do too much too soon." Let me guess: those pundits would HAVE health care, yes? He called out those who depict his push for health care reform as "socialism" by pointing out that when FDR introduced Social Security, his enemies called it "socialism" too. He pointed out that senior citizens helped pass Social Security and Medicare, and detailed FDR's struggles with change.



In closing, he said something that I've always strongly felt: Change doesn't come from the top down, it comes from the bottom up. He called on the people of Minneapolis, and of Minnesota, to help him. The crowd greeted him with shouts, cheers, roars, chants, and multiple standing ovations.

Can I just say how sorry I feel for the Secret Service dudes who have to keep him safe? The people love him, everybody wants to touch him or photograph him or shake his hand. And there's something very genuine about Mr. Obama. He seems to really like people, like physical contact with people.

One didn't get that feeling with either of the Bushes. The elder Bush was clearly a patrician New Englander with a genuine physical discomfort around people. He didn't seem to have any empathy with those who didn't belong in his "class." The younger Bush had a completely inappropriate set of behaviours that was downright creepy. He grabbed the Chinese Premier by the sleeve to drag him offstage (the look on Hu's face was priceless. If he'd had the Patented Laser Glare, Georgie would've been fried to a crisp).

Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!

He tried to give a decidedly unwelcome back rub to the German Prime Minister that resulted in a public show of horror on her part. Anyone who's ever been groped by some creepy uncle or child molester will empathize with Ms. Merkel's reaction. He manhandled female athletes in a well-publicized shot.

President Obama comes across very very different. He's openly affectionate to his wife and children. He's reserved and cool in public, yet he seems to like the people he interacts with, genuinely like them. He seems genuinely appreciative of their ideas and opinions, he seems to care about their travails.

ICHC

So he's asking us to step up now and fight for our health care. Are you going to do your bit? All fired up? Ready to go?

It's the fight of our lifetime, people. Unchecked, healthcare costs have long since outstripped wage increases (wages have been stagnant for quite a while); the American consumer has made reductions in spending to deal with the facts of stagnant wages, unsustainable debt, an economy struggling out of recession, financial sector malfeasance, and tightened credit — and those reductions seem to be becoming part of the norm. In other words, don't expect the American consumer to increase spending when this recession is over. In an economy that is largely fueled by the hitherto-profligate spending habits of the American consumer, this is not the best sign. But it is a sign of the times. A sign of the changes that need to be made for a sustainable planet, a sustainable globally interactive economy.

If health care costs (currently between 15 and 20 per cent of GDP) are not contained, they will soon amount to an unsustainable burden on the economy. Very soon. It makes sound fiscal sense to move towards cost containment AND broadly inclusive health care. We pay double what Canadians do for less care. And in an era of global connectivity and climate change, we are at greater risk than ever of epidemics. So do your bit, peeps. For yourself, your friends, your family, your nation, and your world.

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Health Care: What YOU Can Do

Congressmember Raùl Grijalva

Send a thank-you to House Progressive Caucus heads Lynn Woolsey and Raùl Grijalva, who just sent a letter to President Obama stating that they and their fellow Progressives will NOT sign a health care reform bill that does not include a robust public option, as reported (click the link to see the full text of the letter) by Greg Sargent over at his blog, ThePlumLine.

The Progressives number 80, nearly a fifth of the House, so they have some negotiating power. They're fighting for us and they deserve our support, so feel free to let them know that you support them.

Congressmember Lynn Woolsey

Thank you, Congressmembers Woolsey and Grijalva! Keep fighting the good fight!

La Casa de Los Gatos is of the opinion that the State of Arizona might even be forgiven for giving us John McAncient as a senator, in view of the fact that they elected a progressive Democrat like Raùl Grijalva to the House.

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Economy: The $700 Billion-Dollar Bailout Bill

From Walt Handelsman at Newsday

People, La Casa de Los Gatos does not include any trained economists within its ranks. None of us has much of a clue about economics as a field of study. We know a little bit about the stock market and a little bit about money as it relates to the litte bit of money what we got, and that ain't much. So we beg your indulgence as we attempt to delve into this field and figure out just what the fuck is going on as Congress attempts to wrassle with this $700 billion piece of legislation that is supposed to save us — and, incidentally, the rest of the world, the financial markets having become globalized to a hitherto unprecedented extent.

First off, what the fuck is this bill?

It's called the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. At present,it has failed to pass the House, which means we don't have a bill as such, just a piece of legislation that is being wrangled over by our Congresscritters. The text of the draft bill may be found here. La Casa de Los Gatos offers grateful thanks to commenter and fellow-blogger nunya of politickybitch for sending us the link.

Caveat: This document is approximately 110 pages long, and if you don't have any experience with legalese and the recondite world of financial systems, you might have a hard time reading and understanding it. We'll take a bash at it tomorrow. In the meantime, we fall back upon the abridged information.

Here we provide you with an analysis performed by the Congressional Budget Office.

The bill creates an entity known as TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program). It allows Paulson and his successors to appropriate the required amount of money (not to exceed $700 billion) over a period of as many years as they, with the oversight of various Congressional committees, deem necessary, to purchase or insure troubled assets and to cover all administrative expenses of purchasing, insuring, holding, and selling those assets. The assets to be purchased or insured are based on or related to residential or commercial mortgages issued prior to March 14, 2008. This might mean that the weasels who bought in expectation of being bailed out won't get anything for their efforts.

Caveat: Although the purchase price of all such assets outstanding at any one time cannot exceed $700 billion, cumulative gross purchases might well exceed $700 billion as previously purchased assets are sold. This amount ($700 billion) does not include the expense required to administer these "troubled assets."

Note: CBO estimates, based on costs incurred by private investment firms that acquire, manage, and sell similar assets, that the administrative costs of operating the program could amount to a few billion dollars per year, until the government manages to sell off all or most of the purchased assets. This ought to explain clearly why Rudi Giuliani is already trying to weasel his way into the bailout scheme.

The good news is:

• only (hah!) $250 billion worth of purchases can be made once the bill is enacted;
  
  
• A further $100 billion will be made available to Paulson and his successors if the President submits to the Congress a written notification that Paulson or his successors have found a further $100 billion of assets needing rescue;
  
  This means that, as usual, authorization of that money will be in the hands of Congress and will need to be approved by the various committees involved. This could be a good thing or a bad thing. The good part: we the people can put pressure on our representatives. The bad part: This really is an honest-to-deity fucking economic crisis and, unfortunately, swift action might be required to nip it in the bud before we all lose our homes, savings, assets, businesses, and sources of loans.
  
  
• The amount available can go up by another $350 billion (to total $700 billion, as provided by the bill) if the President submits a report detailing a plan to use the remaining $350 billion in purchase authority; that expansion would be subject to a 15-day Congressional review for potential disapproval of the plan.

Again, that leaves a little breathing space in between these gouts of bleeding. The point to take away so far is that the entire crisis MIGHT well cost under $350 billion — but only, unfortunately, if we come up with a solution now and implement it quickly.

This bill also lets the federal government insure troubled assets, including mortgage-backed securities. Terms and conditions for such insurance must be developed by the Secretary of the Treasury. What this means is, the federal government can collect premiums from the financial institutions that participate in this program. The total amount we're paying for this rescue is $700 billion or less, minus the insurance premiums paid. So the taxpayers will, hopefully, get some of their money back.

This bill expires on December 31, 2009. It can be extended through two years from the date of enactment if Paulson or his successors certify that such an extension is necessary.

Where is the money coming from to fund this bill?

We're borrowing it. The bill specifies that the federal debt limit be increased by $700 billion. *If, five years after enactment of the bill, OMB's director, in consultation with CBO's director, determines that the TARP has incurred a net loss, the President has to submit a legislative proposal to recoup the losses from those companies that benefited from TARP.

So what does this mean for us taxpayers?

This means that the ultimate cost of the TARP program equals the difference between whatever the government spends to purchase and earnings + sales proceeds if any from sale of all assets at future date, i.e., probably substantially less than $700 billion but likely greater than zero.

So, $700 billion + administrative costs (several billion per year x however many years the government has to hang on to this toxic shit) minus (earnings from assets, if any + sale prices of assets when we can finally junk them).

*Note: The proposal to recoup any costs requires a future Presidential submission and a future act of Congress to implement. Savings from such legislation would be estimated when the proposal is considered and would be credited to that legislation for Congressional scorekeeping purposes.

Based on what we know, this means that we'd better all familiarize ourselves with these arcane subjects and the workings of our Halls of Power and make sure that whoever is in those seats (OMB, CBO, WH, and Congress) do whatever is necessary to make sure that the companies that benefited from this bill return the money to the taxpayers when the time comes.

CBO's analysis goes on to state that other provisions in this bill would add to the budget deficit:

• Change in the tax treatment of certain types of income, losses, or deductions of corporations or individuals;
  
  The bill contains provisions that would limit the amounts that certain firms selling assets can claim as tax-deductible executive compensation; allow losses incurred by certain taxpayers on preferred stock in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to be treated as ordinary, not capital, losses; and not count as income the cancellation of mortgage debt of individuals in certain circumstances. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that, on net, these provisions would reduce federal revenues.
  
  
• Certain financial institutions seeking to sell assets through TARP must meet appropriate standards for senior executive officers’ compensation, as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury;
  
  
• Secretary of the Treasury must maximize assistance for homeowners, including encouraging servicers of the underlying mortgages to take advantage of the Hope for Homeowners Program under section 257 of the National Housing Act;
  
  
• FRS (Federal Resesrve System) might pay interest on certain reserves held on deposit at the Federal Reserve, starting on October 1, 2008;
  
  Under current law, the FRS doesn't need to start paying interest on these till October 1, 2011. This means the FRS payments of its profits to the Treasury, which are classified as revenue in the federal budget, would be reduced over the next three years.
  
  
• Federal Housing Finance Agency, the FDIC, and FRB (Federal Resesrve Board) must implement measures to reduce foreclosures on properties they control, including modifying the terms of such loans; and
  
  
• Establish Congressional oversight and reporting requirements related to implementation of the legislation, along with a Financial Stability Oversight Board with responsibility for overseeing operations of the program.

From the CBO:

The bill would require that the federal budget display the costs of purchasing or insuring troubled assets using procedures similar to those specified in the Federal Credit Reform Act, but adjusting for market risk (in a manner not reflected in that law). In particular, the federal budget would not record the gross cash disbursements for purchases of troubled assets (or cash receipts for their eventual sale), but instead would reflect the estimated net cost to the government of such purchases (broadly speaking, the purchase cost minus the present value, adjusted for market risk, of any estimated future earnings from holding those assets and the proceeds from the eventual sale of them).

Enacting the legislation could also affect other federal spending—including, for example, outlays from the operations of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, federal housing programs, and deposit insurance. Some of those effects would be related to how TARP would be used to purchase assets (including what kinds of assets would be acquired and from what types of institutions), and how successful the program would be in restoring liquidity to the nation’s financial markets.

So there's no guarantee that this will work. On the plus side, at least some consumer and taxpayer protections appear to have found their way into the draft bill. On the minus side, it looks like the FDIC and other Federal institutions might suffer unexpected damage.

We wish there was time to think this thing out carefully, but at least the damn thing expires at the end of next year, at which time it could be resuscitated with additional provisions as we deem necessary. From CNBC:

Citing recent bank failures in the United States and Europe, Paulson said regulators and legislators need to act "as soon as possible" to ensure the health of credit markets that U.S. businesses depend on to meet payrolls and purchase inventory.

That's the important thing to remember. This has to be enacted soon because many organizations which are innocent of the shenanigans the financials market have engaged in must borrow money to meet their payroll. So you're pootling along working for Joe Goodhart Industries and suddenly credit has dried up and the CEO Mavis Goodhart can't make payroll. You're affected. Your wife/spouse/partner who works for BrilliantBrains, Inc. is also affected because those folks can't make payroll either.

Yeah, the bad guys will take it up the keister. Unfortunately, so will the rest of us. If your car breaks down irreparably tomorrow and you can't get credit to buy or rent a new one, you're gonna suffer much worse than Mr. Paulson, who is rumoured to be worth about half a billion and doesn't need to show up for work.

Here's the numbers on what's happening in the market. We hear the financial markets lost a trillion dollars today. They'll lose more in the coming days. This affects all of us, the smallest of us the worst. It's your retirement, your pension, your 401(k), your savings, and your credit that will be the hardest hit. When you have $100 million in the bank, like John McCain, you can lose $700K or even $70 million and still be OK. When your life savings are a measly $100,000, you lose $70,000 and you're as good as dead.

The Boston Globe is saying the bill needs to pass. Of course John "pass me a handkerchief, boys" Boner is too busy weeping because Nancy Pelosi spoke sternly to him to sign off on any bills.

Before you decide a position on this bill, please read this diary by RenaRF of DailyKos, who knows much more about economics than your humble blogger.

Finally, we offer Paul Krugman's perspective. We agree that this is not how this bill should have been constructed. We would have preferred his solution. But has anybody written legislation that would incorporate Krugman's solution? Would it have enough votes to pass? The House Republicans are crying so hard they can't find their pens (or other things that might look similar).

We agree with Nouriel Roubini that the attempt to purchase toxic instruments that the markets cannot accurately value is the worst possible response to the financial crisis. But we're not seeing anything else by way of a viable solution. If commercial paper is in serious trouble, the entire economy is on the verge of collapse. And to do nothing is worse, in this case, than to do something half-arsed that could keep collapse from happening. Note that Roubini is not saying we should do nothing, rather he is saying that he doesn't like what we're doing.

We know people out there are saying "The Federal Reserve system should be abolished," and "down with Wall Street," and all that. But you know what, we're in the middle of the crisis now. Dismantling various organizations might be needed and might be important, but you don't do that while the fire is burning down the house. An economic collapse right now will destroy us all. So first let's shore the system up then let's calmly and rationally examine it and decide what needs to go and what needs to stay.

Once again, we apologize for our lack of information and knowledge in this field. We welcome your comments and thoughts.

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Politics: Is It Impeachment By Another Name?

According to Raw Story, Rep. John Conyers, head of the House Judiciary Committe has begun an investigation into the "Imperial Presidency," he says. A hearing is scheduled for July 25th. Conyers has promised to look into these issues:

(1) improper politicization of the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorneys offices, including potential misuse of authority with regard to election and voting controversies;

(2) misuse of executive branch authority and the adoption and implementation of the so-called unitary executive theory, including in the areas of presidential signing statements and regulatory authority;

(3) misuse of investigatory and detention authority with regard to U.S. citizens and foreign nationals, including questions regarding the legality of the administration’s surveillance, detention, interrogation, and rendition programs;

(4) manipulation of intelligence and misuse of war powers, including possible misrepresentations to Congress related thereto;

(5) improper retaliation against administration critics, including disclosing information concerning CIA operative Valerie Plame, and obstruction of justice related thereto; and

(6) misuse of authority in denying Congress and the American people the ability to oversee and scrutinize conduct within the administration, including through the use of various asserted privileges and immunities.

The L.A. Times, which has been tireless in its efforts to kiss the Misadministration's rear-end recently, claims that this is not impeachment.

We realize that many Democrats voted for this Pretzelnitwit's Pet War and they're likely to be, um, smeared? when the fit hits the shan, but you know what? You're gonna get yours anyway, Dems, so you might as well start inching towards impeachment, you spineless fuckers.

Thank the Powers That Be for Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who has not wavered, even when Pelosi threatened him (we haven't forgotten about that, Nancy. We may not get you now, but we hear Hillary Clinton keeps a little book with the names of all the people who have ever crossed her in it. We might consider doing the same. You don't deserve to be in Congress, Ms. "Impeachment is off the table."). He has promised to keep bringing up the issue:

Kucinich had said that if his impeachment article was tabled he would simply propose another one. In June, he spent four hours on the House floor reading his longer resolution into the record, only to see it buried in committee.

Action items, people!

(1) Send Dennis email thanking him for his efforts;

(2) Send Pelosi email telling her to stand by her recent statement on impeachment;

(3) Send Conyers email telling him he must move towards impeachment;

(4) Follow up email to Pelosi and Conyers with phone calls and snail-mail.

If you didn't already know, Netroots Nation (formerly known as YearlyKos), a gathering of online activists, is sponsoring AsktheSpeaker, a forum in which you can pose questions for Nancy Pelosi. On Saturday, June 19th, at 9:00 am, Speaker Pelosi will be responding to those questions. For what it's worth, someone has already asked why impeachment is off the table, and that question is currently in the No. 1 spot. Please read the comments in response to that question, as they're very interesting.

In other news, legal scholar and law professor Jonathan Turley told Keith Olbermann on his program yesterday that there is evidence Jor Jee committed crimes in office and should be impeached. He also took Pelosi to task for failing to move on impeachment.

"An impeachment hearing needs to be focused and it needs to deal with things directly and frankly, as whether the president committed crimes," he continued, "And there is considerable evidence to say that the answer is yes."

Considerable evidence. Sigh. Click the preceding link to see the video clip at Raw Story.

In an article at OpEd News, Ralph Lopez points out the nine Republicans who broke ranks with their party to send Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment to the Judiciary Committee.

Congressman Kevin Brady (TX)

Congressman Wayne Gilchrest (MD)

Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC)

Congressman Don Manzullo (IL)

Congressman Tim Murphy (PA)

Congressman Ron Paul (TX)

Congressman Dave Reichert (WA)

Congressman Christopher Shays (CT)

Congressman Mike Turner (OH)

One of the Republicans, Walter Jones, represents Camp LeJeune in North Carolina, one of the largest Marine bases in the country, and one which has borne heavily the sacrifice of the Iraq War.

At least one of the Republicans who voted Yes on this bill claims that he did so because he wanted the bill to die in the Judiciary committee. Lopez asks that you take action to impeach Bush and Cheney. OpEd has set up a handy-dandy tool. Click on the link to get to it.

If any of the Republicans on this list happens to be your Congresscritter, you might consider contacting them and asking them to support the coming investigation. What the hell, contact them anyway. Let them know what you think, how you feel. It's your duty as a member of the electorate.

Naturally, ImpeachBush.org has a different take on the whole issue, and thanks to The Young Turks for helping me find it. The site cites progressive hero Robert Wexler

“Capitol Hill is buzzing today with major developments regarding our campaign for impeachment hearings for President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Just today, in what could be described as a perfect impeachment storm:

"After stating unequivocally that impeachment "is off the table," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated to CBS News today that the House Judiciary Committee should address the issues that Rep. Kucinich's has raised in his impeachment resolution.... This issue now reaches far beyond the substance of the Judiciary Committee's original inquiry regarding the firing of US Attorneys for political purposes. The crisis at hand relates to our most fundamental laws and of our Constitution. It is, in many ways, more serious than the Constitutional crisis surrounding Watergate."

Now, Nance, we realize you had a good time kicking a certain idiot's ass all over the football field today, but calling him a "total failure" just does not make up for your unwillingness to put the little bastard in the hoosegow along with Unca Dick "Dick teh War Profiteer." It's where he belongs, and your nation will be deeply grateful to watch him frog-marched out of the WH in chains.

Rep. Kucinich has stated that a hitherto unidentified representative of a foreign government which is a U.S. ally will be testifying. Bradblog discusses the impeachment with links and details and a succinct summation by Rep. Kucinich on exactly why impeachment is so important. Go, Mighty Munchkin of Justice!

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Politics: FISA Roll Call

Blogger jazzfan76, over at DailyKos, has posted a list of the people who voted to give the telcos immunity for their illegal act of spying on you.

Just in case you want to contact the miserable sons of bitches and give them an earful.

Although it would probably be more useful to be able to contact their constituents.

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LGBTQ: An Activist Addition To The Blogroll

La Casa de Los Gatos welcomes Queers United to the blogroll and thanks them for this very interesting post on the formation of the LGBTQ Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives. The post links to all the LGBTQ Caucus members so you can thank them yourself, and includes such progressive stalwarts as Fortney (Pete) Stark, Lynn Woolsey, Robert Wexler, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Niki Tsongas, Henry Waxman, and our very own dearly beloved Barbara Lee!

You rock, Reps! Fifty-two members, count them.

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Politics: Impeach!

Well, folks, the Mighty Munchkin of Justice has just brought 35 (thirty-five) articles of impeachment against Gee Dumbya.

The last president got impeached for having his cock sucked. This one's gonna get impeached for being a cocksucker.

Should we get our hopes up? True, the little weasel is flying around Europe at taxpayers' expense even as we rage and rant and slide into poverty (or, if you're in Iowa, into Hurricane Katrina territory). Reuters is calling it his "farewell Europe" tour. What's he hoping to accomplish? Other than spending our much-needed funds, that is.

Operative snippet:

With less than eight months to go before Bush leaves office, European leaders are expected to offer him little if anything to narrow the gap with Washington on issues like climate change, a resurgent Russia and a defiant Iran.

Mindful that Bush is even more unpopular across much of Europe than he is at home, the White House itself has no lofty hopes for Bush's trip, which is expected to draw large protests in countries where anti-Bush sentiment runs highest.

He has the gall to flap his gums about the need for a "stronger dollar" (pretty cheeky, considering that he practically single-handedly shoved it down the toilet and pulled the flush).

In an article with the Web header of 'Yurp' says Auf Wiedersehen to Dubya, the online edition of German magazine der Spiegel states, in less than adoring terms, what German politicians of every stripe think of the lame fuck, er, duck.

Our northern neighbour, Canada, observes at the CBC site that Europe is awaiting the little creep's final visit with "relative indifference." Pertinent quote:

[...] officials in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana say only a few small protests are expected this time.

Local media reports say this is because Bush is on his way out as U.S. leader and no longer attracts the same sort of attention when he visits.

Meanwhile, in the UK, the Independent is pointing out (no doubt to the collective joy of the 75 per cent of the U.S. that wishes the Chimp-in-Chief would disappear on an extended vacation already and never return) that the Chimp is going to receive a less than warm welcome:

But leading voices in the worlds of the arts and politics, including the novelist Iain Banks, the artist David Gentleman and the human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger, have now joined forces to call for Mr Bush to face a war crimes trial in the Hague.

Labour MPs and the cross-party Coalition Against the War in Iraq are preparing a national demonstration against the visit. They will deliver protest letters to Downing Street and carry handcuffs as a symbol of their claims that the President is a war criminal.

Andrew Murray, the chair of the Stop the War Coalition, said: "George Bush should be in The Hague facing war crimes charges over the hundreds of thousands of civilians killed in Iraq since 2003, not being entertained in Downing Street. Gordon Brown doesn't need a policy brief for this meeting, just a pair of handcuffs."

Perhaps Banksy can show up and graffiti the schmuck. A little red paint, some duct-taped-on photographs of dead Iraqi children with missing limbs and broken bodies. You get our drift.

People with conscience and a soul believe the prick belongs in the dock at The Hague on war crimes charges. The blinding spotlight of U.S. coverage of the issue has been noteworthy for its complete and total absence.

Hey, media schmucks! Get a clue. The guy is almost universally disliked, despised, hated, and deplored. Get with the program and give Kucinich, Conyers, Wexler, and their like coverage for their impeachment calls.

We fervently hope that the brainless, worthless, graceless swine returns to a full impeachment.

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2008 Elections: Your Next President

Should be someone who has the energy, the dedication, the commitment, and the mental acuity to multitask. Because, face it people, this is what the 21st century is all about. Gone are the days when we could work on one thing at a time. These days, we have many irons in the fire and they require work all the time, all round.

Barack Obama makes his case once again.

In the middle of a hard-fought primary, while his opponent was flinging kitchen sinks and associated hardware at him, the man found the time and energy to begin moving the nation towards total transparency in the economy.

Reaching across the aisle, as he said he would, he convinced Congressional colleague and erstwhile (and current) ally Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma to work with him to give us ALL information about how our government spends our tax dollars.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) today introduced the Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008 (S.3077), which would expand the information available on USASpending.gov, as well as make the data more accessible and readable. USASpending.gov (aka "Google for Government"), created by the Coburn-Obama Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 and launched in December 2007, makes public information about nearly all Federal grants, contracts, loans and other financial assistance available in a regularly updated, user-friendly, and searchable format.

The morning after the final primaries of Montana and South Dakota, the man was in Congress introducing this bill.

What would you be doing the day after a year-long campaign had finally come to an end? Most of us would probably be lying in bed, or lounging on the couch, feet up, resting after one of the most exhausting, gruelling campaigns in the history of this nation.

Not Senator Obama. Here's a little more information on his bill:

"I'm pleased to have the opportunity to work once again with my Senate colleagues to improve the transparency of federal spending. This bill is a continuation of our efforts to give taxpayers the power to know exactly what their money is being spent on and to help us in our efforts to root out waste and fraud. This legislation makes it much easier to hold agencies, contractors and others who receive federal funding accountable for their activities and their performance," said Senator Carper.

In April 2006, Obama and Coburn introduced the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S. 2590), which would publicly disclose all recipients of federal funding and financial assistance through a website to be established and maintained by the Office of Management and Budget. The President signed this legislation into law in September 2006 and USASpending.gov was launched in December 2007.

La Casa de Los Gatos is socially progressive and fiscally conservative. Very conservative. We would much rather spend taxpayer dollars in healing the sick, helping the poor, educating the ignorant, giving working people jobs, comforting and caring for the elderly, disabled, and young people. But &mdash we do not support throwing money away.

Having worked hard for every penny since our earliest youth, we resent our money being spent on professional "poverty pimps," bloated bureaucracies, waste, poor management and mismanagement. We'd rather pay working people a decent wage that enables them to support their families than pay CEOs and directors and middle managers one hundred times what the average worker earns. The people who clean up our shit &mdash nurses, teachers, doctors, street sweepers, police, firefighters, food service workers, physical therapists, childcare providers &mdash they are what makes our society.

Not the businessmen who take huge risks with shareholders' money but the entrepreneurs who see a need and exercise their creative imagination to fill it and treat their employees well. We don't need the first type of person. We need lots more of the second type of person.

To that end, we want to know where every penny of our tax dollar goes. We don't want it going to make Halliburton's middle managers and bigshots obscenely rich. We would rather it went to soldiers who did their best to obey the orders they were given. We would rather see them get a decent wage instead of taking payday loans at between 200 and 900 per cent interest rates. We want them, and their families, to have decent health care &mdash the kind of health care that Dick Cheney and John McBush enjoy. We don't want them lying in pools of piss at broken-down military hospitals full of mold and rats.

Thus we are very grateful to Senator Barack Obama for making this process transparent. This is a start. It is now OUR duty as taxpayers to visit USASpending.gov regularly and keep an eye on what our government is doing with our money.

If this is how Senator Obama will govern as President Obama, then give him your vote if you believe in accountability, equity, transparency, fairness, and freedom.

There's a new sheriff in town and he's going to help us, the people, clean it up!


YES. HE. CAN! YES. WE. CAN!

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Politics: Oh Pleez Oh Pleez Oh Pleez Oh Pleez Oh Yes!

Is there a Deity? Does it hear the pleas of its creation? There's a good case to be made for the existence of a Deity that doth listen to the many prayers for good.

The Chicago Trib announced today that ambulatory scumball and professional sleazebucket impersonator KKKarl Rove has been subpoenaed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee about whether the White House improperly meddled with the Justice Department.

He will testify on 10 July about the illegal firings of U.S. attorneys and the dirty tricks involved in the prosecution of ex-Governor Don Siegelman. Rep. Conyers (D-Michigan) issued a statement that is admirably snarky in tone without departing from the professional standards that we expect of our legislators:

"It is unfortunate that Mr. Rove has failed to cooperate with our requests," Conyers, D-Mich., said in a statement. "Although he does not seem the least bit hesitant to discuss these very issues weekly on cable television and in the print news media, Mr. Rove and his attorney have apparently concluded that a public hearing room would not be appropriate."

We congratulate Michiganders for having the good sense to elect Rep. Conyers and to repeat the proof of their intelligence and discrimination as needed. We beg that portion of the electorate responsible for such abominations as Mitch McConnell (KYnYouPeopleQuitAwreddy), John Boner (R-OhGodNotAgain), John Cornyn (R-TXCutsForTehRich), Lindsay Graham (R-SCuzzball), and their ilk, to follow the example of Michiganders and Do The Right Thing. C'mon, there's gotta be way better candidates in each of your states to replace these pathetic lying weaseling proto-skunks. C'mon!

We are off to put our underroos on our heads and caper about singing "Oh, Frabjous Day! Callooh, Callay," and other such entertainments as reflect our overwhelming joy and delight in these developments.

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DHS: The Fascist State

Just when you thought it was safe to travel to America comes the story of a hapless Italian tourist jailed without recourse for ten days while his "well-educated, well-connected" (we believe that means rich and powerful, in the common parlance) girlfriend and her family tried to get him out. Caveat: You need to register and login before you can view the story at the link.

Domenico Salerno, the youngest son of a prosperous contractor in Calabria and a recently graduated lawyer who works in his brother’s law firm in Rome, has an American girlfriend whom he visits several times a year.

Apparently, DHS decided that Mr. Salerno, whose command of English is limited, posed some sort of swarthy threat to the nation. They accused him of seeking asylum and dumped his tush in the hoosegow.

You might form some sort of idea about the social background of Mr. Salerno's American girlfriend when you read this comment from her father about the indignities visited upon Signor Salerno:

“We have a lot of government people here and lobbyists and lawyers and very educated, very savvy Washingtonians,” said Jim Cooper, Ms. Cooper’s father, a businessman, describing the reaction in his neighborhood, the Wessynton subdivision of Alexandria. “They were pretty shocked that the government could do this sort of thing, because it doesn’t happen that often, except to people you never hear about, like Haitians and Guatemalans.”

Although swarthiness is not an absolute prerequisite for having your ass dragged off to the caboose. Witness the treatment of Erla Osk Arnardottir Lillendahl of Iceland, who was held by these valiant representatives of our nation. All uncaring about our fragile economy and its dependence on the tourist trade, they had the gall to seize a blond, pink female person and handle her most inappropriately. And now this.

We can't wait for them to arrest an entire planeload of Israelis, or better yet, Lubavitchers, and fling their tuchuses into confinement for "looking like terrorists," or summat. The combined howls of outrage should surely lead to a "reorg," as we call it in the SillyValley, of the DHS, hopefully rousting out the most maleficent and reducing its powers to appropriate, Constitution-respecting levels.

It won't happen unless you do something about it, though. Reps Jane Harman (D-CA) and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss) have just announced that the DHS is planning to spy on Americans within the country and share any information with local law enforcement. Presumably, the DHS, like our Pretzeldunce, believe that the Constitution may be substituted for toilet paper if there is a shortage of the latter.

Write Harman and Thompson and tell them what you think. Hell, write your Rep too.

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Politics: Rep. John Conyers Offers

A high-quality butt-kicking to that ambulatory slimeball KKKarl Rove.

Will it happen?

We here at this blog, your hosts at La Casa de Los Gatos, are so thrilled by this eventuality that we force ourselves to blog with an icepack on our repro bits as we swelter in the 100-degree temperature.

Dayumn, Rep. Conyers. May we offer you a pair of hobnailed boots? Or, better yet, spike-soled shoes? We could rub a little Scotch bonnet over the spikes first. In the interest of an unique experience, y'unnerstand.

Let's hope this causes the fetid little porker to squeal on everyone else in the chain of command at the Bush-Cheney Misadministration.

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Politics: Update on NRCC

What the Republican Party thinks of you, America!

We forgot to mention that Christopher J. Ward, NRCC treasurer for the past five years, who is being investigated by the FBI for the disappearance of large sums of money donated to the NRCC, was a partner in Political Compliance Services, the firm that did so much work for Swift Boat Veterans For Truth. If you remember anything at all about the Swift Boat Veterans, you will remember that truth was something with which they apparently had only the briefest of passing acquaintance. Mr. Ward's job was to assist these poisoners of the public discourse to spread their poison deep into the very veins of America's body politic.

Thanks to their lies and machinations (and no shortage of a spineless, grovelling, cowardly, lickspittle media) combined with the gullibility of millions of Americans who denied their deeply closeted selves and listened to uber-whore Chris "my head is bigger than the wheelbarrow I carry George's balls around in" Matthews drool and sigh over the Combuster-in-chief's Holy Ball-Package, we got four more years of wholesale destruction of our economy, damage of our banks, and breakage of every institution and organization required to keep this country functional.

It's only fitting that the Republican Party which shoved the Swiftboaters down our gullets and created a new term for our dictionaries that expresses the worst and slimiest of behaviour should be, as it were, hoist on its own petard. The NRCC is now asking all Republican lawmakers who might have had anything to do with Mr. Ward to examine their accounts for evidence of pilferage. At least two Republican legislators have reported "irregularities." Rodney Alexander of LA is not one of them, having cut his ties with Mr. Ward upon hearing of the NRCC's problems.

Mr. Alexander apparently prefers sexual scandals to financial. When we last heard of Rep. Alexander, he was deeply enmeshed in the Mark Foley "sexual improprieties with teenage pages" scandal, and was busy fending off a lawsuit for sexual harrassment of one of his own employees.

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Consumer Alert: Contaminated Chicken

Image from ICHC

If you've switched to poultry because of the nasty video evidence of what the food processing companies are doing that contribute to the recall of over 143 million pounds of ground beef, you ought to know that there's a recall currently under way of chicken contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

Warning: Do not click the video link unless you plan to swear off eating beef, or possibly meat, for life. Especially, do not click if you are (a) sensitive; (b) an animal lover; (c) eating, or about to eat.

Some 7.5 tonnes of chicken product — specifically, Discover Cuisine Red Curry Chicken & Jasmine Rice, with a best by date of Dec. 18, including 1.7 tonnes from Inovata Foods of Edmonton — have been recalled.

The product is distributed in 12-oz packages, each bearing the Canadian establishment number Est. 302 inside the Canadian Food Inspection Agency mark of inspection.

The frozen chicken entrees were produced on Oct. 18, 2007, and were exported to the United States. Some 10,368 pounds have been recalled from Costco Wholesale of Issaquah, Wash., and 2,184 pounds from Meijer Distribution Center of Grand Rapids, Mich. Meijer apparently distributed these products in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. If you shopped at these locations in any of the states mentioned, inspect your purchases carefully for the distinguishing marks described.

Meijer representatives said only 21 packages of the potentially contaminated product have been sold, including one each at stores in Holland and Big Rapids, Michigan. If you purchased this product at Meijer, contact them at 800-543-3704.

Do not consume this product. Call Bob McColl of Inovata Foods at 780-454-8665 for instructions on disposal and refunds.

Additionally, The Guardian is reporting that Gourmet Boutique of Jamaica, N.Y., has recalled 6,970 pounds of meat and poultry products bearing the production code GBD 08058 on the package. These products are mostly chicken but also include meatloaf and turkey and were sent to stores in Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wisconsin, as well as distribution centers in New York. For more information, call 718-977-1200.

Image from MicrobeLibrary

Listeria monocytogenes can be life-threatening to young children, elderly people, and those with weakened immune systems. So far, the media has been publicizing the food processors' and distributors' line in implying that Listeriosis, which results from infection by Listeria monocytogenes, has few consequences in healthy adults.

They neglect to mention, for example, that listeriosis is dangerous to pregnant women, whose immune systems are suppressed as an effect of pregnancy. And anything that affects the health of a pregnant woman affects the health of the fetus. (Perhaps this will convince those "right-to-a-miserable-life" troglodytes in the hardly-ever-right wing that food safety is important.)

However, a little research reveals how patently untrue that is. From ScienceDirect:

The repeated oral administration of a sublethal dose (5×109colony-forming units) of Listeria monocytogenes for 7 or 10 consecutive days led to the development of severe central nervous system (CNS) lesions in 25% of experimental mice. Histopathological examination of the brain revealed rhombencephalitis and ventriculitis as two distinct inflammatory patterns, resembling those seen in human listeriosis.

Michael Barza, M.D., of Tufts University School of Medicine explores in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) some interesting observations on Listeriosis and milk:

The excretion of L. monocytogenes in cow's milk is well recognized. Cows with listeric mastitis may produce normal-appearing milk containing large numbers of bacteria. Some of the organisms may survive pasteurization and may then grow better than competing species at refrigerator temperatures — a phenomenon called "cold enrichment." Milk may be a particularly effective vehicle because it protects the bacteria from gastric acid.

If you consume milk regularly, you might want to consult this post. Dr. Barza goes on to tell us about the effects of Listeriosis:

as many as 20 per cent of patients with listeriosis may have a cerebritis. The lesions range from macroscopic abscesses to a diffuse encephalitis. A fascinating variant, the "rhombencephalitis syndrome," which involves the pons and medulla, is the human counterpart of circling disease in sheep.

About 25 per cent of patients with listeriosis have a "primary bacteremic form" without evident foci of origin or metastasis. This form, too, occurs mainly in immunosuppressed patients but may also strike pregnant women. Other patients have localized infections such as endocarditis, endophthalmitis, hepatitis, and oculoglandular or cutaneous infection.

Tasty!

In other barfacious news, Heinz Foods is recalling some 40,000 cases of Boston Market brand lasagna with meat sauce, after having discovered that the meat therein is derived from the recent recall of 143 million pounds of beef from a California meatpacker of dubious ethics and inarguable inhumanity. Call Boston Market Frozen Food Consumer Helpline at 1 (800) 488-0050 if you have a question.

Congress has subpoenaed executives of the meat-packing company, Reuters tells us:

Steve Mendell, president of Hallmark/Westland, was invited by the subcommittee to testify at a hearing on February 26 on the role companies play in recalls and food safety, but he did not appear. The subpoena orders Mendell to testify on March 12.

What, is this another personal friend of George W. Bush? He thinks he can do like Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten and just not show up? Mr. Mendell, you have your nerve. If you wanted to evade Congressional oversight, you should have arranged to kill 4,000 U.S. troops and 1 million Iraqis!

Rep. Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan, chairs the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations. Members are:

• Diana DeGette, D-CO
  
• Ed Whitfield, R-KY
• Charlie Melancon, D-LA, Vice Chair
• Greg Walden, R-OR
• Henry A. Waxman, D-CA
• Tim Murphy, R-PA
• Gene Green, D-TX
• Michael C. Burgess, R-TX
• Mike Doyle, D-PA
• Marsha Blackburn, R-TN
• Jan Schakowsky, D-IL
• Joe Barton, R-TX (Ex Officio)
• Jay Inslee, D-WA
• John D. Dingell (Ex Officio)

You might want to consider contacting your Rep if s/he is on that list. Doing the people's business requires input from the people. If you want safe, clean food for your family, you can go vegan or vegetarian or produce (and butcher) your own, in your copious free time. If you want safe, clean food for the entire nation, including your family, you need to supervise the people who are monitoring your food supply.

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Politics: Are They ALL

growing balls? Ovaries? Reproductive bits indicative of strength, fortitude and large-scale deweaselment?


Raw Story is telling us, this morning, that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has asked the (in)Justice Department to open a grand jury investigation into whether President Bush's chief of staff and former counsel should be prosecuted for contempt of Congress.

The idea of Harriet Myers and Josh Bolten in the hoosegow has us faint and trembling with delight.

A clarification: We don't necessarily want to inflict misery on other people per se. Seriously. We don't want people tortured or murdered or beaten up or jailed. We would prefer that people live peaceful happy lives as far as that is possible. What we do want is fairness and justice. If the law is going to drag some poor crack-smoker to the hoosegow, then it must also drag the rich coke-sniffer to the hoosegow.

Thus, if some of the people investigated during the baseless Whitewater scandal got to sit in the pokey, some of the people involved in the lies that led us to war in Iraq, the disappearance of billions from our treasury, the gifting of taxpayer dollars to companies like Halliburton and Blackwater, and the myriad crimes of this Misadministration must also be investigated, convicted as justified, and either spend their time in the pokey or start singing like canaries so we, the people, can find out exactly how, when, where, how often, and by whom we've been screwed. Because make no mistake about it, we have been screwed.

We want the rule of law. If it sweeps some of our idols and role models into its dragnet, well, we'll be unhappy but we'll live with it.

When Harriet Myers and Josh Bolten dared to tell the people that they would not be held accountable for their acts, that sent a very troubling message to the nation and the world. No one is, or should be, above the law. No one. Not kings, priests, presidents, businessmen, politicians, and certainly not the toadying shallow minions of a petty, egocentric sociopath who has treated the country like his personal poop-box for seven years. Because if any one person is above the law, then what incentive is there for any other person to obey it?

The article states, in part:

Pelosi, D-Calif., demanded that the department pursue misdemeanor charges against former White House counsel Harriet Miers for refusing to testify to Congress about the firings of federal prosecutors in 2006 and against chief of staff Josh Bolten for failing to turn over White House documents related to the dismissals.

She gave Attorney General Michael Mukasey one week to respond and said refusal to take the matter to a grand jury will result in the House's filing a civil lawsuit against the Bush administration.

So this is about the federal prosecutors that the Bush Maladministration fired in their effort to turn the Justice Department into their pathetic spineless tool. Finally.

Nancy Pelosi, if you can push this through, our admiration for you automatically rises ten notches, and we will back off on beating you about the head and shoulders verbally.

If you haven't been following the Justice Department scandal, you can find great detail about it here. Just search for justice department.

If you don't necessarily want that level of detail, we've blogged the issue here, here, here, here, and here.

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Politics: Dennis Kucinich Supporters

The Mighty Munchkin of Justice

Did you support Dennis Kucinich for President? If so, you're probably committed to progressive politics.

Well, those of us who supported Dennis know that we need his voice more than ever in the House. Kucinich introduced the Articles of Impeachment against Snarly McCrashcart while Nancy Pelosi and the pathetic democratovines sat on their hands and tried not to cry every time the Pretzelnitwit and Darth looked at them funny.

We have to keep Dennis in the House as a counterbalance to the deballed Demos. So help him out. The Forces of Evil are arrayed against him. Go do your bit, right here.

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B.A.D. Featured Bloggers

Update: Well, poo. We wuz wrong about DiFi. It looks as if she voted against the telco immunity. Sorry about that, folks. Leapin' Stupids Disease appears to be out of remission. Apologies, Senator Feinstein. We still disagree with you more than half the time on your votes, but we were wrong on this one. We'll take our medicine like a cat: snarling, hissing, running away, and hiding (oh, wotthehell, Archy, a few scratchings for good measure).

Over at his Soapbox, Ted sounds as if he's set to become an adoptive parent to a high-needs child. Congrats, Ted.

Casa de Los Gatos believes in adoption, as opposed to reproduction. With 6.x BILLION FUCKING PEOPLE (and we do mean fucking people, or we wouldn't be up to 6.x billion) on the planet, there is absolutely no need for more "mini-me's," y'awl. Whatever your particular genetic signature, chances are it's already out there in teh pool. In fact, the gene pool could stand a hearty dose of chlorine.

Adopting children, on the other hand &mdash that's a mitzvah. Those tykes &mdash especially the high-needs kids &mdash they could use your help. Consider the life of a child in the foster-care system, which is where unwanted children go in the U.S. of A, and you will agree that abortion ought to be a sacrament. No one should have the right to throw another sentient creature away, like these children are thrown away. Abandoned, unwanted, bullied, beaten, they are ground through the system and on their 18th birthday, kicked out with little more than the clothes on their backs. And then it's life on the streets, drugs, prostitution, petty crime, and back into the system, except this time it's the jail and prison end. Anybody who sincerely believes this is better than a quick suction job is deluded or insane or both, and desperately in need of a retroactive abortion themselves.

Ted, you're a mensch. I hope things work out with the kid, and for you overall.

Over in Wyandotte, Michigan (eww, cold!), a group of very courageous people are meeting weekly to protest the disgusting war of occupation in Iraq. They blog about it at Wyan.blog, which Casa de Los Gatos discovered thanks to the efforts of Lizzy, who lives with 922 cats (and kittens!). You can see them standing out there all bundled up against the cold, bravely holding their signs every week. Kudos, Wyans. We wish we could be there with you in the flesh, but our flesh is, regrettably, falling off our damaged bones these days. We're with you in spirit, though.

We have not blogged the Senate's criminal position on the telco immunity aspect of the FISA bill because we knew everyone else would do it and do it better and require fewer psychoactive meds. And sure enough, Batocchio over at Vagabond Scholar puts the boot in nicely and tells us what to do next.

Is Dianne Feinscum your Senator? Find out who's running against her, throw your support to the candidate most likely to beat her overprivileged ass to pulp, and flood her office daily with calls, faxes, email, letters, and postcards. Casa de Los Gatos should not need to warn you to maintain a civil and respectful tone regardless of your current state of mind, whether utter hopelessness or despair.

Here's the list of Democratic Senatescum who voted to give the telcos retroactive immunity, thereby insulating them forever from the consequences of breaking the law and crapping all over the Constitution:

• Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
• Evan Bayh (D-IA)
• Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
• Tim Johnson (D-SD)
• Herb Kohl (D-WI)
• Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
• Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Mark Pryor (D-AR)
• Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
• Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
• Ken Salazar (D-CO)
• Tom Carper (D-DE)
• Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
• Jim Webb (D-VA)
• Ben Nelson (D-NE)
• Bill Nelson (D-FL)
• Kent Conrad (D-ND)
• Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)

You can safely assume that the majority of Rethuglican Senatescum voted to grant immunity.

A significant number of those on the preceding list are "Blue Dog" Democrats, that is to say, scumsucking pigs willing to give their constituents and principle the rigid digit if they think they'll get a little lobbyist money out of it. But La Casa de Los Gatos once had great respect for Claire McCaskill and Jim Webb, and thought Barbara Mikulski was on the side of the people. Folks, please write to your legiscum - our democracy only works if we all participate, whether by writing letters or making phone calls or visiting these people and talking to them. Please make an effort, do your part, get them to hear that two out of every three people in this country do not want retroactive immunity for the telcos.

This has been your daily roundup of B.A.D. bloggers. Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your attention.

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Politics: Rep Tom Lantos

Rep. Tom Lantos' photo from Raw Story

is dead. The esophageal cancer that hit him last month tore right through his system.

Rep. Lantos was 80 years old at the time of his death, and had served 13 terms in Congress. A Hungarian Jew, Tom Lantos survived the Holocaust in part thanks to the good offices of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg; and in large part thanks to his own toughness, tenacity, courage, and intelligence.

Casa de Los Gatos didn't always like Rep. Lantos. We felt he beat the Communist drum a bit too hard, that while secular and liberal, he was not necessarily or always a progressive (despite being a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus). And we're still mildly cheesed off about his initial support for the Iraq war of occupation. But he was a good man (as he proved by changing his position on the Iraq war once facts began coming to light), and we regret that he died untimely, especially as he had just assumed the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a position for which he felt he had been preparing all his life, and for which he is better suited than many of the idiots with whom he has served.

For Tom Lantos, then, in memoriam:

Fear no more the heat o'the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

Casa de Los Gatos is an atheist household, so no platitudes about his being in a better place. But at least he is at peace, and in no more pain.

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